Iowa
Nuclear USS Iowa sub calls to mind Ames’ role in the Manhattan Project | Opinion
Iowa State quietly saved the Manhattan Project, assured an Allied victory and forever changed history.
Watching the young men and women sailors scramble aboard the new USS Iowa submarine as ship sponsor Christie Vilsack announced, “Board our boat and bring her to life!” I wondered if they understood Iowa State University’s role in ushering in the nuclear age?
Did these sailors know Iowa State was the only university to receive the Army Navy “E for Excellence” banner after World War II?
At that moment I reminded myself to send the book, “Wilhelm’s Way — The Inspiring Story of the Iowa Chemist Who Saved the Manhattan Project” to the submarine commander of the nuclear-powered USS Iowa. I wanted him to know how an ISU chemistry professor changed world history.
To understand the story, you need to return to the end of 1941.
Theoretically, the idea of nuclear energy and a possible nuclear bomb had been conceived by physicists. However, to test the theory, thousands of pounds of pure uranium were needed to create the first nuclear bomb. Chemists at Westinghouse and prestigious universities had only created mere grams of not-quite-pure uranium. The newly established Manhattan Project was stalled, unless someone figured out how to purify uranium — and fast.
By February 1942, Iowa State’s head of physical chemistry, Frank Spedding, was contacted by the University of Chicago’s Manhattan Project team. He learned of the project’s numerous challenges, including the need for a process to purify uranium which required a special furnace. Fortunately, Iowa State had such a furnace and Spedding immediately brought in ISU professor Harley Wilhelm, a sharecropper’s son from southern Iowa, who understood chemistry and metallurgy. Though completely under-resourced in a ramshackle lab, Wilhelm began experiments to purify uranium.
Scientific innovation is not always pretty. Explosions and fires seemed routine in the Physical Chemistry lab that summer. But Wilhelm and a team of graduate students kept trying new approaches to purify uranium and learn from their failures.
By August 1942, the first glimmers of success appeared. A 20-gram piece of pure uranium was produced in the lab! The basic process worked. But could the process be made more efficient and larger?
By Sept. 23, Harley Wilhelm and team had done it. He boarded the night train to Chicago, carrying an 11-pound ingot of pure uranium to show the Manhattan Project leaders. Upon seeing this much pure uranium, the director’s “eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped,” according to Wilhelm. Could an Iowa State chemistry professor have accomplished what the best funded private and university labs in the nation had failed to achieve?
To test the claim, they asked Wilhelm to saw it in half to prove it did not have a cavity inside. The sawing resulted in a small fire but showed a pure solid mass of uranium. They sent a portion to MIT to confirm its purity. It was pure.
By November, the War Department signed a contract with Iowa State to produce pure uranium through Operation Quik Phix. In the next few years, the Ames facility, called “Little Ankeny,” delivered 2 million pounds of pure uranium to the war effort. Moreover, the Ames Process yielded pure uranium at a cost of $1.55 per pound, instead of the $1,000 per pound anticipated by Westinghouse, saving the government hundreds of millions.
With the War Department’s gratitude, Iowa State and Wilhelm both received the Army Navy “E for Excellence” banner. Iowa State had quietly saved the Manhattan Project, assured an Allied victory and forever changed history.
On the submarine pier, I listened with pride as Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks recalled the previous versions of the mighty USS Iowa. When Christie Vilsack charged the crew to “bring her to life!” I knew the living heart of this nuclear-powered submarine beat with the pure-uranium-powered energy and science of Iowa State University and its brilliant professor, Harley Wilhelm. His story constantly reminds me of the importance of university researchers and their impact in times of war and peace.
Wendy Wintersteen is president of Iowa State University.
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) — About 50 Iowans braved the threat of severe storms to hear from Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn at his town hall in Dubuque Friday night.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, said his campaign is about solving the long-term systemic issues facing Iowans.
One priority is addressing what Lahn calls a cancer crisis in Iowa, as the state has the second-highest cancer rate in the country. Solving the crisis means ensuring Iowans have access to clean, nitrate-free drinking water, working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
“Iowans are just ready for something that they should be able to count on, like clean drinking water,” Lahn said. “We have ways to clean up the drinking water in Iowa that isn’t on the backs of farmers, but is working alongside with them because they’re drinking the water too, and they want to do what’s right.”
Lahn also wants to stop Iowa’s “brain drain,” as more of Iowa’s college graduates left the state for opportunities elsewhere.
“Don’t leave! Give me some time! I’m going to fight to keep you here,” Lahn said. “I was one of these kids. I thought I had to leave the state to find something better. We have to prioritize Iowa’s incentive dollars to make sure they’re going to grow Iowa businesses that are going to be here for the long haul, so our kids have places to work.”
Running a distinct campaign feels challenging this election, as Lahn is one of five GOP candidates who want to be Iowa’s next governor, facing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand is the only Democrat running for the state’s top office.
Lahn said he stands out by promising Iowa will be for Iowans, pledging to ban the use of eminent domain for private gain and tax out-of-state landowners and data centers at higher rates to lower property taxes.
“It always goes back to follow the money, so when it comes to not being a weak-kneed Republican today, I believe the paramount piece of that is answering only to the citizens of Iowa, not to special interests to pad their bottom line, but what’s best for the people of Iowa,” Lahn said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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