View of Atom Smasher and Sign for Westinghouse Research Laboratories

View of atom smasher and sign for Westinghouse Research Laboratories. HHC Detre L&A, Westinghouse records, MSP 484, R&D—Atom Smasher, Box 24, Folder 80, Item 4.

36 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 A Unlikely Atomic Landscape By Marni Blake Walter

The Westinghouse atom smasher, built by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in 1937, launched the company’s world-changing innovations in nuclear research. The five-story tall, light bulb-shaped structure is the last vestige of the Westinghouse Research Laboratories—though it has admittedly seen better days since being toppled last winter. To the world, the smasher was a pioneering laboratory for one of the first large-scale nuclear physics research programs. To residents of Forest Hills and neighboring Chalfant and East Pittsburgh, it was a vital part of their neighborhoods, connected to the widespread Westinghouse network yet nestled among the small houses of the company-supported Westinghouse Plan.

With the surrounding labs shuttered long ago, government land takings or isolated university manufacturing plant a mile away. Established the atom smasher is seen as a lone industrial programs, or were enshrouded in Manhattan in 1886, the plant employed thousands by the relic, but it is a significant part of the cultural Project secrecy. turn of the century to manufacture turbines, landscapes of the community, of early- The atom smasher was the first motors, and other electrical generating twentieth century innovation, and of atomic commercially owned Van de Graaff generator equipment. A precursor to the Research history. It holds a unique place in atomic in the U.S. when it joined the already Laboratories was first established at the East history, partly because of its development as a well-established Westinghouse Research Pittsburgh plant in 1906. In 1916, that research commercial, independent enterprise, whereas Laboratories, a spin-off of Westinghouse division expanded and moved to the Forest many places of early atomic research began as Electric Company’s large East Pittsburgh Hills location.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 37 The Westinghouse atom smasher and Forest Hills neighborhood, August 2013. Photo by the author.

labs in 1929. Later, the Research Labs made By the late 1920s, 70 engineers were Although splitting functions has become significant technological contributions to working at the Research Laboratories, common, at the time, the Westinghouse World War II efforts, including advances in organized into sections on metallurgy, Research Laboratories was, as one radar technology, jet engine development, and magnetics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, retrospective explained, “the first major a tank-gun stabilizing system.4 and other subjects.6 While their work was research laboratory to be separated physically In 1915 as Westinghouse moved in, the already influential in the technological world, from a manufacturing location,” seeking to community around what would soon be they also made a large impact on the borough create an environment “especially suited to part of Forest Hills was small but growing. of Forest Hills. With many engineers, support research endeavors.”1 It began modestly with Home development by the Interborough staff, and their families, the population of just one research building, and another smaller Improvement Co., a subsidiary of the Forest Hills jumped from 1,500 in 1920 structure to its north side.2 Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing to 4,549 in 1930 according to the census. Prior to the atom smasher, much of the Company, was already taking shape. Better It was estimated that about 90 percent research focused on ways to improve and known as the Westinghouse Plan, the first of the residents of Forest Hills worked at expand electrical transmission in homes and homes of this development were completed Westinghouse in the late 1920s.7 in manufacturing. Joseph Slepian’s research late in 1919. Forest Hills was incorporated Although the Research Laboratories were in lightning protection led to development as a borough that same year. Construction notable for being separated physically from the of the Autovalve lightning arrester in 1922, of the plan continued for four more main manufacturing facility, in reality a strong which gave electrical equipment large-scale years. Homes were sold to Westinghouse connection was maintained with the plant at protection from lightning flashes.3 Significant employees at, or near, cost, with a reduction East Pittsburgh, with Ardmore Boulevard and improvements also were made in high- of 10 percent made in the cost after five Electric Avenue tethering the two facilities and temperature alloys and x-ray technology. continuous years of employment.5 These drawing further connections throughout the Some of the best-known inventions from changes to the neighborhood signaled that Westinghouse landscape. Beginning in the these early years were the first mass-produced the Westinghouse presence had reached early 1900s, the streetcars, sometimes called radio tube, and Vladimir Zworykin’s sealed beyond Wilmerding and Turtle Creek, the East Pittsburgh “trippers” (or later, the cathode ray tube, the forerunner to the down Electric Avenue, to enfold this hilly “war workers route”), transported thousands modern television, demonstrated at the residential area into its industrial landscape. of Westinghouse employees.8 Managers

