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First Nuclear Explosion's Echo Still Felt Today on Chicago Squash Court
A two part series recounts the gathering of scientists and workers in Chicago as the metal troughs and graphite blocks were secretly assembled to build the first nuclear pile. Key figures include Gus Knuth Bob Nobles Herbert Anderson Samuel Allison Norman Hillberry Leona Woods and Leo Sayvetz. The story traces university decisions Chancellor Hutchins and Dean Filbey faced about risking a city and the war effort and how secrecy shaped the project. The account highlights the purity challenges with graphite and uranium and the rush to produce cleaner materials from Westinghouse Eldorado Mallinckrodt and others to enable a working chain reaction.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago
Gus Knuth
Knuth
Washington
Bob Nobles
Missouri
University of Chicago
Nobles
Herbert Anderson
Fermi
Columbia
Samuel Allison
University
Norman Hillberry
Leona Woods
Leona Marshall
Herbert Kubitschek
Leon Sayvetz
Adams
Mrs. Fermi
George Maronde
Quadrangle Club
Atomic Project
Robert Hutchins
Tom Filbey
Arthur Compton
Compton
James Conant
Harvard
Bush
Hutchins
Filbey
Hilberry
Westinghouse
Eldorado Gold Mines Ltd
Mallinckrodt Chemical Co
Metal Hydrides
Enrico
CPI
Zinn
Anderson
Maronde
CP1
Eugene Wigner
Kubitschek
Szilard
Ballcony
William Sturm
Argonne National ‘Laboratory
Atomic Energy Commission
Court
Sturm
Wilberry
Argonne
New York University
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Well
Washington, DC
Sayvetz
Kingston
N.Y