29 September 09

The most notable occasion I can find for September 29 is the 1901 birthday of Enrico Fermi, the physicist who led the "Manhattan Project" that developed the first atomic bombs. His most praised achievement in physics came in December, 1942, when his experiments under the football field at the University of Chicago produced the first sustained nuclear reaction. Wikipedia includes this anecdote: "When the first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was achieved, a coded phone call was made by one of the physicists, Arthur Compton, to James Conant, chairman of the National Defense Research Committee. The conversation was in impromptu code:

Compton: The Italian navigator has landed in the New World.

Conant: How were the natives?

Compton: Very friendly."

Though Fermi was not known as a spy, the clandestine work that followed his discovery inspired me to wear my cryptic tie today.