James Baquet

    The Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) was one of the first scientists to develop a nuclear reactor, a device essential to the development of nuclear energy. He has thus been called the “architect of the nuclear age” — as well as one of the “fathers of the atomic bomb.”

    Fermi was born in Rome, where his father was an officer in the ministry of railways. As a boy, he built electric motors and played with mechanical toys, indications of his future interests.

    His first exposure to physics was an old Latin book written by a Jesuit priest and published in 1840. In it Fermi learned of mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, optics, and acoustics — though in badly outdated forms. With another student, he explored scientific interests, which were aided by gifts of books from a colleague of his father’s.

    At 17 he moved to Pisa for study, then traveled abroad before taking a position as a professor of physics in Rome. In 1938 he received a Nobel Prize in Physics. After picking up his prize in Stockholm, he continued on to New York with his family, where they became residents.

    There, he was offered posts at several universities; he accepted one at Columbia. This led ultimately to his work on the Manhattan Project, the effort by American scientists (many of them immigrants like Fermi) to develop the atomic bomb which was used to bring World War II to an end.

    After the war, he continued his pursuit of new discoveries. The Manhattan Project gave way to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), where Fermi pursued peaceful applications of nuclear energy as well as military uses.

    Like many good people, Fermi began to question the wisdom of nuclear energy. He said it was uncertain if “man [would] soon grow sufficiently adult to make good use of the powers that he acquires over nature.”

    Fermi died of stomach cancer at 53. His self-confidence and leadership skills had been such that colleagues called him “The Pope,” considering anything he said about physics to be infallible. Numerous facilities, and the element “fermium,” have been named in his honor.

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. unable to be wrong

    2. people who live in a certain place

    3. went after, followed

    4. places where a certain kind of work is done

    5. signs, hints

    6. a device that creates a chain reaction, generating power

    7. adequately, enough

    8. old-fashioned, no longer current

    9. quest, search

    10. helped, assisted