Word: fermi
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This was the world's first uranium pile. Within it, if all went well, would rage the first nuclear chain reaction. Physicist Enrico Fermi, Italian-born Nobel Prizewinner, was sure that all would go well. He had figured every smallest detail, advancing through theory and mathematics far into the unknown...
...final test. Partly shrouded in balloon cloth,* the pile squatted black and menacing. Within it, all knew or hoped, a monstrous giant sat chained. Control rods plated with cadmium (which readily absorbs neutrons) had been thrust into holes in the graphite. When the control rods were removed, Fermi had calculated, the chain reaction would start spontaneously, and the giant would be free...
Into the Unknown. Fermi ran the test. At 9:54 a.m. he gave an order. A whining motor withdrew the automatic control rod. The Geiger counters on the instrument panel clicked a little faster; a pen drew a slightly higher curve on a strip of paper...
...ordered Fermi a few minutes later. Physicist Walter H. Zinn pulled out the Zip rod and tied it carefully. The counters clicked still faster. The graph pen moved up again...
...Pull it to 13 feet, George," commanded Fermi. Physicist George Weil drew the final control rod part way out of the pile. Faster clicked the counters. He drew it out another foot; then another six inches...