151-510: Henry Crown Field House is an athletic facility on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois . Construction of the building took place in 1931 on land owned by the university. The cost of construction, however; was covered by Material Service Corporation CEO and philanthropist , Henry Crown . Under the direction of architects Holabird & Root , the field house
302-668: A 15-day sit-in at the college's administration building in a protest over the university's segregationist off-campus rental policies. After continued turmoil, a university committee in 1967 issued what became known as the Kalven Report. The report, a two-page statement of the university's policy in "social and political action," declared that "To perform its mission in the society, a university must sustain an extraordinary environment of freedom of inquiry and maintain an independence from political fashions, passions, and pressures." The report has since been used to justify decisions such as
453-464: A neutron moderator . The reactor contained 45,000 ultra-pure graphite blocks weighing 360 short tons (330 tonnes ) and was fueled by 5.4 short tons (4.9 tonnes) of uranium metal and 45 short tons (41 tonnes) of uranium oxide . Unlike most subsequent nuclear reactors, it had no radiation shielding or cooling system as it operated at very low power – about one-half watt. The pursuit of a reactor had been touched off by concern that Nazi Germany had
604-462: A nuclear reactor , and with Robert Serber about how that plutonium might be separated from uranium. His report, submitted in November, stated that a bomb was feasible. The final draft of Compton's November 1941 report made no mention of plutonium, but after discussing the latest research with Ernest Lawrence , Compton became convinced that a plutonium bomb was also feasible. In December, Compton
755-487: A rackets court. Stagg Field had been largely unused since the University of Chicago had given up playing American football in 1939, but the rackets courts under West Stands were still used for playing squash and handball . Leona Woods and Anthony L. Turkevich played squash there in 1940. Since it was intended for strenuous exercise, the area was unheated, and very cold in the winter. The nearby North Stands had
906-481: A radiation shielding , with overhead protection from 6 inches (15 cm) of lead and 50 inches (130 cm) of wood. More uranium was used, so it contained 52 short tons (47 t) of uranium and 472 short tons (428 t) of graphite. No cooling system was provided as it only ran at a few kilowatts. CP-2 became operational in March 1943, with a k of 1.055. During the war, Walter Zinn allowed CP-2 to be run around
1057-494: A "pile". Emilio Segrè later recalled that: I thought for a while that this term was used to refer to a source of nuclear energy in analogy with Volta 's use of the Italian term pila to denote his own great invention of a source of electrical energy. I was disillusioned by Fermi himself, who told me that he simply used the common English word pile as synonymous with heap . To my surprise, Fermi never seemed to have thought of
1208-420: A bucket of concentrated cadmium nitrate , which he was to throw over the pile in the event of an emergency. The startup began at 09:54. Walter Zinn removed the zip, the emergency control rod, and secured it. Norman Hilberry stood ready with an axe to cut the scram line, which would allow the zip to fall under the influence of gravity. While Leona Woods called out the count from the boron trifluoride detector in
1359-423: A copy of every book and journal published by the University of Chicago Press at no cost. The agreement provided that either party could terminate the affiliation on proper notice. Several University of Chicago professors disliked the program, as it involved uncompensated additional labor on their part, and they believed it cheapened the academic reputation of the university. The program was ended by 1910. In 1929,
1510-437: A cubic lattice structure. A radium-beryllium neutron source was positioned near the bottom. The uranium oxide was heated to remove moisture, and packed into the cans while still hot on a shaking table. The cans were then soldered shut. For a workforce, Pegram secured the services of Columbia's football team. It was the custom at the time for football players to perform odd jobs around the university. They were able to manipulate
1661-515: A day shift under Zinn and a night shift under Anderson. For a work force they hired thirty high school dropouts who were eager to earn a bit of money before being drafted into the military. They machined 45,000 graphite blocks enclosing 19,000 pieces of uranium metal and uranium oxide. The graphite arrived from the manufacturers in 4.25-by-4.25-inch (10.8 by 10.8 cm) bars of various lengths. They were cut into standard lengths of 16.5 inches (42 cm), each weighing 19 pounds (8.6 kg). A lathe
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#17327917541441812-430: A factor k , the second generation of fission events will produce k , the third k and so on. In order for a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction to occur, k must be at least 3 or 4 percent greater than 1. In other words, k must be greater than 1 without crossing the prompt critical threshold that would result in a rapid, exponential increase in the number of fission events. Fermi christened his apparatus
1963-490: A fissioning uranium nucleus produced 1.73 neutrons on average. It was enough, but a careful design was called for to minimize losses. (Today the average number of neutrons emitted per fissioning uranium-235 nucleus is known to be about 2.4). Szilard estimated he would need about 50 short tons (45 t) of graphite and 5 short tons (4.5 t) of uranium. In December 1940, Fermi and Szilard met with Herbert G. MacPherson and Victor C. Hamister at National Carbon to discuss
2114-472: A grand reading room for the university library and prevents the need for an off-campus book depository. The site of Chicago Pile-1 is a National Historic Landmark and is marked by the Henry Moore sculpture Nuclear Energy . Robie House , a Frank Lloyd Wright building acquired by the university in 1963, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a National Historic Landmark, as is room 405 of
2265-533: A large study space and an automated book storage and retrieval system. The John Crerar Library contains more than 1.4 million volumes in the biological, medical and physical sciences and collections in general science and the philosophy and history of science, medicine, and technology. The university also operates a number of special libraries, including the D'Angelo Law Library, the Social Service Administration Library, and
2416-634: A location on the University of Chicago campus. Since 1983, the University of Chicago has maintained the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project , a mathematics program used in urban primary and secondary schools. The university runs a program called the Council on Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, which administers interdisciplinary workshops to provide a forum for graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to present scholarly work in progress. The university also operates
2567-434: A loud voice, George Weil , the only one on the floor, withdrew all but one of the control rods. At 10:37 Fermi ordered Weil to remove all but 13 feet (4.0 m) of the last control rod. Weil withdrew it 6 inches (15 cm) at a time, with measurements being taken at each step. The process was abruptly halted by the automatic control rod reinserting itself, due to its trip level being set too low. At 11:25, Fermi ordered
2718-465: A major role in the development of many academic disciplines, including economics, law, literary criticism, mathematics, physics, religion, sociology, and political science, establishing the Chicago schools of thought in various fields. Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory produced the world's first human-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction in Chicago Pile-1 beneath the viewing stands of
2869-646: A member of the Baptist clergy who believed that a great university should maintain the study of faith as a central focus. To fulfill this commitment, he brought the Baptist seminary that had begun as an independent school "alongside" the Old University of Chicago and separated from the old school decades earlier to Morgan Park. This became the Divinity School in 1891, the first professional school at
