Under the stadium seats at University of Chicago (my hometown!).
Ten intriguing facts you
might not know about the world’s first controlled release of nuclear
energy:
1.
The world's first self-sustaining controlled nuclear chain reactor took
place at the University of Chicago on December 2, 1942.
2. Chicago Pile-1 was the world’s first nuclear reactor to go critical.
3. 49 scientists led by Enrico Fermi, were present for the event. Leona Marshall was the lone female researcher.
4. The reactor was built with graphite blocks, some of which contained small disks of uranium.
5. Scientists monitored the reaction on instruments named after Winnie the Pooh characters—Piglet, Tigger and Pooh.
6. Scientist George Weil withdrew the cadmium-plated control rod unleashing the first controlled chain reaction.
7.
The reactor had three sets of control rods. One was automatic and could
be controlled from the balcony. Another was an emergency safety rod.
The third rod (operated by Weil) actually held the reaction in check
until it was withdrawn the proper distance.
8.
The group celebrated with a bottle of Chianti that was poured into
paper cups. Most of the participants signed the wine bottle’s label.
This was the only written record of who had taken part in the
experiment.
9.
In the lead up to this experiment, a letter from Albert Einstein to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped lead to the Manhattan Project—a
government research project that produced the first atomic bombs. It was
also the seed that grew into the modern U.S. Department of Energy
national laboratory system.
10.
The Energy Department’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is named
in honor of Enrico Fermi for his contributions to nuclear physics and
scientific success at nearby University of Chicago.
Links to more information about the birth of nuclear energy:
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