49 scientists and workers witnessed Chicago Pile-1, the world's first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, going critical on December 2, 1942. Four years later, 15 of those participants posed for an iconic photograph on the steps of Eckhart Hall at the University of Chicago. Below is a list of the men and women in that image, along with their years of birth and death. It is followed by a full list of the people who were present when CP-1 went critical.
Left to right, back row:
Norman Hilberry, 1899-1986
Samuel Allison, 1900-1965
Thomas Brill, 1920-1998
Robert Nobles, 1917-2007
Warren Nyer, 1922-2016
Marvin Wilkening, 1918-2006
Left to right, middle row:
Harold Agnew, 1921-2013
William Sturm, 1918-1999
Harold Lichtenberger, 1920-1993
Leona Woods, 1919-1986
Leo Szilard, 1898-1964
Left to right, front row:
Enrico Fermi, 1901-1954
Walter Zinn, 1907-2000
Albert Wattenberg, 1917-2007
Herbert Anderson, 1914-1988
List of Chicago Pile-1 Witnesses
- Harold M. Agnew
- Samuel K. Allison
- Herbert L. Anderson
- Wayne Arnold
- Hugh M. Barton
- Thomas Brill
- Robert F. Christy
- Arthur H. Compton
- Enrico Fermi
- Richard J. Fox
- Stewart Fox
- Carl C. Gamertsfelder
- Alvin C. Graves
- Crawford H. Greenewalt
- Norman Hilberry
- David L. Hill
- William H. Hinch
- Robert E. Johnson
- W.R. Kanne
- August C. Knuth
- Phillip Grant Koontz
- Herbert E. Kubitschek
- Harold V. Lichtenberger
- George M. Maronde
- Anthony J. Matz
- George Miller
- George S. Monk
- Henry W. Newson
- Robert G. Nobles
- Warren E. Nyer
- Wilcox P. Overbeck
- J. Howard Parsons
- Gerard S. Pawlicki
- Theodore Petry
- David P. Rudolph
- Leon Sayvetz
- Leo Seren
- Louis Slotin
- Frank H. Spedding
- William J. Sturm
- Leo Szilard
- Albert Wattenberg
- Richard J. Watts
- George L. Weil
- Eugene P. Wigner
- Marvin H. Wilkening
- Volney C. (Bill) Wilson
- Leona Woods (Marshall Libby)
- Walter H. Zinn
[Thanks to David Wargowski for his help in compiling these lists.]