3020-402: A moderator, while Leo Szilard and Enrico Fermi had asked suppliers about the most common contaminations of graphite after a first failed test. They consequently ensured that the next test would be run with graphite entirely devoid of them. As it turned out, both boron and cadmium were strong neutron poisons . In 1943, CP-1 was moved to Site A , a wartime research facility near Chicago, where it
3171-611: A nearby particle physics laboratory, as well as a stake in the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico . Faculty and students at the adjacent Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago collaborate with the university. In 2013, the university formed an affiliation with the formerly independent Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The National Opinion Research Center maintains an office at
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#17327917541443322-639: A new school could go by the name of the city. In 1890, the American Baptist Education Society incorporated a new University of Chicago as a coeducational institution, using $ 400,000 donated to the ABES to supplement a $ 600,000 donation from Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller , and land donated by Marshall Field . While the Rockefeller donation provided money for academic operations and long-term endowment, it
3473-480: A pair of ice skating rinks on the ground floor, which although they were unrefrigerated, seldom melted in winter. Allison used the rackets court area to construct a 7-foot (2.1 m) experimental pile before Fermi's group arrived in 1942. The United States Army Corps of Engineers assumed control of the nuclear weapons program in June 1942, and Compton's Metallurgical Laboratory became part of what came to be called
3624-443: A radium-beryllium source to bombard uranium with neutrons. They discovered significant neutron multiplication in natural uranium, proving that a chain reaction might be possible. Fermi and Szilard still believed that enormous quantities of uranium would be required for an atomic bomb , and therefore concentrated on producing a controlled chain reaction. Fermi urged Alfred O. C. Nier to separate uranium isotopes for determination of
3775-458: A schedule to achieve a controlled nuclear chain reaction by January 1943, and to have an atomic bomb by January 1945. In a nuclear reactor, criticality is achieved when the rate of neutron production is equal to the rate of neutron losses, including both neutron absorption and neutron leakage. When a uranium-235 atom undergoes fission, it releases an average of 2.4 neutrons. In the simplest case of an unreflected , homogeneous, spherical reactor,
3926-440: A seating capacity of 3,500. There are locker rooms in the basement which provide accommodations for 500 athletes. The building utilized a Gothic design, with an exterior of Indiana limestone harmonizing with the other university buildings. University of Chicago The University of Chicago ( UChicago , Chicago , U of C , or UChi ) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois , United States. Its main campus
4077-468: A series of attempts, the successful reactor was assembled in November 1942 by a team of about 30 that, in addition to Fermi, included scientists Leo Szilard (who had previously formulated an idea for non-fission chain reaction ), Leona Woods , Herbert L. Anderson , Walter Zinn , Martin D. Whitaker , and George Weil . The reactor used natural uranium. This required a very large amount of material in order to reach criticality, along with graphite used as
4228-413: A slow reaction like the one in a pile where the fission products build up, these neutrons account for about three percent of the total neutron flux . Fermi argued that by using the delayed neutrons , and by carefully controlling the reaction rates as the power is ramped up, a pile can reach criticality at fission rates slightly below that of a chain reaction relying solely on the prompt neutrons from
4379-475: A substantial scientific lead. The success of Chicago Pile-1 in producing the chain reaction provided the first vivid demonstration of the feasibility of the military use of nuclear energy by the Allies, as well as the reality of the danger that Nazi Germany could succeed in producing nuclear weapons. Previously, estimates of critical masses had been crude calculations, leading to order-of-magnitude uncertainties about
4530-671: A water-cooled production reactor. There remained concerns about the ability of a graphite-moderated reactor being able to produce plutonium on industrial scale, and for this reason the Manhattan Project continued the development of heavy water production facilities . An air-cooled reactor, the X-10 Graphite Reactor , was built at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as part of
4681-415: Is Katherine Baicker since March 2023. The current president of the University of Chicago is chemist Paul Alivisatos , who assumed the role on September 1, 2021. Robert Zimmer , the previous president, transitioned into the new role of chancellor of the university. The university's endowment was the 12th largest among American educational institutions and state university systems in 2013 and as of 2020
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4832-507: Is in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side , near the shore of Lake Michigan about 7 miles (11 km) from the Loop . The university is composed of the undergraduate College of the University of Chicago and four graduate research divisions: Biological Science, Humanities, Physical Science, and Social Science, which also include various organized institutes. In addition,
4983-479: Is now known as the Site ;A/Plot M Disposal Site . It is marked by a commemorative boulder. By the 1970s, there was increased public concern about the levels of radioactivity at the site, which was used for recreation by local residents. Surveys conducted in the 1980s found strontium-90 in the soil at Plot M, trace amounts of tritium in nearby wells, and plutonium, technetium, caesium, and uranium in
5134-467: Is the largest gift in the university's history and the largest gift ever to any business school. In 2009, planning or construction on several new buildings, half of which cost $ 100 million or more, was underway. Since 2011, major construction projects have included the Jules and Gwen Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, a ten-story medical research center, and further additions to the medical campus of
5285-780: The George Herbert Jones Laboratory , where Glenn T. Seaborg and his team were the first to isolate plutonium. Hitchcock Hall , an undergraduate dormitory, is on the National Register of Historic Places . The campus is soon to be the home of the Obama Presidential Center , the Presidential Library for the 44th president of the United States with expected completion in 2026. The Obamas settled in
5436-690: The Great Depression . Nonetheless, in 1933, Hutchins proposed an unsuccessful plan to merge the University of Chicago and Northwestern University . During World War II, the university's Metallurgical Laboratory made ground-breaking contributions to the Manhattan Project . The university was the site of the first isolation of plutonium and of the creation of the first artificial, self-sustained nuclear reaction by Enrico Fermi in 1942. The university did not provide standard oversight of Bruno Bettelheim and his tenure as director of
5587-767: The John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought . The university contains eight professional schools: the University of Chicago Law School , the Pritzker School of Medicine , the Booth School of Business , the University of Chicago Divinity School , the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy , the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration , the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies (which offers non-degree courses and certificates as well as degree programs) and
5738-575: The Manhattan Project . Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves, Jr. became director of the Manhattan Project on 23 September 1942. He visited the Metallurgical Laboratory for the first time on 5 October. Between 15 September and 15 November 1942, groups under Herbert Anderson and Walter Zinn constructed 16 experimental piles under the Stagg Field stands. Fermi designed a new pile, which would be spherical to maximize k , which
