Permanent historical factsheet

First Nuclear Chain Reaction

United States · Science / Physics. Chronological records rendered directly from the World History Database.

1Records
1942Date range
1Named people
1Places

Chronological records

1942

Enrico Fermi2 December 1942

Chicago · Science / Physics

A uranium and graphite pile achieves the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

Names involved

Enrico Fermi

Provenance

This factsheet is generated from stored World History Database records matching the country, broad category, detailed category and exact Event value shown above. Duplicate display records are collapsed; database wording is otherwise preserved. Source provenance varies by record, so formal academic citation should be checked against the relevant primary source, archive or specialist historical reference.