The First Controlled Fission Reaction Occurs
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Ecology and the Environment Series
- Categories: Science, Technology, Inventions, Environmental Issues
- Subcategories: Physics, Physicists, Nuclear Weapons, Power, Radiation, Ecology, Environment, Conservation
- Curriculum: American History 1901-1950
- Geographical Location: Chicago
- Date: December 2, 1942
Article abstract: A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved under controlled conditions for the first time, ushering in the atomic age.
Summary of Event
Research in Europe beginning in the 1930’s inspired the idea of nuclear fission chain reactions. After the discovery of the neutron by James Chadwick in 1932, Enrico Fermi and others tested the effect of this electrically uncharged particle upon many different chemical elements. In Germany, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann established that an isotope of barium formed upon neutron irradiation...
[The entire page is 2422 words long]
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