PLENTIFUL ENERGY

CHAPTER 3
THE ARGONNE EXPERIENCE
The development of an Argonne staff scientist
The ways the authors, Till and Chang, came to the careers we did, and our paths
to Argonne National Laboratory, were very different. But really, they were typical
of the time and were in no way unusual. It is a commonplace to say that America is
a great country and many who were born in other nations have been welcomed and
made their contributions to America. Certainly Argonne had its share of
accomplished scientists from elsewhere. Indeed its first laboratory director was
Canadian by birth. But we think it important to make a point not made as often as it
probably should be: Both of us (coming from Canada and Korea) are conscious of
the opportunities we were given and grateful for the lives we led and the
satisfaction that came with our careers here. Argonne did that for a lot of scientific
and technical people, then and now. The Argonne experience molded us both
scientifically and technically in very similar ways.
The whole field of nuclear energy was new, barely twenty five years old. Much of
what we did then is now common knowledge, and the practices, techniques, and
even attitudes, have receded into the past. It may be of some interest, perhaps
historical only, to relate a little of what it was like then, and how Argonne formed
the views, the scientific techniques and scientific procedures, the ambitions, and the
accomplishments as well, of the staff scientists at this great laboratory.
3.1 The Argonne Experience (Till)
In the spring of 1963, when I arrived, Argonne National Laboratory was the
place to be if you wanted to be at the center of nuclear reactor development. I was
sure of it. Development of nuclear fission for peaceful purposes was the big field of
the future, and working in it, you were treated by most people with quite flattering
respect. To be called a ―nuclear physicist‖ was to be made out to be exceptional,
like a ―rocket scientist‖ or a ―brain surgeon.‖ I was twenty-eight years old.
I had had some experience in research, even some in calculations and
experiments on reactors, that I thought might be useful in what I supposed work at
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