Piles and Secret Cities

Abstract

When Arthur Compton decided to centralize nuclear-pile research at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory in early 1942, the first goal on the path to large-scale plutonium production would be to show that a self-sustaining chain reaction could be created and controlled. Enrico Fermi began moving his Columbia pile group to Chicago in early 1942 to join forces with Samuel Allison’s group. Fermi himself commuted between New York and Chicago through the winter and early spring of 1942, moving permanently in April. Five months were required to move Columbia uranium, graphite, and personnel to Chicago.