The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-08-09
Behind Oak Ridge Walls:
 College of Nuclear Knowledge' Top World Scientific Institution
(Last of two dispatches)
By PETER EDISON

Dy F. LN EDSoN
 Oak Ridge, Tenn, Aug. 9-(NEA) The Clinton Laboratories, which began work in September, 1943, on one-year experiment to determine the 'knoW-hoW" of atomic bomb making and handling, have now developed into one of the most inn portant scientific institutions in the country.
 The intended temporary nature of the establishment is apparent on every hand. When the first neWspapermen were taken into its holy of holies few days ago, they found wooden and galvanized iron buildings nearly everywhere. They were painted a neat gray with green tnim. But the place still looked more like construction camp or mining town than a spotless laboratory. Instead of the white frock coats which the sci entists wear in the advertising H. lustrations, the Clinton technlclans wore field shoes and coveralls, ol just plain pants and shirts.
 A big barn-like frame structure going up near the pilot plant pile and the "hot lab" is to house what has been nicknamed "Dr. E. P Wigner's College of Nuclear KnoWl- edge" It will open about Sept. with a select student body of 35- about half chemists, half phys1- cists. All will be graduate sclen- lists now employed by leading ln- dustrial research organizations, ol heads of science departments ot leading universities. They will be coming to this somewhat bleak barren and out of the way place to learn how to handle nuclear energy - atoms and isotopes that hold unknown secrets. In this un- campus like campus will be one o1 the highest institutions of scien- tific learning in the world.
 ONE OF ORIGINAL FIVE
 Dr. Wigner, Director of Research at the Clinton Laboratories and dean of this new college, was one of the original quintet of SAlard Fermi, Teller and Keisskopf-tor eign-born scientist refugees III America who saw the possibilits as of atomic f1ssion and persuaded President Roosevelt to launch project to develop it's wartime uses.
 Wigner is of medium height anc slight build. He is quiet-yoiced shy ,spectacled, balding. He WaS born in Hungary A years ago and got out of Germany in 1930. In j941 he married New England school teacher. His regular job now is as professor at Princeton put he has a years leave Of absence 10 direct research for MonSantc Chemical at Clinton Lab.
 He has a good American sense of humor. When he was asked about some technical question he could not answer for security req sons, he ducked it with the re- mark, well, when you kill cat you either want the meat or the skin. But there Is more than one day to kill a cat and more thar one way to skin it"
 Another of the projects assigned to Clinton Lab Is the construction of the first atomic pile" for the development of power. In charge of this project is 8 veteran Mon- santo chemical engineer, Dr. c Rogers Mccullough. It will oe called the Harrington Daniels pow CT pile, in honor of the director of the metallurgical laboratorleS al Chicago University who Is now a consultant to Dr. Mccullough.
 Plans for this power pile are still on the drawing board. No time limit has been set for it's comple- tion. but the work is being pushed It will be a pilot plant, built fol experimental purposes only, ano not to furnish power for any par ticular project. Engineers from General Electric, Westinghouse Allis-Chalmers and other manufac- turers are serving as consultants on the staff.
 The big problem is to build ar installation that will withstand the tremendous heat that must be de- veloped. The pile will really be ar atomic fire box" for a boiler, de- veloping the heat to generate mgr pressure steam. The steam Will ot used to drive a turbine which 1T turn will drive a standard electric generator.
 i THIRD BIG JOB
 Third big project at the "tem- porary" Clinton lab will be con- struction of a 100-million-volt beta tron. an electronic microscope, ant other laboratory equipment to sup plement existing research facilities In this equipment will also be new general purpose pile for fur ther research.
 Among the problems which thl' laboratory will tackle will be re- search into what holds the atom together. Scientists know, for ln' stance. that an atom consists o1 protons and neutrons-positive ane negative electric charges whirllns about in a sub-microscopic solal system of their own. What holds them together, what keeps then from flying apart, scientists do noi know, but they'd like to find out.
 For temporary" laboratory built only to prepare the first ex- perimental quantities of fissionable material, it's some job to learn