Introduction
On December 2, 1942, man first initiated a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, and controlled it.
Beneath the West Stands of Stagg Field, Chicago, late in the afternoon of that day, a small group of scientists witnessed the advent of a new era in science. History was made in what had been a squash-rackets court.
Precisely at 3:25 p.m., Chicago time, scientist George Weil withdrew the cadmium-plated control rod and by his action man unleashed and controlled the energy of the atom.
As those who witnessed the experiment became aware of what had happened, smiles spread over their faces and a quiet ripple of applause could be hear. It was a tribute to Enrico Fermi, Nobel Prize winner, to whom, more than to any other person, the success of the experiment was due.
Fermi, born in Rome, Italy, on September 29, 1901, had been working with uranium for many years. In 1934 he bombarded uranium with neutrons and produced what appeared to be element 93 (uranium is element 92) and element 94. However, after closer examination it seemed as if nature had gone wild; several other elements were present, but none could be fitted into the periodic table near uranium where Fermi knew they should have fitted if they had been the transuranic elements 92 and 94. It was not until five years later that anyone, Fermi included, realized he had actually caused fission of the uranium and that these unexplained elements belonged back in the middle part of the periodic table.
Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1938 for his work on transuranic elements. He and his family went to Sweden to receive the prize. The Italian Fascist press severely criticized him for not wearing a Fascist uniform and failing to give the Fascist salute when he received the award. The Fermis never returned to Italy.
From Sweden, having taken most of his personal possessions with him, Fermi proceeded to London and thence to America where he has remained ever since.
The modern Italian explorer of the unknown was in Chicago that cold December day in 1942. An outsider looking into the squash court where Fermi was working would have been greeted by a strange sight. In the center of the 30- by 60-foot room, shrouded on all but one side by a gray balloon cloth envelope, was a pile of black bricks and wooden timbers, square at the bottom and a flattened sphere on top. Up to half of its height, its sides were straight. The top half was domed, like a beehive. During the construction of this crude appearing but complex pile (the name which has since been applied to all such devices) the standing joke among the scientists working on it was: "If people could see what we're doing with a million-and-a-half of their dollars, they'd think we are crazy. If they knew why we are doing it, they'd know we are."
In relation to the fabulous atomic bomb program, of which the Chicago Pile experiment was a key part, the successful result reported on December 2nd formed one more piece for the jigsaw puzzle which was atomic energy. Confirmation of the chain reactor studies was an inspiration to the leaders of the bomb project, and reassuring at the same time, because the Army's Manhattan Engineer District had moved ahead on many fronts. Contract negotiations were under way to build production-scale chain reactors, land had been acquired at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and millions of dollars had been obligated.
Three years before the December 2nd experiment, it had been discovered that when an atom of uranium was bombarded by neutrons, the uranium atom sometimes was split, or fissioned. Later, it had been found that when an atom of uranium fissioned, additional neutrons were emitted and became available for further reaction with other uranium atoms. These facts implied the possibility of a chain reaction, similar in certain respects to the reaction which is the source of the sun's energy. The facts further indicated that if a sufficient quantity of uranium could be brought together under the proper conditions, a self-sustaining chain reaction would result. This quantity of uranium necessary for a chain reaction under given conditions is known as the critical mass, or more commonly, the "critical size" of the particular pile.
For three years the problem of a self-sustaining chain reaction had been assiduously studied. Nearly a year after Pearl Harbor, a pile of critical size was finally constructed. It worked. A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was a reality.
1. The University of Chicago athletic stadium.
2. Dr. Herbert Anderson has pointed out that the time was 3:36, which is now the accepted official time.
3. Dr. Fermi died in Chicago, Illinois, November 28, 1954.