Enrico Fermi (Noun)
Meaning
Italian nuclear physicist (in the United States after 1939) who worked on artificial radioactivity caused by neutron bombardment and who headed the group that in 1942 produced the first controlled nuclear reaction (1901-1954).
Classification
Nouns denoting people.
Examples
- Enrico Fermi was a pioneer in the field of nuclear physics who played a key role in the development of the first atomic bomb during World War II.
- In 1942 Enrico Fermi successfully conducted the first controlled nuclear chain reaction under the bleachers of a football stadium at the University of Chicago.
- As the head of the Metallurgical Laboratory, Enrico Fermi supervised the secret development of nuclear reactors for use in producing the first atomic bombs.
- After escaping the Fascist regime in Italy in 1938 Enrico Fermi accepted a research position at Columbia University and continued his work in the field of nuclear physics.
- In honor of Enrico Fermi the US built a particle accelerator near Batavia, Illinois in the late 1960s to carry out the important nuclear physics experiments Fermi and others suggested during his time in Chicago.