5889-653: The Miller–Urey experiment , was conducted at the university. REM sleep was discovered at the university in 1953 by Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky . The University of Chicago (Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics) operated the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin from 1897 until 2018, where the largest operating refracting telescope in the world and other telescopes are located. Chicago Pile-1 Chicago Pile-1 ( CP-1 )
6040-601: The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) created a special project headed by Arthur Compton , a Nobel-Prize-winning physics professor at the University of Chicago , to report on the uranium program. Compton's report, submitted in May 1941, foresaw the prospects of developing radiological weapons , nuclear propulsion for ships, and nuclear weapons using uranium-235 or the recently discovered plutonium . In October, he wrote another report on
6191-528: The Orthogenic School for Disturbed Children from 1944 to 1973. In the early 1950s, student applications declined as a result of increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood. In response, the university became a major sponsor of a controversial urban renewal project for Hyde Park , which profoundly affected both the neighborhood's architecture and street plan. During this period
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6342-798: The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering . The Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association , the Divinity School is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada , and Pritzker is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education . The university runs a number of academic institutions and programs apart from its undergraduate and postgraduate schools. It operates
6493-438: The University of Chicago , CP-1 was built under the west viewing stands of the original Stagg Field . Although the project's civilian and military leaders had misgivings about the possibility of a disastrous runaway reaction, they trusted Fermi's safety calculations and decided they could carry out the experiment in a densely populated area. Fermi described the reactor as "a crude pile of black bricks and wooden timbers". After
6644-693: The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (a private day school for K-12 students and day care ), and a public charter school with four campuses on the South Side of Chicago administered by the university's Urban Education Institute. In addition, the Hyde Park Day School, a school for students with learning disabilities, and the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School , a residential treatment program for those with behavioral and emotional problems, maintains
6795-517: The University of Chicago Medical Center . In 2014 the university launched the public phase of a $ 4.5 billion fundraising campaign. In September 2015, the university received $ 100 million from The Pearson Family Foundation to establish The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts and The Pearson Global Forum at the Harris School of Public Policy . In 2019,
6946-843: The University of Chicago Press , and the University of Chicago Medical Center , and oversees several laboratories, including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) , Argonne National Laboratory , and the Marine Biological Laboratory . The university is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission . The university runs on a quarter system in which the academic year is divided into four terms: Summer (June–August), Autumn (September–December), Winter (January–March), and Spring (April–June). Full-time undergraduate students take three to four courses every quarter for approximately nine weeks before their quarterly academic breaks. The school year typically begins in late September and ends in late May. After its foundation in
7097-537: The University of Chicago Press , the largest university press in the United States. The University of Chicago Library system encompasses six libraries that contain a total of 11 million volumes, the 9th most among library systems in the United States. The university's main library is the Regenstein Library , which contains one of the largest collections of print volumes in the United States. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library , built in 2011, houses
7248-418: The neutronic reactor no. 2,708,656. The Red Gate Woods later became the original site of Argonne National Laboratory , which replaced the Metallurgical Laboratory on 1 July 1946, with Zinn as its first director. CP-2 and CP-3 operated for ten years before they outlived their usefulness, and Zinn ordered them shut down on 15 May 1954. Their remaining usable fuel was transferred to Chicago Pile-5 at
7399-526: The 1890s, the university, fearful that its vast resources would injure smaller schools by drawing away good students, affiliated with several regional colleges and universities: Des Moines College , Kalamazoo College , Butler University , and Stetson University . In 1896, the university affiliated with Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois. Under the terms of the affiliation, the schools were required to have courses of study comparable to those at
7550-548: The 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the University of Chicago Quadrangles were selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois). After the 1940s, the campus's Gothic style began to give way to modern styles. In 1955, Eero Saarinen was contracted to develop a second master plan, which led to the construction of buildings both north and south of
7701-404: The 60-inch (150 cm) cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley and found that it had 1.7 times the thermal neutron capture cross section of uranium-235. At the time only such minute quantities of plutonium-239 had been produced in cyclotrons, and it was not possible to produce a sufficiently large quantity that way. Compton discussed with Wigner how plutonium might be produced in
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#17327917541447852-492: The AGOT graphite is considered as the first true nuclear-grade graphite . By November 1942, National Carbon had shipped 255 short tons (231 t) of AGOT graphite to the University of Chicago, where it became the primary source of graphite to be used in the construction of Chicago Pile-1. Szilard drafted a confidential letter to the U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt , warning of a German nuclear weapon project , explaining
8003-665: The Argonne National Laboratory's new site in DuPage County , and the CP-2 and CP-3 reactors were dismantled in 1955 and 1956. Some of the graphite blocks from CP-1/CP-2 were reused in the reflector of the TREAT reactor. High-level nuclear waste such as fuel and heavy water were shipped to Oak Ridge, Tennessee , for disposal. The rest was encased in concrete and buried in a 40-foot-deep (12 m) trench in what
8154-684: The Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill . Another master plan, designed in 1999 and updated in 2004, produced the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center (2003), the Max Palevsky Residential Commons (2001), South Campus Residence Hall and dining commons (2009), a new children's hospital, and other construction, expansions, and restorations. In 2011, the university completed the glass dome-shaped Joe and Rika Mansueto Library , which provides
8305-587: The Eckhart Library for mathematics and computer science. Harper Memorial Library is now a reading and study room. According to the National Science Foundation , University of Chicago spent $ 423.9 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 60th in the nation. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and
8456-601: The German chemist Max Bodenstein for a situation in which two molecules react to form not just the final reaction products, but also some unstable molecules that can further react with the original substances to cause more to react. The concept of a nuclear chain reaction was first hypothesized by the Hungarian scientist Leo Szilard on 12 September 1933. Szilard realized that if a nuclear reaction produced neutrons or dineutrons , which then caused further nuclear reactions,
