Sublime

In the fall of 1942, Major General Leslie R. Groves, representing the War Department, went to du Pont with the request that the company undertakes a share of a project of great importance in the war effort. This project dealt with the release of atomic energy. At the time, many other nations were working on different projects that could help end th... See more

Du Pont hesitated to accept the proposed responsibility for two reasons: the first was that the company was already so heavily burdened with war work, accepted at the urgent request of the armed services, the second was that du Pont is a chemical company, and while it has done considerable pioneering work, it has always been in the general field of... See more

They were asked first to engineer, design, and construct a small-scale semi-works plant that was to be operated by the University of Chicago. In addition to the Clinton and Hanford projects, which main goal was to produced plutonium for the Manhattan project, on which the Explosives and EngineeringDepartments did such a splendid job, the du Pont Co... See more