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INTRODUCTION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
vii
THE FIRST
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PREFACE
PILE
By Corbin Allardice
Years of Preliminary
Research..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Forecast Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
14
16
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
18
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21
Bohrs Tripto
The Manhattan
Computations
District Formed.
OWN STORY
By Enrico Fermi
The Discovery of Fission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22
24
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
27
OF SECRECY
AND THEpi
LE......
By Laura Fermi
The Fermis Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
A Homemakers
Sinking an Admiral
FINAL
CHAPTERS.
EPILOGUE
SUGGESTED
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
REFERENCES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
of Energy
Assistant Secretary
for Nuclear Energy
and
Assistant Secretary, Management and Administration
Office of the Executive Secretary
History Division
Washington, D.C. 20585
30
34
36
38
v
PREFACE
On December 2, 1942,
Since
achievement
1946
scientific
commemorated
and technological
by those involved.
It is
tech no logy.
This updated
on the firsthand
Edward
R. Trapnell.
is based
of Enrico and
Laura Fermi. The text of the three accounts remains largely unchanged.
Forty
Fall
982
Shelby T. Brewer
Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy
vii
INTRODUCTION
This new edition
secrecy that
surrounded
the Manhattan
The original
material
which
Engineer District,
report
on a significant
experiment.
The original
Edward
R. Trapnell,
Commission,
1947.
of The
later
Energy
Commission
and Trapnell
Allardice
Allardice
Atomic
authors
and
Energy
Project on January 1,
information
Trapnell
and Allardice
successfully completed
it should be written
on December
which was
who took part. Their essay is based on postwar interviews with more than a
dozen of the 43 scientists present at the Stagg Field on December 2nd. Another valuable source was the tape on which was traced the neutron intensity
within the first pile.
In addition,
Enrico
Written
Fermi,
in the
the
1950s,
prize-winning
project
the
firsthand
director,
reminkcences
his wife,
of
Laura.
and
-.-:+,
.-ii,
The appended
bottle
in which
experiments
Dr.
E. P. Wigner
had brought
Chianti
as a memento.
tists Iisted on the bottle was asked if he recalled any others who might have
been present, and the resulting list of 43 names was accepted as complete.
The two drawings of the first pile were prepared by Melvin A. Miller
of the Argonne
National
Laboratory
on descriptions given Miller by the scientists who built the first pile.
available,
scientists involved
multi-volume
including
the
memoirs
in the Manhattan
history
of the Project
Project,
the official
(declassified
of many
but unpublished
in 1976),
and scholarly
of recom-
mended readings.
We are grateful to Professor Robert C. Williams of Washington University in St. Louis, and to History Associates Incorporated,
revising and updating of this brief but important
history.
Jack M. Hell
Chief Historian
it.
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
the cadmium-plated
control
the experiment
happened, smiles spread over their faces and a quiet ripple of applause could
be heard.
It was a tribute
to Enrico
Fermi,
was due.
Fermi, born in Rome, Italy, on September 29, 1901, had been working
with uranium
94.
However,
gone wi Id; several other elements were present, but none could be fitted into
the periodic table near uraniumwhere
if they had been the transuranic
years later that
anyone,
Fermi
included,
realized
he had actually
caused
and
to give the Fascist salute when he received the award. The Fermis
proceeded
ever since.3
The modern
December
day
Italian explorer
in 1942.
of the unknown
An outsider
looking
Fermi was working would have been greeted by a strange sight. In the center
The University
2Dr.
accepted
Herbert
official
3Dr.
Fermi
of Chicago athletic
Anderson
has pointed
stadium.
out that the time was 3:36,
time.
died in Chicago,
Illinois,
November
28, 1954.
which
is now the
..=:
..<;
Sketch
the reactor
Around
it is a tent of balloon
nonproductive
cloth
fabric, prepared
loss of neutrons
so that
if necessary;
cloth envelope, was a pile of black bricks and wooden timbers, square at the
bottom
and a flattened
of
this crude appearing but complex pile (the name which has since been applied
to all such devices)4 the standing joke among the scientists working on it was:
If
people
were
doing with
a million-and-a-half
of their
dollars, theyd think we are crazy. If they knew why we are doing it, theyd
be sure we are.
In relation to the fabulous atomic bomb program, of which the Chicago
Pi Ie experiment
2nd formed
Confirmation
the
bomb
Manhattan
negotiations
4The
one more piece for the jigsaw puzzle which was atomic energy.
of the chain reactor studies was an inspiration to the leaders of
project,
Engineer
had moved
ahead on many
way to reactor
fronts.
Contract
gave
3
land had been acquired at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and millions of dollars had
been obligated.
