Publication Laka-library:
Nuclear Chain Reaction. 50th Anniversary (1992)
| Author | Science Museum UK |
| Date | December 1992 |
| Classification | 6.01.0.40/04 (HISTORY / DEVELOPMENT NUCLEAR ENERGY) |
| Front | 
|
From the publication:
FOREWORD Graham Farmelo Fifty years ago, at 15.53 on 2 December 1942, a most remarkable experiment came to fruition. In a makeshift laboratory beneath the West Stands of Stagg Football Field in the University of Chicago, a team of scientists achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. This marked the beginning of the nuclear age. The concept of releasing nuclear energy in a chain reaction was originally conceived by Leo Szilard while he was out walking in Bloomsbury, London, on 12 September 1933, having read in that morning's Times of Rutherford's remark that 'anyone who looked for a source of power in the transformation [of atoms] was talking moonshine'. It was possible to realize Szilard's idea in practical terms after the discovery of nuclear fission, which occurred only nine months before the outbreak of the Second World War. The extraordinary confluence of this development in nuclear physics and the political tides that led to the most destructive war in history is described by Margaret Gowing in this collection of essays, which record the contributions of the speakers at our meeting to mark the 50th anniversary of the nuclear chain reaction. Once the fission process and its potential became known, it seemed likely-in the climate of international belligerency-that a nuclear bomb would be developed as one of its first applications. The allies, in particular, were extremely concerned that the Nazis might be the first to produce such a weapon. Sir Rudolf Peierls points out the crucial contribution made in Britain to the development of the allies' bomb programme, notably through the incisive and influential memorandum that he wrote with Otto Frisch in the spring of 1940. A crucial step in the development of the nuclear energy programme was the demonstration of the first nuclear chain reaction. This was accomplished by the Chicago team led by the great Italian physicist Enrico Fermi. Harold Agnew and Warren Nyer, who were among the people who witnessed the first chain reaction experiment on that cold day in Chicago, have written vivid personal accounts of their work on the experiment and of their feelings in its aftermath. The success of this first chain reaction experiment enabled the development not only of nuclear weapons but also of nuclear power. Both have been among the most prominent technologies of interest and concern to the public in the last few decades. The eminent historian of science Spencer Weart reflects in his contribution on the evolution of nuclear images in the public mind during this period of unprecedented technological change.
This publication is only available at Laka on paper, not as pdf.
You can borrow the publication or request a copy. When we're available, this is possible for a small fee.