8607-469: The Hyde Park campus and is affiliated with multiple academic centers and institutes. The University of Chicago has been the site of some important experiments and academic movements. In economics, the university has played an important role in shaping ideas about the free market and is the namesake of the Chicago school of economics , the school of economic thought supported by Milton Friedman and other economists. The university's sociology department
8758-641: The Law . The university has an extensive record of producing successful business leaders and billionaires. The College of the University of Chicago grants Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 51 academic majors and 33 minors. The college's academics are divided into five divisions: the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division, the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division,
8909-563: The Main Quadrangles were designed by Cobb, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge , Holabird & Roche , and other architectural firms in a mixture of the Victorian Gothic and Collegiate Gothic styles, patterned on the colleges of the University of Oxford. (Mitchell Tower, for example, is modeled after Oxford's Magdalen Tower , and the university Commons, Hutchinson Hall , replicates Christ Church Hall. ) In celebration of
9060-583: The Midway, including the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle (a complex designed by Saarinen); a series of arts buildings; a building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the university's School of Social Service Administration, a building which is to become the home of the Harris School of Public Policy by Edward Durrell Stone , and the Regenstein Library , the largest building on campus, a brutalist structure designed by Walter Netsch of
9211-422: The Old University of Chicago are recognized as alumni of the University of Chicago. William Rainey Harper became the university's president on July 1, 1891, and the Hyde Park campus opened for classes on October 1, 1892. Harper worked on building up the faculty and in two years he had a faculty of 120, including eight former university or college presidents. Harper was an accomplished scholar ( Semiticist ) and
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#17327917541449362-658: The Social Sciences Collegiate Division, the Humanities Collegiate Division, and the New Collegiate Division. The first four are sections within their corresponding graduate divisions, while the New Collegiate Division administers interdisciplinary majors and studies which do not fit in one of the other four divisions. Undergraduate students are required to take a distribution of courses to satisfy
9513-410: The U.S. government. An Advisory Committee on Uranium was formed under Lyman J. Briggs , a scientist and the director of the U.S. National Bureau of Standards . Its first meeting on 21 October 1939 was attended by Szilard, Teller, and Wigner. The scientists persuaded the U.S. Army and Navy to provide $ 6,000 for Szilard to purchase supplies for experiments—in particular, more graphite. In April 1941,
9664-518: The United States entered World War II, Compton decided on his own location, the University of Chicago, where he knew he had the unstinting support of university administration. Chicago also had a central location, and scientists, technicians and facilities were more readily available in the Midwest , where war work had not yet taken them away. In contrast, Columbia University was engaged in uranium enrichment efforts under Harold Urey and John Dunning, and
9815-572: The United States' major urban areas in radioactive fission products. But the physics of the system suggested that the pile could be safely shut down even in the event of a runaway reaction . When a fuel atom undergoes fission, it releases neutrons that strike other fuel atoms in a chain reaction. The time between absorbing the neutron and undergoing fission is measured in nanoseconds. Szilard had noted that this reaction leaves behind fission products that may also release neutrons, but do so over much longer periods, from microseconds to as long as minutes. In
9966-449: The United States. The university's students, faculty, and staff has included 101 Nobel laureates . The university's faculty members and alumni also include 10 Fields Medalists, 4 Turing Award winners, 52 MacArthur Fellows , 26 Marshall Scholars , 54 Rhodes Scholars , 27 Pulitzer Prize winners, 20 National Humanities Medalists , 29 living billionaire graduates, and 8 Olympic medalists . The first University of Chicago
10117-491: The University of Chicago Hospitals (now called the University of Chicago Medical Center ) finished construction and enrolled their first medical students. Also, the philosophy oriented Committee on Social Thought , an institution distinctive of the university, was created. Money that had been raised during the 1920s and financial backing from the Rockefeller Foundation helped the school to survive through
10268-576: The University of Chicago announced plans to establish the Milton Friedman Institute , which attracted both support and controversy from faculty members and students. The institute would cost around $ 200 million and occupy the buildings of the Chicago Theological Seminary . During the same year, investor David G. Booth donated $ 300 million to the university's Booth School of Business , which
10419-604: The University of Chicago are known for their demanding standards, heavy workload and academic difficulty; according to Uni in the USA , "Among the academic cream of American universities – Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and the University of Chicago – it is UChicago that can most convincingly claim to provide the most rigorous, intense learning experience." The university graduate schools and committees are divided into four divisions: Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences, and eight professional schools. In
10570-476: The University of Chicago consists of 217 acres (87.8 ha) in the Chicago neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn , approximately eight miles (13 km) south of downtown Chicago . The northern and southern portions of campus are separated by the Midway Plaisance , a large, linear park created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition . In 2011, Travel+Leisure listed the university as one of
10721-467: The University of Chicago. Harper recruited acclaimed Yale baseball and football player Amos Alonzo Stagg from the Young Men's Christian Association training school at Springfield to coach the school's football program. Stagg was given a position on the faculty, the first such athletic position in the United States. While coaching at the university, Stagg invented the numbered football jersey and
10872-461: The University of Chicago. A student or faculty member of an affiliated school was entitled to free tuition at the University of Chicago, and Chicago students were eligible to attend an affiliated school on the same terms and receive credit for their work. The University of Chicago also agreed to provide affiliated schools with books and scientific apparatus and supplies at cost; special instructors and lecturers without cost except for travel expenses; and
11023-626: The area. In 1994, the United States Department of Energy and the Argonne National Laboratory yielded to public pressure and earmarked $ 24.7 million and $ 3.4 million respectively to rehabilitate the site. As part of the cleanup, 500 cubic yards (380 m ) of radioactive waste was removed and sent to the Hanford Site for disposal. By 2002, the Illinois Department of Public Health had determined that
11174-476: The ashes, a reference to the fire and foreclosure of the Old University of Chicago. A single stone from the rubble of the original Douglas Hall on 34th Place was set into the wall of the Classics Building. The dean of the college and University of Chicago and professor of history John Boyer has argued that the University of Chicago has "a plausible genealogy as a pre–Civil War institution". Alumni from
11325-790: The autumn quarter of 2022, the university enrolled 10,546 graduate students on degree-seeking courses: 569 in the Biological Sciences Division, 612 in the Humanities Division, 2,103 in the Physical Sciences Division, 972 in the Social Sciences Division, and 6,290 in the professional schools (including the Graham School). The university is home to several committees for interdisciplinary scholarship, including