Three
years before
covered that
uranium
when
the December
an atom of uranium
the possibility
to the reaction
which
This quantity
Later,
fissioned, additional
by neutrons,
of a chain reaction,
the
similar
atoms. These
in certain respects
was bombarded
under
2nd experiment,
quantity
conditions,
of uranium
of uranium
a self-sustaining
result.
tions is known
as the critical
of the particular
pile.
the critical
size
For three years the problem of a self-sustaining chain reaction had been
assid~ously studied.
was finally
constructed.
It worked.
A self-sustaining
was a reality
effort
and study
of
the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. The story goes back at least to
the fall of 1938 when two German scientists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman,
working
material. from
Institute
an experiment
in which they
in the laboratory
tween
barium
the
similar experiments,
had bombarded
from
the uranium
differed
by approximately
element
come from?
uranium with
differed
by a neutron
in atomic
mass be-
in residue material
from
publishing
Naturwissenschaften;
The
Japanese
Islands, December
393-218 0-
work
in the German
scientific
attacked
7, 1941;
82 - 2
their
the
this attack
American
naval
brought
the United
base at
Pearl
with
journal
Lise Meitner
Harbor,
Die
Hawaiian
War 11.
.:
,.,
A,
Lise Meitner
and Otto
their laboratory
Hahn in
in the 1930s.
Copenhagen, Denmark.
Miss Meitner was very much interested in this phenomenon
diately
attempted
to analyze mathematically
and imme-
She reasoned that the barium and the other residual elements were the result
of a fission,
or breaking,
of the uranium
atom.
atomic masses of the residual elements; she found this total was less than the
atomic mass of uranium.
There was but one explanation:
two elements each of approximately
half. Some of the mass of the uranium had disappeared. Miss Meitner and her
nephew
verted
O.
into
According
to the theory
disappeared
advanced in 1905
tion E = mcz (energy is equal to mass times the square of the speed of light),
this energy release would be of the order of 200,000,000
6Germany
[Third
Rea{m).
under
Adolf
HitIers
Nazi
Party
as the Third
Reich
himself,
nearly thirty-five
further
study
of
years
might be proved,
radioactive
elements.
to discuss
at Princetons
Institute
for
he discussed with
of Meitner
Princeton
Advanced
Einstein
was the
on January
16, 1939.
He talked
to
his student.
Danish physicist
including
Enrico
began work
by word
Fermi
at Columbia.
From
of mouth
Fermi
Princeton
to neighboring physicists,
the
experiments
could
be completed,
University
in Washington,
however,
Fermi
left
of fission. Fermi
neutrons
might be emitted
mentioned
the
meeting
(Carnegie
the University
was obtained
Institution
from four
of Washington,
of California).
confirmation
laboratories
Columbia,
of Meitner
in the United
Johns Hopkins,
and
experiments
Joliot-Curie
27,
a Hungarian,
1939,
the Canadian-born
both working
at Columbia
Walter
University,
commenced
of these experiments
Physics/ Review
their
investigation
L. Anderson
and H. B.
The results
of the
....
.
.4J
Walter
These
H. Zinn
L&
measurements
of
neutron
emission
Szilard
by Fermi,
Zinn,
Szilard,
Anderson, and Hanstein were highly significant steps toward a chain reaction.
Further
discovery of plutonium
on a uranium
at the Radiation
Laboratory, 7 Berkeley,
California,
with
Plutonium,
it was believed,
to
at Columbia,
determine
Fermi
operationally
and Zinn
and their
associates were
chain
material
to slow down
In July,
the neutrons
1941, experiments
reproduction
factor
chain reaction.
traveling
at relatively
high velocities.
If this factor
k),
greater than
of a
1, a
in the uranium
would capture
neutrons and make them unavailable for further reactions, and since neutrons
would
escape from
7Now
Department
the
the
Lawrence
of Energy
pile without
Berkeley
by the University
encountering
Radiation
Laboratory,
of California.
uranium-235
operated
atoms,
for
the
it
U.S.
7
was not known
whether
could ever be
obtained.
Fortunate
and difficult
of a reproduction
problem.
factor greater
producing an atomic
material,
qualities,
graphite
cou Id be obtained
project in December,
of Scientific
for a neutron
thus forming
in sufficient quantity
1941,
Consequently,
early
in 1942
the Columbia
Arthur
Holly
Chicago
Metallurgical
and Princeton
Cornpton,
Director
Project,
of
groups
of
1942-1945.
the
were transferred
Laboratory
was estab-
lished.
In a general way, the experimental
was primarily
division
concerned
organized
with
by F. H. Spedding
(later
in turn
under
S. K. Allison,
methods,
designing production
piles. However,
and technical
the problems
were intertwined
studied in whatever group seemed best equipped for the particular task.
