Pursuing Peaceful toms
Phoenix Project Enters Its Second Decade
By Michael Kraft
BN A WORLD where the domi- ' Project, a project that supports During the past summer, the
nating weights upon men's the world's largest atomic educa- Univtrsity conducted for the AEC
thoughts now find measure in such tional program. and the American Society of En-
chilling phrases as "nuclear um- Named for the legendary Egyp- gineering Education, the first ad-
brella of terror," "massive tian bird that periodically was vanced training program for fac-
retaliation" and "complete anni- consumed by fire and then arose ulty members in reactor design,
hilation," it has become almost from its own ashes, the Phoenix theory and operation.
impossible to escape a grim Project has developed from a The effects of the Phoenix Pro-
consciousness of the atom's de- search in 1948 for "something dif- ject reach around the world. Last
structive capabilities. ferent" to honor the memory of spring. the Regents approved crea-
Ironically, the "progress" in de- the 468 University students and tion of a nuclear engineering pro-
veloping the atom as a military faculty members killed in World gram and of the 111 students in
weapon has virtually eliminated War I. the field, 35 of them are from 22
war as a realistic instrument of a In its 10 years of existence, the foreign countries.
nation's foreign policy-at least on project, supported by private con- Prof. Henry Gomberg, depart-
the practical grounds of one side tributions, has fostered atomic re- ment chairman and Phoenix Pro-
expecting to survive the conflict search not only in Ann Arbor but ject assistant director, points out
in a substantially superior posi- throughout the world, that many of them are connected
tion. However, despite this, the The seven campus laboratories with atomic energy commissions or LAST VIEW - Taken in November 1956 from the bottom of the
efforts towards development and for atomic research including the will teach in their own country and reactor pool before the Phoenix Project's Ford Nuclear Reactor was
refinement of the atom's destruc- one million dollar Ford Nuclear thus will occupy positions of tech- put into operation, the photo shows the cylindrical ionization cham-
tive powers almost completely Reactor, largest at any educational nical leadership. bers as they are lowered into the pool to measure the radiation of the
overshadow attempts to harness institution, facilitates research in Prof. Gomberg describes work in uranium fuel rods.
the atom for other purposes. areas ranging from archaeolgy harnessing atomic energy as being
During the five years since (pointing to the early existence of in the preliminary stages, and the
President Dwight D. Eisenhower's' a 2,000 mile long trade route be- students are "participating in de- jIaP eace
Dec. 8, 1953 "Atoms for Peace" tween American Indian tribes) velopment of new concepts of uti- T oo for C
proposal, progress at an inter- and zoology (increasing the under- lizing atomic energy." He predicts
governmental level towarda dis- standing of embryonic circulatory that nuclear engineering 'will soon Ten years ago the world was just recovering from the shat-
arming the atom and focusing it systems in reptiles, birds and come to occupy a position equal to tering experience of World War II which had been brought to a
on peaceful tasks has been agon- mammals.) and, in some cases, transcending conclusion by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima
izingly slow. For energetic at- But perhaps equally important those of the well established and Nagasaki.
tempts to utilize the atom, it Is to the research going on now is the fields. To the committee of Regents, faculty, students, and alumni
necessducatio alk towrds private impetus the Phoenix Project give PHOENIX PROJECT'S widening who were seeking an appropriate war memorial for the Uni-
Tdeducatinliintuons, to the long range progress in influence is also apparent in versity, the idea of a memorial devoted to the study of the
The moat significant continued utilizing atomic energy, its unique contract with the Inter- peaceful applications of atomic energy seemed a strikingly ap-
peacetime use is taking place o national Cooperation Administra- propriate contrast to the military applications of atomic energy
tALTHOUGH the Phoenix Pro- tion. with its terrible power.
the North Campus of he Unl ject, under the direction of Since 1956, the University has To many thoughtful scholars in the University considering
es.Gradut School Dean lph A. been directly aiding atomic re- what paths the University should follow in this post-war period,
Sawyer, is not a part of the Uni- search abroad sending advisory s
T1'd versity's education unit, its facili- experts to Thailand, Korea, Japan, uhestudyaoiceeyeme
istic buildings, is the heart of ties have made possible the newly Indonesia, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, certaino be both vital and me-
the Michigan-Memorial Phoenix established nuclear engineering de- Turkey, Columbia and Ecuador. r bn
partment and the teaching of the An important part of the warding. The name "Phoenix
Michael Kraft is editorial only advanced courses outside an "Atoms for Peace program the Project," symbolizing the rising
director of The Daily. Atomic Energy Commission Labo- University's work, almost exclu- of civilization from the ashes
Iratory. (continued on Next Page) of war, seemed strikingly
fitting.
The Phoenix Project was
established by the University's
Board of Regents on May 1,
1948. Its research activities be-
gan immediately, even before
the financial campaign for its
support had been brought to a
successful conclusion with con-
: tributions by friends and alum-
ni of the University totalling F .'a
more than seven and one-half
million dollars. -'
The policy of the Phoenix
Project from the beginning
has been to support any worthwhile research in which a member
of the faculty was interested and which was concerned with any
aspect of the peacetime uses of atomic energy.
In the past ten years 160 different research grants have been
made and about half of these researches have been brought to
successful conclusion while the rest are still under way.
The results have been invariably useful and worthwhile. In
some cases they have been striking. This group of researches has
established for the University a leading position in the field.
The Phoenix Project represents one of the outstanding post-
war achievements of the University and one which will continue
through the years to show the world how the weapons of war can
be transformed into the tools of peace.
- DEAN RALPH A. SAWYER
Phoenix Project Director
ATOMIC LABORATORY -- Back in the windowless three story section of the Phoenix Memorial
Laboratory is the Ford Nuclear Reactor with a power rating of one million watts, making it the most
powerful nuclear reactor owned by a university. The facilities are used by the newly established
nuclear engineering department whose enrollment of II includes 35 students from 22 foreign na-
tions.
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