Enrico Fermi

@Nobel Laureate in Physics, Family and Personal Life ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist who made major contributions to the development of nuclear energy American Italian Scientists Physicists Libra Celebrities Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist who made major contributions to the development of nuclear energy. He is counted amongst the men who are often referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb”. Even as a youngster Fermi displayed a keen interest in physics and his understanding of the subject allowed him to enter the graduate school at the University of Pisa directly when he was only 17 years old and four years later, he was awarded his doctorate. Fermi made his first major contribution to nuclear physics during the early 1930s. By this time, James Chadwick, another notable physicist, had discovered that atomic nuclei contained neutrons as well as protons. Even though there had been previous attempts to disrupt the nucleus using positively charged helium nuclei, it was Fermi who discovered neutrons with a neutral charge. Fermi and his colleagues successfully created isotopes for many known elements. He also discovered that the rate at which neutrons were injected into the nucleus played a role in the outcome. For these important discoveries, Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1938. Later on he and his family moved to the United States concerned over the rise of anti-Semitism in Italy. He continued his research in nuclear physics first at Columbia University then at the University of Chicago.

Personal Details

Birthday: September 29, 1901 Died on: November 28, 1954 Nationality: Italian, American Famous: Nobel Laureate in Physics, Scientists, Physicists Spouses: Laura Fermi Siblings: Giulio, Maria Childrens: Giulio Fermi, Nella Fermi Information Detail Birthday September 29, 1901 Died on November 28, 1954 Nationality Italian, American Famous Nobel Laureate in Physics, Scientists, Physicists Spouses Laura Fermi Siblings Giulio, Maria Childrens Giulio Fermi, Nella Fermi Universities Georg-August University of Göttingen University of Pisa Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Leiden University Birth Place Rome, Italy Born Country Italy Religion Agnostic Gender Male Father Alberto Fermi Mother Ida de Gattis Sun Sign Libra Born in Rome, Italy Famous as Nobel Laureate in Physics Died at Age 53

Rome, Italy

Enrico Fermi born at Unsplash Birth Place

He married Laura Capon in 1928. She was a science student at the University of Rome. The couple had two children. Unsplash Personal Life

Fermi became ill with stomach cancer and died on November 28, 1954, leaving the world shattered at his untimely death. Unsplash Personal Life

He was born on 29 September 1901 as the third child of Alberto Fermi and Ida de Gattis, in Rome, Italy. His father worked as a division head in the Ministry of Railways while his mother was an elementary school teacher. He had one brother and one sister. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He was interested in science from a young age, a passion he shared with his brother. The boys used to play with electrical toys and built electric motors together. Unfortunately his brother died when just in his teens. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

As a boy he derived most of his physics knowledge from a book called ‘Elementorum physicae mathematicae’ which covered mathematics, astronomy, mechanics, and acoustics. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Recognizing his interest in physics, his father’s friend gave him several books on physics and mathematics to whet his curiosity. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He graduated from high school in 1918 and applied to the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. The institute held a difficult entrance examination and Fermi submitted an essay on the partial differential equation which secured him the first place in the exam and quickly elevated him to the doctoral program. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He returned to Italy in 1924 and was appointed as a Lecturer in Mathematical Physics and Mechanics at the University of Florence, a post he held for the next two years. Unsplash Career

He landed a position as a professor at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1927. This was a new chair created at the urging of Professor Orso Mario Corbino in an attempt to raise the standard of physics in Italy. Unsplash Career

Fermi was assisted by Corbino in building his team of budding physicists. He appointed his old friend Franco Rasetti as his assistant and they recruited talented students like Emilio Segre, Ettore Majorana, and Edoardo Amaldi. Unsplash Career

Working together, Fermi and his team conducted research on many practical and theoretical aspects of physics. In 1928, he published ‘Introduction to Atomic Physics’ which went on to become an informative text for university students in Italy. Unsplash Career

He was completely dedicated to spreading knowledge of physics and gave several public lectures to promote this subject. Soon his fame spread around the world and foreign students started coming to Italy to study. The budding German physicist Hans Bethe was one of them. Unsplash Career

He is best known for his work on induced radioactivity which occurs when a previously stable material has been made radioactive by exposure to specific radiation. He supervised the first man-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction that was initiated in Chicago Pile -1 in December 1942. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	September 29, 1901
Died on	November 28, 1954
Nationality	Italian, American
Famous	Nobel Laureate in Physics, Scientists, Physicists
Spouses	Laura Fermi
Siblings	Giulio, Maria
Childrens	Giulio Fermi, Nella Fermi
Universities	Georg-August University of Göttingen University of Pisa Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Leiden University
Birth Place	Rome, Italy
Born Country	Italy
Religion	Agnostic
Gender	Male
Father	Alberto Fermi
Mother	Ida de Gattis
Sun Sign	Libra
Born in	Rome, Italy
Famous as	Nobel Laureate in Physics
Died at Age	53

Enrico Fermi

Italian

Sep 29, 1901

Biography

Personal Details

Rome, Italy