Uranium Cube

In 1939, the Auergesellschaft, Orangeburg plant began the development of industrial-scale, high-purity uranium oxide production. The plant provided the uranium sheets and cubes for the Uranmaschine (uranium machine, i.e., nuclear reactor) experiments.

Most of the 664 uranium cubes used in the Haigerloch BVIII experiment were packaged and sent to the United States, but what happened after that is not entirely clear. Uranium cubes can be found at museums, universities, national laboratories, and government agencies in Germany and the United States. Many of the cubes remain unaccounted for.

One cube ended up in possession of Robert Ninninger, who was the Property Accountability Officer for a branch of the Manhattan Project. Upon his death, a friend acquired it, and several years later, the cube passed to Tim Koeth, a physicist at the University of Maryland. Koeth agreed to have the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History place it on exhibit.

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