38 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 and engineers from both locations attended for transformers, and Hypersil, a major Westinghouse employee furloughs resulting lunches and presentations at each location, improvement in silicon steel.11 from the Great Depression and the developing being beneficial to all.9 The research personnel Along with this research productivity, difficulties of World War II.14 With the pace were among those on the streetcars; in the by 1930 new construction was added to the of research in the nascent field of nuclear early days the Research Laboratories entrance laboratories. The main, original building physics quickening around the world, the faced Ardmore Boulevard, and the approach was doubled (or more) in size. Several new Westinghouse Electric Corporation decided in was up the steep hillside. Upon arrival they buildings were added to the north of the 1936 to invest in fundamental nuclear research were obliged to climb the “100 steps up to the main building within the property, including and built an atom smasher, a particle accelerator Lab.”10 Such stairs were a common feature a boiler, generator, chemical laboratory, and of the Van de Graaff type. As one of the first throughout the region, as many Pittsburghers community building at the corner of Avenue private companies to create a division dedicated know well. But not every lab employee rode D.12 The Forest Hills library, initially named the to nuclear physics research, Westinghouse, the streetcar. Trygve Yensen, Manager of the Westinghouse Community Library, was housed according to a 1936 feature article, “set out to Magnetic Department, was an avid skier and in the community building from 1925 to 1934.13 do a job that has baffled scientists for nearly around 1930 was known to sometimes ski From 1930 to 1940 the Research a century—the job of disintegrating the to work using Ardmore Boulevard. Yensen Laboratories—and with it, Forest Hills— atom in hope of solving much of the mystery became known for developing Hypernik enjoyed growth and development, despite surrounding the structure of matter.”15

This 1915 map shows the Westinghouse research property near the bottom right corner of the image—Plot B. The atom smasher would Homes were sold to westingHouse employees at, or near, be built approximately where the word “plot” is on the map. The Interborough Improvement Co. developed the “Westinghouse Plan” as a cost, witH a reduction of 10 percent made in tHe cost after subsidiary of Westinghouse. HHC, Detre L&A, Plat Book of the Eastern Vicinity of Pittsburgh, Volume 8, plate 13 (Philadelphia: G. M. Hopkins Co., 1915). Photo by Liz Simpson. five continuous years of employment.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 39 Westinghouse embarked on this bold work will lead, or exactly what results research plan two years before the discovery we shall gain, we know that in this in 1938 of nuclear fission by Dr. Otto Hahn, new field are hidden golden nuggets of scientific opportunity.16 Dr. Lise Meitner, and Dr. Fritz Strassman The Westinghouse decision to pursue after their groundbreaking experiments at nuclear physics research was a product the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry of an era in which large companies such in Berlin. At that time there was no known as Westinghouse, the DuPont Research commercial purpose for this cutting-edge Laboratory in Delaware, and AT&T Bell technology. Yet the Westinghouse company Laboratories in New Jersey had the money and and its scientists had lofty reasons for investing facilities to invest in pure research. They did in the field. Dr. L.W. Chubb, director of the so “to obtain patents that would allow them laboratories, described to reporters: to stay on the forefront of innovation in new Physicists today are still learn- 17 ing about processes, energies and technologies” with a view to commercial sequences of operations, which will applications and, of course, profits. give nuclear reactions and transmuta- In a 1937 New York Times article, Dr. tions of one element into another. By E.U. Condon, then associate director of constant experimenting they will learn research at Westinghouse, explained the new how to duplicate Nature’s work, how Construction of the atom smasher. research program: Westinghouse “feels that HHC Detre L&A, Westinghouse records, MSP 484, R&D— to change elements and how to create Atom Smasher, Box 24, Folder 80, Item 2. new products and processes. Though all research leading to a better understanding we do not know where our present of the nature of matter and energy will

tHere was a palpable sense of excitement A 1925 view of the Research Laboratory of the East Pittsburgh Works, Ardmore Boulevard. and optimism surrounding tHe atom HHC, Detre L&A, Westinghouse MSP 424, box 14A, folder 18. smasHer’s construction

