The Obedient #Genius — The #Physicist Enrico #Fermi

The corner of the books by Gabriella Bernardi

Several books was written about the famous Noble Prize Enrico Fermi who led to the physics revolution of the first half of the twentieth century.

His life has been analyzed in several works, but this extraordinary figure deserves all these attentions. His studies started from his first paper in 1921 (when he was just 20 years old) to his fundamental theory of the beta decay and ended in the U.S.A at Chicago in 1954. His scientific life (one particular biography was written by his wife) can compare with that of Galileo Galilei as one of, and probably the last, great physicist in both the theoretical and experimental side. Not mentioning his involvement in developing the atomic bomb and his central role in the beginning of the big science. This book written by Giuseppe Bruzzaniti is particular and exhaustive.

Do not be afraid of the 348 pages, just start from the first chapter and to be caught in the last century where in Italy there were in Rome some brilliant minds capable of making unthinkable experiments with the means at their disposal. Personal life and scientific works are expertly merged in a story recommended to all curious minds and also not necessarily specialist of the discipline. A rich documentations concludes the book also with unpublished notes and letters.