Abdus-Salaam, Mohammad, 357–358
Abelson, Philip, 152
Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of Lynxes), 33, 55, 91–92, 119, 334, 357
Accademia d’Italia, 92–94, 144
accidents, 191
actinide chemistry, 151
activism, Laura Fermi’s, 352
African Americans, 306–307
Agnew, Harold, 194–195, 211(fig.), 325
Alchemy of Our Time (Fermi and Amaldi), 74
Allison, Samuel, 194, 210–211, 211(fig.), 221, 256–257, 260, 331, 341, 346–347, 350
alpha particle bombardment, 106, 113
alpha rays, 102
Alvarez, Luis, 77, 220–221, 242, 307, 328
Amaldi, Edoardo, 54, 115(fig.)
Castelnuovo salons, 64
continuing slow-neutron research, 127
Fermi’s classified work, 333–334
Fermi’s declining health, 338
Fermi’s legacy, 360–361
Fisica revisions, 73
neutron bombardment research, 115–116
nuclear physics research, 109–110
paraffin block experiment, 120–125
textbook revision, 318
war years, 264
Amaldi, Ginestra Giovene, 64, 66, 74, 84–85, 122–123, 133, 140–142, 352
Amaldi, Ugo (son), 122(fn)
American Physical Society (APS), 174, 305–307, 310–311, 323, 344
Anderson, Carl, 113
Anderson, Herbert, 199, 211(fig.)
berylliosis, 191–192
collaboration with Fermi, 158–159, 163
Columbia chain reaction, 181–183
construction of the pile, 205–206
criticality, 207–213
Fermi’s illness and death, 341, 350
military control of national laboratories, 189
natural uranium chain reaction, 172–174
on Fermi’s graduate students, 293–294
strong force research, 292–293
test shot, 259
the Chicago team, 193–194, 200, 205
antineutrino, 104
anti-nuclear activism, 361–362
anti-Semitic laws, 77
Argonne Forest/Argonne National Laboratory, 69, 201, 217–218, 220–221, 280–281
Army Corps of Engineers, 228
Astin, Allen, 306
astrophysics, 365–366
Atkinson, Robert, 192
Atomic Energy Act (1946), 297, 320
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), 289–290, 297–299, 307, 309, 311, 320–322
Atoms in the Family (Fermi), 342, 344–345, 352
Austria, German annexation of, 152
awards and honors, 356–357
Bacher, Robert, 248–249, 275(fig.), 297
background checks, 297–298
Bainbridge, Kenneth, 256–257
balloon for the pile, 205–207
Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico, 244–245
Basel conference (1949), 333–334
Baudino, John, 202–203, 218, 256, 259
Bernard, Lawrence, 320
Bernardini, Gilberto, 88
beryllium as reactor moderator, 194
beta radiation and beta decay, 101–105, 108–109, 112, 123, 197, 285, 327–328
Bethe, Hans, 135, 192, 289(fig.), 341, 349
APS vice presidency and presidency, 305, 310–311
Fermi’s QED paper, 100
hydrogen bomb research, 303
quantum states in a gas, 54–55
Rome School, 88
von Neumann and, 243
Washington Conference, 159
birthplace, Fermi’s, 5–6
black hole, 282
Bloch, Emanuel, 304–305
Bohr, Aage, 248–249
Bohr, Niels
arrival in New York, 156
beta radiation, 103
code name, 202
Como conference, 89–90
early quantum model, 45–47
Fermi’s Nobel Prize, 137–139
initiator mechanism, 248–249
NAS conference, 287
nuclear fission, 158
Poconos conference, 287
quantum model, 48
research topics, 45
Rome conference, 111(fig.), 112(fig.)
University of Göttingen, 35
uranium fission, 152–154
Washington Conference, 159–160
Borden, William, 309
Born, Max, 34–36, 46, 49–50, 56–57, 89
Bose-Einstein statistics, 55–56
Boskey, Bennett, 320–321
bosons, 36, 55–56, 101, 357–359
bounty hunters, 76
Bradbury, Norris, 224, 290, 309
Bragg, Walter, 89
Brode, Bernice, 246
Brode, Robert, 246
Buck, Pearl S., 143, 143(fig.)