Norman
secret
Hilberry
%fatallurgical
headed
procurement
Laboratory.
efforts
at the
By July,
size. At that
time, the dies for the pressing of the uranium oxides were designed by Zinn
and ordered made. It was a fateful
of the
pile depended upon the shape and size of the uranium piece:.
It was necessary to use uranium
the desired degree of purity
were attempting
and Manufacturing
8The
tory,
which
and Argonne
Metallurgical
is operated
Universities
Company,
Laboratory
Metal Hydrides
of
uranium
several manufacturers
of Energy
Westinghouse
Company,
of Argonne
and F. H.
National
by the University
Labora-
of Chicago
Association.
...
9
Spedding,
program
for moderating
R. L.
the dies for the pressing of the uranium oxides were designed
in July, additional
controlling
Hilberry.
about
experimental
subcritical
piles were
Research
Roosevelt
full
in Washington,
had
Engineer
to
of
President
be established to take
of the atomic
Districtg
of the Office
recommended
Engineer organization
the Manhattan
Bush, Director
Development,
responsibility
summer,
and
Vannevar
bomb.
During
the
,,
General
neers,
Leslie
R.
directed
Groves,
the
U.S.
Army
Manhattan
COWS of Engi-
Engineer
District,
1942-1946.
9The
Manhattan
Atomic
Engineer
on January
abolished
1, 1947.
the AEC.
into the
US.
Energy
portions
of the
AEC
Energy
District
Commission
(AEC),
as the governmental
On October
11, 1974,
President
and Development
absorbed
into
the
On October
1, 1977,
the Energy
Research
of the newly
created
Department
of Energy.
civilian
organization
Gerald
portions
Ford
(ERDA);
Regulatory
and Development
succeeded
atomic
the
energy
of the AEC
Administration
Nuclear
agency,
to control
were
Commission
Administration
absorbad
the regulatory
(NRC).
became
part
Construction
of the main
oxide
with
in November.
The
Fermis two
crews, one under Zinn and the other under Anderson, worked
Specialists
in
designing
by Goodyear
gasbags for
air.
lighter-than-air
Security
regulations
forbade
informing
Goodyear
craft,
the
of a square
of the purpose
joking.
The bag was hung with one side left open; in the center of the floor a
circular layer of graphite bricks was placed. This and each succeeding layer of
the
uranium.
By this
layer-on-layer
frame.
Alternate
construction
layers contained
a roughly
spherical
the
pile of
of graphite
West Stands. Week after week this shop turned out graphite bricks. This work
was done under the direction
millwright
August
Knuth.
In October,
Anderson
Zinns men.
,.
Graphite
and
layers
edges
Beginning
uranium
of
with
oxide
form
6th
layer
containing
6, alternate
Tenth
layer
of graphite
In the foreground
to have been
minute
covering
change
layer
blocks
in the lattice
18 containing
393-218 0 - 82 - 3
containing
slightly
richer
,pseudospheres
in uranium,
measure
dictated
uranium
uranium
of black
and brown
filled
with graphite,
by shortage
of fuel and,
oxide.
oxide.
metal
and/or
blocks.
of black
containing
an expedient
left.
3%-inch
courses of graphite
oxide.
area.
k,.
layer
is the
?9th
uranium
layer
a last
of graphite
..T
Albert
Wattenberg,
one of Zinns
dust. About
a half-hour
after the
first shower the dust in the pores of your skin would start oozing. Walking
around
floor.
the room
Graphite
is a dry lubricant,
on a dance
measurements
indicated that
in the design.
indicated
that it would.
Fermi,
whose
associates described
wholly without
work.
him as completely
self-confident
but
conceit.
It
and demon-
all their
Manhattan
District
Nemours
and Company
principles
of the then
to design, build,
unproved
negotiations
with
and operate
the
E. 1. duPont
de
Hanford
the
Hanford
~OLater
Electric
operated
by 5 contractors.
being approached.
Atomic
At 4:00
under Anderson.
Products
Shortly
afterwards,
OperationHanford
Laboratories,
Since
facilities
1965
Hanford
the
oper-
have been
:.
:@.
I
I
13
CUtaway
pile
model
of
court.
draw
control
The mechanism
and insert
rod
the
first
racquets
to with-
the emergency
*Zip
is at center
of Stagg Field
in Chicago.
last layer of graphite and uranium bricks was placed on the pile. Zinn, who
remained,
and Anderson
become
measurements
self-sustaining.
of the activity
within
the
that should
they would not start the pile operating until Fermi and
rods were
day.
