May 14, 2005

May 14, 2005

I saw an article in the local paper about the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. This research center has a museum open to the public so we decided to visit this weekend. Most of the exhibits are about early civilizations that first started in the Middle East, especially Assyria and Persia. While the museum is not large, it is quite interesting and it has some monumental artifacts collected from their archeological digs.

Since we are in the Hyde Park neighborhood, we walk around the corner and sign up for a tour of Robie House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces. We have more interest and appreciation in his work after touring his studio in Oak Park a couple years ago. This very large 1910 house is very classic Prairie Style. In 2019, this and seven other examples of Wright design were named a World Heritage Site. Design is cool, colorful windows, but uncomfortable furniture

While walking the campus we also found the plaque commemorating Enrico Fermi’s nuclear experiment (Chicago Pile-1) conducted in a squash court under the now-demolished Stagg Field. In December 1942, Fermi built a 20-foot high stack of uranium and graphite starting a nuclear chain reaction. It was the first major technical achievement of the secret Manhattan Project. It is incredible that this potentially dangerous experiment was done in such a populated area. The experiments were then moved west to forest preserve property which became Argonne National Laboratory.