National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
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.
Joan Elizabeth Curran (1916-1999) was a Welsh physicist. Curran was born in Swansea, Wales. During World War II, she worked on Operation Windows, where she invented the “chaff,” a technique which could disrupt enemy radar.