11476-575: The board of trustees and donor of the Ryerson Physical Laboratory) Adolphus Clay Bartlett and Leon Mandel, who funded the construction of the gymnasium and assembly hall, and George C. Walker of the Walker Museum, a relative of Cobb who encouraged his inaugural donation for facilities. The new university acknowledged its predecessor. The university's coat of arms has a phoenix rising from
11627-485: The clock, and its design was suitable for conducting experiments. CP-2 was joined by Chicago Pile-3 , the first heavy water reactor, which went critical on 15 May 1944. The reactors were used to undertake research related to weapons, such as investigations of the properties of tritium . Wartime experiments included measuring the neutron absorption cross-section of elements and compounds. Albert Wattenberg recalled that about 10 elements were studied each month, and 75 over
11778-405: The control circuits, but after 28 minutes, the alarm bells went off to notify everyone that the neutron flux had passed the preset safety level, and he ordered Zinn to release the zip. The reaction rapidly halted. The pile had run for about 4.5 minutes at about 0.5 watts. Wigner opened a bottle of Chianti , which they drank from paper cups. Compton notified Conant by telephone. The conversation
11929-441: The control rods reinserted. He then announced that it was lunch time. The experiment resumed at 14:00. Weil worked the final control rod while Fermi carefully monitored the neutron activity. Fermi announced that the pile had gone critical (reached a self-sustaining reaction) at 15:25. Fermi switched the scale on the recorder to accommodate the rapidly increasing electric current from the boron trifluoride detector. He wanted to test
12080-477: The course of a year. An accident involving radium and beryllium powder caused a dangerous drop in his white blood cell count that lasted for three years. As the dangers of things such as inhaling uranium oxide became more apparent, experiments were conducted on the effects of radioactive substances on laboratory test animals. Though the design was held secret for a decade, Szilard and Fermi jointly patented it, with an initial filing date of 19 December 1944 as
12231-441: The critical radius was calculated to be approximately: R c r i t ≈ π M k − 1 {\displaystyle R_{crit}\approx {\frac {\pi M}{\sqrt {k-1}}}} , where M is the average distance that a neutron travels before it is absorbed, and k is the average neutron multiplication factor . The neutrons in succeeding reactions will be amplified by
12382-787: The downtown Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago. The Center in Paris, a campus located on the left bank of the Seine in Paris, hosts various undergraduate and graduate study programs. In fall 2010, the university opened a center in Beijing, near Renmin University 's campus in Haidian District . The most recent additions are a center in New Delhi , India, which opened in 2014, and a center in Hong Kong which opened in 2018. In 2024,
12533-484: The experiment. There were 49 scientists present. Although most of the S-1 Executive Committee was in Chicago, only Crawford Greenewalt was present, at Compton's invitation. Other dignitaries present included Szilard, Wigner and Spedding. Fermi, Compton, Anderson and Zinn gathered around the controls on the balcony, which was originally intended as a viewing platform. Samuel Allison stood ready with
12684-459: The field house was located just north of the original Stagg Field , at University Avenue and 56th Street. The building measured 368 feet long and 165 feet wide. The interior was a single great arena with no obstructions. The height from the clay floor to the centerline of the trusses was fifty feet. There was a 220-yard track with a 100-yard straightaway surrounding a raised wooden basketball floor measuring 110 feet by 62 feet. Removable bleachers gave
12835-569: The first nuclear fission experiment in the United States on 25 January 1939. Subsequent work confirmed that fast neutrons were indeed produced by fission. Szilard obtained permission from the head of the Physics Department at Columbia, George B. Pegram , to use a laboratory for three months, and he persuaded Walter Zinn to become his collaborator. They conducted a simple experiment on the seventh floor of Pupin Hall at Columbia, using
12986-462: The fissile component, and, on 29 February 1940, Nier separated the first uranium-235 sample, which, after being mailed to Dunning at Columbia, was confirmed to be the isolated fissile material. When he was working in Rome, Italy, Fermi had discovered that collisions between neutrons and neutron moderators can slow the neutrons, and thereby make them more likely to be captured by uranium nuclei, causing
13137-437: The fission reactions. Since the rate of release of these neutrons depends on fission events taking place some time earlier, there is a delay between any power spikes and the later criticality event. This time gives the operators leeway; if a spike in the prompt neutron flux is seen, they have several minutes before this causes a runaway reaction. If a neutron absorber, or neutron poison , is injected at any time during this period,
13288-457: The global top 10 for eleven consecutive years (from 2012 to 2022). The university's law and business schools rank among the top three professional schools in the United States. The business school is currently ranked first in the US by US News & World Report and first in the world by The Economist , while the law school is ranked third by US News & World Report and first by Above
13439-436: The graphite. The entire pile was then canned by soldering sheet metal around it, and the contents heated above the boiling point of water to remove moisture. The result was a k of 0.918. In Chicago, Samuel K. Allison had found a suitable location 60 feet (18 m) long, 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 26 feet (7.9 m) high, sunk slightly below ground level, in a space under the stands at Stagg Field originally built as
13590-442: The heavy cans with ease. The final result was a disappointing k of 0.87. Compton felt that having teams at Columbia University, Princeton University , the University of Chicago and the University of California was creating too much duplication and not enough collaboration, and he resolved to concentrate the work in one location. Nobody wanted to move, and everybody argued in favor of their own location. In January 1942, soon after
13741-409: The holes in the graphite in lieu of the uranium oxide pseudospheres. The process of filling the balloon with carbon dioxide would not be necessary, and twenty layers could be dispensed with. According to Fermi's new calculations, the countdown would reach 1 between the 56th and 57th layers. The resulting pile was therefore flatter on the top than on the bottom. Anderson called a halt after the 57th layer
13892-540: The huddle. Stagg is the namesake of the university's Stagg Field . The business school was founded in 1898, and the law school was founded in 1902. Harper died in 1906 and was replaced by a succession of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929. During this period, the Oriental Institute was founded to support and interpret archeological work in what was then called the Near East. In
14043-660: The late 19th century, the University of Chicago quickly became established as one of the wealthiest and, according to Henry S. Webber, one of the most prestigious universities in America. To elevate higher education standards and practices, the university was a founder of the Association of American Universities in 1900. According to Jonathan R. Cole , universities such as Chicago leveraged endowments to fund research, attracting accomplished faculty and producing academic advancements, leading to sustained growth and maintenance of their institutional profile such that Chicago has been among
14194-478: The major relevant contaminant was boron, both because of its concentration and its affinity for absorbing neutrons, confirming a suspicion of Szilard's. More importantly, MacPherson and Hamister believed that techniques for producing graphite of a sufficient purity could be developed. Had Fermi and Szilard not consulted MacPherson and Hamister, they might have concluded, incorrectly, as the Germans did, that graphite
