The Making of University of Michigan History

Phoenix Project promotes peacful use of atoms...

Drawing on the ancient myth of the bird reborn from its own ashes, the university established the Phoenix Project for exploration of peaceful uses of atomic energy as living memorial to its 583 war dead. The project raised $7.5 million by 1953. The Phoenix Memorial Laboratory was completed in 1955 and the Ford Research Reactor in 1956. Phoenix funds supported research in the physical, biological and social sciences which led to fundamental scientific discoveries, most notably Donald Glasers' development of the liquid bubble chamber for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1960.

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