Nikolaus Riehl

Nikolaus Riehl was a German nuclear chemist whose career spanned both the German and Soviet nuclear programs of the mid twentieth century. Before the end of the Second World War he directed the scientific work of the Auergesellschaft company, which was responsible for producing uranium compounds for German nuclear research. At the war's end Riehl was taken to the Soviet Union along with much of his research group and technical material, where he played a leading role in the Soviet Union's efforts to purify uranium metal for its early atomic program, work for which he was later honored with a Soviet state award. Riehl was eventually allowed to return to West Germany in the 1950s, where he continued a career in nuclear and radiation research. His career is often cited as one of the more striking examples of nuclear expertise carried directly from the German wartime program into the early Soviet atomic energy effort.