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Today in History, December 2nd

On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi's team made the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in Chicago. Plus the Monroe Doctrine and Austerlitz.

By Today in History Updated November 9, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published December 2, 2025 · Last updated November 9, 2026

December 2 is best known for 1942, when Enrico Fermi’s team in Chicago produced the world’s first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. It is also the date of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 and Napoleon’s coronation as emperor in 1804.

The big story: The first nuclear chain reaction (1942)

At 3:36 p.m. on December 2, 1942, a team of 49 scientists led by Enrico Fermi achieved the world’s first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. The setting was not a gleaming lab. It was a converted squash court at the University of Chicago’s abandoned Stagg Field. The reactor, Chicago Pile-1, was a stack of graphite blocks, some holding small uranium disks, kept in check by control rods. The reaction began when physicist George Weil withdrew a cadmium-plated rod. Instruments monitoring the pile had names borrowed from Winnie the Pooh, including Piglet and Tigger. Leona Marshall was the only woman researcher on the team. The celebration was a bottle of Chianti poured into paper cups, and most of those present signed its label, which is the only written record of who was there. The experiment showed that a chain reaction could be started and controlled, a key step for the Manhattan Project and, later, for nuclear power. America’s first full-scale atomic power plant went critical on December 2, 1957, fifteen years to the day after Chicago Pile-1.

More events on December 2

Year	What happened
1804	Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France at Notre Dame, with Pope Pius VII looking on.
1805	Napoleon’s army routed larger Russian and Austrian forces at Austerlitz, the “Battle of the Three Emperors,” effectively ending the Third Coalition.
1823	President James Monroe told Congress the U.S. would oppose European interference in the Western Hemisphere, a policy later called the Monroe Doctrine.
1859	Abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
1954	The U.S. Senate voted to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy for misconduct.
1961	Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist, deepening Cold War tensions with the United States.
1970	The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened for business.
1971	Six emirates on the Persian Gulf formed the United Arab Emirates; a seventh joined in 1972.
1982	Surgeon William DeVries implanted the Jarvik-7, the first permanent artificial heart, in patient Barney Clark.
1993	Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was killed in a shoot-out with authorities.
1999	Scientists published the first complete sequence of a human chromosome, chromosome 22, as part of the Human Genome Project.
2001	Energy giant Enron filed for bankruptcy after revelations of massive accounting fraud.

Born on December 2

1859: Georges Seurat, French painter who developed pointillism.
1884: Ruth Draper, American actress famed for her one-woman character sketches.
1946: Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer, born in Reggio Calabria.
1981: Britney Spears, American pop singer.