40 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 ultimately prove of value to the engineering profession, even though its immediate field The atom smasher under construction in 1937. Ardmore Boulevard (Lincoln Highway) 18 of application is not apparent.” To advance is to the left, and several houses on Avenue the research, Dr. Condon started a program A of the Westinghouse Plan can be seen just left of (and behind) the atom smasher. of Westinghouse research scholarships Family of Harold D. “Whitey” Whitehurst. in physics. William Shoupp in particular “became a major factor in the early lead of Westinghouse in the atomic field.”19 The atom smasher, an engineering challenge in itself, was a five million volt Van de Graaff electrostatic generator operating in a compressed air chamber, within an external tank of welded steel segments, 30 feet in diameter. Scientists used the machine as a source of high voltage for accelerating subatomic particles to high speeds. It operated by transferring electric charge from a moving belt to a terminal, and was capable of accelerating the particles down a vacuum tube at speeds of more than 50 million miles- per-hour to a target 47 feet below. Nuclear reactions were created by this bombardment tHe apparatus “will be used for an of target atoms with a beam of high-energy particles. This type of generator produced inconceivable, possibly epic-making venture a very steady voltage as compared to other types of accelerators, allowing for precise into tHe infinities of pure researcH.” measurements necessary for gaining basic knowledge of nuclear physics.20 At the beginning of the atom smasher’s research program, some of the results anticipated were the “development of radio active bodies by transmutation of matter; and its scientific experiments. Following an During the 1940 exhibition, Dr. Condon and practical developments in the field of exhibition for professors and reporters in reported that research with the atom smasher electricity through increased knowledge of the January 1940, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had so far resulted in “new yardsticks for structure of the atom.”21 The atom smasher reported, “No super-civilized giants were there, measuring high voltages in atom smashing, in scientists began bombarding atoms of lithium, clad in synthe-silk zippersuits…. Ordinary new information concerning the neutrino, or beryllium, and carbon with neutrons and men were there, Wilkinsburgers in business little atom, and in new insight into the nature other particles. From this work “the most suits—but they performed feats of modern of various elements, particularly lithium, accurate and complete information to date science as amazing as the pseudo-scientific beryllium and carbon”; the exhibitions that was collected on the behavior of light-weight feats of Wellsian fantasy.”23 Another newspaper day also included the Klystron, a machine for nuclear transformations.”22 reported, “The huge apparatus … will be used “producing and studying ultra-short waves.”25 In an era on the brink of the atomic for an inconceivable, possibly epic-making By August 1940, Westinghouse physicists bomb, yet still innocent of it, and before the venture into the infinities of pure research.… R.O. Haxby, W.E. Shoupp, W.E. Stephens, “NIMBY” (Not In My Backyard) attitude The unique story, as thrilling as H.G. Wells’ and W.H. Wells had discovered a new way had entered our collective mindset, there was most vivid imaginings, is being written daily at of releasing the energy of the uranium a palpable sense of excitement and optimism the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing atom, known as photo-fission. Instead surrounding the atom smasher’s construction Company research laboratories.”24 of bombarding atoms with particles like

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 41 Left: Inside the atom smasher: “Construction of column — Tank still open. Summer 1937. John W Coltman.” HHC, Detre L&A Westinghouse files. Research - R+D, Box 24, folder 80.

Right (Above): Cross section of the inside the atom smasher. HHC Detre L&A, Westinghouse records, MSP 484, R&D—Atom Smasher, Box 24, Folder 80, Item 3.

Right (Below): Novelty atom smasher pen holder. Family of Harold D. “Whitey” Whitehurst.

42 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 tHe discovery does not mean we are any nearer tHe day wHen a sHip can travel around tHe world on tHe energy from a Handful of uranium.

