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 Purifying uraniumIn 1942, world-renowned physicist Enrico Fermi was desperate for purified uranium to improve the likelihood of success of a self-sustaining atomic chain reaction. Iowa State scientists Frank Spedding and Harley Wilhelm came to his rescue by developing a uranium purification method that still is used today. During World War II, the Ames Project, as the Iowa State endeavor came to be known, produced more than 2 million pounds of high-purity uranium metal before industry took over the task. The success of the Ames Project prompted the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to create the Ames Laboratory, which continues to find new ways of producing and using rare-earth metals and other materials.Return to Tech takes index
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