Bush, George W., 328
by-products, reactor “poisoning” by, 231–233
cadmium as reactor moderator, 191, 200–201, 222–223, 228
Cambridge group, 109, 111–112, 114, 118, 151–152, 156
Capon, Augusto, 38–39, 69, 70(fig.), 135–136
Capon, Cornelia, 67–68
Capon, Laura. See Fermi, Laura Capon
Caraffa, Andrea, 11–12
Carrara, Nello, 23–24, 25(fig.), 27
Castelnuovo, Guido, 30, 38–39, 64–65, 334–335
Chadwick, James, 103, 109, 112, 114, 151–152
bringing the Chicago pile to criticality, 207–212
concerns over Hitler’s access to fission, 162
Fermi’s meeting with the US Navy, 169–170
graphite moderator, 177
increasing urgency in the research, 180–181
Szilard’s ideas on, 154–155
uranium as basis for, 161, 163–165
using natural uranium, 172–173
See also nuclear reactors
Chamberlain, Owen, 84, 329, 331–332
Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan, 282–284, 294, 341–342, 345, 365–366
Chandrasekhar limit, 282
chaos theory, 291
Chevalier, Haakon, 308
Chew, Geoffrey, 244, 246, 307, 327
Chicago, Illinois, 189–190, 194–195, 198, 271–272. See also University of Chicago
classical mechanics, 15
classified work, 333–334
code names, scientists’, 202–203, 229, 234
cognitive dissonance, 158
The Collected Papers (Fermi), 263, 357
Columbia University, 190
Anderson-Fermi collaboration, 158–161
Bethe’s APS presidency, 310–311
chain reaction experiments with Anderson and Szilard, 172–174
FBI suspicion of Fermi’s ties, 189
Fermi’s lecture on the fission work, 323–324
Fermi’s offer of a faculty position, 135
Fermi’s working exponential pile, 184–186
graphite diffusion experiments, 182–183
pile modifications, 190–192
Rabi and Fermi, 171–172
Steinberger’s move to, 307
summer lectures, 129
Szilard’s presence at, 154–155
the Fermis’ arrival, 150
Yang and Lee, 326
Como conference (1927), 82, 89–91, 187–188, 334
Compton, Arthur, 111(fig.), 112(fig.)
background and work, 187–188
Bartky replacing, 274–275
consequences of the chain reaction experiment, 213
criticality, 209
Fermi’s Nobel nomination, 138
Hanford reactor, 232–233
Interim Committee decision, 250–252
pile facility construction, 201, 204
the Chicago team, 186–187, 196
watch behavior at altitude, 221
X-10 plutonium reactor, 223
computational physics, 290–291, 359–360
computers
advances in simulation technology, 359–360
postwar work on programmable machines, 290–291
Conant, James Bryant, 212, 300, 312
concorso (academic competition), 57–59, 83
Condon, Edward, 307–308
conservation laws, 102–103
controlled fission reactions, 120–125, 127, 207–208
Conversi, Marcello, 264–265, 276
Corbino, Orso Mario, 41, 70(fig.), 81(fig.), 126
bringing Italian physics to international prominence, 108
career path, 32–33
commitment to Fermi’s success, 30, 32
Como conference, 88–89
death of, 132
discovery of transuranic elements, 119
fascist regime and, 33–34
Fermi’s position in Florence, 43
Fermi’s teaching position at University of Rome, 38
Fermi’s wedding to Laura, 69
heading the university physics department, 18–19
importance of Fermi’s slow-neutron process, 363
Italy’s annexation by Germany, 129
Lo Surdo’s friction with Fermi and, 92
paraffin block experiment, 123–124
patent controversy, 318–319
Rome conference, 111(fig.)
supporting Fermi’s professional ambitions, 57–59, 63
Cordova, Tina, 261
cosmic-ray physics, 181, 276, 281–286, 334
coup d’état (Italy), 31–34
CP-1/CP-2/CP-3, 217–218, 265–266, 280–281
critical mass problem, 239–241
criticality, 207–212, 214–216, 229–233
crocodile spectrograph, 109(fig.)
Cronin, James, 330–332
Curie, Marie, 35–37, 111(fig.), 113, 202
cyclotron, 220
Columbia University, 159
pion-neutron scattering, 278
plutonium creation, 197–198
proton accelerator for mesotron production, 276, 279
D’Agostino, Oscar, 115–116, 115(fig.), 124, 126, 157, 318–319, 321
daily routine, Fermi’s, 72–73, 78–79, 243–247
Darrow, Karl, 305
Davis, Warren, 316–318
death
Admiral Capon, 136
Alberto Fermi, 67
Corbino, Rutherford, and Marconi, 127, 132–133
Giulio Fermi, 9–10
Maria Fermi, 353–354
death, Fermi’s, 117(fn), 336–337, 340–346, 348–352, 354, 356–357, 360–361, 364–365
degeneracy, 55–56
delta plus plus particle, 293
deuterium, 171
Dirac, Paul, 44
background, 50–52
electron spin, 49
Fermi’s quantization of perfect gases, 55–56
NAS conference, 287
Nobel Prize, 138
quantum electrodynamics, 96–98, 103–105
Solvay conference, 88–89
documentary of Fermi, 357
Dragstedt, Lester, 340–341
DuPont Corporation, 207, 212, 223, 225, 228
Dyson, Freeman, 294–296
education
Amidei’s intellectual structure with Fermi, 14–16
Fermi as prodigy, 14–15
Fermi’s admission paper to the University of Pisa, 19
Fermi’s early interest in science and technology, 7–8
Fermi’s pedagogical skills, 26
of the Fermi children, 219–220
Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 18
See also Rome School of physics; Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa; University of Göttingen
Ehrenfest, Paul, 41–43, 111(fig.)
Einstein, Albert, 12, 28, 42–44, 47, 138, 156, 179, 249
electrodynamic theory, 28
electromagnetic field, 97–98
electromagnetic interaction, 357–358
electromagnetic theory, 16, 46, 70–71
The Electron Theory of Matter (Richardson), 16
Ellis, Charles Drummond, 109, 111–112, 112(fig.)
enemy alien, Fermi as, 188–189, 198, 202–203
energy efficiency, 328
Erdos, Paul, 155
espionage, 305
Klaus Fuchs, 239–240, 261, 301–302, 321
Oppenheimer controversy and hearings, 307–313
Ethiopia, Italy’s conflict with, 128, 130
eulogy, Fermi’s, 346–348
European Space Agency, 360
Everett, C.J., 302
exclusion principle, Pauli’s, 48–50, 54–57, 95–96, 98–99
experimental physics
chain reaction experiments, 161–165
Fermi bridging the gap between theoretical physics and, 27–28
Pauli’s incompetence, 47
Rome School, 80
Szilard-Fermi incompatibility, 173–174
fallibility, Fermi’s, 233
Faraday, Michael, 97–98
fascist regime, Italy’s, 233
anti-Semitic laws, 140
building Fermi a lab, 131–132
Corbino’s academic career, 32–34
Corbino’s efforts towards funding Fermi’s work, 108–109
Corbino’s refusal to join, 132
FBI suspicion of Fermi’s ties to, 189
Fermi’s background security check, 298
Fermi’s connection through the Accademia, 93
Fermi’s departure from, 134–136, 139–142
Fermi’s Italian colleagues’ war years, 164–165
Fermi’s Nobel Prize, 144–145
increasing politicization, 126
increasing reliance on Nazi Germany, 130, 133
Laura Fermi’s refusal to leave Italy despite, 129–130
Laura Fermi’s resistance to leaving Italy, 77
slow-neutron patent controversy, 320–321
See also Mussolini, Benito
Fat Man, 261–263
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 189, 198, 297–298, 309, 321–322
Fermi, Alberto (father), 3–5, 9, 13, 17–19, 41, 63–64, 67
Fermi, Enrico, pictures of, 79(fig.), 81(fig.), 90(fig.), 115(fig.), 143(fig.), 274(fig.), 275(fig.), 337(fig.), 346(fig.)
Fermi, Giulio (brother), 5–7, 6(fig.), 8–9, 8(fig.), 9–10, 27–28, 38
Fermi, Giulio (son), 10, 78, 133, 141, 150, 219–220, 272–273, 315, 338, 354–355
Fermi, Ida de Gattis (mother), 5–6, 9–10, 18–19, 41
Fermi, Laura Capon (wife), 39(fig.), 351(fig.)
adjusting to Chicago, 218–219
arrival in Chicago, 198
arrival in Los Alamos, 234–236
Castelnuovo salons, 64–65
celebrating criticality, 212–213
collaborative writing, 73–74
donating her wedding ring to the Italian war effort, 128
English skills, 75
Fermi’s courtship, 65–68
Fermi’s death, 341–345, 351–353
Fermi’s enemy alien status, 189
Fermi’s first meeting with, 38–40
Fermi’s secrecy about fission research, 186
financial assets, 314–315
her son’s resemblance to, 355–356
house and staff in Rome, 71–72
initial dislike of America, 75–77, 149–150
life in New York, 171
move to New York, 154
Nella’s birth, 77–78
proposal and wedding, 68–69
response to the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, 262–263
textbook translation, 316–317
the Fermis’ postwar return to Chicago, 271–272
Fermi, Maria (sister), 5–7, 6(fig.), 8–9, 11, 41, 63–64, 67, 69, 263, 315, 353–354
Fermi, Nella (daughter), 39–40, 77–78, 141, 150, 219–220, 272, 353–354
Fermi, Olivia (granddaughter), 354
Fermi, Rachel (granddaughter), 355
Fermi, Stefano (grandfather), 4
Fermi Award, 356–357
Fermi interaction, 285
Fermiac, 290
Fermi-Dirac statistics, 36, 96, 282, 359
fermions, 36
Feynman, Richard, 99, 239, 241, 286–288
finances, Fermi’s, 314–315
fission, nuclear, 356–357
Amaldi’s research, 264
critical mass problem, 239–241
Fermi’s failure to understand his results, 150
Fermi’s reaction to Hahn-Meitner-Strassman results, 156–157
Fermi’s work at Columbia, 159–161
fusion and, 192–193
lack of a theoretical framework, 152–153
political concerns over, 161–162
Roosevelt prioritizing work on, 180
Via Panisperna team’s failure to achieve, 157–158
See also chain reaction; neutron bombardment
Franck, James, 34–36, 138–139, 252–253, 350
Friedman, Jerome, 329–331
Frisch, Otto, 152–153, 157, 240
Fuchs, Klaus, 239–240, 261, 301–302, 321
Fuller, Robert, 272–273, 338–339
fusion research, 192–193
Fermi and Teller’s study of cosmic rays, 281–282
“Super” project, 238–239, 244, 263–264, 300–301, 308–310
Truman’s opinion on, 299
games and toys, Fermi’s interest in, 64, 219, 227, 246, 272
gamma rays, 102
Garbasso, Andrea, 53–54, 87–89, 111
Garrison, Lloyd, 310–311
Garwin, Richard, 294, 302–303, 330, 351
Gell-Mann, Murray, 278–279, 295–296, 342, 351, 358
General Advisory Committee (GAC), 290, 297–300, 312, 321–322
geophysics, Fermi’s interest in, 181
Germany
annexation of Austria, 152
direct control of Italy, 136
end of the European war, 249–250
failure to construct a working reactor, 215, 265
Heisenberg’s return to, 175–176
Italy’s increasing reliance on, 130, 133
Mussolini’s alliance with, 128–129
pact with the Soviet Union, 180
the Fermis’ departure from Italy through, 141–143
Weimar Republic, 35
See also Hitler, Adolf; University of Göttingen
Giannini, Gabriello, 84, 124, 150, 304, 319–320
Giorgi, Giovanni, 57–58
Glashow, Sheldon, 357–358
Glauber, Roy, 336
gluons, 358
Goldberger, Marvin “Murph,” 327
goldfish pond experiment, 122, 122(fn)
Goodyear Rubber Company, 205–206
Goudsmit, Samuel, 42, 49, 74–76, 88, 99, 112(fig.)
graduate students, Fermi’s, 293–294, 326–331
graphite moderator, 177, 182–186, 215, 222–223
Greenewalt, Crawford, 207, 209, 212, 223, 228–229
Groves, Leslie, 201–204, 223–224, 228, 232–233, 250, 257, 267
Gunn, Ross, 169–170
Gustav V of Sweden, 144
Hahn, Otto, 119, 144, 150–153, 157, 356–357
Halmos, Paul, 155
Hanford, Washington, 203–204, 217, 228–233, 247
Heisenberg, Werner, 90(fig.), 337(fig.)
Basel conference, 334
Como conference, 89–90
Dirac’s QED work, 101
German failure to create a device, 250
heavy water reaction, 265
matrix mechanics and wave mechanics, 49–50
Nazi-Soviet alliance, 180
Nobel Prize, 138–139
Pauli’s view of, 47
return to Germany, 175–176
Rome conference, 112(fig.)
University of Göttingen students, 34–36, 46
Hillberry, Norman, 211(fig.), 297–298
Hiroshima, Japan, 261–263, 361
Hitler, Adolf, 128, 133, 137, 161–162, 175–176
Hooper, Stanford, 166, 168–169
Hoover, J. Edgar, 309
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), 307–308
Houtermans, Fritz, 192
Hutchins, Robert Maynard, 193–194, 275(fig.)
hydrodynamics: Taylor instability, 291
moral and ethical issues, 300–302
Oppenheimer espionage hearings, 308–309, 313
Teller and Ulam’s contributions to, 302–303
testing in the South Pacific, 303
See also fusion research; “Super” project
impurities in the pile, 183, 191, 199, 215, 250, 265
initiator mechanism, 248–249
Institute for Nuclear Studies, 274–279, 281–282, 350
Interim Committee, 251–255
international conferences, 333
Como conference, 82, 89–91, 187–188, 334
enlightening the community about Italian physics, 88–91
National Academy of Sciences conferences, 286–287
Solvay conferences, 88–89, 104, 113, 144, 286
international control over nuclear weapons, 300–301
Italy. See fascist regime, Italy’s
Japan
deployment of Fat Man and Little Boy, 261–263
end of the war in Europe, 250–251
Interim Committee decision about continuing the project, 254–255
pion research, 127–128
Jensen, J. Hans D., 278
Jews
flight of European Jewish scientists, 131–132
Laura Capon, 38–39
Laura Fermi’s conversion to Catholicism, 141
Meitner’s escape from Germany, 152
Mussolini’s racial policies, 77, 134–136
Rome School physicists, 82
Joliot-Curie, Frédéric, 106, 113, 151–152, 163
Joliot-Curie, Irène, 106, 113, 151–152
application of the Pauli exclusion principle, 56–57
Dirac’s QED work, 101
Fermi’s beta radiation paper, 105–106
matrix mechanics and wave mechanics, 49–50
University of Göttingen, 35–36
King, Nick, 289(fig.)
Kistiakowsky, George, 238, 242, 247–248
Korean War, 303
labor dispute, 204
Lamb shift, 286
languages, Fermi’s knowledge of, 12, 17, 21–22, 75, 201
Lavender, Robert, 319–320
Lawrence, Ernest, 129, 186, 251
Lee, Tsung-Dao, 285, 326, 331–332, 358–359
lensing, 242
Les Houches, France, 336
Levi-Civita, Tullio, 29, 38–39, 57, 64, 89, 111
Libby, Leona, 35–36, 193–194, 208, 211, 211(fig.), 212–213, 219, 227, 229, 301, 341, 341(fn), 343–344, 352
Libby, Willard, 351
Lilienthal, David, 290, 299, 312–313
Little Boy, 261–263
Livermore National Laboratory, California, 309, 311(fn)
Lo Surdo, Antonino, 91–93, 132–133
Los Alamos, New Mexico, 333, 352
assembling the personnel, 223–225
critical mass problem, 239–241
deployment of Fat Man and Little Boy, 261–263
evaluating Fermi’s contribution, 266–268
Fermi’s daily routine and social life, 243–247
Fermi’s postwar research, 288–291
hydrogen bomb research, 296, 302–304
implosion device calculations, 241, 247–249
initiator problem, 248–249
invitation to Rasetti, 264
Nella Fermi’s memory of, 354
plutonium production at Oak Ridge, 223
postwar expansion, 299
Richard Garwin’s summer work, 330
slow-neutron patent, 319–320
Teller’s passion for fusion research, 193
the Fermis’ arrival, 234–236
von Neumann and, 242–243
Macmillan Publishers, 315–318
magnetic fields, cosmic-ray energy and, 283–284
magnetic moment of an electron, 99, 110
magnetic resonance, 171
Majorana, Ettore, 80–81, 83–84, 109, 131
Majorana, Quirino, 83
Manhattan Project
centralizing, 187–189
Compton’s coordination, 187–188
diverse scientists’ contributions to, 266–268
end of the war in Europe, 250–255
facilities, 203–204
Fermi’s legacy, 361–363
Interim Committee decision about continuing the project, 251–255
Leslie Groves, 201–202
postwar documentaries, 273–274
reorganization, 236–239
slow-neutron technique patent, 319–321
uranium isotope separation work, 203–204
X-10 plutonium reactor, 221–223
See also Hanford, Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico; University of Chicago
Marconi, Guglielmo, 7, 89, 111, 111(fig.), 127, 132–133
Marks, Anne Wilson, 253–254
marriage, Fermi’s, 65–71, 70(fig.), 71–72, 141. See also Fermi, Laura Capon
Marshak, Robert, 286
Marshall, John, 190, 193, 194(fn), 219, 329
mathematics
as precursor for Fermi’s study of physics, 17
Castelnuovo’s salons, 64
Dirac’s QED work, 99–101
Fermi’s curriculum and lecturers at Pisa, 21–22
Fermi’s intellectual stimulation under Amidei, 14–15
Giulio Fermi’s career, 355
Pauli’s genius, 47
projective geometry, 13–14
Rome School students, 84
matrix mechanics, 49–50
Maxwell, James Clerk, 46, 70–71, 97–98
Maxwell’s equations, 97–98, 220–221
Mayer, Maria, 190, 277, 286, 344–345, 351
McKibbin, Dorothy, 260
McMahon Act (1946), 288–289
McMillan, Edwin, 234–235
Medal of Merit, congressional, 274
Meitner, Lise, 110, 112(fig.), 119, 144, 150–151, 153, 157, 356–357
mesotron (pion), 127–128, 275–276
Met Lab. See University of Chicago
Metropolis, Nicholas, 290–291, 344
military control of national laboratories, 288–289
Millikan, Robert, 110, 112(fig.), 113
moderator for chain reactions, 177–181, 194, 199–200, 215, 232–233
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 180
Monte Carlo method, 124, 290, 360, 364
Morrison, Phillip, 257
mountain hiking, 24, 53–54, 70–71, 84, 87, 244, 336
Mussolini, Benito, 31–34, 92, 128–130, 134–135, 144–145, 352. See also fascist regime, Italy’s
National Bureau of Standards (NBS), 306–308
nationalist movement, Italy’s, 31–33
Nature magazine, 104–105
Navy, US, 165–171
neutrinos, 104
Fermi’s speculation on Pauli’s hypothetical particle, 103–105
fusion reactions, 192
research into the weak interaction, 284–286, 357–359
neutron bombardment
Cambridge team, 114–115
CP-2 as neutron factory, 218
CP-3 neutron collision studies, 280–281
German and English teams’ work, 150–154
Joliot-Curies’ paper, 113–114
nuclear chain reaction, 154–155
paraffin block experiment, 120–125
plutonium resulting from, 197
radon-beryllium source, 114–117
See also fission, nuclear
neutron emission during fission, 161, 163–165. See also chain reaction
neutrons
discovery of, 45, 103–104, 112–113
moderating, 178
refraction of, 220–221
New York, New York, 75, 149–150
Nobel Prize, 112(fig.), 187–188, 358
Arthur Compton, 282
Chamberlain and Segrè, 84, 329
Fermi’s award, 119, 140–141, 143–145, 150, 227
Fermi’s nomination, 137–140
Fermi’s students, 331–332
Hans Bethe, 159
Harold Urey, 171
Hideki Yukawa, 128
Jerome Friedman, 329
Maria Mayer, 278
Schwinger nomination, 287–288
nuclear accidents, 362–363
nuclear graphite, 183–184
nuclear physics
creation of transuranic elements, 118–119
Fermi’s early interest in, 107–109
Fermi’s lectures on, 325
international conferences, 113
neutron bombardment, 114–117
pion research, 127–128
Rome conference, 110–112
slow-neutron process, 72, 120–127, 144, 182–184, 193, 318–322
See also chain reaction; fission, nuclear; fusion research; neutron bombardment
Nuclear Physics (Fermi), 325
nuclear reactors, 182
constructing the Hanford plutonium reactor, 228–229
Fermi’s legacy, 361–363
Fermi’s plan and calculations, 196–197
Fermi’s working exponential pile, 184–186
implosion method with a plutonium bomb, 237–239
modified pile at Columbia, 190–192
X-10 plutonium reactor, 221–223
See also Columbia University; University of Chicago
nuclear testing, 361–362
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 203–204, 207, 217, 221–223, 247
Occhialini, Giuseppe, 87–88
Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), 320
“On the Quantization of a Perfect Monatomic Gas” (Fermi), 55
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 193, 248, 251, 254, 356
Berkeley work on uranium, 223
contribution to the Manhattan Project, 267
European-style physics, 221
Fermi’s opinion of, 225–227
Fermi’s summer work, 129
Groves and, 223–224
Interim Committee decision, 252–254
national security controversy and hearings, 307–313, 335–336, 343
test shot, 257
paraffin block experiment, 120–125, 178
Paris conference (1932), 113
Parsons, William “Deak,” 238
particle accelerators, 127–128. See also cyclotron
particle physics, 87–88, 292–293, 357–358
Pasta, John, 291
patent for the slow-neutron technique, 318–322
Pauli, Wolfgang, 44, 90(fig.), 112(fig.)