neutrons, this process used gamma rays, an y te c h n o l o g i ca l energy similar to light or x-rays but with advantages possible.28 much greater penetrating power, to split the In 1941 and 1942, uranium atom.26 The discovery of photo- buildings were added fission, as a concrete demonstration of an to house a microwave early theory in the field, was an important tube shop and example of the kinds of pure research for electronics shop, built which Westinghouse’s nuclear laboratory was to aid in the war effort. intended. L.W. Chubb, then director of the These were on the Avenue D Research Laboratories, explained in Popular side of the site, opposite the cafeteria building. Mechanics: “The discovery does not mean we The small structure to the west side of the atom are any nearer the day when a ship can travel smasher, which housed a combustion lab and around the world on the energy from a handful the mechanics department, was expanded, of uranium. But it is another fragment of and an “underground structure” was added evidence about atoms that may lead some day at the rear of the original main building. to atomic power machines or to some other Already present at this time were facilities benefit we are not capable of visualizing.”27 for a variety of research, many of which The 1940s, a pivotal decade for the world, contributed important improvements was likewise for the Westinghouse Research in wartime technology: electro-mechanics, Laboratories. The publication of the photo- electro-physics, mechanical engineering, fission discovery was one of the last such metallurgy, chemistry, magnetics, a high- Way’s design articles to appear before censorship went into voltage lab, drafting and patent offices, as well achieved the effect when the U.S. entered World War II in as several other offices and labs, and grassy lightness and efficiency 1941. The openness and excitement heard in areas throughout the site with horseshoe being sought by the Navy for the first years of atom smashing were abruptly courts located behind the combustion lab.29 use in very high-speed planes, and ultimately halted. A wartime curtain came down on Dr. Stewart Way of the mechanics had “far-reaching influence upon future private nuclear research activities like those department made a major contribution to engineering.” (Notably, building the turbine at Forest Hills as the U.S. government and the war effort with his design of a gas turbine for the engine would not have been possible military mobilized for the Manhattan Project. jet engine for aircraft based on an axial-flow without the Research Labs’ metallurgists’ Other areas of the Research Laboratories design. The atom smasher was used during 1939 development of high temperature alloys flourished as engineers and scientists this time as a compressed air tank for some capable of withstanding high temperature were called upon to give the U.S. military experiments in the jet engine design process.30 and vibration.)31

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 43 tHe manHattan project called upon The Westinghouse Research Laboratories in the late 1940s, with a view of Chalfant in the background and Forest Hills at the far left. some forest Hills personnel to assist HHC, Detre L&A, Westinghouse MSS 424, box 173, folder 7. in tHe work.

In 1947, the atom smasher returned to service as a particle accelerator. Westinghouse smasher group in Forest Hills were sent to physicists launched a new research program In this same period, land acquisition and join in the uranium separation evaluations to examine the “mysterious force [that] keeps massive construction began at Oak Ridge, in Oak Ridge.32 Slepian returned to the the core of matter from exploding like an Tennessee, in preparation for the Manhattan Westinghouse Laboratories in 1944–1945, atomic bomb,” using the atom smasher to Project’s work of uranium enrichment where he continued work on evaluating the analyze and measure the binding force that for atomic bomb development. It is often ionic centrifuge method of uranium isotope holds atoms together and the force required said that the Westinghouse atom smasher separation on a small scale.33 to break them apart.35 was not built for the purposes of bomb- General Leslie Groves, director of the Three years later, the research complex making; instead, it was built for research, Manhattan Project, is said to have visited employed 192 scientists out of a workforce of especially toward practical power-generation the Forest Hills facility and met with the about 450. Likewise, the population of Forest outcomes. This is true, but ultimately, it and scientists there on one or more occasions. Hills continued its upward trend, from 5,248 the scientists who worked there were not Groves was among the delegation for the in 1940 to 6,301 in 1950. But the decade that entirely without some connections to atomic acceptance test of an ionic centrifuge that had followed brought a different, and in many bomb development. The Manhattan Project been developed at the Research Laboratories. ways final, era to the Westinghouse Research called upon some Forest Hills personnel to Although it operated as predicted, the gaseous Labs and the atom smasher. As Westinghouse assist in the work. In 1942 and 1943, Joseph diffusion method became the chosen method advanced its work from fundamental research Slepian and E.U. Condon from the Research for isotope separation, while the ionic to large-scale commercial applications, activity Laboratories joined a group of scientists, led centrifuge method was later eliminated from began to move away from the Research by E.O. Lawrence of the Radiation Laboratory the U.S. Uranium Enrichment Development Laboratories in Forest Hills. Westinghouse’s of the University of California Berkeley, to program.34 Nonetheless, this work was an first atomic power application project began explore different methods of electromagnetic important step along the way in atomic in 1948 when the Atomic Energy Commission separation. Several people from the atom research and development. (AEC), led by U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman

44 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 Work at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories. HHC Detre L&A, Westinghouse records, MSP 484, R&D— Atom Smasher, Box 24, Folder 80, Item 1.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 45 paul rand’s famous westingHouse “w” logo was added to tHe atom smasHer after it was designed in 1960.