That night the word was passed to the men who had worked orI the pile
that the trial run was due the next morning.
is
14
Assembly for the Test
About
8:30
of the court.
Fermi,
Zinn,
Anderson,
and Compton
were
the little
balcony.
surrounded by the big wheels; the little wheels had to stand back.
On the floor
just beneath
the balcony,
stood George
sets of control
Another
was
was a
rope
an
from the
emergency
running
through
the
The
pile
and tied
balcony.
rope
with
an
unexpected
George Weil
before,
rods.
Lichtenberger,
They
to the
axe
should
something
rods failed.
The third
rod,
rope
by Weil, was the one which actually held the reaction in check until
withdrawn
done
another
the
happen,
matic safety
operated
by
Hilberry
from
complete
from
anything
Therefore,
a liquid-control
squad,
composed
ever
operated
of
Harold
solution
in case of
9:45
Fermi
ordered
control
rods with-
them. A small
motor whined. All eyes watched the lights which indicated the rods position.
But quickly,
the balcony
clicking stepped up after the rods were out. The indicators of these counters
resembled
with
hands
to indicate
neutron
count.
Nearby was a recorder, whose quivering pen traced the neutron activity within the pile.
Shortly
Zipr
after
ten oclock,
Fermi
ordered
the emergency
rod, called
Zip
to show the number of feet and inches which remained within the pile.
At
10:37
Fermi,
without
taking
the instruments,
said
quietly:
Pull
pen moved
it to 13 feet, George.
up. All
The counters
the instruments
were studied,
were
made.
This
off.
He indicated a spot on the graph. In a few minutes the pen came to the
indicated
point
and did not go above that point. Seven minutes later Fermi
again.
He knew
the time was near. He wanted to check everything again. The automatic
IE
a few
con-
feature to operate.
the automatic
was withdrawn.
rails. The graph pen started to climb. Tensely, the little group watched,
and
As if by a thunder
Every man
rod had
automatically
like
a great
coach,
Fermi
knew when
break.
It was a strange between
taiked
about everything
The redoubtable
Fermi, who
never says much, had even less to say. But he appeared supremely confident.
His team
the automatic
All
rod was reset and Weil stood ready at the control rod.
right, George,
determined
minutes later,
called Fermi,
ing the counters spin, watching the graph, waiting for the settling down and
computing
At 2:50
jammed,
the control
the pen headed off the graph paper. But this was not it. Counting
the leveling off. Five minutes later, Fermi called: Pull it out another foot.
Weil withdrew
This
Now
it will
the rod.
and continue
to
He silently,
grim-faced,
ran through
some calculations
on his slide
rule.
~.,
..,
of
Thomas
their
at the University
success.
Brit1, Robert
Harold
Agnew,
Ssiiard.
Front
Back
G. Nobles,
William
row,
Sturm,
Enrico
of C%icago on December
row,
left
Warren
Harold
Ferm~
to right,
Nyer,
Norman
and
Marvin
Lichtenberger,
Waltar
H. Zinn,
2,
the fourth
Samuel
Wilkening.
Leona
Aibeti
1946,
Hilberry,
W.
Middfe
Marshall,
Wattenberg,
anni-
Allison,
and
and Herbert
row,
Leo
L.
Anderson.
In about
constant
and remained
His fingers
operated
so, he would
he turned the rule over and jotted down some figures on its ivory back.
Three
minutes
count. The group on the balcony had by now crowded in to get an eye on the
instruments,
very
instant
Overbeck
Marshall
those behind craning their necks to be sure they would know the
history
and William
system. Leona
see the
instruments,
Fermi
evey second, waiting for orders. His face was motionless. His eyes darted from
one dial to another. His expression was so calm it was hard. But suddenly, his
whole face broke into a broad smile.
Fermi closed his slide rule
The
reaction is self-sustaining,
he announced quietly,
happily.
The
curve is exponential.
The group tensely watched for twenty-eight
Zip
p.m. Abruptly,
a self-sustaining
nuclear reactionand
then stopped
that
energy.
TIME CONTROL
! ~om
REMOVED
LEvEL,NG
,NTENSITY
PILE
OF
lNDk2.TES
NOT
YET
CRITICAL
The
birth
certificate
rise in neutron
intensity
of the Atomic
associated
\
SHARP DROP WE
TO
SCALE
RECORDING
Age.
SELF
CHANGE ,N
OF
,NSTRUMENT
EVIDENCE
OF
LEVELING
C+F
chart
~DRw
IN1EN51TY
EXFQNEN71AL
RSE OF
lNTEw, T% w,,
W
The galvanometers
/
SSTA, FWW
REACTION
TO INSERTION
OF CC,WFKX. ROD
that indicated
chain reaction.
