URRs and Nobel Prizes.

Abstract

Kenneth Rogers describes the role of university research reactors (URRs) and the current funding difficulties they are experiencing (Policy Forum, “The past and future of university research reactors,” 22 March, p. 2217). In explaining contributions URRs have made to fields beyond nuclear science and engineering, he states, “The 1994 Nobel Prizes in physics were awarded to two individuals for work carried out at URRs.” The 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics was shared by Bertram Brockhouse and Clifford Shull for their pioneering role in the development of neutron spectroscopy and diffraction. This research was done at the National Research Experimental (NRX) and National Research Universal (NRU) reactors at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories and the Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, respectively. Brockhouse and Shull subsequently took up faculty appointments at universities operating URRs (McMaster University and MIT, respectively); however, it was their earlier groundbreaking studies in Chalk River and Oak Ridge that were the basis for the Nobel Prize. Further details regarding the contributions made by Brockhouse and Shull and the facilities they used, as well as some autobiographical information, may be found on the excellent Nobel Prize Web site (www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1994/index.html).