By the late 1950s, the Pittsburgh region Las Vegas-Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Rickover, awarded a contract to Westinghouse was home to six Westinghouse nuclear power Range to collect scientific and military data to design and construct a pressurized water facilities, including the Forest Hills research regarding nuclear weaponry and other uses reactor to be used as a submarine propulsion site—now CAPA.40 As Westinghouse of detonations.43 system for the U.S.S. Nautilus.36 Dr. Shoupp, engineers advanced the peaceful use of From 1951 through 1992, more than 900 one of the original research fellows on the nuclear power with the Shippingport reactor, nuclear tests of several types were conducted atom smasher project, was the technical leader this built upon the theoretical research at NNSS. In addition to detonations of for the Nautilus project. To support this work program that had been started at the atom nuclear devices, mainly conducted at the and other nuclear projects for the Navy, smasher in Forest Hills. locations of Frenchman Flat, Yucca Flat, Westinghouse constructed the Bettis Atomic Although Paul Rand’s famous and the Pahute and Rainier mesas, other Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, less than 10 Westinghouse “W” logo was added to the atom research focused on radiation experiments miles from the Forest Hills labs. smasher after it was designed in 1960, and and the application of nuclear energy for Meanwhile, following President several new buildings were built around this space exploration. Westinghouse’s nuclear Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech same time, the decline of the Westinghouse physicists participated in the nuclear rocket to the United Nations in 1953, Admiral Research Laboratories was fully in motion. experiments conducted here. The WANL, in Rickover, Westinghouse, the Duquesne Light In 1955, Westinghouse moved its research collaboration with Aerojet General, developed Company Pittsburgh, and the Bettis Atomic activities into a million-square-foot Research the “NRX-A series of rocket test engines Power Laboratory collaborated to develop the and Development Center in nearby Churchill, based on an 1120 mega-watt Westinghouse Shippingport Atomic Power Station. Ground 41 and the atom smasher was permanently shut reactor” for NASA under the Nuclear Energy was broken in 1954, and the plant began down in 1958. The Forest Hills site remained for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA) producing power in December 1957, making it in use for a while, with CAPA, and later, the program between 1959 and 1971. The the nation’s first full-scale atomic power plant Atomic Power Divisions, then in 1967 the nuclear rocket engines were successfully used exclusively for peacetime purposes.37 Transportation Systems Sales, Engineering, ground tested in the Jackass Flats area in the Westinghouse also created a new atomic and Control Departments moved in.42 southwest corner of the Nevada Test Site.44 power department specifically for commercial About 15 miles to the south in Large, The NNSS’s better-known, vivid applications. In August 1955, Commercial on Route 51, another Westinghouse nuclear evidence of nuclear testing, which looms Atomic Power Activities (CAPA) was group, the Westinghouse Astronuclear large in the popular imagination, includes commissioned and housed at the Westinghouse Laboratory (WANL) was established in July scenes like a motel reduced to concrete and Research Labs, again with Dr. Shoupp serving 1959 following the success of the Shippingport twisted steel reinforcement from an above- as its technical director.38 The U.S.S. Nautilus power plant. WANL participated in testing ground blast. Other remains include a bank launched on January 17, 1955, later becoming during the 1960s at the Nevada National vault with its steel reinforcement exposed “the first craft to traverse the underside of Security Site (NNSS, formerly known as and the remains of a replica Japanese village, the north pole,” completing that voyage at the Nevada Test Site), a major U.S. location reduced to mere frames from radiation from Shippingport, Pa.39 The Westinghouse vision focused on nuclear research and testing. an unshielded reactor. Artifacts of testing and of pure fundamental research leading to This location was established in 1950 at the analyzing equipment are found in some areas. practical uses had indeed materialized. Army Air Corps training area known as the The Sedan Crater, which was created during

46 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 tests for peaceful uses of nuclear blasting, was neighborhood (with which it the first feature of the NNSS to be listed on had a positive relationship), is the National Register of Historic Places.45 an artifact of that optimism— “Nuclear landscapes are landscapes and perhaps naiveté—of the of fear,” wrote P. Goin in his landmark years just prior to the wartime photographic study, Nuclear Landscapes. The detonation of the atomic environmental dangers and the potential for bomb. In the recent past, the “mutually assured destruction” are vivid and atom smasher garnered pride, terrifying. But unlike the charred desolation of admiration, and even affection: the NNSS, or the former industrial expanses a writer for the 1969 Forest Hills of Shippingport or the Clinton Engineer Golden Jubilee commemorative Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee—images booklet proclaimed, “At of which dominate the popular perceptions this historic location [the and histories of the atomic era in the United Westinghouse Research site] States—the Westinghouse atom smasher passed a parade of so many and its landscape is strikingly different. The great scientists, inventions and small research facility grew as a part of its significant ‘happenings’ that a community with origins and goals unlike most separate history book would be atomic facilities. In its own era, it symbolized needed to cover the subject.… the promise of technological innovation, Our ‘World’s First’ … the atom inspiring awe and wonder rather than fear. smasher (1937–38) must top Its very location, built within a residential the list!!”46

