After last week's post on Henry Moore, a friend sent me a link to the Hyde Park Historical Society website. Much to my surprise, I found myself looking at a grim bronze monument by the artist commemorating the birth of nuclear energy. The skull-like sculpture entitled Nuclear Energy
(1964-1966) was commissioned by the University of Chicago to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their successful atomic experiment. In 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi and his team built the first nuclear reactor and "initiated the first controlled release of nuclear energy (1)." The work, which was installed on the campus in December of 1967, is a visual reminder of the positive and negative consequences of nuclear power.
