In 1942, scientists stacked roughly 45,000 graphite blocks beneath the stands of a Chicago football stadium and started the world’s first nuclear reactor — while one physicist waited nearby with an axe, ready to cut a rope and drop an emergency rod if the reaction ran out of control
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The world’s first nuclear reactor came with a manual off switch, and the off switch was a man holding an axe.
His name was Norman Hilberry. On the afternoon of 2 December 1942, he stood on a spectators’ balcony at the University of Chicago, watching a rope. Below him rose a lopsided stack of graphite bricks, packed into a disused squash court under Stagg Field’s west stand. Tied to the rope was a weighted cadmium rod, nicknamed zip. If the chain reaction climbed faster than Enr
His name was Norman Hilberry. On the afternoon of 2 December 1942, he stood on a spectators’ balcony at the University of Chicago, watching a rope. Below him rose a lopsided stack of graphite bricks, packed into a disused squash court under Stagg Field’s west stand. Tied to the rope was a weighted cadmium rod, nicknamed zip. If the chain reaction climbed faster than Enr
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