Enrico Fermi - Inventor of Nuclear Reactor

Enrico Fermi is known as the father of nuclear physics because he was the first person to discover chain-reaction.

This great physicist was born in Rome on 26th September 1901. he was so brilliant that he obtained his ph.D. Degree in the field of X-rays from University of Pisa at the age of 21.

In 1927 he was appointed as a lecturer of physics in Rome University. In 1921 he was elected as member of Italian Academy which was the highest Italian honor in academics. In 1934 he made fundamental discovery in the field of Physics. He discovered that when the elements is bombarded by a slow moving neutron, it become radioactive and start emitting radiations. In this process one element changes into another elements. In 1933 he discovered a fundamental particle named neutrino.

At that time, chaos was prevailing in Italy as the country was under dictatorship of Mussolini. This directly affected Fermi and he left to U.S.A., as his wife was a Jewish. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938. in 1944 he became a U.S. citizen.

In Colombia University he started his work on the controlled nuclear chain-reactions. He succeded in splitting the uranium nuclel by the bombardment of neutrons. He designed the first nuclear reactor in Chicago. In this reactor, he generated the energy by nuclear fission. This thrilled the entire scientific world.

In Berlin two scientists were trying to proye that Fermi was splitting the uranium atom into too much lighter atoms by neutron bombardments. At this time Fermi's colleagues persuaded albert Einstein to write to President Roosevelt of U.S.A. that extremely powerful bombs of a new type might be made in that way. The President gave his approval and Fermi started the work. First bomb was tested successfully in 16th July 1945. two bombs of this type was dropped on two Jappaness Cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during the World War II and it was ended immediately.

Fermi was awarded the Medal of Merit by the Congress of the United Stated. He died at the age of 53 in year 1954.

Today in many countries in the world there are nuclear reactors which are being used for isotope production and power generations. All these reactors although little modified, are based on the fundamental principles formulated by Enrico Fermi.