14345-404: The materials for Fermi's new pile would be on hand before the new structure was completed. In early November, Fermi came to Compton with a proposal to build the experimental pile under the stands at Stagg Field. The risk of building an operational reactor running at criticality in a populated area was a significant issue, as there was a danger of a catastrophic nuclear meltdown blanketing one of
14496-452: The matter to my superior. But this would have been unfair. President Hutchins was in no position to make an independent judgment of the hazards involved. Based on considerations of the University's welfare, the only answer he could have given would have been—no. And this answer would have been wrong. Compton informed Groves of his decision at the 14 November meeting of the S-1 Executive Committee. Although Groves "had serious misgivings about
14647-417: The morning of 16 November 1942. The first layer placed was made up entirely of graphite blocks, with no uranium. Layers without uranium were alternated with two layers containing uranium, so the uranium was enclosed in graphite. Unlike later reactors, it had no radiation shielding or cooling system, as it was only intended to be operated at very low power. The work was carried out in twelve-hour shifts, with
14798-473: The most beautiful college campuses in the United States. The first buildings of the campus, which make up what is now known as the Main Quadrangles, were part of a master plan conceived by two University of Chicago trustees and plotted by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb . The Main Quadrangles consist of six quadrangles , each surrounded by buildings, bordering one larger quadrangle. The buildings of
14949-531: The most distinguished research universities in the US for more than a century. The university is described by the Encyclopedia Britannica as "one of the United States' most outstanding universities". ARWU has consistently placed the University of Chicago among the top 10 universities in the world, and the 2021 QS World University Rankings placed the university in 9th place worldwide. THE World University Rankings has ranked it among
15100-504: The number of required courses from 21 to 15. When The New York Times , The Economist , and other major news outlets picked up this story, the university became the focal point of a national debate on education. The changes were ultimately implemented, but the controversy played a role in Sonnenschein's decision to resign in 2000. From the mid-2000s, the university began a number of multimillion-dollar expansion projects. In 2008,
15251-480: The pile was dismantled and moved to Site A in the Argonne Forest, now known as Red Gate Woods . There the original materials were used to build Chicago Pile-2 (CP-2). Instead of being spherical, the new reactor was built in a cube-like shape, about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall with a base approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) square. It was surrounded by concrete walls 5 feet (1.5 m) thick that acted as
15402-507: The possibility of creating a nuclear chain reaction with uranium, but initial experiments were unsuccessful. In order for a chain reaction to occur, fissioning uranium atoms had to emit additional neutrons to keep the reaction going. At Columbia University in New York, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi collaborated with Americans John Dunning , Herbert L. Anderson , Eugene T. Booth , G. Norris Glasoe , and Francis G. Slack to conduct
15553-477: The possibility of nuclear weapons, and encouraging the development of a program that could result in their creation. With the help of Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller , he approached his old friend and collaborator Albert Einstein in August 1939, and convinced him to sign the letter, lending his prestige to the proposal. The Einstein–Szilard letter resulted in the establishment of research into nuclear fission by
15704-407: The possible existence of impurities in graphite, and the procurement of graphite of a purity that had never been produced commercially. National Carbon, a chemical company, had taken the then unusual step of hiring MacPherson, a physicist, to research carbon arc lamps, a major commercial use for graphite at that time. Because of his work studying the spectroscopy of the carbon arc, MacPherson knew that
15855-459: The practicality of an atomic bomb. For this report, he worked with Fermi on calculations of the critical mass of uranium-235. He also discussed the prospects for uranium enrichment with Harold Urey . Niels Bohr and John Wheeler had theorized that heavy isotopes with odd atomic mass numbers were fissile . If so, then plutonium-239 was likely to be fissile. In May 1941, Emilio Segrè and Glenn Seaborg produced 28 μg of plutonium-239 in
16006-416: The president are the provost, fourteen vice presidents (including the chief financial officer, chief investment officer , and vice president for campus life and student services), the directors of Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab , the secretary of the university, and the student ombudsperson . As of May 2022, the current chairman of the board of trustees is David Rubenstein . The current provost
16157-503: The process might be self-perpetuating. Szilard proposed using mixtures of lighter known isotopes which produced neutrons in copious amounts, and also entertained the possibility of using uranium as a fuel. He filed a patent for his idea of a simple nuclear reactor the following year. The discovery of nuclear fission by German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938, and its theoretical explanation (and naming) by their collaborators Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch , opened up
16308-440: The reactor will shut down. Consequently, the reaction can be controlled with electromechanical control systems such as control rods . Compton felt this delay was enough to provide a critical margin of safety, and allowed Fermi to build Chicago Pile-1 at Stagg Field. Compton later explained that: As a responsible officer of the University of Chicago, according to every rule of organizational protocol, I should have taken
16459-522: The relationship between his pile and Volta's. Another grant, this time of $ 40,000, was obtained from the S-1 Uranium Committee to purchase more materials, and in August 1941 Fermi began to plan the building of a sub-critical assembly to test with a smaller structure whether a larger one would work. The so-called exponential pile he proposed to build was 8 feet (2.4 m) long, 8 feet (2.4 m) wide and 11 feet (3.4 m) high. This
16610-471: The remaining materials posed no danger to public health. The successful test of CP-1 not only proved that a nuclear reactor was feasible, it demonstrated that the k factor was larger than originally thought. This removed the objections to the use of air or water as a coolant rather than expensive helium. It also meant that there was greater latitude in the choice of materials for coolant pipes and control mechanisms. Wigner now pressed ahead with his design for
16761-436: The rods was simply a variable resistor , controlling an electric motor that would spool the clothesline wire over a pulley that also had two lead weights attached to ensure it would fail-safe and return to its zero position when released. About two layers were laid per shift. Woods' boron trifluoride neutron counter was inserted at the 15th layer. Thereafter, readings were taken at the end of each shift. Fermi divided
16912-491: The size of a hypothetical bomb. The successful use of graphite as a moderator paved the way for progress in the Allied effort, whereas the German program languished partly because of the belief that scarce and expensive heavy water would have to be used for that purpose. The Germans had failed to account for the importance of boron and cadmium impurities in the graphite samples on which they ran their test of its usability as
17063-401: The square of the radius of the pile by the intensity of the radioactivity to obtain a metric that counted down to one as the pile approached criticality. At the 15th layer, it was 390; at the 19th it was 320; at the 25th it was 270 and by the 36th it was only 149. The original design was for a spherical pile, but as work proceeded, it became clear that this would not be necessary. The new graphite