,N
DUE
the
Right
theoretical
after
Fermi
physicist
stopped,
the Hungarian-born
the experiment
his back.
Fermi uncorked
out
for
paper
drink.
He
without
Szilard
the
Hiiberry,
Americans
Canadian
Wigner,
Compton,
Zinn, the
the
Italian
Anderson,
success-and
to succeed.
A small crew was left to straighten
lock controls,
up,
Eugene P. Wigner
prearranged.
The Italian navigator has landed in the New World,
How were the natives? asked Conant.
Very friendly.
The
Chianti
Eugene
first
Wigner
Man y
including
Enrico
. ..
purchased
by
celebrata
the
to help
self-sustaining,
reaction.
the basket.
~:
bottle
controlled
of
the
Fermi,
chain
participants,
autographed
said Compton.
PILE EXPERIMENT
December 2,1942
4
Enrico Fermi
H. M. Agnew
G. Monk, Jr.
S. K. Allison
R. G. Nobles
H. L. Anderson
W. E. Nyer
W. Arnold
W. P. Overbeck
H. M. Barton
H. J. Parsons
T. Brili
G. S. Pawlicki
R. F. Christy
L. Sayvetz
A. H. Compton
L. Seren
R. J. FOX
L. A. SIotin
S.
A. FOX
F. H. Spedding
D. K. Froman
W. J. Sturm
A. C. Graves
Leo Szi}ard
C. H. Greenewalt
A. Wattenberg
N. Hilberry
R. J. Watts
D. L. Hill
G. L. Weil
W. H. Hinch
E. P. Wigner
W. R. Kanne
M. Wilkening
P. G. Koontz
V. C. Wilson
H. E. Kubitschek
E. O. Wollan
H. V. Lichtenberger
Miss L. Woods
G. Miller
W. H. Zinn
Fermi
of the atomic
bomb and the subsequent efforts to develop the hydrogen bomb, reference
to which has been made in the last few days by the Atomic
Energy Commis-
sion.
The history of the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction,
of all scientific
achievements,
like that
specula-
predictable.
The sequence of discoveries leading to the atomic chain reaction was
part of the search of science for a fuller explanation
around us. No one had any idea or intent in the beginning of contributing
to
indicates
to it.
The
Antoine
story
1896
when
of radioactive
spontaneously
Two
begins in Paris in
elements;
emit
years later,
that
invisible,
penetrating
rays.
Switzerland,
announced
his
A most important
discovered the minute
discovery
in
belief
1905,
that
Albert
mass was
A. H. Becquerel
In ordinary
Zurich,
that
Ernest Rutherford
Shortly
after World
disintegration
atom.
11 Written
by Dr. Fermi
1952,
in observance
ment.
Copyright
and published
of the tenth
anniversary
in the Chicago
of Fermi
Reprinted
Sun-Times,
successful
by permission,
First
November 23,
Pile
experi-
22
During the next decade, research progressed
steadily,
if unspectacularly.
different
countries
which
in
great advance.
Walter
Bothe
Joliot-Curie
that
in
Germany,
in Paris prepared
covery
of the neutron.
trically
neutral
structure.
The
Frederic
work
building
other
and
the ground
neutron
block
of
is an electhe
nuclear
is the pos-
Rutherford
In experiments
in which
could disintegrate
was to be directly
I was concerned
This discovery
with
Hahn,
Zinn,
Anderson,
and
of
physicists
now
director
myselfagreed
in the United
of
Argonne
privately
to
Statesincluding
National
delay
Leo Szilard,
Laboratory,
further
Herbert
publications
of
represented
lightly.
Subsequently,
these findings
a break
with
might
scientific
of
of
combustion.
start to burn and in turn ignite other tiny fragments. When sufficient numbers
23
of these fractional
may accidentally
atomic
pile
destruction
is controlled
by cadmium
and prevented
from
burning
itself to
bombardment
of cold water
through
low the
slow rate. In this sense it differed from the atomic bomb, which was designed
Patent
Number
l%e ;nvention
Although
years
the patent
later
drawing
2,708,656
it covered
when
was part
all
was applied
the
secret
of the patent
18, 1955,
application.
it
to Enrico
reactor,
1944,
contained
Fermi
Chicago
it could
Pile No.
not
had bean
1 (CP- 1).
be issued until
declassified.
This
24
to proceed at as fast a rate as was possible. Otherwise,
H. Compton,
the University
be performed.
Thirty
of Chicago. Very
directly
many experiments
Anderson,
Leo
on the problems at
and calculations
had to
tion were built and tested. Then the plans were made for the final test of a
full-sized pile.
