Fermi

Enrico Fermi

Enrico Fermi (Italian: Enrico Fermi, September 29, 1901 - November 28, 1954), a famous Italian American physicist, Professor of physics at the University of Chicago, USA, and winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics.

In 1942, Fermi's leading group established the first controllable nuclear reactor (Chicago pile-1) at the University of Chicago, laying the foundation for the successful explosion of the first atomic bomb. Since then, mankind has entered the era of atomic energy, and Fermi is also known as the "father of atomic energy".

Fermion has made the first-class achievements in theory and experiment, which is one of the few physicists in modern times. Fermion, element 100, the famous Fermilab in the United States and the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago are all named in memory of him. In 1949, Fermi revealed the acceleration mechanism of protons in cosmic rays, studied the interaction of pions, muons and nucleons, and proposed the theory of cosmic ray origin. In 1949, Fermi also cooperated with Yang Zhenning to propose the first composite model of elementary particles. In 1952, the first hadron resonance isospin quadruplet was discovered.

Personal achievement

Study

Enrique Fermi received his doctorate from the University of Pisa in 1922. He went to Germany in 1923. He worked under the guidance of Max Born, a master of quantum mechanics. In 1924, he worked in Leiden Institute in the Netherlands. He was professor of theoretical physics at the University of Rome in 1926. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Italy in 1929.

article

At that time, he had published his first major paper on a profound branch of physics, called quantum statistics. In this paper, Fermi developed quantum statistics to describe the aggregation behavior of a class of particles, which are called fermions. Because electrons, protons and neutrons are all fermions, fermion theory is of great scientific significance.

Fermi equation can make us better understand the behavior of nucleus, degenerate matter (such as degenerate matter appearing in some kinds of stars), and the characteristics and behavior of metals -- a subject with obvious practical application. In 1934, the phenomenon of artificial radiation was produced by bombarding atomic nuclei with neutrons.

Research

Start neutron physics. Known as the "father of neutron physics". Thermodynamics handout published in 1936. It has become a famous blueprint of teaching books for later generations. Because he's good at neutron bombardment. Especially in thermal neutron bombardment, he won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1938. But just then he was in trouble in Italy. First, because his wife was Jewish, the fascist government of Italy issued a set of rough anti Jewish laws; second, because Fermi strongly opposed fascism, a dangerous attitude under Mussolini's dictatorship. In December 1938, he went to Stockholm to accept the Nobel Prize. After that, instead of returning to Italy, he went to New York. Columbia University offered him a position and was proud to add a great scientist in the world to its teaching staff. Fermi became an American in 1944.

Atomic bomb: Manhattan Project

In early 1939, it was reported by lizer metner, Ott Halm and Fritz Strassman that the absorption of neutrons sometimes caused fission of uranium atoms. After the report was published, Fermi, like several other leading physicists, immediately realized that a fission uranium atom could release enough neutrons to cause a chain reaction, and also, like other physicists, immediately foresaw the potential of such a chain reaction for military purposes. In March 1939, Fermi contacted the U.S. Navy in the hope of arousing their interest in developing atomic weapons. But it wasn't until a few months later that Albert Einstein wrote President Roosevelt a letter on the subject that the U.S. government paid attention to atomic energy.

At that time, although the scientists of the Allies were already discussing the possibility of atomic bomb, they had not officially started the work of manufacturing. Later, due to the repeated defeat of the allies in the war, Germany began to ban the export of uranium mines occupied by them in the Czech uranium mining area, making the Allies realize that Germany may have been seriously carrying out the atomic bomb plan.

Soon after, Siegfried Flugge, a German scientist, unexpectedly published some recent results of German nuclear fission research in German scientific journals. This scientist had intended to break through the information blockade that Germany had not yet started completely at that time and let the allies know the latest situation of German research, but on the contrary, the scientists of the Allies mistakenly believed that if Germany could release so much information, their real development would be more advanced, which would further promote the brewing of the US atomic bomb plan.

The Hungarian scientist Zilla decided to take some action. First of all, he thought that he should be able to control the uranium deposits in Congo, so he asked Einstein, who was familiar with the royal family of Belgium, for help, and Einstein readily agreed. Then he and banker A. Sachs signed a letter to urge President Roosevelt to carry out the atomic bomb program in the United States. In order to increase the weight of the letter, they also asked Einstein to sign a name, and Einstein agreed. This letter, jointly named by Einstein, was indeed a key factor in promoting the atomic bomb project, which Einstein regretted after the war.

As soon as the U.S. government became interested, building a model atomic reactor became a top priority for scientists to find out whether self-sustaining chain reaction was really feasible. As Fermi is the world's leading neutron authority, and a combination of theoretical and experimental talents, he was selected as the leader of the world's first nuclear reactor research team. He first worked at Columbia University, and then at the University of Chicago. He has been a professor at the University of Chicago and director of Argonne National Laboratory, the first National Laboratory of the U.S. government since then. On December 2, 1942, the first controllable nuclear reactor designed and manufactured under the guidance of Fermi at the University of Chicago was successfully put into operation for the first time. It was named "Chicago pile-1". This is the real beginning of the atomic age, because this is the first time that mankind has successfully carried out a nuclear chain reaction.

With the success of the experiment, the Manhattan Project went smoothly. Fermi continues to play an important role in this project as a leading scientific consultant. Fermi's main contribution lies in his important role in the invention of nuclear reactors. Obviously, the main credit for this invention should go to Fermi. He first made a significant contribution to the basic theory of relevant parties, and then personally directed the design and construction of the first nuclear reactor. After the war, Fermi was a professor at the University of Chicago. He died in Chicago in 1954. Chemical element 100 was named in memory of him.

Brilliant life

Enrique Fermi has won the German Planck medal, the American philosophy society Lewis scholarship and the American Fermi award. He was elected president of the American Physical Society in 1953. He was also awarded honorary doctorates by Heisenberg University, Utrecht University, Washington University, Columbia University, Yale University, Harvard University, Rochester University and lakford University.

There are several reasons why Fermi has become an important figure. One is that he is one of the greatest scientists in the 20th century, and he is one of the few people who has both outstanding theorists and outstanding experimenters. He wrote more than 250 scientific papers in his career. Fermi is also a very important person in the development of atomic explosion.

Since 1945, atomic weapons have never been used in war. For peaceful purposes, a large number of nuclear reactors have been built to generate energy. In the future, reactors will become a more important source of energy. In addition, some reactors are used to produce useful radioisotopes for medical and scientific research. Reactors are also a source of plutonium, a material for making atomic weapons. People are afraid that nuclear reactor may do harm to human beings, but no one complains that it is a meaningless invention. For better or worse, Fermi's work has a huge impact on the future world.

To commemorate Fermi's contribution to nuclear physics, the Atomic Energy Commission of the United States established the "Fermi Award" in recognition of scientists from various countries who have made contributions to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The "Fermi unit" (unit of length) used in the 100th chemical element and nuclear physics is named after Fermi.

The Nobel Prize

In the early 1930s, after the discovery of neutrons, scientists used them to bombard various elements and study nuclear reactions. A group of young people, led by Fermi, academician of the Royal Italian Academy of Sciences, worked the best. They bombard known elements from beginning to end in the order of the periodic table to see what happens.

In 1934, it was thought that the last element on the periodic table was uranium 92. But when bombarded with neutrons

Chinese PinYin : Fei Mi