17214-426: The student movement. In 1978, history scholar Hanna Holborn Gray , then the provost and acting president of Yale University , became president of the University of Chicago, a position she held for 15 years. She was the first woman in the United States to hold the presidency of a major university. In 1999, then-President Hugo Sonnenschein announced plans to relax the university's famed core curriculum , reducing
17365-456: The university agreed to pay $ 13.5 million to settle a lawsuit that it and other universities conspired to limit financial aid to students. The academic bodies of the University of Chicago consist of the College , four divisions of graduate research, seven professional schools, and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies . The university also contains a library system,
17516-444: The university created its first school in three decades, the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering . On April 29, 2024, students at the University of Chicago set up an encampment on the university's main quad as a part of the nationwide movement in support of Palestine at institutions of higher learning across the country. The encampment was cleared by the University of Chicago Police Department on May 7. The main campus of
17667-623: The university includes eight professional schools, which also house academic research: the Booth School of Business ; Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice ; Divinity School ; Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies ; Harris School of Public Policy ; Law School ; Pritzker School of Medicine ; and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering . The university has additional campuses and centers in London, Paris, Beijing, Delhi, and Hong Kong, as well as in downtown Chicago. University of Chicago scholars have played
17818-537: The university opened the John W. Boyer Center in Paris, designed by architectural firm Studio Gang and nearly tripling the size of the Center in Paris which had opened in 2003. The university is governed by a board of trustees. The board of trustees oversees the long-term development and plans of the university and manages fundraising efforts, and is composed of 55 members including the university president. Directly beneath
17969-426: The university's Stagg Field . Advances in chemistry led to the "radiocarbon revolution" in the carbon-14 dating of ancient life and objects. The university research efforts include administration of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory , as well as the Marine Biological Laboratory . The university is also home to the University of Chicago Press , the largest university press in
18120-818: The university's Hyde Park neighborhood where they raised their children and where Barack Obama began his political career. Michelle Obama served as an administrator at the university and founded the university's Community Service Center. In November 2021, a university graduate was robbed and fatally shot on a sidewalk in a residential area in Hyde Park near campus; a total of three University of Chicago students were killed by gunfire incidents in 2021. These incidents prompted student protests and an open letter to university leadership signed by more than 300 faculty members. The university also maintains facilities apart from its main campus. The university's Booth School of Business maintains campuses in Hong Kong , London , and
18271-518: The university's fifth president, 30-year-old legal philosophy scholar Robert Maynard Hutchins , took office. The university underwent many changes during his 24-year tenure. Hutchins reformed the undergraduate college's liberal-arts curriculum known as the Common Core, organized the university's graduate work into four divisions, and eliminated varsity football from the university in an attempt to emphasize academics over athletics. During his term,
18422-522: The university's general education requirements, commonly known as the Core Curriculum. In 2012–2013, the Core classes at Chicago were limited to 17 courses, and are generally led by a full-time professor (as opposed to a teaching assistant ). As of the 2013–2014 school year, 15 courses and demonstrated proficiency in a foreign language are required under the Core. Undergraduate courses at
18573-531: The university's refusal to divest from South Africa in the 1980s and Darfur in the late 2000s. In 1969, more than 400 students, angry about the dismissal of a popular professor, Marlene Dixon , occupied the Administration Building for two weeks. After the sit-in ended, when Dixon turned down a one-year reappointment, 42 students were expelled and 81 were suspended, the most severe response to student occupations of any American university during
18724-467: The university, like Shimer College and 10 others, adopted an early entrant program that allowed very young students to attend college; also, students enrolled at Shimer were enabled to transfer automatically to the University of Chicago after their second year, having taken comparable or identical examinations and courses. The university experienced its share of student unrest during the 1960s, beginning in 1962 when then-freshman Bernie Sanders helped lead
18875-433: The university, to notify the university early of any contemplated faculty appointments or dismissals, to make no faculty appointment without the university's approval, and to send copies of examinations for suggestions. The University of Chicago agreed to confer a degree on any graduating senior from an affiliated school who made a grade of A for all four years, and on any other graduate who took twelve weeks additional study at
19026-470: The university—and a number of National Resource Centers , including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies . Chicago also operates or is affiliated with several research institutions apart from the university proper. The university manages Argonne National Laboratory , part of the United States Department of Energy 's national laboratory system, and co-manages Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) ,
19177-415: The uranium to fission. Szilard suggested to Fermi that they use carbon in the form of graphite as a moderator. As a back-up plan, he considered heavy water . This contained deuterium , which would not absorb neutrons like ordinary hydrogen, and was a better neutron moderator than carbon; but heavy water was expensive and difficult to produce, and several tons of it might be needed. Fermi estimated that
19328-569: The wisdom of Compton's suggestion", he did not interfere. James B. Conant , the chairman of the NDRC, was reported to have turned white. But because of the urgency and their confidence in Fermi's calculations, no one objected. Chicago Pile-1 was encased within a balloon so that the air inside could be replaced by carbon dioxide . Anderson had a dark gray balloon manufactured by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company . A 25-foot (7.6 m) cube-shaped balloon
19479-723: Was a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation from 1946 through June 29, 2016, when the group's name was changed to the Big Ten Academic Alliance . The University of Chicago is not a member of the rebranded consortium, but will continue to be a collaborator. The university operates more than 140 research centers and institutes on campus. Among these are the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa —a museum and research center for Near Eastern studies owned and operated by
19630-503: Was apparent that the proposed facilities would be too extensive for the site, and it was decided to build the pilot plant elsewhere. The subcritical piles posed little danger, but Groves felt that it would be prudent to locate a critical pile—a fully functional nuclear reactor—at a more remote site. A building at Argonne to house Fermi's experimental pile was commenced, with its completion scheduled for 20 October. Due to industrial disputes, construction fell behind schedule, and it became clear
19781-472: Was built as a replacement for Bartlett Gymnasium to be the home of the Chicago Maroons men's basketball team, as well as an indoor practice facility with a dirt infield that was utilized for football and baseball practices. A track encircled the infield and a raised wood floor that was used for basketball. In 2003, the team moved into the newly built Gerald Ratner Athletics Center , and the building
