This is free to see and there's a nice marker on the sidewalk that explains what the statue signifies. Parking can be very challenging, so plan accordingly.

Nuclear Energy, the name of the bronze sculpture by Henry Moore that is situated at 5625 South Ellis Avenue on the campus of the University of Chicago, rests on the site of the world's first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction that led to the further development of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and effectively ended World War II. Moore described the 12-foot-tall figure, which he designed, modeled and cast between 1963 and 1967, saying the upper part is connected with the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion but also has the shape and eye sockets of a skull. Moore said he intended the sculpture to suggest a contained power and force appropriate to the subject. On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi and a group of scientists set the world's first nuclear chain reaction in motion at Chicago Pile 1, the world's first artificial nuclear reactor under the original site of the University of Chicago's Stagg Field, home of coach Alonzo Stagg's football team. The event was a decisive step toward the creation of atomic energy. Exactly 20 years later, on December 2, 1967, the sculpture was unveiled as a memorial to the accomplishments of Fermi and his fellow physicists. Curiously, the original title given to the work by Moore was Atom Piece. But it was feared it would be mis-interpreted with Atom Peace. Hence, the less controversial Nuclear Energy. Finally, Stagg Field is long gone. Today, the location is occupied by the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library and the Regenstein Library, the largest library on the University of Chicago campus.

Nothing special or exciting. Something to climb on for a photo or you can selfie with it in the background. Something to do if you see it but if you don’t you didn’t miss much.

On December 2nd 1942 mankind entered the nuclear age roughly 30ft below this sculpture. In a hidden lab beneath the university’s squash court Enrico Fermi and his team achieved the first self sustaining controlled nuclear chain reaction.From Hiroshima, the Nagasaki, and billions of hours of clean and reliable energy, it all started. To stand here is to stand on hallowed ground.

At first glance, it looks like a basketball on a pedestal. Or a tooth. Or a skull. Or a cathedral. But the man who created it said the working model looked like the top of a large mushroom or a mushroom cloud. So there it is, a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore on the campus of the University of Chicago, on South Ellis Avenue, north of 56th Street, between the Max Palevsky West Dormitory and the Mansueto Library, in the Hyde Park neighborhood, at the site of the world's first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1. Created in 1964-1966, the sculpture is called Nuclear Energy and it commemorates the exact location where the Manhattan Project team devised the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction on December 2, 1942. It was in the basement of the now demolished west stands of the old Stagg Field. It is described as 14 feet in height and eight feet in diameter and it sits atop a base that is 1 1/2 feet in height and 10 feet in diameter. It was erected for and dedicated at the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction on the grounds by Enrico Fermi in 1942. Thus, it was unveiled at precisely 3:36 p.m. on December 2, 1967. It was designed a National Historic Landmark in 1965 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 as one of the original designated historic places. It was named a Chicago Landmark in 1971.