How Was the First Nuclear Reactor Developed? (Chicago Pile 1)

On 02 December 1942, the world changed forever when 50 scientists with several Nobel Prizes among them stood on a balcony over a cold and damp squash court inside an abandoned football stadium and watched the instruments record the first sustained nuclear chain reaction. The atomic age was born, and in less than three years from the experiment at the University of Chicago that generated less than a Watt of electricity, the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, Japan, devastating the city.
In this video, we will look at the background and development of the Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor in history, including the roles played by Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, and even a cameo by Albert Einstein. Finally, we'll visit the location of the reactor's final resting place that you can visit in a Chicago nature preserve.

[@tensor131]

this is very good. I found it after searching for pile-1 ... this is the result of listening to the BBC world service podcast - THE BOMB - which I thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in this critical time in history.

[@bradmetcalf5333]

Good video. Thanks for the upload. I'm always excited to see your videos hit.

[@bigmack2141]

Fabulous presentation, we need more clear concise presenters like this young man.

[@aitorinarra]

Great history review, thank you

[@isaiahoconnor8236]

Nicely presented you earned a sub :)

[@JewelsoftheTrade]

Excellent video! Thank you for the thorough explanation

[@kumagatz]

A great video. What about Heisenberg's nuclear reactor L-IV? It may not achieved reaction before it was destroyed. Was it not built before the Allies reactor.

[@randallmckinney5152]

Well done

[@jamesmccarthy3823]

How do you get “Zilly-ard” out of Szilard? Just curious.

[@zsszeli]

Leo Szilárd’s name pronounced “Leo See - Lard” (sē - lärd).

[@min-yishen9324]

This used to be my office view :)

[@kruksog]

ROZE-uh-Velt, not ROOS-uh-Velt. I generally don't care about pronunciation variance, but when it's a name and my grandfather was alive when the person was, I'm a bit more of a stickler. Great video, thanks for making and sharing it.

[@annoyingcommentator1582]

1:02 but people had sharper hats. That's something to consider.

[@Hazztech]

You're about to get hit by the KZbin algorithm

[@davecrook8355]

Nice summary but for repeated mispronunciation of Leo Szilard's name (2 syllables, not 3) and nuclear, not nuculer.

[@edp2260]

CP-2 & CP-3 were decommissioned in the mid 1950s.

[@chepol88]

The word ”nuclear” is pronounced “new-clear”, not “new-cular”

[@darrellskinner5263]

Yes! Everyone needs to stop saying NUKULAR 🤨

[@coronalight77]

People like you are why aliens won't talk to us. Cluless.

[@docastrov9013]

New-clee-ur

[@100c0c]

Language changes

[@TheAlison1456]

how tf have I not heard of this before 0:55 the rise of communism too

[@janoycresva276]

NUCLEAR!!! There’s no second u in nuclear

[@ShaneFlett]

Its called "al looong", not 'allung'. along.

[@henrikrolfsen584]

I was going to save your video, but I cannot now. Please learn how to properly pronounce the word: "Nuclear". >> NU-CLE-AR

[@GordonKindlmann]

Regenstein (hard g) library, not Regenberg (soft g)

[@yeahitskimmel]

Bro that matters 1% compared to Nuke-u-lar

[@n1k0n_]

It's pronounced "seh-lard"

[@yeahitskimmel]

You actually notice and point that out but not "Nuke-u-lar" over and over?

[@yeahitskimmel]

Really wanted to learn about this but couldn't make it through more than a dozen "Nuke-you-ler" and gave up

[@chepol88]

Yeah, I left a similar comment. I’ve always wondered why someone would pronounce “nuclear” as you say. I recommended he try “new-clear”

[@jamesmccarthy3823]

@@chepol88 “new-clear” looks like it would be two syllables-also incorrect. Try NEW-Clee-ur.

[@jamesmccarthy3823]

I swear, people who make KZbin videos deliberately mispronounce words to get more comments.

[@capoman1]

You mean nukular lol? I know. How can you study nuclear but not pronounce nuclear?

[@sbkarajan]

First controlled reaction seems to have been a BS, or a failure, or both... 0.5 W? LOL!

[@sbkarajan]

How did Enrico Fermi enrich his uranium if at all? I understand that the natural uranium, 99.3% U 238 doesn't fission?

[@Lucas_Simoni]

It was just a proof of concept lol. But the idea was there, their first prototype had parts made of fucking wood, and there was a dude literally handling a rod with his hands, it was probably just a wood stick as well. And I'm not even sure how much radiation they were exposed.

[@alexing86]

@@sbkarajan He didn't, they used natural uranium. That is why the power generated compared to te size of te reactor is ridiculous

[@sbkarajan]

@@alexing86 Have you read Szilard Petition? Please do, note the date it was written, how they describe themselves (working in the field of atomic power? LOL), and tell me if the US actually built the atom bomb. Oh, and trace when the Manhattan Project really started. The Lab buildings did not complete until Nov 1943. And then compare Trinity bomb and Fatman bomb. And the demon core. They are the same production bombs from Germany.

[@BowlOfRed]

Criticality is possible at concentrations below naturally occurring. It just takes more fuel and more moderators.

[@jameskaufmann765]

I wanted to learn about this but someone involved in creating the video edited out most all of the breaths between phrases its like trying a paragraph that has no punctuation and it drives me crazy so unmusical and unhuman so I'm going to look for somewhere else to learn about the Chicago Pile experiments next time please leave the natural time and space of breath between phrases if you don't see how it could be important maybe you could compare it to all of the space in an atom.

[@jamesmccarthy3823]

I see what you did there. LOL!

[@jameskaufmann765]

At least someone did. :)@@jamesmccarthy3823

[@robertleasure8861]

Nuclear not nucular.

[@yeahitskimmel]

No biggie not like it's the whole topic he's supposed to be educating us on

[@olenilsen4660]

I really like the story and the video, except it really puts me off when the presenter repeatedly calls everything New-kular instead of Nuclear! I´m having a hard time following a "scientist" that doesn´t even know the proper terminology!

[@yeahitskimmel]

Yes thank you!!! Nuke-u-lar is like a huge intelligence red flag for me and tough to take an informative present serious after. Maybe if it's mentioned once offhand in an unrelated video but if it's your subject you should prob learn New-Clear