News & Events

When

Date - October 15, 2021
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

What

Emeritus Professor
Department of Chemistry
Tennessee Technological University
Talk Title: December 2, 1942

Abstract:

On December 2, 1942, man achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction under the west stands of the football stadium at the University of Chicago.  The path leading to this great achievement involves some of the most famous scientists of our time.  From the identification of the neutron by James Chadwick in 1932 to the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 and, finally, to CP-1, the first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction, more scientific progress had been made in a ten-year period than in any other time in history.  This presentation will highlight some of the little known stories concerning missed Nobel Prizes and a lowly graduate student’s chance meeting with a great man.  The contributions of Nobel laureates Enrico Fermi, Otto Hahn, and Niels Bohr will be discussed, but special attention will be given to the roles that other scientists, such as Herbert Anderson, Lise Meitner, Leo Szilard, Leona Marshall, and Otto Frisch, played in this historic achievement.