Enrico Fermi

It’s the birthday of Enrico Fermi, who was born in 1901 in Rome. Fermi began making significant contributions to theoretical physics -- at the interfaces of electromagnetism, quantum mechanics and relativity -- while still a graduate student. A professor by his early 30s, Fermi became an experimenter. Using the newly discovered neutron, he and his team explored the effects of the particle on nuclei, notably to elucidate beta decay. He was awarded the 1938 Nobel physics prize “for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons.” That same year, fearing that his Jewish wife Laura would be persecuted in Fascist Italy, Fermi and she emigrated to the US, where he continued make significant contributions. In 1943 he led the construction at the University of Chicago of the world’s first self-sustaining nuclear reactor. Fermi died at the age 53 of stomach cancer in his home in Chicago. For an account of the 16 years he spent in the US, here’s a reminiscence by one of his collaborators, Valentine Telegdi.

Date in History: 29 September 1901