The Life of a Scientist:
Fermi exhibit in library
In a 1954 talk, Enrico Fermi presented a futuristic vision of an accelerator that would encircle the earth and achieve energies never fathomed by scientists. Image courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
An exhibit chronicling the life of the Nobel-winning physicist Enrico Fermi is currently on display in the Fermilab library. The exhibit, entitled "Enrico Fermi: The Life of a Scientist," includes reproductions of personal and scientific photographs and documents from Fermi's celebrated life. Our own National Accelerator Laboratory was renamed in his honor 1974.
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Enrico Fermi |
Fermi was widely known as the father of the Atomic Age for his contributions to the fields of particle theory and nuclear physics. After winning the 1938 Nobel Prize for Physics, Fermi and his family emigrated from Italy to the United States. His work on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago in 1942 produced the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
With the help of Fermilab's Visual Media Services, Giorgio Bellettini of CDF developed the exhibit for its inaugural display in September 2001 in honor of Fermi's 100th birthday. The exhibit includes documents and images from the Physics Department of the University of Pisa and the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago. Archivist Adrienne Kolb also supplied additional artifacts from the Fermilab History and Archives Project.
The exhibit will be on display in the Fermilab library until July. Employees and users can borrow various books by and about Fermi, as well as a DVD of the Italian film, "Science at Pisa: Enrico Fermi."
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