Argonne's Nuclear Science and Technology Legacy
Atoms forge a Scientific Revolution
The Italian Navigator Lands
It was a flawless execution — achieved one year ahead of schedule. Compton noted that the chain reaction was "slow enough to be controlled" and later recalled hearing the "sigh of relief from the suicide squad." "Atomic power!" he wrote. "It had been produced, kept under control, and stopped. The power liberated was less than that needed to light an electric lamp, but that power marked a new era in man's history."
Compton's phone call to James Conant, chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, was in code, though not a prearranged one: "The Italian navigator has landed in the New World." "How were the natives?" Conant asked. "Very friendly." Thus Compton conveyed his recognition of the success of the pile as the fastest way to harness nuclear energy. (The first Italian navigator discovered the New World in 1492; the second found another in 1942.)
The signed Chianti bottle. (Click the image to see a larger photo.)
Download image
from Flickr
For a close-up of the Met Lab crew signatures, go here.
Wigner brought a bottle of Chianti to mark the occasion; most of the Met Lab scientists and crew
signed their names to the wine bottle's basket. Toasts were drunk from paper cups, but the celebration
was a muted one. All knew the next step was the bomb. There were other concerns. Were they the
first to succeed? Had their secret been kept from the Germans? The secret had been kept — even
from the wives of the scientists. At a social gathering a few days later, Laura Fermi noticed her
husband being bombarded with congratulations. She wanted to know why, but no one would give her
a reason. Woods finally whispered to her: "He has sunk a Japanese admiral!" When Laura
Fermi asked her husband if that was true, he replied, "Did I?" The obvious next question
was asked: "So you didn't sink a Japanese admiral?" Without changing his sincere
expression, Fermi said, "Didn't I?" Laura Fermi would not learn of the events of December
2 for another two-and-a-half years. After its success with the chain reaction, parts of the Metallurgical
Project moved to Oak Ridge, Tenn., Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M. There, the military aspects
of devising a bomb went forward under the high-priority, $2 billion
"Manhattan Project" — the biggest national investment until mankind's voyage to
the moon.
Next: The Chicago Pile 1 Pioneers
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: Wed, September 25, 2013 9:10 PM