The Chicago Piles : a scientific adventure that changed the world

There is no official photograph of this landmark event. However, what happened under the West Stands of the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field stadium left an indelible mark on human history: by withdrawing the last control rod and starting up the ‘Chicago Pile’ on 2 December 1942, Fermi and his colleagues demonstrated the feasibility of a controlled chain reaction and gave birth to the ‘nuclear age’, just four years after the discovery of fission. The vision of these pioneers had a lasting impact on the development of nuclear reactors. This talk will illustrate how the idea of the Chicago Pile came about and address the technological solutions adopted by Fermi’s team to obtain sufficiently pure materials, instrument the reactor and control the chain reaction.

CEA DES ISAS DM2S SERMA