Le Ultime dallo Stivale

N.43

September 25th, 2026 – Eleonora Corradi

Famous Italians: Enrico Fermi, from Rome to America, the man who changed physics

One hundred and twenty-five years ago, on September 29, 1901, Enrico Fermi was born in Rome. He would become one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century and probably the most famous Italian physicist in the world. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938, at only 37, Fermi played a leading role in the birth of nuclear physics and later in the American atomic program. His life was relatively short (he died in Chicago in 1954, at only 53), but extraordinarily intense.
His story is also deeply connected to the events that shaped Italy during his lifetime. It begins in Rome in the early twentieth century, continues through the years of Fascism and the racial laws, and then moves to the United States, where Fermi spent the last fifteen years of his life and became an American citizen. On the 125th anniversary of his birth, looking back at his life therefore means telling not only the story of a great scientist, but also a chapter of both Italian and American history.

Enrico Fermi: a young man with exceptional talent.

From a very young age, Fermi showed an extraordinary aptitude for mathematics and physics. In 1918, he entered the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where he graduated in physics in 1922. In the following years, he also studied in Göttingen, Germany, and Leiden, in the Netherlands, where he came into contact with some of the leading figures of the new European physics.
After a period at the University of Florence, in 1927 he became professor of theoretical physics at the University of Rome. He was only 26 years old and would remain in Rome until 1938. It was the beginning of one of the most fascinating periods in the history of Italian science.

Enrico Fermi and the boys of Via Panisperna.

In Rome, at the Institute of Physics located on Via Panisperna, Fermi gathered around him a group of young scholars who were destined to become famous: Franco Rasetti, Emilio Segrè, Edoardo Amaldi, Bruno Pontecorvo, and Ettore Majorana, to name just a few.
They went down in history as the “boys of Via Panisperna”. Their working environment was much less formal than one might imagine, and the group also became famous for the nicknames given to its members. Fermi was called “the Pope,” because of his authority and, above all, because his colleagues believed that when it came to physics, he was almost always right.
It was in Rome that the group conducted important experiments on radioactivity and neutrons during the 1930s. In 1934, Fermi and his collaborators discovered that slowing down neutrons, for example by passing them through paraffin, increased their ability to produce certain nuclear reactions. This research opened the way to developments that would forever change both physics and history.

Enrico Fermi and the Nobel Prize that became an escape route.

In 1938, Fermi received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on radioactivity produced by neutrons and on nuclear reactions caused by slow neutrons. But that same year, Fascist Italy had introduced the racial laws. Fermi’s wife, Laura Capon, was Jewish, and the situation had become increasingly worrying for the family.
The trip to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize gave them the opportunity to leave the country. Fermi, Laura, and their two children left Italy for the ceremony and never returned: after Stockholm, they continued on to the United States, where Fermi had accepted a position at Columbia University in New York.
It is one of the most significant episodes of his life: Italy was celebrating one of its most brilliant scientists at the very moment when its own laws were forcing him to leave the country.

Enrico Fermi’s new life in the United States.

In the United States, Fermi immediately found an environment ready to welcome him. From 1939 to 1942, he taught physics at Columbia University in New York and continued his research on nuclear fission and the possibility of producing a chain reaction.

The decisive moment came on December 2, 1942, in Chicago. Under the stands of the University of Chicago’s stadium, Fermi and his team succeeded in producing the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in history. Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor, had been created.

That achievement opened enormous possibilities for the production of energy, but the world was at war, and its first applications were unfortunately connected to the war effort.

Enrico Fermi and the atomic bomb.

Fermi participated in the Manhattan Project, the secret American program to build the atomic bomb, and worked at Los Alamos alongside some of the most important scientists of the time.
One episode perfectly illustrates his way of thinking. On July 16, 1945, during the Trinity Test in the New Mexico desert, Fermi was several miles from the site of the explosion. Shortly before the shock wave reached him, he dropped small pieces of paper; by observing how far they were displaced, he quickly estimated the power of the explosion.
An extremely simple experiment used to measure a phenomenon that had never been observed before: a perfect example of his exceptional ability to turn enormously complex problems into relatively simple calculations.

Enrico Fermi: an Italian who also became an American.

