Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

August “Gus” Knuth

MillwrightChicago, IL

Manhattan Project VeteranProject Worker/Staff
Listen to August “Gus” Knuth’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

August “Gus” Knuth was a millwright and carpenter who helped construct Chicago Pile-1. He was present on December 2, 1942 when the pile went critical in the first self-sustaining chain reaction in history.

Related Profiles

G. A. MacDonald

Oak Ridge, TN

MacDonald worked for Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation.

Ercole E. Motta

Chicago, IL

Ercole E. Motta was a research assistant at the University of Chicago Met Lab. He studied ways to determine the boron content of uranium oxide.

Jacob Epting

Oak Ridge, TN

Jacob Epting worked as a carpenter in Oak Ridge, TN from November 1942 to October 1943. While Epting assumed he was building a hospital, he was never formally told about the project he was working on.

A. F. Tyra

Oak Ridge, TN

A. F. Tyra worked for the Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation.