Enrico Fermi Timeline

(1901 - 1954)

Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) was an Italian-American physicist widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. He made pioneering contributions to nuclear physics, quantum theory, and statistical mechanics, developed the first nuclear reactor as part of the Manhattan Project, and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938. More Less

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Early Life and Education

Enrico Fermi born in Rome

Sep 29, 1901

Enrico Fermi was born on 29 September 1901 in Rome, Italy, the third child of Alberto Fermi, a division head in the Ministry of Railways, and Ida de Gattis, an elementary school teacher.

Meets Adolfo Amidei

1914

In 1914 Fermi met his father's colleague Adolfo Amidei, who encouraged his interest in physics and mathematics and helped guide his early scientific education.

Image source: Enrico Fermi

Death of brother Giulio

1915

Fermi's brother Giulio died during an operation on a throat abscess in 1915, a loss that deeply affected the young Enrico.

Graduates from high school

Jul 1918

Fermi graduated from high school in July 1918, having skipped the third year entirely.

Admitted to physics department

Sep 1920

In September 1920, Fermi was admitted to the physics department at the university in Pisa.

Publishes first scientific works

1921

During 1921, his third year at the university, Fermi published his first scientific works in the Italian journal Nuovo Cimento.

Paper translated into German

1922

One of Fermi's papers was sufficiently well-regarded that it was translated into German and published in the German scientific journal Physikalische Zeitschrift in 1922.

Receives doctorate at age 20

Jul 1922

Fermi submitted his thesis, "A theorem on probability and some of its applications", in July 1922, and received his doctorate at the unusually young age of 20.

Scientific Career in Italy

Points out nuclear energy in E=mc2

1923

While writing the appendix for the Italian edition of Fundamentals of Einstein Relativity by August Kopff in 1923, Fermi was the first to point out that hidden inside the Einstein equation (E = mc2) was an enormous amount of nuclear potential energy to be exploited.

Studies under Max Born at Göttingen

1923 - 1924

In 1923–1924, Fermi spent a semester studying under Max Born at the University of Göttingen, where he met Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan.

Studies with Paul Ehrenfest in Leiden

Sep 1924 - Dec 1924

Fermi studied in Leiden with Paul Ehrenfest from September to December 1924 on a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation obtained through the intercession of the mathematician Vito Volterra.

Develops Fermi–Dirac statistics

1925 - 1926

After Wolfgang Pauli formulated his exclusion principle in 1925, Fermi responded with a paper applying the principle to an ideal gas, employing a statistical formulation now known as Fermi–Dirac statistics.

Image source: Fermi–Dirac statistics

Teaches at University of Florence

Jan 1925 - Dec 1926

From January 1925 to late 1926, Fermi taught mathematical physics and theoretical mechanics at the University of Florence, where he teamed up with Rasetti to conduct experiments on the effects of magnetic fields on mercury vapour.

Awarded Matteucci Medal

1926

Fermi received the Matteucci Medal in 1926, one of numerous awards recognizing his achievements.

Image source: Matteucci Medal

Appointed professor at Sapienza University of Rome

1926

In 1926, at the age of 24, Fermi applied for and won a professorship at the Sapienza University of Rome.

Image source: Sapienza University of Rome

Publishes Introduction to Atomic Physics

1928

In 1928, Fermi published his Introduction to Atomic Physics (Introduzione alla fisica atomica), which provided Italian university students with an up-to-date and accessible text.

Marries Laura Capon

Jul 19, 1928

Fermi married Laura Capon, a science student at the university, on 19 July 1928. They had two children: Nella, born in January 1931, and Giulio, born in February 1936.

Image source: Laura Fermi

Joins Royal Academy of Italy and Fascist Party

Mar 18, 1929

On 18 March 1929, Fermi was appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Italy by Mussolini, and on 27 April he joined the Fascist Party.

Image source: Royal Academy of Italy

Collaborates with Hans Bethe

1932

German physicist Hans Bethe came to Rome as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow and collaborated with Fermi on a 1932 paper "On the Interaction between Two Electrons".

Image source: Hans Bethe

Introduces the neutrino hypothesis

1933 - 1934

Fermi developed beta decay theory in a tentative paper in 1933, then a longer paper the next year incorporating the postulated particle, which he called a "neutrino".

Image source: Neutrino

Discovers neutron-induced radioactivity

Mar 25, 1934

After Joliot-Curie's announcement of induced radioactivity in January 1934, Fermi switched to experimental physics using neutrons. In March 1934 he induced radioactivity with a polonium-beryllium neutron source and rapidly reported the discovery in La Ricerca Scientifica on 25 March 1934.

Nobel Prize and Emigration

Wins Nobel Prize in Physics

1938

In 1938, Fermi received the Nobel Prize in Physics at the age of 37 for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons.

Image source: Nobel Prize in Physics

Leaves Italy to escape racial laws

1938

Fermi left Italy in 1938 to escape new Italian racial laws that affected his Jewish wife, Laura Capon. After receiving the prize in Stockholm, he continued to New York City with his family in December 1938, where they applied for permanent residency.

Image source: Italian racial laws

Arrives in New York City

Jan 2, 1939

Fermi arrived in New York City on 2 January 1939. He was immediately offered positions at five universities, and accepted one at Columbia University, where he had already given summer lectures in 1936.

