This month features the sculpture by Henry Moore of Nuclear Energy, located on the University of Chicago Campus near the approximate site of Enrico Fermi’s Chicago Pile-1, the world’s first nuclear reactor. The sculpture has been described as representing both the creative (symbolized by the pillars with arches like a protective cathedral on the bottom) and the destructive (mushroom cloud on the top slightly resembling a skull) sides of nuclear energy.

The sculpture was dedicated on the 25th anniversary of the initiation of the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction by Enrico Fermi on December 2, 1942. It was unveiled at exactly 3:36 PM on December 2, 1967.

Also included in this month’s calendar are some significant Atomic Events in July which, of course, includes the Trinity Test on July 16, 1945. During July, from 1945 through 1990, 72 nuclear tests, both atomospheric and underground, were conducted.

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