January 15, 2014

1967: Henry Moore @ University of Chicago


Henry Moore
"Nuclear Energy"
1967, modeled on a piece begun in 1964
Bronze (cast) on stone base
University of Chicago
Ellis Avenue near 57th Street
Chicago, IL

Standing roughly 4 meters tall, the 1967 bronze sculpture "Nuclear Energy," conceived by British artist Henry Moore (1898–1986), commemorates the occasion of the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, which occurred on December 2, 1942. At the site, formerly containing the University of Chicago's Stagg Field, an experimental atomic pile, designed by Enrico Fermi, was hidden below ground during the 1940s. The location was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and declared a Chicago Landmark in 1971. The sculpture is today accessible via the public sidewalk on the east side of Ellis Avenue near 57th Street, within the University of Chicago campus. A cast from Moore's "Nuclear Energy" series is held in Hiroshima, Japan.



Above:
Image (1) June 13, 2011;
Image (2) June 13, 2011;
Image (3) August 20, 2006;
Copyright Paul E. Germanos.

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