Como conference, 89–90
intellectual gifts and personal appearance, 47
neutrino theory, 104
on Dirac, 51
philosophical aspects of quantum theory, 36
the Zeeman effect, 48–49
University of Göttingen students, 34
See also exclusion principle, Pauli’s
Pearl Harbor, Japan’s attack on, 186
Pegram, George, 129, 135, 150, 164–168, 180–181, 191, 265
Peierls, Eugenia, 262
Peierls, Rudolf, 88, 235, 239–240, 288
“perfect gas,” 54–57
Persico, Enrico, 10–12, 18–19, 27–29, 38, 42, 58, 64–65, 79(fig.), 87–88, 111, 111(fig.), 121, 338
Philby, Kim, 321
photon, theory of the, 98, 187–188
physics
Amidei’s education, 13
attracting students to the Rome School, 81–83
Castelnuovo’s salons, 64
dark side, 365
Enrico and Laura Fermi’s writings, 73–74
Fermi’s curriculum and lecturers, 21–22
Fermi’s early interest and experiments, 11–12, 16
Fermi’s independent reading, 25–26
Fermi’s intellectual stimulation under Amidei, 14–15
Fermi’s international summer travels for, 74–77
Fermi’s self-education through reading, 15–16
mathematics as precursor for Fermi’s study of, 17
Pauli’s genius, 47
the Fermis’ honeymoon, 70–71
University of Göttingen, 34–35
See also experimental physics; nuclear physics; theoretical physics
Piccioni, Oreste, 131, 264–265, 276
pile, atomic
assembly in the squash court, 204
construction at the University of Chicago, 205–207
ellipsoidal design, 199–200
instrumentation, 200
move to Chicago, 193–196
safety mechanisms, 200–201
See also CP-1/CP-2/CP-3; nuclear reactors
pion-proton scattering, 294–295, 330–331, 358–359
pions, 127–128, 275–276, 284, 326
Pisa. See Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
doubts about the use in the Project, 236
reactor construction at Hanford, 228–229
uranium isotope separation work, 203–204, 207
X-10 plutonium reactor, 221–223
poisoning, reactor, 231–233
Poisson, Siméon-Denis, 15–16, 19
political beliefs, Fermi’s, 364–365
polonium, 113–114
Polya, George, 155
Pontecorvo, Bruno, 87, 109, 120–121, 123, 126, 240, 318–319, 321–322, 334
Potsdam Conference (1945), 261
practical jokes and teasing, 23–24, 53–54, 65–67
pregnancy, Libby’s, 219
pressure wave calculation, 259
Princeton University, 156–157, 161, 184, 196, 326
probability and statistics, 37–38, 328–329, 364–365
problem-solving skills, Fermi’s, 221, 226–227, 347–348, 363–364
Prohibition, 75
projective geometry, 13–14
proton bombardment, 127–128, 276, 292–293
public policy issues, 304
Q clearances, 297–298
quantum electrodynamics (QED), 96–98, 100–101, 103–105, 287–288
quantum field, 51
quantum theory
early discoveries and theories, 44–46
integrating with statistical mechanics, 42
Maxwell’s equations, 97–98
Oppenheimer’s background in, 226
Pascual Jordan, 34–35
Paul Dirac’s contribution, 50–52
Pauli’s exclusion principle, 49–50, 54–57
philosophical aspects of, 36
Solvay conference, 88–89
Zeeman effect, 48–49
Rabi, I. I., 154, 157, 162, 171, 257, 286, 300, 311, 330, 349
radiation exposure, 260–261
railroad system, 4
Raman effect, 110
Rasetti, Franco, 25(fig.), 70(fig.), 115(fig.)
admission to the Scuola physics program, 27
Como conference, 90
continuing slow-neutron research, 127
crocodile spectrograph, 109(fig.)
electron theory, 16
Fermi’s courtship of Laura, 65–66, 68
Fermi’s departure from Italy, 142
Fermi’s early friendship with, 23–26
Fermi’s position in Florence, 43
Fermi’s wedding to Laura, 69
neutron bombardment research, 115–117
nuclear physics research, 109–110
Rome conference, 111
slow-neutron process, 124
University of Florence, 53–54
war years, 264
reactors. See nuclear reactors
refractive-index formula, 220–221
relativity, theory of
electron spin, 49
Fermi’s appreciation for the potential of, 28–29
Fermi’s interest in, 11–12
Fermi’s strong grasp of, 26
Pauli’s contribution to, 47
quantum electrodynamics, 98–99
Solvay conferences, 88–89
resonance absorption, 173–174
resonance particle, 293
Reye, Theodor, 13–14
Richardson, Owen W., 16, 112(fig.)
