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The first nuclear Chain-reacting unit in history was established on an experimental scale at the University of Chicago Deoember 2, 1942, On that day the devastating atomic bomb that was t o descend on Japan less than three years later becams a definite possibility. For one of the bombs planned for use against Japan was t o oontain a new element not found i n nature, one which could only be obtained in t h e quantity necessary by making use of t h e conditions prevailing inside a nuculear chain-reacting unit operated a t high power. This i s element No. 94 called plutonium, which is two units higher inthe periodic table than uranium, the heaviest element previously known. Because of the difference i n chemical properties of the two elements, the problem of separating plutonium from uranium was one o f ~ developing a suitable chemical method of isolation. The initial objectives of Clinton Laboratories were t o produce experimental quantities of plutonium for use i n research work essential to the development of this atomic bomb, t o develop the technical information necessary t o assure the successful operation of 8large scale production plant built at Hanford, Washington for the purpose of supplying the new element in the quantities needed for bomb manufact ure and to train some of the key men needed t o operate the production Plant. The objectives were aucomplished successfully in the one year which elapsed between the start of operations a t Clinton Laboratories i n September 1943 and the start-up o f the Hanford plant. The successful solution of the innumerable complex scientific and technioal problems involved in this venture was due t o the combined efforts of the greatest scientific-technical-engineering team ever t o work together on a single objective. The combination consisted of large numbers of top - flight ph y sio is ts and chemists working atthe University of Chicago and a t CIinton Laboratories i n close COO operation with the vast teo hn ical and engineering staff of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. A. B. Compton, Nobel Prize physicist of the University o f Chicage, Directing the whole project from as oie nti fic angle was Dro 3 The Clinton kb or a to rie e plant, located a t Oak Hidge, Tennessee, was mtl-.C at ruc ted by the du-Pont Company and operated by the University of Chicago until July 1, 1945, a t which time the operations and a large fraction of the staff were taken over by the Monsanto Chemical Company, and i s being continued under the @no era1 supervision of Dr. Charles Allen Thomas, Vice President o f Monsanko. staffconsisted Partly of men supplied by the Metallurgical Laboratory a t the UniL versi* of Chicago, Partly of loaned employees from the du Pont Company and partly Of teohnically trained Army PerSoKUlel. laboratory activities began seven months later. Construction started in February 1943 and *he heart of Clinton laboratories operations is n uranium-graphite power unit SO constructed that the nuclear chain reaction based on the fission of ~ 235 proceeds i n an Or Cb rlY and eon trolled mmer with the release of large mounts of and the formation of the new element plutonium. t 0 9 8 3 - 1 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE
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ies carried out i n connection with thc ~?.utor_i-mIsolatl.on ppocess wero uidcA- the The vdrious highly spocializad research zctit - it ios f hz t were necessary t o isolation of plutoniwn were carriod 371 with kir zl sss energy b:r a hcs'; of physicists, ch.;mist,s aad engineers both a t Clinton h borat,crizs and rt the 3nivijrsizjr 02 Chicago.
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Dr. M. D. Peterson, all du Pont chemists; Dr. Norman Elliott, chemist on leave from biological chemist from kr var d uedical School; Dr. K. Z. Morgan, physicist on leave from University of Kentucky; Dr. H. A. Lovy, chemist from California Institute of Technology; Dr. P. C. Henshaw, biologist on leave from the National Cancer Insti -