Nuclear Energy - University of Chicago campus, Chicago, IL - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

From the Smithsonian database:
"Purchased from Moore with funds from the B. F. Ferguson Monument Fund. The sculpture marks the spot where the Manhattan Project team devised the first nuclear reactor under the now demolished stands of the Univ. of Chicago's football stadium. The work commemorates the achievement of the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction on December 2, 1942.

Approx. H. 14 ft. Diam. 8 ft.; Base: approx. H. 1 1/2 ft. Diam. 10 ft."

The stadium was called Stagg Field and the reactor was in the squash courts under the west stands. Stagg Field has long since been replaced by the Regenstein Library, visible in the background.

From wikipedia, a quote from the sculptor:
"It’s a rather strange thing really but I’d already done the idea for this sculpture before Professor McNeill and his colleagues from the University of Chicago came to see me on Sunday morning to tell me about the whole proposition. They told me (which I’d only vaguely known) that Fermi, the Italian nuclear physicist, started or really made the first successful controlled nuclear fission in a temporary building. I think it was a squash court - a wooden building - which from the outside looked entirely unlike where a thing of such an important nature might take place. But this experiment was carried on in secret and it meant that by being successful Man was able to control this huge force for peaceful purposes as well as destructive ones. They came to me to tell me that they thought were such an important event in history took place ought to be marked and they wondered whether I would do a sculpture which would stand on the spot. (Henry Moore quoted in Art Journal, New York, spring 1973, p.286)"

Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. He has 80 entries in the Smithsonian database.

Several informational plaques are on an adjacent platform, inscribed thusly:

Left plaque
NUCLEAR ENERGY
HENRY MOORE - SCULPTOR
DEDICATED DECEMBER 2, 1967
THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
FIRST CONTROLLED GENERATION OF NUCLEAR POWER
AN EXPERIMENT BY ENRICO FERMI AND HIS COLLEAGUES

Center plaque top
REGISTERED NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK
US DEPT OF INTERIOR
1965

Center plaque bottom
THIS SCULPTURE WAS PROVIDED
BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE
B.F. FERGUSON
MONUMENT FUND
1967

Right plaque
ON DECEMBER 2, 1942
MAN ACHIEVED HERE
THE FIRST SELF-SUSTAINING CHAIN REACTION
AND THEREBY INITIATED THE
CONTROLLED RELEASE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

Rear plaque
CHICAGO LANDMARK DESIGNATION
10/27/1971

More from wikipedia
"The sculpture was dedicated at precisely 3:36 p.m. on December 2, 1967. The site of the first nuclear reaction received designation as a National Historic Landmark in February 18, 1965 and was added to the newly created National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on October 15, 1966 as one of the original designated historic places. Chicago Pile-1 is one of four Chicago NRHPs on the original list. The site was named a Chicago Landmark on October 27, 1971."

We Chicagoans are glad the reaction was "controlled," otherwise it might have been disastrous!

Punch the Nearest Waymarks button to see the other waymarks for this site, each giving additional information about the event.

TITLE: Nuclear Energy ARTIST(S): Moore, Henry, 1898-1986, sculptor. DATE: 1967. Dedicated December 2, 1967. MEDIUM: Sculpture: bronze; Base: stone. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 87580104 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: University of Chicago South Ellis Avenue between 56th & 57th Streets Chicago, Illinois 60637 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: none

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