Robinson, Martin, 315–318
Rockefeller Fellowship, 41–42
Rome conferences, 110–111, 111(fig.), 112(fig.), 131–132
Rome School of physics
as group endeavor, 87–88
core personnel, 81–83
curriculum, 83–86
dispersion of personnel, 126–127, 131–132
early work in nuclear physics, 108
Fermi’s work on QED, 99–100
Fermi’s work on statistical mechanics, 95–96
Joliot-Curies’ paper on neutron bombardment, 114–115
Lo Surdo’s directorship, 91–93, 132–133
neutron bombardment, 114–118
nuclear physics, 108–109
physics as soma, 130–131
pi-meson/muon research, 276
playfulness among teachers and students, 86–87
popularity among students, 88
slow-neutron process, 120–125
Roosevelt, Franklin, 180, 183, 202–203
Rosenberg, Ethel, 304
Rosenberg, Julius, 304
Rosenbluth, Marshall, 285
Rosenfeld, Arthur, 293, 309, 325, 328, 330
Rossi, Bruno, 87–88, 238–239, 284–285, 341
Rostagni, Antonio, 79(fig.)
Rostagni, Maria, 79(fig.)
Rutherford, Ernest, 89, 102–103, 108–109, 112, 114, 118, 127, 151–152
safety of the pile, 200–201, 207–209, 222–223, 228
Sarfatti, Margherita, 134
Schluter, Robert, 325
Schrödinger, Erwin, 50, 138–139, 315
Schwinger, Julian, 99, 287–288
SCRAM mechanism, 200–201
Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
analytical chemistry, 25–26
building and grounds, 20–21
effect of World War I on, 17–18
experimental physics lab work, 27
Fermi’s classmates, 23
Fermi’s curriculum and friends, 20–30
Fermi’s dissertation and graduation, 29–30, 37
Fermi’s entrance exam, 19
history of, 18
Seaborg, Glenn, 197, 207, 252, 266
secrecy in fission research, 161–162, 164–165, 168, 185–186, 212–213, 253–254, 312–313
security, military, 202–203, 229
security, national, 307–315
Segrè, Emilio, 115(fig.)
Castelnuovo salons, 64
dispersion of the Rome School, 126
Fermi’s illness and death, 342–343
fishing, 245
Italy’s annexation by Germany, 128–129
Los Alamos, 235–236
neutron bombardment research, 116, 118
Nobel Prize, 331–332
nuclear physics research, 109–110
patent controversy, 318–320
plutonium as fission material, 222, 239–240
Rome School, 82–87
Rome team’s failure in neutron experiments, 157–158
work on uranium, 223
segregation, 306–307
shell model of the nucleus, 276–278
sintering, 190–191
slow-neutron technique, 72, 120–127, 144, 182–184, 193, 318–322
Solvay, Ernest, 88, 91, 187–188
Solvay conferences, 88–89, 104, 113, 144, 286
Sommerfeld, Arnold, 47, 89–91, 93, 112(fig.), 138
fission test in 1949, 299
Fuchs’s espionage for, 301–302
German invasion of, 181–182
Oppenheimer hearings, 307–308
pact with Germany, 180
Pontecorvo’s defection, 321–322
Rosenberg espionage case, 304–305
spin, particle, 99
spin-orbital coupling, 276–278
splitting the atom. See fission, nuclear
square dancing, 246–247
statistical mechanics, 37, 54–57, 90–91, 95–96, 282–283
Steinberger, Jack, 284–286, 307, 324, 327–328, 331–332
Strassman, Friedrich “Fritz,” 119, 151, 156–157, 356–357
Strauss, Lewis, 301
“Super” project, 238–239, 244, 263–264, 300–301, 308–310, 328. See also hydrogen bomb
Sweden: Nobel Prize award, 142–145
swimming, 194–195
chain reaction, 154–155, 161, 163–165, 208
collaboration with Fermi, 172–173
end of the war in Europe, 250
FDR letter on fission weapons research, 249
graphite moderator for the chain reaction, 179–181, 183
Interim Committee decision, 252, 254
legacy of, 362–363
move to Chicago, 193
natural uranium reaction, 172–174
patent, 319
purity of fission materials, 199
secrecy over fission research, 162, 168
success of the chain reaction, 211–212, 215
the Hungarian refugees, 242
Taft, Horace, 293
Taylor instability, 291
teaching skills, Fermi’s, 84–86, 101, 323–332
Telegdi, Valentine, 278, 310, 324, 332, 350–351
Teller, Edward, 162
Chien Ning Yang and, 326
cosmic-ray studies, 281
Fermi’s confidence in the reactor experiment, 214–215
Fermi’s illness and death, 342–343
government interest in fission weapons research, 179
hydrogen bomb research, 299, 302
Manhattan Project work, 183
Oppenheimer hearings, 308–311, 311(fn), 335–336
Rome School, 88
the Hungarian refugees, 156
von Neumann and, 242
Teller, Paul, 289(fig.)
