It was run by Fermi, who was one of the very best physicists of the 20th century, and legendary for his deep grasp of experimental technique and practicalities. They pulled out the control rods just far enough to show they were getting criticality, and then pushed them back. I bet the got at most a watt or two out of the thing.
And agreed, there were not-so-smart people in the original Los Alamos. Having read Feynman's memoirs you'll also remember how he was sent off to Oak Ridge to teach them how to avoid precisely the kind of horrifying carelessness with criticality described in the Science article you cited. That's just shocking!!!
Yes, the first reactor was built in an almost unpopulated suburb of Chicago, not in Chicago. Still almost unpopulated (6K)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...
Some of the people at the original LANL weren't very smart.
Richard Feynman said in his memoir he noticed one General didn't change the default password on his tumbler lock on his Top Secret safe. 😆
Hope you get great results! Best of luck.
But,but,but,they sure do pay well !!!
It was run by Fermi, who was one of the very best physicists of the 20th century, and legendary for his deep grasp of experimental technique and practicalities. They pulled out the control rods just far enough to show they were getting criticality, and then pushed them back. I bet the got at most a watt or two out of the thing.
Wow, just goes to show how much they got right to not have that crude reactor melt.
Thanks for the reminder!
I was thinking of the first sustained nuclear reaction, which was in Hyde Park. which is anything but unpopulated. These people were in a big hurry!
https://www.smithsonianmag....
And agreed, there were not-so-smart people in the original Los Alamos. Having read Feynman's memoirs you'll also remember how he was sent off to Oak Ridge to teach them how to avoid precisely the kind of horrifying carelessness with criticality described in the Science article you cited. That's just shocking!!!
New and improved Mexico
Had to look that one up.
Yes, the first reactor was built in an almost unpopulated suburb of Chicago, not in Chicago. Still almost unpopulated (6K)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...
Some of the people at the original LANL weren't very smart.
Richard Feynman said in his memoir he noticed one General didn't change the default password on his tumbler lock on his Top Secret safe. 😆
It's chile, not chili. Chili is a sort of tomato and hamburger stew made in places like Texas and only suitable for convalescents .
True, but there's a hundred places here with better burritos.
I think it was more because it was very secret. They built the first reactor in the middle of Chicago!
This is very disenheartening. The original Los Alamos was run by the smartest people in the world at the time.
LANL was located in the middle of nowhere because it was highly dangerous.
It's run by Evangelical nutcases.
They literally don't give a shit and it shows, top to bottom.
You are correct on Pearce/Teague (Fixed)!
Holy crap, that near-criticality incident is almost unbelievable!
A lot goes on at LANL that has nothing to do with nuclear weapons assembly, though. Shutting all that down would not serve any purpose.
That's Jared's back channel to the Kremlin.
Don’t forget about West Dakota (AKA East Montana)
So-SHEE-tell. Nahuatl words always are stressed on the second last syllable. ¡Ahmitla!