Enrico Fermi: His Life and Achievements Enrico Fermi: His Life and Achievements James Odle Jos Holman

Family Facts Family Facts n Enrico was born on Sept. 29,1901. n Born to Alberto and Ida de Gattis Fermi. n Has one sister, Maria, and an older brother, Guildo. n His father was an administrative employee of Italian Railroads and his mother was a school teacher. n Was very close to his brother but he died of unknown causes in 1915.

Education Education n He received traditional education from public schools in Rome. n First learned physics from secondhand books. n Was very smart and had a good memory. n By 17 he had a knowledge of physics equal to a college graduate. n He enrolled in the Scuola Normale Superiore and earned a PhD from Pisa. n He also received education at the Max Born institute in Gottingen, Germany until Ph.D.

Life n Returned to Florence in 1924 with the post of lecturer. n He met his wife, Laura Capone, there and they married on July 19, n He had two children; Nella and Giulio. n He established the first school of modern physics with his friend Rasetti in Rome. n Moved to the U.S. before WWII because his wife was a Jew.

Life Continued…... n In the U.S. Enrico taught at Colombia and the University of Chicago. n He was a main player in the Manhattan Project and created the first sustained chain reaction. n He returned to Italy in n He died in Chicago on Nov. 28, 1954 due to stomach cancer.

Manhattan Project nAnAmerica needed a reactor to make plutonium for the atomic bomb. nFnFermi built his nuclear “pile” under the stands at the University of Chicago. nInIt used 400 tons of purified graphite and 22,000 pseudospheres of uranium stacked in 57 layers of cadminum sheets. nAnAt 3:25 p.m. on Dec.2, 1942 the first atomic reactor started. nInIt ran for 28 minutes. nHnHe witnessed the first A-Bomb explosion from a lead-lined tank.

Theoretical Accomplishments n Two of his greatest contributions are his statistical method and theory of beta decay. n Discovered the Fermi constant, G. It is equal to x 10^49 erg cm^3. n The Fermi constant represents the available in beta decay (the spontaneous emmision of electrons by the nuclei), and the mean life of a decaying substance.

Experimental Accomplishments n His greatest achievement was artificial radioactivity by neutron bombardment. n He was probably the first to split an atom. n He also made many other contributions.

Awards –He won the Nobel Prize in 1938 for his work on harnessing nuclear power. –In 1946 he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Merit for his contributions to the Manhattan Project. –In 1954 he received an award from the Atomic Energy Commission. It was later named the Fermi Award.

Other Fermi Stuff n The Fermi National Accelerator Labratory (Fermilab) is about 27 miles west of Chicago. n Fermium, the element with the atomic number of 100, was discovered in 1953 at the first H-Bomb explosion. n Other things include the Fermi level, the Fermi surface, and Fermi-Dirac statistics.

Quotes and Weird Stuff n “A little bomb like that and it would all disappear.” n His nickname was “the Pope”. n He was a strong, burly man and he prided himself on how fast he could run. n Arguing about bait for fly fishing, He said, “Oh, I see, Emilio; it is a battle of wits.” He used worms instead of flys. n He also liked to climb mountains.

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