Stagg Field
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Site of the First Self Sustaining Nuclear Reaction | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
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| Location: | Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA |
| Coordinates: | |
| Built/Founded: | 1942[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966[2] |
| Reference #: | 66000314 |
| Governing body: | Regenstein Library |
Alonzo Stagg Field is the name of two different football fields for the University of Chicago. The earliest Stagg Field is probably best remembered for its role in a landmark scientific achievement by Enrico Fermi during the Manhattan Project. It was that event which was the impetus for the site's designation as a National Historic Landmark on February 18, 1965.[1] A year later and half later, when the National Register of Historic Places was established, it was added to that as well.[2]
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[edit] First nuclear chain reaction
The venue is better known for its role in the Manhattan Project than any football game which ever occurred there. On December 2, 1942 Enrico Fermi and his team set off the first nuclear chain reaction at Chicago Pile-1 in a racquets court under the west stands of the abandoned stadium. The old Stagg Field plot of land is currently home to the Regenstein Library. A Henry Moore sculpture, Nuclear Energy, in a small quadrangle commemorates the nuclear experiment.[1]
[edit] Chicago Pile-1
Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1) was the world's first artificial nuclear reactor. CP-1 was built on a racquets court, under the abandoned west stands of the original Alonzo Stagg Field stadium, at the University of Chicago. The first artificial, self-sustaining, nuclear chain reaction was initiated within CP-1, on December 2, 1942. [3]
Operation of CP-1 was terminated in February 1943. The reactor was then dismantled and moved to Red Gate Woods, the former site of Argonne National Laboratory, where it was reconstructed using the original materials, plus an enlarged radiation shield, and renamed Chicago Pile-2 (CP-2). CP-2 began operation in March 1943 and was later buried at the same site, now known as the Site A/Plot M Disposal Site.[3]
The reactor was a pile of uranium and graphite blocks, assembled under the supervision of the renowned Italian physicist Enrico Fermi. It contained critical mass of the fissile material, together with control rods, and was built as a part of Manhattan Project research done by the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory. The shape of the pile was intended to be roughly spherical, but as work proceeded, Fermi calculated that critical mass could be achieved without finishing the entire pile as planned. [3]
A labor strike prevented the construction of the pile at a laboratory in the Argonne forest preserve, so Fermi and his associates Martin Whittaker and Walter Zinn set about building the pile (the world's first "nuclear reactor," although that term was not used until 1952) in a racquets court under the abandoned west stands of the university’s Stagg Field. The pile consisted of uranium pellets as a neutron–producing "core" separated from one another by graphite blocks to slow the neutrons. Fermi himself described the apparatus as "a crude pile of black bricks and wooden timbers." The controls consisted of cadmium-coated rods that absorbed neutrons. Withdrawing the rods would increase neutron activity in the pile to lead to a self-sustaining chain reaction. Re-inserting the rods would dampen the reaction.
On December 2, 1942, CP-1 was ready for a demonstration. Before a group of dignitaries, a young scientist named George Weil worked the final control rod while Fermi carefully monitored the neutron activity. The pile went critical at 3:20 p.m. Fermi shut it down 33 minutes later. In 1943, he rebuilt the pile as CP-2 at the Argonne Laboratory.
A small graphite block from the pile is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
[edit] Sports venue
[edit] First Stagg Field
The first Stagg Field was a stadium at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. It was primarily used for American football, and was the home field of the University of Chicago. Stagg Field originally opened in 1893 as Marshall Field after Marshall Field donated land to the university to build the stadium.[citation needed] In 1913, the field was renamed Stagg Field after their famous coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. The final capacity, after several stadium expansions, was 50,000. The University of Chicago discontinued its football program after 1939 and left the Big Ten in 1946. The stadium was demolished in 1957.[citation needed]
[edit] New Stagg Field
The current Stagg Field is an athletic field located several blocks to the northwest that preserves the Stagg Field name, as well as a relocated gate from the original facility. The school's current Division III football team uses the new field as their home.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Site of First Self-Sustaining Nuclear Reaction, NHL Database, National Historic Landmarks Program. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
- ^ a b NRIS Database, National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
- ^ a b c Fermi E (1946). "The Development of the first chain reaction pile". Proceedings of the American Philosophy Society 90: 20-24. tif.
[edit] External links
- AtomicArchive.com Photographs from assembling the pile
- Drawing of the first atomic pile Artist drawing of CP-1
- The Story of the First Pile
Categories: National Historic Landmarks of the United States | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Chicago Maroons football | College football venues | Defunct college football venues | Defunct American football venues | Manhattan Project | Sports in Chicago | Sports venues in Chicago | Registered Historic Places in Chicago, Illinois | Nuclear research reactors | Nuclear history of the United States | Argonne National Laboratory