In 1944, Fermi became an American citizen. After the war, he returned to the University of Chicago, where he continued to teach and conduct research until his death on November 28, 1954.
Enrico Fermi’s life thus unfolded between two countries. In Italy, he received his education, built the group of the boys of Via Panisperna, and carried out the research that earned him the Nobel Prize; in the United States, he found a new homeland and participated in some of the scientific discoveries that would shape the twentieth century.
His story, however, also reflects one of the great contradictions of Italy during those years. In 1938, Fermi left for Stockholm as one of the most prestigious symbols of Italian science, yet he could no longer consider the very country that had educated and celebrated him safe for his family. The United States welcomed him and many other European scientists who were forced to leave their homelands during the years of Fascism and Nazism.
On the 125th anniversary of his birth, remembering Enrico Fermi therefore means celebrating not only one of the greatest Italian scientists, but also reflecting on how science, just like people, can cross borders and belong to more than one country. Born in Rome and later an American citizen, Fermi left a legacy that belongs to Italy, to the United States and, above all, to the history of science.

DID YOU KNOW?

Enrico Fermi’s name has left its mark on science in many different ways. His name gave us fermions, a large family of particles that includes, among others, electrons, protons, and neutrons; fermium, element number 100 on the periodic table; and Fermilab, one of the most important physics laboratories in the United States, near Chicago. Few scientists can claim to have left their name simultaneously among the particles of the universe, the chemical elements, and the great centers of scientific research!

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E ORA TOCCA A VOI!

Scegliere tra le tre alternative la parola corretta in base al contesto. Choose the correct word from the three options based on the context.

Il paradosso di Fermi

Negli anni Cinquanta, durante una partita / conversazione / passeggiata con alcuni colleghi, Enrico Fermi si pose una domanda apparentemente semplice: se nell’universo esistono miliardi di stelle e edifici / strumenti / pianeti, dove sono tutti?
Secondo Fermi, considerando le enormi dimensioni / abitudini / temperature e l’età dell’universo, è ragionevole pensare che la vita intelligente possa essersi dimenticata / trasferita / sviluppata anche su altri pianeti. Alcune civiltà potrebbero addirittura essere molto più antiche e tecnologicamente rumorose / avanzate / affollate della nostra.
In questo caso, però, dovremmo aver trovato qualche traccia / decisione / abitudine della loro esistenza: un segnale, un messaggio o qualche altra forma di viaggio / comportamento / contatto. E invece, fino a oggi, non abbiamo trovato / organizzato / ricevuto prove certe dell’esistenza di civiltà extraterrestri.
Questa apparente conseguenza / contraddizione / collaborazione è conosciuta come “paradosso di Fermi”: se è così probabile che nell’universo scompaiano / cambino / esistano altre forme di vita intelligente, perché non ne abbiamo ancora trovata nessuna?

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– Il cinema italiano agli Oscar –

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– Il Giro d’Italia –

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Eleonora Corradi

Nata e cresciuta a Milano, ha studiato e lavorato a Milano (dove ha ottenuto il suo PhD), Londra, Grenoble, Berna, Parigi e New York; attualmente si occupa di traduzioni tecniche e di insegnamento dell’italiano come seconda lingua.
È autrice e traduttrice di numerosi articoli scientifici pubblicati su riviste specializzate e ha collaborato alla stesura di testi per La Settimana Enigmistica e per pubblicazioni di scuole internazionali.
Da quasi venti anni insegna italiano agli stranieri e negli ultimi sette ha lavorato presso Collina Italiana. Durante le sue lezioni, ama arricchire la didattica della lingua e della grammatica con la lettura di articoli, libri, fumetti e brevi testi, al fine di far conoscere ai suoi studenti la cultura, le tradizioni e le espressioni tipicamente italiane, utilizzando anche giochi e curiosità sulla lingua, l’origine e gli usi delle parole.

Le Ultime dallo Stivale

Famous Italians: Enrico Fermi, from Rome to America, the man who changed physics

Enrico Fermi: a young man with exceptional talent.

Enrico Fermi and the boys of Via Panisperna.

Enrico Fermi and the Nobel Prize that became an escape route.

Enrico Fermi’s new life in the United States.

Enrico Fermi and the atomic bomb.

Enrico Fermi: an Italian who also became an American.

– Giovanni da Verrazzano –

– Il cinema italiano agli Oscar –

– Il Giro d’Italia –

Eleonora Corradi

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Le Ultime dallo Stivale

Enrico Fermi’s new life in the United States.

Enrico Fermi and the atomic bomb.

Enrico Fermi: an Italian who also became an American.

Eleonora Corradi

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