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

Evell G. Savage

Tinian Island

Evell G. Savage served in the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron.

James E. Barton

Hanford, WA

James Barton worked as a carpenter for the DuPont Company at the Hanford, Washington site. He never knew he was working on the atomic bomb until after it was dropped in Japan.

Alvin M. Weinberg

Oak Ridge, TN

Alvin Martin Weinberg (1915-2006) was an American nuclear physicist. Weinberg was born in Chicago. He received a B.

Roy E. Clausen

Los Alamos, NM