The Squash Court Experiment
As the pile grew, so did the entire project. Fermi moved his materials 
to an abandoned squash court under a football stadium at the University 
of Chicago. His pace accelerated because they are proceeding under the
premise that the Germans were close to the atomic success. Six weeks after
the pile had been started, its critical size was reached. Three brave young men
jeopardized their lives by ascending the pile, ready to cover it with liquid
cadmium  if anything went wrong. Almost fifty scientists and several 
incredulous observers mounted a balcony to watch. One physicist remained on
floor, it was his job to extract the final cadimium control rod. Unbearable
tension permeated the atmosphere. Fermi had completed his calculations, 
waited for a propitious moment, and then gave signal. 

out of the frying pan into the fire--I thought I had escaped, but actually 
I went out of the frying pan in to the fire.
(to go from a difficult situation to a worse one)