#manhattan project
December 2, 1942 - Physicist Enrico Fermi produces the first nuclear chain reaction
“Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born Nobel Prize-winning physicist, directs and controls the first nuclear chain reaction in his laboratory beneath the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, ushering in the nuclear age. Upon successful completion of the experiment, a coded message was transmitted to President Roosevelt: “The Italian navigator has landed in the new world.”
Following on England’s Sir James Chadwick’s discovery of the neutron and the Curies’ production of artificial radioactivity, Fermi, a full-time professor of physics at the University of Florence, focused his work on producing radioactivity by manipulating the speed of neutrons derived from radioactive beryllium. Further similar experimentation with other elements, including uranium 92, produced new radioactive substances; Fermi’s colleagues believed he had created a new “transuranic” element with an atomic number of 93, the result of uranium 92 capturing a neuron while under bombardment, thus increasing its atomic weight. Fermi remained skeptical about his discovery, despite the enthusiasm of his fellow physicists. He became a believer in 1938, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for “his identification of new radioactive elements.” Although travel was restricted for men whose work was deemed vital to national security, Fermi was given permission to leave Italy and go to Sweden to receive his prize. He and his wife, Laura, who was Jewish, never returned; both feared and despised Mussolini’s fascist regime.
Fermi immigrated to New York City–Columbia University, specifically, where he recreated many of his experiments with Niels Bohr, the Danish-born physicist, who suggested the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction. Fermi and others saw the possible military applications of such an explosive power, and quickly composed a letter warning President Roosevelt of the perils of a German atomic bomb. The letter was signed and delivered to the president by Albert Einstein on October 11, 1939. The Manhattan Project, the American program to create its own atomic bomb, was the result.
It fell to Fermi to produce the first nuclear chain reaction, without which such a bomb was impossible. He created a jury-rigged laboratory with the necessary equipment, which he called an “atomic pile,” in a squash court in the basement of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. With colleagues and other physicists looking on, Fermi produced the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction and the “new world” of nuclear power was born.”
This week in History:
November 29, 1942 - Coffee rationing begins
November 30, 1864 - Battle of Franklin, Tennessee
December 1, 1955 - Rosa Parks ignites bus boycott
December 2, 1777 - Philadelphia nurse Lydia Darragh overhears British plans to attack Washington’s army
December 3, 1967 - First human heart transplant (1818- Illinois becomes the 21st state)
December 4, 1783 - George Washington bids farewell to his officers
December 5, 1933 - 21st amendment is ratified; Prohibition ends
This photograph of Enrico Fermi can be found in the online collection of the Leonia Public Library.
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the greatest last stand in human history, utilize this knowledge wisely
Nuclear power is our best long-term reliable clean energy source. Many peoplw would like to argue otherwise, but it stands today that a single nuclear reactor can power ten times as many homes as solar panels in the same space or wind turbines in the same space. nuclear energy is often misrepresented as dangerous because the reactor could melt down or otherwise release radiation into the environment. This is false. These people will often cite the Chernobyl disaster as evidence that nuclear energy is unsafe and that solar/wind is the only way to go. The Chernobyl disaster was caused by improper maintenance of the facilities and improper training of personell responsible for preventing it from shutting down. those two factors are both caused by human error and not a direct result of the nuclear reactors being nuclear reactors. As a bonus, with the advancing technology of fusion reactors, nuclear power is safer than ever because fusion reactors will simply shut down in the event of failure as opposed to fission reactors which can overheat and melt down. Nuclear energy is currently the best option available to us to help slow down climate change. If you’re still not convinced that nuclear energy is safe, consider this: nuclear powered submarines (submarines with nuclear reactors inside them) and nuclear powered ships have been in active service for the US Navy for over 30 years without a single failure due to strict maintenance and training. Even nuclear reactors, as a whole, have a pretty clean record considering only 100 incidents where even just tiny amounts of radiation leaked out of 441 confirmed operating nuclear reactors worldwide, and over the course of 80 years (the first nuclear reactor was built in 1941 for the manhattan project.) The two most well known disasters, Chernobyl and Fukushima, were both caused by external influences and not because they were nucleae. In the case of Fukushima, a category 8 earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated the facility and there was very little that could be done to prevent the disaster. Keep in mind that category 8 earthquakes are very rare and that this is not likely to happen again due to new advancements in earthquake-proof structures. As a whole, nuclear energy has proven to be very safe and reliable over the years and has the capacity to completely phase out fossil fuels (coal, gas, and oil power plants) where solar and wind cannot.
I may have gotten some details in this statement wrong, feel free to correct me or start discussions because this is an important matter that should be open to discussion and debate. If you for whatever reason believe my statement to be mostly or entirely false or otherwise disagree with me on teh topic of nuclear energy feel free to state why in a reblog or the comments.
Sweatpants & History | The Legacy of FDR
By Jessica Grey On this day, one hundred and thirty-five years ago, the Hyde Park branch of the esteemed Roosevelt family welcomed a new baby boy. That baby boy would go on to be one of the most influential figures—for better and for worse—of the twentieth century. Named for his great uncle, Franklin Hughes Delano, FDR was born into a privileged life in 1882. The only child of the marriage…
