Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian Physicist who has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" for his creation of the first nuclear reactor.
Personal Life
Early Life/Education
Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy on the 29th of September 1901. He was the son of Alberto Fermi who was at the time a Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Communications. His mother, Ida de Gattis was an elementary school teacher. He was the youngest of 3, his sister, Maria, was 2 years older and his brother Giulio was a year older. Enrico was born into a Roman Catholic family but was an agnostic for his adult life. He attended a local grammar school until 1918 when he was given a fellowship of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa. Enrico spent four years at the University of Pisa and earned his doctor's degree for physics in 1922. In 1923 he was given a scholarship from the Italian Government to work with Professor Max Born and in 1924 he moved back to Italy to take the position of Lecturer in Mathematical Physics and Mechanics at the University of Florence. In 1928 he married Laura Capon and they had two children Giulio and Nella.
Accomplishments/Work
In 1926, Fermi discovered the statistical laws which are also know at the Fermi statistics. Fermi also had multiple patents (14) some of which related to the use of nuclear power and in 1938 was awarded the Nobel PrizeLink title for this work on induced radioactivity and the discovery of transuranic elements. He contributed to the development of quantum theory, statistical mechanics and nuclear physics. He worked on the Manhattan Project during the second World War after emigrating to the United States where he was the Professor of Physics at Columbia University (1939-1942). He also lead the team that designed and built Chicago Pile-1, which was the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in 1942. In 1944 he became an American citizen and accepted a professorship at the Institute of Nuclear Studies of the University of Chicago. The element Fermium (atmoic number 100) is named after him along with many other awards, scholarships, laboratories and a space telescope.
Later life and Death
Fermi held his position at the University of Chicago until he passed away at the age of 53 in 1954.
Connectedness
- How is this topic connected to something that you are interested in?
I find Fermi's work very interesting and am impressed with all of the contributions he made toward physics.
- How is it connected to your major?
Some of his work (Fermi Statistics) is important in the concepts of Thermodyanmics.
See also
Fermi-Dirac Statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi%E2%80%93Dirac_statistics Manhattan Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project Ferium (Discovered by Enrico Fermi) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermium
Further reading
Books, Articles or other print media on this topic
External links
Internet resources on this topic
References
http://www.biography.com/people/enrico-fermi-9293405
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html