Top 10 Interesting Facts about Enrico Fermi

Memorial plaque in honour of Enrico Fermi in the Basilica Santa Croce, Florence. Photo by Ввласенко- Wikimedia commons

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Enrico Fermi

Enrico Fermi (born September 29, 1901 in Rome, Italy—died November 28, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois, United States), Italian-born American scientist who was a key architect of the nuclear age.

He created the mathematical statistics needed to explain a wide range of subatomic phenomena, investigated nuclear transformations caused by neutrons, and guided the first controlled chain reaction that included nuclear fission.

He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938, and the US Department of Energy named the Enrico Fermi Award after him. Fermilab, Illinois’ National Accelerator Laboratory, is named after him, as is fermium, element number 100.

1.Fermi’s brilliant academic journey from his early days

Alberto Fermi, a Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Communications, and Ida de Gattis were his parents. He joined a local grammar school, and his father’s co-workers, including A. Amidei, distinguished and motivated his early aptitude for mathematics and physics.

In 1918, he was awarded a fellowship at Pisa’s Scuola Normale Superiore. He studied physics for four years at the University of Pisa, earning his doctorate in physics in 1922 under Professor Puccianti.

2.His early childhood and what encouraged him to pursue a career in Physics and Maths

He had the same desires as his brother Giulio as a child, constructing electric motors and playing with electrical and mechanical toys. Giulio died in a throat abscess procedure in 1915, and Maria died in a plane crash near Milan in 1959.

The 900-page Elementorum physicae mathematicae was discovered in a local market in Campo de’ Fiori Fermi. It was published in Latin by Jesuit Father Andrea Caraffa, a professor at the Collegio Romano, and displayed mathematics, classical mechanics, astronomy, optics, and acoustics as they were comprehended in 1840.

Fermi worked on projects with an empirically predisposed friend, Enrico Persico, such as constructing gyroscopes and weighing the acceleration of Earth’s gravity.

In 1914, Fermi, who used to meet his father in front of the office after work, met a co-worker of his father’s named Adolfo Amidei, who would walk with Alberto part of the way home. Enrico had discovered Adolfo’s curiosity in mathematics and physics and made use of the chance to ask Adolfo a geometry question.

Adolfo recognized that the young Fermi was alluding to projective geometry and went on to give him a book by Theodor Reye on the subject. Fermi returned the book two months later, having answered all of the questions posited at the end of the book, some of which Adolfo deemed hard.

After confirming this, Adolfo concluded that Fermi was “a genius, at least in geometry,” and he continued to guide the boy, providing him with additional books on physics and mathematics. Adolfo observed that Fermi had a very sharp mind and would therefore return the books after reading them as he could recall their contents very well.

3.He’s amazing opportunity to study in Germany and his very first job after

Enrico Fermi, received the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics for identifying new elements and discovering nuclear reactions by his method of nuclear irradiation and bombardment. Photo by Department of Energy. Office of Public Affairs- Wikimedia commons

Shortly after, in 1923, he was granted an Italian government scholarship and spent several months in Göttingen with Professor Max Born. With a Rockefeller Fellowship, he relocated to Leyden to work with P. Ehrenfest in 1924, and later that year, he returned to Italy to take up the position of Lecturer in Mathematical Physics and Mechanics at the University of Florence for two years (1924-1926).

4.Fermi has quite a number of science terminologies named after him

Fermi determined the numerical rules concerning, widely known as the the «Fermi statistics», particles subject to Pauli’s isolation theory (presently known as the “fermions,” as opposed to “bosons,” which abide by the Bose-Einstein statistics, in 1926.

Fermi was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Rome in 1927 (a position he held until 1938, when he relocated to America immediately after being awarded the Nobel Prize, largely to flee Mussolini’s dictatorial regime).

5.Enrico was part of the team that discovered ground-breaking scientific methods of study  

The neutron, found in 1932, established itself as an effective modern method for studying atoms. When Enrico Fermi irradiated heavy atoms with neutrons, the neutrons were captured by the atomic nuclei, resulting in the formation of new and frequently radioactive isotopes.

Fermi and his co-workers identified in 1934 that when neutrons are slowed down, such as by paraffin shielding, the rate of interaction with nuclei increases. This breakthrough resulted in the uncovering of several previously unknown radioactive isotopes.

6.He won his very first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938

Rome, via Daniele Manin 72: commemorative plaque of the classical high school diploma achieved by Enrico Fermi at the Liceo Umberto I. Photo by Gaux- Wikimedia commons

Fermi received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 for his illustrations of the presence of modern radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, as well as his connected finding of nuclear reactions caused by slow neutrons.” Fermi’s early career in Rome was concentrated on electrodynamic issues and theoretical investigations into multiple analytical occurrences however, he soon shifted his focus from the outer electrons to the atomic nucleus itself.

7.The pieces of work that made him win a Nobel Prize in Physics were published

All of his and his collaborators’ work is collected in the following papers: “Artificial radioactivity produced by neutron bombardment,” Proc. Roy. Soc., 1934 and 1935; “On the absorption and diffusion of slow neutrons,” Phys. Rev., 1936.

Fermi discusses the theoretical difficulties related with the neutron in his paper “Sul moto dei neutroni lenti,” Ricerca Scientifica, 1936.

His Compiled Papers have been published by a Committee chaired by his friend and former student, Professor E. Segrè (Nobel Prize winner 1959, with O. Chamberlain, for the finding of the antiproton).

8.He was greatly admired by many academic institutions for his prolific discoveries

Fermi belonged to a number of educational institutions and understood communities in Italy and overseas (he was early in his career, in 1929, chosen among the first 30 members of the Royal Academy of Italy).

He was always in high demand as a lecturer (he has also given multiple moudules at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Stanford University, Calif.). He was the first beneficiary of a $50,000 special award for work on the atom, which now carries his name.

9.Fermi’s understanding of Physics was so pinnacle and no one has yet to much it

He made contributions to almost every branch of physics, from quantum physics to particle physics, condensed matter physics to astrophysics. He even dabbled in geophysics! He was the last man who could perceive all of physics as a comprehensive whole as physics has since evolved into so focused areas.

10.His unfortunate death 5 days after a surgery due to cancer

Resting place of Enrico Fermi, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Photo by Nightryder84- Wikimedia commons

In October 1954, Fermi underwent a “exploratory” procedure at Billings Memorial Hospital before returning home. He died of unrepairable stomach cancer in his Chicago home fifty days later.

At a memorial service at the University of Chicago chapel, co-workers Samuel K. Allison, Emilio Segrè, and Herbert L. Anderson spoke to grieve the passing of one of the globe’s “the finest and constructive physicists.”

His body was laid to rest at Oak Woods Cemetery, where a Lutheran chaplain presided over a private funeral ceremony for his close family.