Learn more here. In 1942, the Manhattan Project needed to create a chain reaction—a crucial step toward proving that it would be possible to make an atomic bomb. The scientists achieved this sustained ...

The experiment involved several key steps. First, the researchers achieved criticality, the point at which a nuclear chain ...

Uranium was discovered in 1789. The later revelation that the element was radioactive helped usher in the modern era of ...

(If the chain reaction started with uranium, it also created a byproduct, plutonium, a better fuel for a nuclear weapon.) At the University of Chicago, Fermi worked with a team to find a way to ...

Their work to achieve the first nuclear reaction in 1942 marked the start of the Atomic Age, and it would change everything—from energy to medicine to the geopolitical landscape. In the 1930s, ...

December — Dr. Enrico Fermi achieves the first controlled nuclear chain reaction, with a natural uranium device moderated with graphite. Fermi conducted the process using the first demonstration ...

This causes the nucleus to break apart and release additional neutrons that can trigger further fission reactions, resulting ...