19932-541: Was discovered in Schermerhorn Hall . The pile was built in September 1941 from 4-by-4-by-12-inch (10 by 10 by 30 cm) graphite blocks and tinplate iron cans of uranium oxide. The cans were 8-by-8-by-8-inch (20 by 20 by 20 cm) cubes. When filled with uranium oxide, each weighed about 60 pounds (27 kg). There were 288 cans in all, and each was surrounded by graphite blocks so the whole would form
20083-415: Was founded by a small group of Baptist educators in 1856 through a land endowment from Senator Stephen A. Douglas . It closed in 1886 after years of financial struggle and a final annus horribilis in which the campus was badly damaged by fire and the school was foreclosed on by its creditors. Several years later, its trustees elected to change the school's name to the " Old University of Chicago " so that
20234-404: Was hesitant to add a third secret project. Before leaving for Chicago, Fermi's team made one last attempt to build a working pile at Columbia. Since the cans had absorbed neutrons, they were dispensed with. Instead, the uranium oxide, heated to 250 °C (480 °F) to dry it out, was pressed into cylindrical holes 3 inches (7.6 cm) long and 3 inches (7.6 cm) in diameter drilled into
20385-495: Was in an impromptu code: Compton: The Italian navigator has landed in the New World. Conant: How were the natives? Compton: Very friendly. On 12 December 1942, CP-1's power output was increased to 200 W, enough to power a light bulb. Lacking shielding of any kind, it was a radiation hazard for everyone in the vicinity, and further testing was continued at 0.5 W. Operation was terminated on 28 February 1943, and
20536-622: Was now producing 30 short tons (27 t) a month. Metallic uranium also began arriving in larger quantities, the product of newly developed techniques. On 25 June, the Army and the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) had selected a site in the Argonne Forest near Chicago for a plutonium pilot plant; this became known as " Site A ". 1,025 acres (415 ha) were leased from Cook County in August, but by September it
20687-407: Was placed in charge of the plutonium project. Its objectives were to produce reactors to convert uranium to plutonium, to find ways to chemically separate the plutonium from the uranium, and to design and build an atomic bomb. It fell to Compton to decide which of the different types of reactor designs the scientists should pursue, even though a successful reactor had not yet been built. He proposed
20838-443: Was placed. When completed, the wooden frame supported an elliptical-shaped structure, 20 feet (6.1 m) high, 6 feet (1.8 m) wide at the ends and 25 feet (7.6 m) across the middle. It contained 6 short tons (5.4 t) of uranium metal, 50 short tons (45 t) of uranium oxide and 400 short tons (360 t) of graphite, at an estimated cost of $ 2.7 million. The next day, 2 December 1942, everybody assembled for
20989-543: Was predicted to be around 1.04, thereby achieving criticality. Leona Woods was detailed to build boron trifluoride neutron detectors as soon as she completed her doctoral thesis. She also helped Anderson locate the required large number of 4-by-6-inch (10 by 15 cm) timbers at lumber yards in Chicago's south side . Shipments of high-purity graphite arrived, mainly from National Carbon, and high-purity uranium dioxide from Mallinckrodt in St Louis, Missouri, which
21140-511: Was purer, and 6 short tons (5.4 t) of very pure metallic uranium began to arrive from the Ames Project at Iowa State University , where Harley Wilhelm and his team had developed a new process to produce uranium metal. Westinghouse Lamp Plant supplied 3 short tons (2.7 t), which it produced in a rush with a makeshift process. The 2.25-inch (5.7 cm) metallic uranium cylinders, known as "Spedding's eggs", were dropped in
21291-404: Was reconfigured to become Chicago Pile-2 (CP-2). There, it was operated for research until 1954, when it was dismantled and buried. The stands at Stagg Field were demolished in August 1957 and a memorial quadrangle now marks the experiment site's location, which is now a National Historic Landmark and a Chicago Landmark . The idea of a chemical chain reaction was first suggested in 1913 by
21442-474: Was remodeled to become a full-time intramural facility. The building also contains a fitness center with resistance and weight training equipment, a cardio hallway with 34 cardio machines (treadmills, ellipticals, rowers, steppers, step mills), a 200-meter indoor track, four multi-purpose courts for basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, and tennis, an Astro-turfed multi-purpose room, five squash courts, and four racquetball/handball courts. Upon its completion,
21593-420: Was responsible for instrumentation. They also fabricated the control rods , which were cadmium sheets nailed to flat wooden strips, cadmium being a potent neutron absorber, and the scram line, a manila rope that when cut would drop a control rod into the pile and stop the reaction. Richard Fox, who made the control-rod mechanism for the pile, remarked that the manual speed control that the operator had over
21744-432: Was somewhat unusual, but the Manhattan Project's AAA priority rating ensured prompt delivery with no questions asked. A block and tackle was used to haul it into place, with the top secured to the ceiling and three sides to the walls. The remaining side, the one facing the balcony from which Fermi directed the operation, was furled like an awning. A circle was drawn on the floor, and the stacking of graphite blocks began on
21895-446: Was stipulated that such money could not be used for buildings. The Hyde Park campus was financed by donations from wealthy Chicagoans such as Silas B. Cobb , who provided the funds for the campus's first building, Cobb Lecture Hall , and matched Marshall Field's pledge of $ 100,000. Other early benefactors included businessmen Charles L. Hutchinson (trustee, treasurer and donor of Hutchinson Commons ), Martin A. Ryerson (president of
22046-533: Was the first independent sociology department in the United States and gave birth to the Chicago school of sociology . In physics, the university was the site of the Chicago Pile-1 (the first controlled, self-sustaining human-made nuclear chain reaction, part of the Manhattan Project ), of Robert Millikan 's oil-drop experiment that calculated the charge of the electron, and of the development of radiocarbon dating by Willard F. Libby in 1947. The chemical experiment that tested how life originated on early Earth,
22197-605: Was the world's first artificial nuclear reactor . On 2 December 1942, the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated in CP-1 during an experiment led by Enrico Fermi . The secret development of the reactor was the first major technical achievement for the Manhattan Project , the Allied effort to create nuclear weapons during World War II . Developed by the Metallurgical Laboratory at
22348-486: Was too large to fit in the Pupin Physics Laboratories. Fermi recalled that: We went to Dean Pegram, who was then the man who could carry out magic around the University, and we explained to him that we needed a big room. He scouted around the campus and we went with him to dark corridors and under various heating pipes and so on, to visit possible sites for this experiment and eventually a big room
22499-399: Was unsuitable for use as a neutron moderator. Over the next two years, MacPherson, Hamister and Lauchlin M. Currie developed thermal purification techniques for the large scale production of low boron content graphite. The resulting product was designated AGOT graphite (" Acheson Graphite Ordinary Temperature") by National Carbon. With a neutron absorption cross section of 4.97 mbarns ,
22650-405: Was used to drill 3.25-inch (8.3 cm) holes in the blocks for the control rods and the uranium. A hydraulic press was used to shape the uranium oxide into "pseudospheres", cylinders with rounded ends. Drill bits had to be sharpened after each 60 holes, which worked out to be about once an hour. Graphite dust soon filled the air and made the floor slippery. Another group, under Volney C. Wilson,
22801-418: Was valued at $ 10 billion. Since 2016, the university's board of trustees has resisted pressure from students and faculty to divest its investments from fossil fuel companies. Part of former university President Zimmer's financial plan for the university was an increase in accumulation of debt to finance large building projects. This drew both support and criticism from many in the university community. In 2023
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