Aspiring Astrophysicist

LakeWashington
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 18:44:56 +0000

From the NY Times, October 30, 2007;

"…A riddle surrounds what is arguably the most important of the Manhattan Project’s New York City sites — the Pupin Physics Laboratories at Columbia University, where scientists split the atom and helped the Manhattan Project get started.

The building’s foyer has several plaques celebrating the site’s importance. A prominent one notes that Pupin Hall is a Registered National Historic Landmark that “possesses exceptional value.”

But none of the memorials refer to the atomic breakthroughs or Pupin’s role in the bomb project.

Starting in 1939, scientists there sought to split the nuclei of uranium atoms and, working in a basement laboratory, succeeded beyond their dreams.

In a report, the National Register of Historic Places said the breakthrough led to federal financing for nuclear research at Columbia, the Manhattan Project, and “the subsequent production of the atomic bomb.” In 1965, Pupin Hall was designated a National Historical Landmark."