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Enrico Fermi
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Enrico Fermi was a titan of twentieth-century physics. Adept in both theory and experiment, the Italian-born American outlined the statistical laws that govern the behavior of particles that abide by the Pauli exclusion principle and developed a theoretical model of the atom when he was only in his mid-twenties. He went on to incorporate the neutral particle (lightheartedly hailed by Fermi as the neutrino, or “little neutral one”) hypothesized by Wolfgang Pauli into a quantitative theory of beta decay, as well as to demonstrate that bombardment of elements with neutrons can generate artificial radioactivity and that slow neutrons produce much stronger nuclear reactions. These latter discoveries paved the way for the invention of nuclear reactors and the atomic bomb.
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Enrico Fermi’s scientific work, noted for its originality and breadth, has had lasting consequences throughout modern science. Written by close colleagues as well as scientists whose fields were profoundly influenced by Fermi, the papers collected here constitute a tribute to him and his scientific legacy. They were commissioned on the occasion of his 100th birthday by the Italian Physical Society and confirm that Fermi was a rare combination of theorist, experimentalist, teacher, and inspiring colleague. The book is organized into three parts: three biographical overviews by close colleagues, replete with personal insights; fourteen analyses of Fermi's impact by specialists in their fields, spanning physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering; and a year-by-year chronology of Fermi’s scientific endeavors. Written for a general scientific audience, Enrico Fermi: His Work and Legacy offers a highly readable source on the life of one of the 20th century's most distinguished scientists and a must for everybody interested in the history of modern science.
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Enrico Fermi had two siblings. He was very close to his brother Giulio, who had been only a year older than Enrico. In 1928, Fermi married Laura Capon and later had a son Giulio ("Judd") Fermi (1936–1997) and a daughter Nella Fermi Weiner (1931–1995). His son later worked with the Nobel laureate Max Perutz on the structure of hemoglobin. Throughout his life, Enrico was a firm believer of Christianity. Fermi was a fine skier and occasionally chastised his Los Alamos colleagues to ski better.
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On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi and his team of scientists harnessed the atom and opened the door to new scientific and technological realms. His achievement allowed the U.S. to produce the atomic bomb that helped end World War II. Now, more than fifty years later, nuclear energy provides a significant part of the world's electrical power, and radioactive materials are used for hundreds of industrial, agricultural, and medical applications-from food preservation to cancer therapy, checking the integrity of welds in pipelines and bridge supports, and gauges that measure the thickness of coatings applied to paper.
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Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) left Italy in 1938 to receive the Nobel Prize for physics in Sweden. He never went back. He and his wife moved to the United States to escape Italy's increasing fascism and antisemitism.
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Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy. His father was Alberto Fermi, a Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Communications, and his mother was Ida de Gattis, an elementary school teacher. As a young boy he enjoyed learning physics and mathematics and shared his interests with his older brother, Giulio. When Giulio died unexpectedly of a throat abscess in 1915, Enrico was distraught, and immersed himself into scientific study to distract himself. According to his own account, each day he would walk in front of the hospital where Giulio died until he became inured to the pain. Later, Enrico befriended another scientifically inclined student named Enrico Persico, and the two together engaged in scientific projects such as building gyroscopes, and measuring the magnetic field of the earth.
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Enrico Fermi