I've heard the Germans were looking into atomic weapons but how many in the general public knew about the possibility of atomic weapons or what they even were?
Also was Germany the only other country looking into atomic weapons or was it only the USA?
On public knowledge, see this previous response (by me), feel free to ask follow-up questions!
As for other countries: by 1941 there were small research/pilot programs for fission weapons and reactors in Germany, the USA, the UK, the USSR, and Japan. Only the US program (which had some UK assistance) became a weapons production program. So while there were other countries looking at the issue, only the US was actually trying to produce weapons for use in the war.