Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; ; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized-American physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". He was one of very few physicists to excel in both theoretical physics and experimental physics. Fermi held several patents related to the use of nuclear power, and was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity by neutron bombardment and for the discovery of transuranium elements.
Clementine (nuclear reactor) Clementine (nuclear reactor) Clementine was the code name for the world's first fast-neutron reactor. It was an experimental-scale reactor. The maximum output was 25 kW and was fueled by plutonium and cooled by liquid mercury. Clementine was located at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Clementine was designed and built in 1945–1946 and first achieved criticality in 1946 and full power in 1949. The reactor was named after the song "Oh My Darling, Clementine." The similarities to the song were that the reactor was located in a deep canyon and the reactor operators were 49'ers, as 49