A small supplement to the official history of the Manhattan Project is offered in that some of the activities of the Cyclotron Group in the Metallurgical Laboratory are described. In particular, the work on the delayed neutron activities was essential to the decision to try for the first nuclear chain reaction in the middle of Chicago, and fast‐neutron measurements in a 5‐ton pile of solid uranium metal led to the assessment of the practicability of a controlled fast‐neutron reactor, and also (through necessary and important subsequent developments by others) to the light‐water‐cooled, thermal‐neutron reactors of today.
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© 1980 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1980
American Association of Physics Teachers
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