Enrico Fermi by Boyden Gardner https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh A brilliant physicist of the atomic age. en-us 2023-10-09 14:01:10 UTC 2023-10-10 00:49:25 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/1428584347/a545bbc09682e8dc13e8b7fb97caac42/thumbnail.jpg Enrico Fermi bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738342220 2023-10-09 15:16:17 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738342220 Italian (later American-naturalized) Particle Physicist bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738343123 2023-10-09 15:16:54 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738343123 Most known for: bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738344581
  • The Fermi Paradox
  • Beta Decay Theory
  • Involvement with the Manhattan Project
    • ]]>     2023-10-09 15:17:50 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738344581     Born bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738345538 September 29, 1901 in Rome, Italy]]> 2023-10-09 15:18:31 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738345538 Died bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738346729 November 28, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois
    (Cause of death: stomach cancer)]]>     2023-10-09 15:19:20 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738346729     Worked on: bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738350129
  • Nuclear chain reactions
  • Spectroscopy (analyzing wavelengths of light)
  • Quantum electrodynamics
    • ]]>     2023-10-09 15:21:35 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738350129     Young Enrico Fermi bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738352627 2023-10-09 15:23:19 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738352627 Father - Alberto Fermi bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738356061 (no known photos)
    • born ca. 1870, death year unknown
    • Worked for various railway companies, later becoming Division Manager of one company.
    • Alberto's family was Catholic, but he was non-religious.
    ]]>     2023-10-09 15:25:34 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738356061     Mother - Ida de Gattis bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738361860 (no known photos)
    born ca. 1870, death year unknown 
    • The daughter of an officer in the army, Ida worked as an elementary school teacher for most of her life.
    ]]>     2023-10-09 15:27:33 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738361860     Wife - Laura (Capon) Fermi - 1907-1977 bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738366232 Met Enrico because they were studying similar scientific subjects, and they shared an interest in physics 
    Married in 1928
    Worked as a writer and activist during her life; fought for gun control and limiting air pollution]]>     2023-10-09 15:30:24 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738366232     Siblings bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738378838
  • Giulio Fermi - born in 1900, died in 1915 during a minor medical procedure
  • Maria Fermi - born 1899, died 1959
    • ]]>     2023-10-09 15:38:44 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738378838     Children bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738431448 Nella Fermi (middle right) | 1931 - 1995 | Artist and educator
    Giulio Fermi (middle left) | 1936 - 1977 | Biologist]]>     2023-10-09 16:13:13 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738431448     Education bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738446268
  • Received a doctorate in physics from the Scuola Normale Superiore in 1922 (University of Pisa - pictured above)
  • Studied abroad at the universities of Göttingen (in Germany) and Leiden (in the Netherlands) between 1924 and 1926
    • ]]>     2023-10-09 16:24:05 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738446268     Work bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738468949
  • Lectured in the University of Florence, later invited to be a professor of the University of Rome (his hometown.
  • Left for America with Laura due to anti-Semitic policies in Italy, got a professorship at Columbia University
  • Shifted to the University of Chicago and continued to work there for the rest of his life
    • ]]>     2023-10-09 16:39:16 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738468949     Particle Physics/Nuclear Physics bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738538722 These fields focus on the fundamental particles that make up the universe and the forces that govern them (nuclear physics focuses specifically on atomic nuclei).

    Originated in 5th century BC
    • Democritus and Leocippus theorized that everything in the universe was made of small indivisible particles 
    Developed in late 19th century
    • Discovery of radioactivity in 1896
    • J.J. Thomson's discovery of the electron in 1897
    Early 20th century
    • Ernest Rutherford proposed that atoms had a nucleus, and it was later discovered in 1932
    ]]>     2023-10-09 17:28:04 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738538722     Other important/famous scientists in this field bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738814024
  • Albert Einstein
  • J.J. Thomson
  • Ernest Rutherford
  • Pierre and Marie Curie
    • ]]>     2023-10-09 21:42:51 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738814024     Other famous or important spectroscopy scientists bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738817779
  • Isaac Newton
  • Erwin Schrödinger
  • Lise Meitner
    • ]]>     2023-10-09 21:48:56 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738817779     Spectroscopy bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738822628 Investigates the emission and absorption of different electromagnetic wavelengths (including visible light and radiation.)

    History:
    • Isaac Newton published a study of light and colors in 1672, and published the book "Optics" in 1704
    • W. H. Wollaston performed a slit experiment to examine how light disperses in 1802
    • Joseph Von Fraunhofer reproduced this in 1814 and created the first modern spectroscope
    • 1854 - Gustav Kirchoff and Robert Bunsen showed that different chemicals and elements emit different wavelengths of visible light
    • Louis de Broglie theorized that the electron behaves like a wave rather than a single particle in 1923

    Link: https://www.ossila.com/en-us/pages/history-of-spectroscopy 
    ]]>     2023-10-09 21:56:55 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738822628     Most Famous Project - The Manhattan Project bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738824145 Fermi worked with numerous other scientists and engineers (such as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Glenn T. Seaborg) to produce the first functional atomic bomb, two of which the United States used on Japan to end the second World War.]]> 2023-10-09 21:59:14 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738824145 Beta Decay Theory bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738828928 Beta decay is the process a proton or neutron undergoes to become the other in an atomic nucleus (e.g. a proton to a neutron) when there is an imbalance of either.
    • Previous equations required a third, unknown particle to work
    • Fermi incorporated the neutrino, theorized about in 1930, into new formulas in 1934
    • These equations laid the foundation for further research and the discovery of the atomic weak force

    Link: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/fermi2.html
    ]]>     2023-10-09 22:07:30 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738828928     Atomic Spectroscopy bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738833077 Fermi discovered that at a specific wavelength of spectral lines, a particle shot at an atom could reveal all of the information about any particles that were knocked out of the atom. He referred to this as the "scattering length," a term still used in modern-day quantum mechanics.

    Links:
    • https://www.springer.com/gp/about-springer/media/research-news/all-english-research-news/fermi-s-ground-breaking-figure/23525384
    • https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjh/s13129-022-00042-z
    ]]>     2023-10-09 22:14:50 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738833077     Personality bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738928091 Fermi was often described as being self-assured, but not arrogant. He had an in-depth understanding of physics, knowing how to use and apply formulas more deeply than simple memorization. After his death, E Sergè wrote that he had a remarkable "clarity of thought" even in his final days.]]> 2023-10-10 00:28:17 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738928091 The Fermi Paradox bgardner252 https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738939614 During his life, Fermi noticed a gap between the uncountable number of stars in the universe, containing likely trillions of habitable planets, and the observed lack of any intelligent spacefaring civilizations since humans began to look into the stars. This is the Fermi Paradox--how can there be so many opportunities for life in the universe, and at the same time none that have shown any trace that they exist?

    This idea continues to be a major talking point in astronomy and astrobiology to this day.

    ]]>     2023-10-10 00:36:53 UTC https://padlet.com/bgardner252/5hmw2381tqr853mh/wish/2738939614