Met Lab & Argonne’s Early History
Those early days as we remember them
From the Metallurgical Laboratory to Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne traces its birth from Enrico Fermi's secret charge — the Manhattan Project — to create the world's first self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Code-named the "Metallurgical Lab", the Manhattan Project team constructed Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on December 2, 1942, underneath the University of Chicago's Stagg football field stands. Because the ensuing research experiments were deemed too dangerous to conduct in a major city, the operations were moved to "Site A" in a forest preserve near Palos Hills and eventually renamed "Argonne" after the surrounding forest.
On July 1, 1946, the laboratory was formally chartered as Argonne National Laboratory to conduct "cooperative research in nucleonics." At the request of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, it began developing nuclear reactors for the nation's peaceful nuclear energy program. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the laboratory moved to a larger location in Lemont, Illinois, and established a remote location in Idaho, called "Argonne-West," to conduct further nuclear research.
In 1971, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Argonne's charter, the Argonne News published a series of recollections titled "Those early days as we remember them" by former or current staff members who had worked at the Metallurgical Lab and participated in the birth of Argonne. Many shared unique memories of this special time that can't be found in history books. Below is a listing of the authors and the date their stories were published in Argonne News:
January 1971 — Austin M. Brues, Nora L. Watson, Mary L. Erickson, Ace L. Singleton, Mary K. Walsh
February-March 1971 — Lester C. Furney, Arthur H. JaHey, Leonard Bogorad
April 1971 — James F. Schumar, John L. Armstrong, David E. Walker, J. Howard Kittel, George O'Keefe, Maurice D. Odie
May 1971 — William P. Norris (from a tape recording made in 1965)
June 1971 — Farrington Daniels
July-August 1971 — Lester C. Furney
September 1971 — Norman Hilberry
November 1971 — Elmer W. Rylander
Those early days as we remember them
Next: Part I
Related Information
- Reactors Designed by Argonne National Laboratory: Early Exploration - Early exploration nuclear reactors designed by the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory, the direct predecessor to Argonne National Laboratory, began the development of nuclear technology.
- Fermi facts, fables: Colleagues and friends share memories - Reprinted from Argonne Logos, Winter 2002
- From Met Lab to Argonne: Those early days as we remember them - A series of recollections by former staff members who had worked at the Metallurgical Lab and participated in the birth of Argonne.
- The Discovery of Fission by the American Institute of Physics - Listen to illustrious scientists describe the historic events which brought them to understand nuclear fission
- Anniversary – 80 years ago, Leo Szilard
envisioned neutron chain reaction blog post by Rod Adams at the ANS
Nuclear Cafe blog (Sep. 17, 2013) - Remembering
Argonne nuclear pioneer Leo Szilard
Multimedia
- CP-1 Flickr Gallery (by Argonne National Laboratory)
- Argonne nuclear pioneers: Chicago Pile 1 on YouTube (by Argonne National Laboratory) On December 2, 1942, 49 scientists, led by Enrico Fermi, made history when Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1) went critical and produced the world's first self-sustaining, controlled nuclear chain reaction. Seventy years later, two of the last surviving CP-1 pioneers, Harold Agnew and Warren Nyer, recall that historic day.
Last Modified: Tue, September 24, 2013 3:48 PM