B Reactor History Room: Scientific Curiosity

The Scientific Curiosity exhibit panel in the History Room. See exhibit panel for specific image credits.

**Main Text **

Text at the bottom right reads: “Richard Feynman…from a young age was intensely curious about the world and excelled in mathematics. Feynman’s work for the Manhattan Project involved development of the calculations related to the blast yield of a fission bomb.”

Text at the top right reads: “Leona Woods Marshall Libby was the only woman scientist on the Chicago Pile-1 team. Libby also oversaw the development of the first nuclear reactors at Hanford.”

Text reads: “Women and men worked in the scientific labs at Hanford. They conducted a variety of tests that supported the plutonium production efforts.”

Text at the left reads: “Scientists are often driven by curiosity and the desire to learn, make discoveries, and find answers. Chadwick, Meitner, Fermi, McMillan, and Seaborg experimented over and over until they discovered answers to big questions that made the nuclear age possible. “What inspires your curiosity and motivates you to learn and experiment? Write your answer in the lab notebook below. Notice: For your privacy, if you share any personal information in your response, please keep it general. For example, just your first name and where you live.”

Exhibit Panel Description

A poster entitled, “Scientific Curiosity,” shows a man with short, dark hair wearing a long-sleeve white shirt and dark tie, lecturing before a wall of blackboards filled with mathematical equations and figures.

The first of two black-and-white photographs at the top right shows a woman with dark hair dressed in a white shirt, blazer, and skirt. In the second photograph, a group of three women wearing white lab coats work side-by-side in a laboratory.

Visit This Exhibit Panel

In-person visitation of the B Reactor is only authorized on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.

Where this belongs

• Manhattan Project National Historical Park

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