Enrico Fermi Essay, Research Paper

Enrico Fermi

By: Fernando-3-C

?Enrico Fermi was an Italian-American physicist and Nobel laureate, known for

achieving the first controlled nuclear reaction (Encarta 98).?

Enrico was born on Sep. 29, 1901 in Rome, Italy. Formally educated at the

University of Pisa, Enrico was also a student of many leading theoretical physics centers.

He soon became a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Rome. There he

developed many new ways of explaining the behavior of electrons (Encarta 98). Some

examples would be the development of the theory; beta decay. The one theory attributed

towards him that was renowned in the world of physics and put him on the map as one

might say was; the investigation of the production of artificial radioactivity by

bombarding elements with neutrons(Encarta 98). For this he was later awarded the 1938

Nobel Prize in physics.

Due to the fact that his wife was Jewish he decided not to return to fascist Italy,

in fact they immigrated to the US. While in the US he first started out as a professor at

Columbia University. He then mover his teaching career to the University of Chicago

where he was able to create the first controlled nuclear fission chain reaction which took

place in Dec. 1942 (Encarta 98). For the remainder of the war he worked at Los Alamos,

New Mexico on the A-bomb. He was then later openly opposed to the hydrogen bomb

and debated it on ethical grounds (Encarta 98).

He remained at the University of Chicago attracting students from all over the

world to study under him. Although his contributions to the realm of physics are

immeasurable they where also the cause of his death. Enrico Fermi had an untimely death

due to Cancer on Nov. 28, 1954 in Chicago (Encarta 98). He also had an award that

honors his memory which is given to an individual who is considered to have the greatest

contribution to the development or use of atomic energy.