Argonne's Nuclear Science and Technology Legacy
Atoms forge a Scientific Revolution
Einstein's Letter
This letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt led to the Manhattan Engineering District, also known as "the Manhattan Project," a national crash program racing to develop atomic weapons before Nazi Germany. The Manhattan Project was the seed that grew into the modern national laboratory system, which today includes many non-weapons-research laboratories, such as Argonne.
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Related Information
- Reactors Designed by Argonne National Laboratory: Early Exploration - Early exploration nuclear reactors designed by the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory, the direct predecessor to Argonne National Laboratory, began the development of nuclear technology.
- Fermi facts, fables: Colleagues and friends share memories - Reprinted from Argonne Logos, Winter 2002
Multimedia
- CP-1 Flickr Gallery (by Argonne National Laboratory)
- Argonne nuclear pioneers: Chicago Pile 1 on YouTube (by Argonne National Laboratory) On December 2, 1942, 49 scientists, led by Enrico Fermi, made history when Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1) went critical and produced the world's first self-sustaining, controlled nuclear chain reaction. Seventy years later, two of the last surviving CP-1 pioneers, Harold Agnew and Warren Nyer, recall that historic day.
Last Modified: Tue, July 10, 2012 5:11 PM