The scene of this test at the University
confusing
to an outsider-if
guards and
gained admittance.
He would
timbers.
measurement
performed
everything
was
gathered on a balcony
about
We
Another
consisted of a
accelerator
and
rods failed.
a liquid
salt solution
control
in case the
carefully.
Finally,
withdraw
which
fp.
25
was proceed-
ing.
At
11:35
control
but nobody
ments.
Shortly
slow but ever-increasing rate. At this moment we knew that the self-sustaining
reaction was under way.
The event was not spectacular, no fuses burned, no lights flashed. But
to us it meant that release of atomic energy on a large scale would be only a
matter of time.
The further
development
of atomic erwgy
of producing an
be shifted
atomic energy.
decidedly
from
the weapon
-------------.- ..-.>..
26
We hoped that
radioactive
of
objectives.
Unfortunately,
love among
Energy Commission.
was an unwelcome
very considerable
lines.
The problems posed by this world
situation
alone but for all people to resolve. Perhaps a time will come when all scierttific and technical progress will be hailed for the advantages that it may bring
to man, and never feared on account of its destructive possibilities.
27
OF SECRECY AND THE PILE12
By Laura
Fermi
The
period
life started
when
we moved to
Laboratory.
was top secret there. I was told one single secret: there were no
Laboratory.
was not to be divulged, As a matter of fact, the less 1 talked, the better; the
fewer people I saw outside the group working
at the Met.
I would be.
In the fall, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur
he was in charge of the Metallurgical
H. Compton1
Project-gave
Newcomers
ous that not even in Ida Noyes HaIi, the students recreation hall, was there a
room large enough to seat them all at once; so they were invited in shifts.
At each of these parties the English film Next of Kin was shown. It depicted
in dark tones the consequences of negligence and carelessness. A briefcase
laid down on the floor in a public place is stolen by a spy. English military
plans become known
to the enemy.
Bombardments,
destruction
of civilian
front
are the
result.
After the film there was no need for words.
Willingly
group of metallurgists.
or to work
to do something
as a volunteer
and to save my
of the USO.
Illinois,
12From
Atoms
1954.
Copyright
in the Fami/y,
Laura Fermi,
by the University
University
of Chicago
of Chicago
Press. Reprinted
Press, Chicago,
by permission.
28
Fermi
with
Enrico and for their wives. As the first bell rang shortly
after eight in the evening, Enrico went to open the door, and 1 kept a few
steps behind him in the hall. Walter Zinn and his wife Jean walked in, bringing along the icy-cold air that clung to their clothes. Their teeth chattered.
They shook the snow from their shoulders and stamped their feet heavily on
the floor
to reactivate
the circulation
I asked, puzzled,
What
for?
Nobody
took
any
notice of me.
Enrico was busy hanging Jeans coat in the closet, and both the Zinns
were fumbling at their snow boots with sluggish fingers.
Nasty
weather,
her boots in a corner. Walter again stamped his feet noisily on the floor.
29
Wont you come into the living room?
time to
sit down, the bell rang again; again Enrico went to open the door, and
coid
or show of modesty,
on his face.
My inquiries received either no answer at all or such evasive replies as:
Ask your husband,
or: Nothing
nothing worthy
of notice, and nothing unusual had happened, except, of course, the preparations for the party. And those did not involve Enrico and provided no ground
for congratulating.
I had cleaned house all morning; I had polished silver. I had picked up
the electric
formula
train
in Giuiios room
and the
to teach order to children, I have not found it. I had run the vacuum,
in my mind:
Half an hour to set the table. Half an hour to spread sandwiches. Half
an hour to collect juices for the punch. . . . I must remember to make tea for
my punch soon, so that
A Homemakers Schedule
My schedule was upset, as schedules will be. While I was baking cookies
in the kitchen,
Giulio and his two girl friends who had come to play. Where were they? Into
what sort of mischief
windows.
Precious
time
was spent
and punishing,
in
through
tions, absorbed in my task and even less than usually inclined to ask questions
I
t
30
of him. We rushed through dinner, and then I realized we had no cigarettes.
It was not unusual: we dont smoke, and I always forget to buy them.
Enrico,
wouldnt
I asked.
The answer was what I expected, what it had been on other such occasions:
1 dont know how to buy them.
We cant do without
smokes, the
lations?
I went
only
woman
physicist
in Enricos
with
inexhaustible
a small farm
energy,
near Chicago
Leona divided
Woodss
farm,
Woods
however,
Because
smash atoms
or
between
I
to
refused
dig
her time
atoms
and
either
potatoes,
to
she
had helped
with
picking
apples.
