The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) has graciously donated the remains of the Science in American Life exhibition related to the 1940s to the Atomic Heritage Foundation. Among this collection are mannequins of Enrico Fermi and Leona Woods Marshall. The two mannequins are lifelike representations of the brilliant Nobel Prize-winning Italian physicist and his assistant, one of the few female physicists who was among the top-echelon Manhattan Project scientists.
For the last 30 years, the two mannequins stood high on a balcony overlooking a mock-up of the Chicago Pile-I. On February 2, AHF’s Cindy Kelly and Alexandra Levy picked up the two mannequins (about 25 pounds each) and sent them via FedEx to Hanford.
The mannequins will be installed in the B Reactor in Hanford, Washington. Just as Enrico Fermi and Leona Woods Marshall went to Hanford in September 1944 to determine what was poisoning the B Reactor, they will return with their slide rules to unravel the mystery once again. We trust that they are still up to the job and that visitors will enjoy seeing them at work next to the control room of the B Reactor.
To view more sites at the B Reactor from 360 degrees, visit this neat website.