George Weil

George Leon Weil (September 18, 1907 – July 1, 1995) was an American physicist. On December 2, 1942, he removed the control rod from the Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor, initiating the first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

Early life George Leon Weil was born in New York City on September 18, 1907, the son of Leon and Elsie Rose Weil. His great-grandfather was Henry Lehman (1822–1855), founder of H. Lehman, which became Lehman Brothers. He had an older sister, Helen. He entered Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1929 and then Columbia University, where he earned his master's degree, and later his doctorate, It was subsequently published in the Physical Review in September 1942.

Manhattan Project

At Columbia University, Weil became involved in Enrico Fermi's efforts to build a nuclear reactor. Weil continued to work in reactor development and in April 1945, went to the Los Alamos Laboratory, where he worked on the Trinity nuclear test. In October 1945, he was appointed the American representative at the Chalk River Laboratories in Canada.

In later life, Weil suffered from strokes and heart problems. He died at the Georgetown House retirement home in Washington, DC, on July 1, 1995.