Bowman sisters on Avenue A (in the Westinghouse Plan area) in A view of the property of the former Westinghouse the early 1950s, about one-tenth of a mile up the street from the Research Laboratories from North Avenue in Chalfant atom smasher. Their father, Pierre D. Bowman, was a Westinghouse during demolition, December 2014. engineer who worked, for a time, at the Forest Hills site. Photo by the author. Collection of Pat Bowman Katsilas.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 47 Despite the former successes of the Ridge, Tennessee; and Hanford, Washington. Laboratories in 2013. By January 2015 all the place, Westinghouse made its final layoffs At first glance, this small atomic research remaining buildings were demolished and the from Forest Hills in the mid-1980s and in facility in Forest Hills seems to have little in atom smasher was knocked to the ground and 2004 several of the older research buildings common with those elements of our atomic left in an extremely vulnerable situation. were demolished.47 It has received official heritage in terms of scale, complexity, and Prior to its demolition, the Westinghouse recognition of its historical significance several secrecy—but they all share a heritage of atom smasher was the most visible artifact of times. The atom smasher was dedicated as connected research and discoveries. The Westinghouse’s early, prescient commitment an Institute of Electrical and Electronics major atomic heritage sites are central to the to nuclear research toward practical Engineers’ (IEEE) Electrical Engineering development of the atomic bomb and to our industrial uses. It is in the direct lineage of Milestone in 1985. In 1987 the American historical understanding of those events. Westinghouse’s pioneering work in naval and Society of Metals International (ASM) But there is a much more varied story to be rocket nuclear propulsion and commercial designated the Research Laboratories as an told outside of the Manhattan Project. The nuclear power applications. Today, nearly half ASM Historical Landmark. A Pennsylvania Westinghouse atom smasher and Research Labs of all the commercial nuclear power plants State Historical marker was installed in 2010, wrote a part of that story, in which scientists in operation were either built or designed by helping to promote its significance in both sought to unlock knowledge for productive Westinghouse engineers, and Westinghouse Pennsylvania and engineering history. use in industry, for sustainable forms of energy is now engaged in constructing a fleet of new Preservation efforts for major sites of generation, and for scientific discovery leading AP1000 reactors. These accomplishments the Manhattan Project are under way as our to unforeseen technological innovations. st a n d al on g s i d e th o s e of th e ot h e r nation attempts to address the many issues For nearly 80 years the giant light bulb- departments at the Westinghouse Research surrounding nuclear weapons development. In shaped atom smasher stood on the edge of Laboratories, which also provided the world December 2014, President Obama signed into Forest Hills as the area’s charismatic symbol with numerous important inventions. In law the 2015 National Defense Authorization of early atomic-era progress. But as this the Pittsburgh region, it helped Forest Hills Act, thus authorizing the creation of the Westinghouse site changed and evolved over to build houses, community facilities, and Manhattan Project National Historical Park. the last century, change has come again. P&L even the swimming pool that has been a The National Park Service unit will include Investments purchased the 11-acre property highlight of summers for decades.48 It had properties at Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak of the former Westinghouse Research equally as much impact on the residents of

Rubble and a dismantled atom smasher at the site of the former Westinghouse Research Laboratories, April 2015. The building to the right of the atom smasher is the former community building/cafeteria of the Research Labs. Photo by the author.

