[CrazyIvan]

“I believe the first reactor built was in the basement of a sports building at a university.”

University of Chicago. My daughters room there overlooked
the monument on the site of the first atomic pile. This is
also (according to legend) where the term SCRAM came from.
The control rods were suspended so that they would drop to
quench the reaction and held by a rope. An ax was handy to
chop the rope. SCRAM meant “Safety Cut Rope Axe Man” or
something like that.

[aruanan]

“I believe the first reactor built was in the basement of a sports building at a university.” University of Chicago.

It was under the stands on the old sports field. The Regenstein Library is there now. The site is commemorated by some really ugly sculpture that a bunch of Japanese visit once a year. Of course, not on December 7th. They probably don't even know what happened then, based on what I've heard of world history in Japan. I know some Japanese girls at a party here at the U of Chicago didn't get it when they asked a Chinese friend of mine what city he was from in China and I said, "Let's hope not Nanking."

[PissAndVinegar]

Close!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scram#Etymology