---
title: Tracking Nazi Germany’s Failed Atomic Bid
date: 2023-07-05T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/tracking-nazi-germanys-failed-atomic-bid"
section: Articles
---
# Tracking Nazi Germany’s Failed Atomic Bid

*July 5, 2023* — by [Rebecca Moon Ruark](/author/rebecca-ruark)


> Alumna’s Book Explores ‘Lost Relics’ That Spurred the Nuclear Era

*Miriam Hiebert 03112019 7160 1920x1080 — Miriam "Mimi" Hiebert Ph.D. '19 holds a cube of uranium processed for nuclear reactor research by Nazi scientists during World War II. Her new book delves into the U.S.-German race to unlock atomic power and weaponry.*

It all began with a mysterious gift that landed on the desk of Tim Koeth, a nuclear physicist and University of Maryland researcher with a penchant for nuclear oddities: a cube of uranium metal wrapped in a cryptic note that read, “Taken from Germany from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger.”

What followed was a yearslong quest by Koeth, assistant professor at UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, and his student-turned-colleague, Miriam “Mimi” Hiebert Ph.D. ’19, to discover the origin of the cube and its place in the high-stakes race between the United States and another would-be nuclear power: Nazi Germany.



*Hiebert book cover*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Books](https://today.umd.edu/topic/books), [Materials Science and Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/materials-science-and-engineering), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)