48 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2015 Chalfant next door. The atom smasher, as an 15 “Cracking the Atom.” Daily Journal of Commerce, 34 David O. Woodbury, Battlefronts of Industry – Portland, Oregon. Wednesday, November 18, 1936. Westinghouse in World War II (New York: Wiley & iconic symbol of the Westinghouse legacy, is Sons, 1948); Peterson (1980: 28). 16 “Atom-Smashing ‘Cannon’ Near Completion at significant to local people as a part of their Plant Here.” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Wednesday, 35 “What Holds Atoms Together? Scientists Seek families’ mid-twentieth century experience, July 7, 1937. Answer.” Popular Mechanics, April 1948, Vol. 89, no. 4, p. 135. 17 Willis L. Shirk, Jr., personal communication, 18 creating a distinctive community history February 2013. The author thanks Mr. Shirk for 36 From “Westinghouse in Atomic Power” pamphlet. while fostering Pittsburgh’s reputation for useful discussions and sharing his expertise on many Thanks to Ed Reis, Heinz History Center Westinghouse Westinghouse nuclear topics. Historian, for providing a copy of this document. industrial innovation. 18 New York Times, 19 December 1937: “Ten Will 37 Willis L. Shirk Jr., “‘Atoms for Peace’ in ‘Explore’ Into Pure Science; Westinghouse Company Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine Vol. Marni Blake Walter is a graduate of Carnegie Will Back Fellowships in Plan to Speed Progress.” 35, Number 2 (Spring 2009). Mellon University and earned a Ph.D. from Bos- 19 The Fellows also included Coltman, Dakin, Fox, 38 From “Westinghouse in Atomic Power” pamphlet. Angello, Siegel, Krasik, Kautzman, Hipple, and others ton University, specializing in historical archae- 39 Craig Nelson, The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise (Peterson 1980: 26); T. K. Phares, 1941, “History and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era (New York: ology and heritage management. She is a native of the Westinghouse Research Laboratories,” p. Scribner, 2014), 304. of the Westinghouse Plan in Forest Hills. 81 (HHC Detre L&A, Westinghouse MSS 424, box 163, folder 20) includes a description of some of 40 “Atomic Power Activities of Westinghouse Large,” W. Shoupp’s inventions; “Milestones: Westinghouse Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 9, 1956, by Arthur 1 “Westinghouse in Forest Hills” (1969). HHC Detre Atom Smasher, 1937,” IEEE Global History R. Friedman. John W. Coltman, “The Westinghouse L&A, Westinghouse MSS 424, box 164, folder 15. Network: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/ Atom Smasher: An IEEE Historical Milestone,” IEEE Transactions on Education E-30 (1987), 37–42. 2 Plat Book of the Eastern Vicinity of Pittsburgh, Milestones:Westinghouse_Atom_Smasher,_1937, Volume 8, plate 13 (Philadelphia: G. M. Hopkins Co., accessed August 2013. 41 Westinghousenuclear.com Timeline: http://www. 1915). HHC Detre L&A. 20 By 1939, researchers attained a steady potential westinghousenuclear.com/Our_Company/history/ Timeline/1940_1979.shtm, accessed 8 May 2014. 3 “Westinghouse in Forest Hills” (1969). HHC Detre of 4,000,000 volts, the largest steady voltage ever L&A, Westinghouse MSS 424, box 164, folder applied to a vacuum tube up to that time (Phares 42 Meanwhile, the borough’s population had grown 15. Dr. Slepian was the holder of 204 patents at 1941: 79). steadily until the 1970s. From 1970 to 1980, Westinghouse, second only to George Westinghouse 21 “Mightiest Atom Smasher.” Life, Aug. 30, 1937, p. 36. the population of Forest Hills declined by 14.3%, himself (T. Kenneth Fowler, “Joseph Slepian, 1891– and it has continued to decline ever since, with a 22 David O. Woodbury, Battlefronts of Industry – 1969,” National Academy of Sciences Biographical population (according to the 2010 census) of 6,518. Westinghouse in World War II (New York: Wiley & Memoirs (2003) vol. 83. http://www.nasonline.org/ 43 Sons, 1948), 299. Colleen M. Beck, “The Archaeology of Scientific publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/ Experiments at a Nuclear Testing Ground,” in John 23 January 30, 1940, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Atom slepian-joseph.pdf Schofield, William Gray Johnson, and Colleen M. Smasher Is Revealed To Experts By Westinghouse. 