Image source: New York City

First nuclear fission experiment in the US

Jan 25, 1939

On 25 January 1939, in the basement of Pupin Hall at Columbia, an experimental team including Fermi conducted the first nuclear fission experiment in the United States, following news of Hahn and Strassmann's discovery interpreted by Meitner and Frisch.

Image source: Columbia University

Warns Navy Department about nuclear energy

Mar 18, 1939

Fermi was among the first to warn military leaders about the potential impact of nuclear energy, giving a lecture on the subject at the Navy Department on 18 March 1939.

Image source: United States Department of the Navy

Manhattan Project

Builds larger uranium pile at Columbia

Aug 1941

By August 1941, Fermi had six tons of uranium oxide and thirty tons of graphite, which he used to build a still larger pile in Schermerhorn Hall at Columbia.

Image source: Schermerhorn Hall

S-1 Section meets on uranium research

Dec 18, 1941

The S-1 Section of the Office of Scientific Research and Development met on 18 December 1941, with the US now engaged in World War II, making its work urgent. Arthur Compton determined that plutonium produced in reactors was a feasible alternative to enriched uranium.

Image source: Office of Scientific Research and Development

Chicago Pile-1 goes critical

Dec 2, 1942

Construction of the pile began on 6 November 1942, and Chicago Pile-1 went critical on 2 December 1942, demonstrating the first human-created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Fermi led the team at the University of Chicago that designed and built it.

Image source: Chicago Pile-1

Raises idea of contaminating German food supply

Apr 1943

In April 1943, Fermi raised with Robert Oppenheimer the possibility of using the radioactive byproducts from enrichment to contaminate the German food supply.

Image source: J. Robert Oppenheimer

X-10 Graphite Reactor goes critical

Nov 4, 1943

When the air-cooled X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge went critical on 4 November 1943, Fermi was on hand just in case something went wrong.

Image source: X-10 Graphite Reactor

Becomes director of Argonne Laboratory

May 1944

Initially run by Fermi as part of the University of Chicago, Argonne became a separate entity with Fermi as its director in May 1944.

Image source: Argonne National Laboratory

Becomes American citizen

Jul 1944

Fermi became an American citizen in July 1944, the earliest date the law allowed.

Joins Project Y at Los Alamos

Jul 1944

In mid-1944, Oppenheimer persuaded Fermi to join his Project Y at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Image source: Project Y

Inserts first fuel slug into B Reactor

Sep 1944

In September 1944, Fermi inserted the first uranium fuel slug into the B Reactor at the Hanford Site, the production reactor designed to breed plutonium in large quantities.

Image source: B Reactor

Trinity test

Jul 16, 1945

Fermi observed the Trinity test on 16 July 1945, the first test of a full nuclear bomb explosion, and conducted an experiment to estimate the bomb's yield by dropping strips of paper into the blast wave, using his famous Fermi method.

Image source: Trinity (nuclear test)

Later Life and Legacy

Elected to National Academy of Sciences

1945

Fermi was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1945.

Image source: National Academy of Sciences

Named Swift Distinguished Professor

Jul 1, 1945

Fermi was named Swift Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago on 1 July 1945, although he did not depart the Los Alamos Laboratory with his family until 31 December 1945.

Image source: University of Chicago

Awarded Medal for Merit

1946

Fermi was awarded the Medal for Merit in 1946 for his contribution to the Manhattan Project.

Image source: Medal for Merit

Metallurgical Laboratory becomes Argonne

Jul 1, 1946

The Metallurgical Laboratory became the Argonne National Laboratory on 1 July 1946, the first of the national laboratories established by the Manhattan Project.

Atomic Energy Commission replaces Manhattan Project

Jan 1, 1947

The Manhattan Project was replaced by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on 1 January 1947.

Image source: United States Atomic Energy Commission

Opposes hydrogen bomb development

Aug 1949

After the detonation of the first Soviet fission bomb in August 1949, Fermi, along with Isidor Rabi, wrote a strongly worded report opposing the development of a hydrogen bomb on both moral and technical grounds.

Image source: Thermonuclear weapon

Elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society

1950

Fermi was elected member of the American Philosophical Society in 1939 and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1950.

Image source: Royal Society

Element fermium named in his honor

1952

A synthetic element isolated from the debris of the 1952 Ivy Mike nuclear test was named Fermium, in honor of Fermi's contributions to the scientific community.

Image source: Fermium

Receives Rumford Prize

1953

Fermi received the Rumford Prize in 1953, among other honors including the Hughes Medal in 1942 and the Franklin Medal in 1947.

Image source: Rumford Prize

Testifies on Oppenheimer's behalf

1954

Fermi was among the scientists who testified on Oppenheimer's behalf at the Oppenheimer security hearing in 1954 that resulted in the denial of Oppenheimer's security clearance.

Image source: Oppenheimer security clearance hearing

Undergoes exploratory operation

Oct 1954

Fermi underwent what was called an "exploratory" operation in Billings Memorial Hospital in October 1954, after which he returned home.

Key Facts

Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy, on September 29, 1901, and showed exceptional talent in physics from a young age.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 for his work on induced radioactivity and the discovery of transuranium elements.
Fermi led the team that built Chicago Pile-1, the world's first self-sustaining nuclear reactor, which went critical on December 2, 1942.
He played a key role in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, contributing to the development of the first atomic bombs during World War II.
Element 100, fermium, is named after him, and he is also remembered for posing the famous 'Fermi Paradox' about the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations.

Source

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