First Atomic Pile
“A squash court beneath Stagg Field, Chicago, December 2, 1942. Fermi watches as Chicago Pile-1 achieves the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Foreground shows graphite blocks stacked in an oblate sphere and uranium 'wood' fuel slugs; midground reveals Compton, Wigner, and Szilard at a control panel with the 'scram' axe man poised; a Geiger counter chirps faster and faster in the dim cold concrete room.”
