Chicago Top Ten Scientific Achievements
1. First Controlled Nuclear Reaction
On December 2nd, 1942, a team of scientists under the direction of Enrico Fermi demonstrated the first controlled sustainable nuclear chain reaction. This single event transformed a scientific theory into a technical reality and ushered the world into the nuclear age. It took place beneath Stagg Field at The University of Chicago.
2. First Portable Cell Phone
Dr. Martin Cooper, a systems manager at Motorola, invented the first portable handset. In April of 1973, he used it to make a call. The first commercially available cell phone was Motorola’s DynaTAC 8000X. The cell phone, and cellular technology, has revolutionized communications across the globe. Motorola was incorporated in Chicago in 1928, and Dr. Cooper was a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
3. Hormone Treatment of Prostate and Breast Cancer
Dr. Charles Brenton Huggins demonstrated that cancerous cell growth depends on external chemical signals, like hormones. His work led to an anti-hormone therapy for treating metastatic prostate cancer in men, and advanced breast cancer in women. Dr. Huggins won the Nobel Prize for his work in 1966 and was a professor at The University of Chicago.
4. Magnetic Recording
Marvin Camras was born in Chicago and became a senior scientific advisor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He developed a wire recorder that was used by the military to simulate battle sounds during the Second World War. His work laid the foundation for today’s electronic and digital media. Audio and video cassettes, floppy disks and the magnetic strips on the back of every credit card are reminiscent of his seminal work.
5. Malaria Treatment
Two scientists from The University of Chicago, Dr. Lowell Coggeshall and Alf Alving, are credited with the development of the standard treatment for malaria. This insect-borne disease infected more than half a million US soldiers in the Pacific during World War II. Using chloroquine, they were able to develop a safe and effective method to treat malaria.
6. Skyscraper
The late 19th century saw an unprecedented need for office space in Chicago, which forced architects and engineers to build up, instead of out. Development of the modern skyscraper required adaptations in metal framing, elevators, fireproofing, and other construction methods. Buildings like the Sears Tower and Hancock Center are the modern expression of technologies developed in Chicago. One of the defining ancestors of today’s tall towers was the Home Insurance Building, ten stories tall, originally constructed at the corner of La Salle and Adams in 1885.
7. Discovery of the Top Quark
In the early 1970s, physicists predicted the existence of the Top Quark, one of the fundamental building blocks of matter. Its existence was verified by scientists working at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory 25 years later. Using a high energy particle collider, Fermilab Tevatron, physicists found this rare particle in the debris from the collision of protons and antiprotons moving near the speed of light.
8. Chromosome Abnormalities in Cancers
Tracking the development and progression of human cancers created more questions than answers. Dr. Janet Rowley, at The University of Chicago discovered that gene translocations can be linked to human leukemia. When certain cancerous genes on chromosomes change positions, their associated cancer can become activated and progress more aggressively. While Dr. Rowley discovered the effect in leukemia, it has been identified in other types of cancer such as sarcoma, myeloma, lung cancer, and others. Tracking these abnormalities can help scientists and pharmaceutical companies develop new and effective drugs.
9. Carbon 14 Dating – A Key to the Past
Carbon is one of the building blocks of all life on Earth. Dr. Willard Libby from The University of Chicago measured the amount of Carbon-14, a rare radioactive isotope of carbon present in organic material, and used that information to determine its age. Commonly known as carbon dating, this powerful technique is effective in determining the age of carbon-containing objects up to 50,000 years old. Dr. Libby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960.
10. How the Body Makes Insulin
Insulin is an essential protein made by the human body to regulate blood sugar and energy production in virtually all cells within the body. In the early half of the 20th century, Professor R.R. Bensley of The University of Chicago performed key fundamental work to show that insulin is made by beta cells in the pancreas. This work has allowed modern scientists to focus on the structure of the molecule and develop effective treatments for diabetes, which afflicts nearly 1 out of every 14 Americans.