Leona,
be kind.
tions.
Sinking an Admiral
Leona bent her head, covered with short, deep-black
and from her lips came a whisper:
He has sunk a Japanese admiral.
You are making fun of me, 1 protested.
hair, toward
me,
But Herbert
forces with
Leona. Herbert,
States,
had taken
Enrico
his Ph.D.
work
with
with him.
you think
anything
is impos-
he asked me with
an
L. Anderson
part
of
my
mind
that
was fighting
for acceptance
to intelligence
spectacular
1.Q. They
how firmly
of
did
the logical
disbelieve,
there
know.
two
is not promptly
resolved with clear outcome, doubt results. My doubt was to last a long time.
That evening no more was said about admirals, The party proceeded as
most parties do, with a great deal of small talk around the punch bowl in the
dining room; with
pingpong
comments
and shuffleboard
floor,
Two years and a half elapsed. One evening, shortly after the end of the
war in Japan, Enrico brought home a mimeographed,
It may interest you to see the Smyth
all declassified information
paperbound volume.
Report, 13 he said. it contains
13
Using Atomic
research
gust
12,
at the
1945.
Enargy
Metallurgical
(It
A General
for Military
later
Laboratory,
was published,
References.)
Account
Purposes,
written
of the Development
by Henry
was released
with
a shorter
D. Smyth,
of Methods
of
who directed
by Princeton
on Au-
University
reached the middle of the book, I found the reason for the congratulations
Enrico had received at our party. On the afternoon
1942, the first chain reaction was achieved and the first atomic pile operated
successfully, under E nricos direct ion. Young
this feat equivalent
ship with
the admiral
inside. The atomic bomb still lay in the womb of the future, and Leona could
not foresee Hiroshima.
The
1942
Council
that
the University
talk freely
Tree
beneath
which
scientists
held
without
The meeting
a highly
secret
It stands in front
discussion
in April
of Eckhart
so the scientists
Hall on
could
being overheard.
..
...-
..
34
FINAL
The
first
1943
and rebuilt
and
of
pile
Unveiling
the
on
the
right
1947.
are AEC
Robert
W.
Daniels,
1957,
It
the
Left
to
of
H.
Zinn,
R.
M.
of
the
Chicago.
were
but
and
and
Chancellor
Stands
prasen t site
Laboratory.
Barrington
Walter
University
the
Field
Waymeck
Fermi,
Hutchins,
National
in
Commissioners
F. Bather,
Enrico
on
Stagg
near
Argonne
early
refinements
anniversary,
2,
William
in
of
fifth
December
West
plaque
Stands
with certain
modifications
the
was renamed
West
was disassembled
The
demolished
tha
plaque
remains.
water moderated
(CP-3)
at
uranium,
water
from
marker.
buried
the
built
In
graphite,
wara ramovad
shahs
was
Argonne.
nm.r
1956
and
two
the
heavy
reecton
this
35
.
CHAPTERS
PERSONE
Achievement
of first SdL.%stainedNwdearChainReaction
December2, 1942
Signatures
20th
at
P.G. -*
~
Dr.Herbert
E. Kubikchek
the
LMqK&-Pmlmr
American
Forum
1962,
sity
Nuclear
Industrial
Meeting,
D. C.,
and
of
during
programs
Society-Atomic
ton,
obtained
anniversary
Washing-
November
at
the
Chicago,
27,
UniverDeam-
ber 1, 1962.
Ewnii
tLkwnd
Model
of a work
Henry
Moore,
sioned
by the Trustees
Institute
of
work
Birth
to
of sculpture
who
Chicago
of the Art
to create
commemorate
of the Atomic
SCUIPture
was
University
of Chicago
25th
annivemary
by
was commis-
Age!
unveiled
of
a
the
at
Zbe
the
site on the
the
first
pile.
+&,.-:<,
---:
. .
. .
36
EPILOGUE
The 1942 CP-1 chain reaction experiment
of a
realizing it.
of Chianti
Laboratory
produced
was
by Eugene
Wigner and signed by all the participants was actuall y purchased a year before
the successful experiment
was completed.
Nor was the success of CP-1 especially decisive in pushing the Manhattan
Project forward.
recommended
December
project,
A visiting committee
continuing
had written
construction
of the Army
a letter authorizing
Washington,
design and
plant to produce
pluto-
call from
U 235
to separate electromagnetically
Compton
to Conant
U*38
as the quickest
route to the bomb, remained skeptical of the pile approach, and criticized the
visiting Lewis committee
scale plant.
