Enrico Fermi Davis Giles Michael Sheen Honors Physics Period 3 December 5, 2011

Abstract This research paper is about the life of Enrico Fermi, his contributions to physics and science, and his experiments. Enrico Fermi was born September 29, 1901 and was raised by his mother and father, Ida de Gattis and Alberto Fermi. At the age of 14, Fermi's brother, Guilio died. Because of his close relationship to his brother, Fermi became depressed but suppressed his feelings by becoming very interested in physics. His advance knowledge in physics lead to a scholarship to Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa. He gained his doctor's degree in physics in 1922. He became a professor of Physics at the University of Rome. There he began to write papers on the atom and was also joined by two other physicist. They became an experimental group whose main goal was to create artificial radiation. Through there experiments, the three scientist did not notice that they had created nuclear fission until other scientist replicated the experiment with accidental mistakes. Fermi's was later awarded the Nobel prize in 1928.

Enrico Fermi was born September 29, 1901 in Rome. His mother is named Ida de Gattis and his father is named Alberto Fermi. He had two sibling: Guilio and Maria Fermi. Fermi's mother was a teacher and taught elementary schools most of her life. His father worked on railroads in various places in Italy. Fermi was closes to his brother Guilio. When Fermi was young, he attended elementary school where he excelled in mathematics. He enjoyed science as well and spent numerous hours building electric motors and mechanical toys with his mother and brother. At the age of 14, Guilio died from a minor throat operation. This death and Enrico's close relationship to his brother caused him to go into depression. Because Fermi enjoyed math and science so much, he began to massively study physics to nullify his broken feelings for his brother. He studied physics very obsessively, and a family friend, Ingegner Alimidei, noticed Fermi's talent for physics. Alimidei tested Fermi on physics repeatedly. Fermi applied to the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, but entry is determined by an entry exam. Fermi's written essay was written in such a manner that impressed the examiner. Fermi studied at the Scuola Normal Superiore from 1918 to 1922, but while he attended the school, Fermi published many papers and theses such as Sulla dinamica di un sistema rigido di cariche elettriche in moto traslatorio (On the dynamics of a rigid system of electrical charges in translational motion) and Sopra i fenomeni che avvengono in vicinanza di una lina oraria (On the phenomena occurring near a world line). In 1922, Fermi wrote a doctoral thesis on probability and some of its applications and earned his doctorate. Fermi went on to write many more papers. In 1926, Fermi published his first major finding: The Fermi-Dirac Statistics. This is used to determine properties for particles that obey Wolfgang Pauli's exclusion principle. After earning his doctorate, Fermi moved to Rome, became a lecturer of Mathematical Physics and Mechanics at the University of Florence, and in 1927, he became the professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Rome. In Rome, Fermi met and married Laura Capon in 1928. Together they had one daughter, Nella, and a son, Guilio, who was named after his brother.

While in Rome, around 1930, Fermi began to write papers about the atom. He joined other people, Emilio Segre, Franco Rasetti , and other scientist. Together, they developed a research and experimental group. The group worked very hard to create artificial radiation, and they succeeded. The element Neptunium was discovered during this time. Fermi also also succeeded in splitting a uranium atom. He discovered that neutrons emitted from the fission of uranium would continue to split other uranium atoms creating a chain reaction releasing incalculable amounts of energy. While working on artificial radiation, Fermi did not realize that he was witnessing nuclear fission. In each of Fermi's experiments, Fermi placed aluminum foil over the experiment keeping him from witnessing the nuclear fission occur. Many other scientist attempted his experiment, but did the same mistake as Fermi did and placed aluminum foil other the experiment. Nuclear fission was discovered when another group of scientist performed one of Fermi's experiments but forgot to place the aluminum foil over it. Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 for the discovery of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons. The rise in Fascists in Italy began to increase and this caused Fermi to fear for his wife because she was Jewish. The Nobel Prize reward gave Fermi and his family the opportunity to escape Italy and emigrate to America. Fermi applied for work and accepted a job at the University of Columbia. The development of the atom bomb was being debated whether or not to be resumed. Coincidentally, this took place the day before the bombing of Peal Harbor in December 1941. Work and experiments on the development atom bomb was to be held at the University of Chicago. From 19411942, the experimenters, led by Fermi, worked and finally were able to control nuclear fission. They created the first atomic pile under the football field of the University of Chicago. This atomic pile was able to maintain a self-sustaining chain reaction. In 1944, Fermi became a citizen and continued to help with the Manhattan Project with hopes to prove that creating the super bomb was impossible. In 1945, the atom bomb that Fermi thought could not have be invented dropped on Hiroshima, Japan quickly

ending the war. After the war ended, Fermi went back to the University of Chicago and continued to teach there. He also began research on cosmic rays and worked on pion-nucleon interaction to grasp a better understanding of it. He attended many different scientific areas to experiment and learn such as the University of Washington, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Brookhaven National Laboratory. He even visited a physics conference on high energy in Italy (This was the first time he had been to Italy since the war). In 1954, Fermi returned to Italy to deliver lectures in Varenna. While he was there, he grew weaker and suffered from health issues. Doctors found that he had stomach cancer. An operation was performed on him, and he survived. Fermi returned home, and tried to write his course on nuclear physics before he died. On November 28, 1954 Enrico Fermi died at the University of Chicago. In his life, Fermi had 14 patents for each of his discoveries and such: 2524379, Neutron Velocity Selector, filed September, 1945, issued October, 1950; 2708656, Neutronic reactor, with Le Szilrd, filed December, 1944, issued May, 1955; 2768134, Testing Material in a Neutronic Reactor, filed August, 1945, issued October, 1956; 2780595, Test Exponential Pile, filed May, 1944, issued February 1957; 2798847, Method of Operating a Neutronic Reactor, filed December 1944, issued July, 1957; 2807581, Neutronic Reactor, filed October 1945, issued September, 1957; 2807727, Neutronic Reactor Shield, filed January 1946, issued September, 1957; 2813070, Method of Sustaining a Neutronic Chain Reacting System, filed November, 1945, issued November, 1957; 2836554, Air Cooled Neutronic Reactor; 2837477, Chain Reacting System; 2852461, Neutronic Reactor; 2931762, Neutronic Reactor; and 2206634 Process for the Production of Radioactive Substances, filed October, 1935, issued July, 1940. The 100th element, Fermium, was named after him. Enrico Fermi was nicknamed the father of the atomic bomb for his discovery of nuclear fission and being the first to control nuclear fission.

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