4 “Westinghouse in Forest Hills” (1969). HHC Detre Beck (eds.), Matériel Culture: The Archaeology of Modern Wizards of Electricity Stage Preview of Work L&A, Westinghouse MSS 424, box 164, folder Twentieth Century Conflict (New York: Routledge, in 1940 to Professors, Writers,” by Robert R. Hagy. 15; David O. Woodbury, Battlefronts of Industry – 2002), 66. 24 “Atom-Smashing ‘Cannon’ Near Completion at Plant Westinghouse in World War II (New York: Wiley & 44 Willis L. Shirk Jr., “Aiming for the Stars: The Forgotten Here.” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Wednesday, July Sons, 1948); Maury Fey and Walt Dollard, “The Legacy of the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory,” 7, 1937. Thanks to Ed Reis, Heinz History Center Echoes from Westinghouse at Forest Hills / Forest Pennsylvania Heritage (Summer 2011), 6–15. The Westinghouse Historian, for a copy of this document. Hills Nuclear History,” (2015) Atomic Confluence federal government terminated the NERVA program in website: http://www.atomicconfluence.com/?p=119. 25 Robert R. Hagy. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 30, 1940. 1973, and WANL became the Westinghouse Advanced 5 Energy Systems Division (AESD) in 1976, which Forest Hills Community Golden Jubilee 1919–1969 26 R. O. Haxby, W. E. Shoupp, W. E. Stephens, and W. operated until the early 1990s. commemorative booklet, p. 29. H. Wells, “Photo-Fission of Uranium and Thorium,” 6 Kintner, quoted in R. E. Peterson, “Recollections of Phys. Rev. 59, 57–62 (1941); Phares 1941: 80; L. 45 Many artifacts and types of testing are described in the Research Laboratories on Ardmore Boulevard.” W. Chubb, “Giving Atoms the Third Degree,” Popular William Gray Johnson and Colleen M. Beck, “Proving 1980, p. 8. Box 164, folder 17. Thanks to Ed Reis, Mechanics, Vol. 74, no. 5 (November 1941), 9. Ground of the Nuclear Age,” Archaeology 48 (1995), 43–49, and Colleen M. Beck, “The Archaeology of Westinghouse Historian, for providing a copy of this 27 L. W. Chubb, “Giving Atoms the Third Degree,” Popular Scientific Experiments at a Nuclear Testing Ground,” document to me. Mechanics, Vol. 74, no. 5 (November 1941), 9. in John Schofield, William Gray Johnson, and Colleen 7 Forest Hills Community Golden Jubilee 1919– 28 David O. Woodbury, Battlefronts of Industry – M. Beck (eds.), Matériel Culture: The Archaeology 1969, p. 12. Westinghouse in World War II (New York: Wiley & of Twentieth Century Conflict (New York: Routledge, 8 Forest Hills Community Golden Jubilee 1919– Sons, 1948). 2002), 65–79. The author thanks Colleen Beck for 1969, p. 106. 29 Map of Research Laboratories, Westinghouse information and inspiration on this topic. 9 Peterson 1980: 17–18. Electric Corporation, Forest Hills, Pa. ca. 1948– 46 Forest Hills Community Golden Jubilee, 1919–1969. 1950. HHC Detre L&A, Westinghouse MSS 424, box 10 R. E. Peterson, “Recollections of the Research The Golden Jubilee celebration also included a 163, folder 9. Laboratories on Ardmore Boulevard.” 1980, p. 6. stage production titled “The Forest Hills Story: From HHC Detre L&A, Westinghouse MSS, Box 164, 30 John W. Coltman, “The Westinghouse Atom Smasher: Indians to Atoms.” folder 17. An IEEE Historical Milestone,” IEEE Transactions on 47 Jody B. Shapiro and Joel A. Bloom, Images of Education E-30 (1987), 37–42. 11 Peterson 1980: 18. America: Forest Hills. (Charleston: Arcadia, 2007). 31 David O. Woodbury, Battlefronts of Industry – 48 12 Sanborn map, 1930. In 1967, “Westinghouse’s Atomic Power Divisions Westinghouse in World War II (New York: Wiley & presented $5,000 to Forest Hills for support of our 13 HHC Detre L&A, Records of Forest Hills Public Sons, 1948), 278–282. swimming pool and recreation lodge project.” Forest Library, MSS #214. 32 John W. Coltman, “The Westinghouse Atom Smasher: Hills Community Golden Jubilee, 1919–1969, p. 38. 14 After its large increase in population during the An IEEE Historical Milestone,” IEEE Transactions on 1920s, the population of Forest Hills increased Education E-30 (1987), 37–42. again, to 5,248 in 1940. 33 H. D. Smyth, Atomic Energy for Military Purposes (York, Pa: Maple Press, 1945), 188–190.

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