“Core Stories” was published a few weeks before the 75th anniversary of the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear reaction, which occurred on the University of Chicago campus. We chose to look at this fateful experiment as the story of people--those who made the experiment a success, those who strove to inform the public about the threats it posed, and those still tending its ambivalent legacies today.
From the Judges
While this piece was a bit long, they were smart to break it up into digestible chunks. Lots of interesting research here about a topic too many Americans don't think enough about. I was interested in knowing about the people behind the scenes, rather than just the basic facts of the research.
