Frank Huke

Frank Huke worked on the Mahattan Project in Chicago and as a part of the Ames Project, the uranium production process based in Ames, Iowa. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Huke witnessed the first controlled nuclear reaction in history when Chicago Pile-1 went critical underneath the stands of Stagg Field. After graduating, Huke was assigned to the Ames Project, working at Iowa State University and in St. Louis, Missouri. Huke was one of the first Manhattan Project employees assigned to Iowa State, and was in contact with the Manhattan District headquarters in New York to confirm the Ames location's connection with the rest of the Project. Between 1942 and 1945, the Ames Project would produce over 1,000 tons of uranium and set the precedent for modern uranium production.