textbook publication, 315–318
theoretical physics
Corbino’s political and academic plan for Italy, 59
Fermi bridging the gap between experimentalism and, 27–28
Fermi’s graduate students, 327
first Italian academic chair, 58
Marie Curie’s skepticism towards, 36–37
Oppenheimer’s background in, 226
Pauli’s contribution to, 47
Rome School, 80
University of Michigan symposium, 74–75
See also quantum electrodynamics
thorium, 191
“tickling the dragon,” 247
Trabacchi, Giulio Cesare, 114–116, 124, 126, 318–319, 321
transuranic elements, creation of, 118–119, 144, 151–152
trinitite, 259
Trinity site, 256–260, 258(fig.), 260–261
Truman, Harry, 261, 299, 301–302, 307–308
Tube Alloys project, 239–240
“two lire” game, 86
Uhlenbeck, George, 41–42, 49, 74–76, 99
Ulam, Stan, 224, 290–291, 291(fn), 299, 302, 302(fn), 335, 344–345
United States
Fermi’s meeting with the US Navy, 165–171
Fermi’s summers at Columbia, 129
interest in uranium chain reaction research, 179–180
Laura Fermi’s initial dislike, 74–76, 149–150
National Academy of Sciences conferences, 286–287
settling in New York, 154
See also Columbia University; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Manhattan Project; University of Chicago
universal force, nuclear, 285
University of Chicago
achieving criticality, 207–212
bringing the pile to criticality, 207–212
Chandrasekhar’s work, 282–283
construction of the pile, 196–198, 205–207
cyclotron experiments on strong force principles, 291–294
Fermi’s lecture skills, 324–325
Met Lab’s move to Argonne, 217
moving the pile project to, 193–196
redesigning the pile, 198–201
Yang and Lee, 326
See also Chicago, Illinois; Institute for Nuclear Studies
University of Florence, 53–54
University of Göttingen, 34–36, 46, 226
University of Leiden, 41–43, 46
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 74–76, 99–102, 129, 174, 181, 190
University of Pisa. See Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
University of Rome, 18–19, 38, 58, 65, 360. See also Rome School of physics
uranium
coordinating Manhattan Project research, 187–188
critical mass problem, 239–241
Fermi’s working exponential pile, 184–186
isotope separation work at Oak Ridge, 203–204
plutonium resulting from bombardment, 197
production of uranium metal, 183–184
See also chain reaction; fission, nuclear; Manhattan Project
Urey, Harold, 112, 171, 186, 351
Varenna, Italy, 336–338, 337(fig.)
Volta, Alessandro, 89
von Karman, Theodore, 155
von Neumann, John, 155, 224, 242–243, 290, 345
von Ossietzky, Carl, 137
Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics, 156, 159–161, 170
water boiler project, 238–239, 263
Wattenberg, Albert, 181, 193, 205, 208–209, 211(fig.), 280
wave mechanics, 49–50
weak force and weak interaction, 104–106, 285–286, 357–359
weaponization of fission, 176–177, 186
bringing the pile to criticality, 211–212
concerns over Hitler’s access, 161–163
Fermi’s concerns about the consequences of, 249
Fermi’s meeting with the US Navy, 168–169
Fermi’s presumption of success, 193
Interim Committee and dissent about continuing the project, 252–255
people’s responses to the test shot, 259–260
postwar work, 300
Rasetti’s antipathy to, 264
scientists’ attitude towards, 224–225
University of Chicago research, 197–198
See also Manhattan Project
weaponization of fusion, 299–300
Weinberg, Steven, 357–358
Weisskopf, Victor, 258
Wheeler, John, 156, 184, 196, 231, 266, 282
white dwarf star, 282(fn), 326
Wigner, Eugene, 179, 183–184, 196
bringing the pile to criticality, 208, 211
chain reaction, 161
code name, 202
Fermi’s beta radiation paper, 105–106
Fermi’s QED paper, 100–101
NAS conference, 287
Nobel Prize, 278
on criticality, 213–214
quantum electrodynamics, 105
radium experiment, 164–165
the Hungarian refugees, 155
von Neumann and, 242
Yang and Lee, 326
Wilczek, Frank, 100
The World of Enrico Fermi (documentary), 357
World War II
effect on Fermi’s life, 273–274
end of the European war, 249–250
Nazi-Soviet pact, 180
Potsdam Conference, 261
secrecy over chain reaction potential, 161–165
“Society of Prophets” following the path of, 181–182
Szilard’s chain reaction patent, 155
urgency over fission research, 180–182
US entrance into, 167–168, 186
See also fascist regime, Italy’s; Germany; Manhattan Project; Soviet Union
X-10 reactor, 221–223, 228–229
Xenon-135 isotope, 232
X-ray diffraction, 29
X-ray pressure, hydrogen bomb research and, 302–304
Yang, Chen-Ning, 105–106, 285, 326, 330–332, 341(fn), 342, 358–359
Yodh, Guarang, 330–331
Yukawa, Hideki, 127–128, 275–276, 292
Zacharaisen, Walter, 284, 297–298
Zinn, Walter, 211(fig.), 275(fig.)
bringing the pile to criticality, 208
construction of the pile, 205–206
Fermi Award, 356–357
halting the chain reaction, 211
Leona Libby’s pregnancy, 219
Manhattan Project, 181
purity of fission materials, 199
success of the reactor, 215
the Chicago team, 193
thorium explosion, 191
Zuckerman, Harriett, 331