Neutron Production and Absorption in Uranium, pp. 284-6 in Physical Review Vol. 56 , No. 3, August 1, 1939. THE FIRST ATOMIC PILE

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First edition, complete journal issue in original printed wrappers, of the design of what would become the first nuclear reactor to maintain a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. The design consisted of a pile of uranium oxide blocks interspersed with graphite bricks. "In the autumn of 1938 the anti-semitic movement in Italy, which developed after the Italian-German alliance, made Fermi decide to leave Italy to take up a professorship at Columbia University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in December 1938 and the journey to Stockholm helped his move to the United States. At Columbia Fermi joined forces with H. L. Anderson, Zinn and Szilard, to study the possibility of developing a chain reaction in uranium. About the same time as in France it was shown that neutrons were emitted in the fission process. Uranium was then surrounded with water to moderate the neutron energy, but it was found that ordinary water absorbed too many neutrons to make a chain reaction possible. Szilard and Fermi then decided to try a pile of graphite blocks interposed with lumps of uranium metal" (Enrico Fermi. 1901-1954, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 1 (Nov., 1955), pp. 69-78). Fermi and his collaborators went on to achieve the first successful self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction on December 2nd, 1942 at the University of Chicago. Large 8vo, pp. 219-290. Original printed wrappers. N° de ref. del artículo ABE-1609958727343

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