Editing 1942 in science (section)

==Physics==
* August 13 – [[United States]] [[Chief of Engineers]], [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[Eugene Reybold]] formally establishes the 'Manhattan Engineer District' of the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] to undertake production facility construction work for what will become known as the [[Manhattan Project]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Broad|first=William J.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/science/30manh.html|title=Why They Called It the Manhattan Project|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=30 October 2007|accessdate=2010-10-27}}</ref>
* December 2 – [[Chicago Pile-1]], the first [[nuclear reactor]], goes critical under the squash court of the [[University of Chicago]], thanks to the efforts of [[Enrico Fermi]], [[Leó Szilárd]], [[George Weil]] and the rest of the Chicago pile team.