Atomic Age Began 75 Years Ago with the First Controlled Nuclear Chain Reaction

www.scientificamerican.com ^ | 12/03/2017 | By Artemis Spyrou, Wolfgang Mittig,

[Red Badger]

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

https://theconversation.com/atomic-age-began-75-years-ago-with-the-first-controlled-nuclear-chain-reaction-87154

[Fiddlstix]

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[Jim W N]

Fortunately, the Nazi’s couldn’t figure out an A-bomb before Hitler nuked himself.

[PGR88]

There’s a small monument on a sidewalk near the center of the campus of the University of Chicago marking the spot where this experiment took place (or actually, took place directly below it, in an underground laboratory)

[Jim W N]

Once the fusion process is safely harnessed, we’ll have clean nuclear energy. Fusion is the energy of the future IMO.

[ClearCase_guy]

There is a story about a Nazi state banquet in 1941 or so. A Nazi big shot (Goering?) was sitting next to a university professor and tried to make small talk.

“How are things in the Physics Dept, herr Professor?”
“We have no Physics Dept, herr Reichsfuhrer. They were all Jews and all have emigrated to America.”

[Red Badger]

We could not live without it!.................

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Good thing OSHA and the EPA didn't exist. Fermi would have been locked up and prosecuted. Years later, 1950 would have come and gone and we would still be awaiting government "impact studies" before development could proceed.
 

[Jim W N]

[Red Badger]

One of the reasons we can’t build a new nuclear power plant is it would be a never-ending process...................

[Jim W N]

Well, I have a problem with the dangerous fission nuclear power plants but once they get the clean fusion process figured out (haven’t figured out how to deal with the heat requirement), that will be great I think.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“The Making of the Atomic Bomb” by Richard Rhodes is a tremendous book. The period from the early 1920s to the mid 40s was perhaps the most incredible period in human scientific endeavor starting with the Bohr model of the atom and continuing to the use of nuclear weapons.

Another good book is “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin .

[G Larry]

Hard to believe they made it from discovery to deployment in less than 3 years

Hard to believe my Grandpa worked at Hanford in support of it in those 3 years, and Dad began working in the Hanford reactors in 1955.

Hard to believe I was in Nuke Weapons Tech school 46 years ago.

Third generation nuclear biz in 1971?
Likely not many of us.

[Boogieman]

[Boogieman]

Yeah, the pile was underneath the bleachers of the old football field.

[stiguy]

There’s also a marker out in Palos Park woods west of Chicago marking the spot where they buried the original Chicago Pile.

[Red Badger]

How’s that third eyeball doin?..................

[Red Badger]

There’s a marker at a spot in Hawaii..............where they buried Gomer Pyle...............

[ctdonath2]

Approaching half a century myself, striking how nuclear power (and practically anything in history) really isn’t that old. Mankind has achieved a LOT in a very short time.

[Red Badger]

The 20th Century saw more technological advancements than the previous ten centuries combined........................