In
telephoning
Conant,
Compton
toward a full-
conveying
December
Vannevar
28,
1942,
under Army
an important
reality,
President
Roosevelt
approved
the
report
supervision.
and demonstrated
1943, following
piles shifted to new plants springing up at Oak Ridger Tennessee, and Hanford,
Washington.
February
1943,
Groves
to Site A, a 20-acre
ordered Fermis
pile moved
Stagg
from
larger than
37
CP-2 was followed
in 1943
by CP-3, a heavy-water
reactor designed
1944,
the modest
buildings at Argonne
function
collection
of cinderblock
and corrugated
iron
development,
after 1945.
In January
of research into
mathematics.
neutron
the wartime
diffraction,
Labora-
and applied
production,
ramifications
of nuclear fission
power.
in the end, the various offspring of CP-1, the first reactor, continued its
original
mission:
the frontiers
of science in the
. . .. .
38
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
Books
Compton,
Arthur
H., Atomic
Quest,
New
York:
Oxford
University
Press, 1956.
Fermi,
Laura, Atoms
in the Fami/y,
Chicago:
University
of Chicago
Press, 1954.
Groueff,
Stephane,
Manhattan
Virginia:
it Can Be Told:
1939/1946,
mission.
Massachusetts:
Little,
Volume
1Inception
Technical Information
Hewlett,
Boston,
Project,
1967.
Richard
Volume
University
Y, The LosA/amos
Center, 1961.
1, A History
Park, Pennsylvania:
The Pennsylvania
State University
Press, 1962.
Kevles, Daniel
munity
in Modern America,
Lament,
The History
of a Scientific
Com-
Lansing, Day
of
Trinity,
New York:
Atheneum
Publishers,
1965.
Latil,
Leona Marshall,
The Uranium
Peep/e,
New York:
Scribners,
1979.
Purcell, John,
The Best-Kept
Segre, Emilio,
The Collected
Secret,
New York:
The Vanguard
Press,
1963.
Papers of Enrico Fermi, Chicago, I Ilinois:
Henry
D., Atomic
Lewis
L., Men
Energy
for Military
Purposes,
Princeton,
Press, 1945.
and
Decisions,
New
York:
Doubleday
and
Inc., 1962.
Wigner,
and Reflections,
Bloomington,
Indiana:
Jane,
cd., All
in Our
Time;
The Reminiscences
of
Twelve
Scientists, 1975.
39
Articles
Anderson,
Herbert
Review, 33:511
et.
al., The
Fission of Uranium,
Physics/
(March 1, 1939).
Anderson,
Neutrons
L.,
Herbert
in Uranium
H. B., Production
Bombarded
by Neutrons,
Physics/ Review,
Plews Bulletin,
Anniversary
of
34:797
Issue, Vol. 4
1962).
Fermi,
Science, 105:27
Fermi,
Elementary
Enrico,
Theory
of
the
Chain-Reacting
Pile,
Enrico,
Development
The
American,
198:76
1958).
International
Atomic
the 20th anniversary of the worlds first nuclear reactor (December 2, 1962).
Laurence,
William
L., The
Leo,
in the
Review, 34:799
Zip
out:
and
Zinn,
Interaction
(April
Birth
of the Atomic
Vl; 11 (December
W.
H.,
of Slow
Instantaneous
Neutrons
Age, December
2,
1, 1946).
with
Emission
Uranium,
of Fast
Physics/
15, 1939).
Worlds
First Uranium
Pile,
Time,
48:67
(December
9,
color,
1967.
1946).
Motion Picture
The Day
Tomorrow
Bqgan, 30 minutes,
(via historical film strips, photographs, interviews, and paintings) the exciting
story of the construction
by interviews with members of the research team and those closely associated
with it, such as Glenn Seaborg, Mrs. Enrico Fermi, Leslie Groves, Walter Zinn,
Herbert Anderson, and Mrs. Leona Libby.
PHOTO
CREDITS
Cover courtesy
All other
Chicago
photographs
Historical
Society
National
Laboratory
except
the foilowing:
Page
4
Addison-Wesley
Nobel
Publishing
Company
Institute
Louise Barker
Stephen
(left);
15
Chicago
19
Nobel
21
Mary
22
Nobel
35
University
Deutsch;
Ike Verne
Washington
University
Archives
Office
Tribune
Institute
(bottom)
of the Elements,
.lournal
of Chemical
Education
Institute
of Chicago
.. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .
This document
of
Forrestal
the
Assistant
Building,
1000
Secretary
for
Independence
Nuclear
Avenue,
informa-
of Energy,
Energy,
Washing-
.,
-,, ..-. -:... -: : .-:,....,.. .. ...........
-----s
-.
. . . . ..
. .
. .
. . . .
DOE/NE0046