Encapsulated in acrylic plastic, graphite from the world’s first nuclear reactor.  Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1) was the world's first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear reactor, built under the direction of Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago.  On December 2, 1942, Fermi and his team achieved the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in a makeshift laboratory beneath the stands of an abandoned squash court under West Stagg Field.  This marked the official entry into the nuclear age as part of the secret wartime Manhattan Project.

Item is 4” x 4” x 1”, and was issued/authenticated by the American Nuclear Society (ANS).