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75 Years Ago, Scientists Conducted An Unprecedented Nuclear Experiment

On Dec. 2, 1942, a group of scientists in Chicago created the first controlled, self-sustained nuclear chain reaction, which would prove essential to developing an atomic bomb a few years later.
A reunion of atomic scientists in 1952 on the 10th anniversary of the first controlled nuclear fission chain reaction, Dec. 2, 1942, at the University of Chicago.

Seventy-five years ago this week, scientists from the University of Chicago created the first controlled, self-sustained nuclear chain reaction, a feat that was essential in the development of an atomic bomb during World War II.

Enrico Fermi and his team of physicists secretly conducted the Chicago Pile 1 experiment on a squash court under the stands of a football stadium on Dec. 2, 1942. The anniversary of this unprecedented achievement comes as tensions escalate between the U.S.

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