Customer Reviews

Fermi Remembered

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is based on a symposium held at the University of Chicago to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Enrico Fermi's birth on September 29, 2001. The editor, James Cronin, was principal organizer of the symposium. A distinguished list of speakers was assembled, and written versions of their reports are included in the book. Extensive research in the U of C archives produced many interesting documents, including letters to Fermi and by Fermi, and notes written in Fermi's hand on a wide range of topics. The results of this archival search are also included in the book.
The decade immediately after World War II was a magical time for physics. The success of the Manhattan Project, Radar, and many other defence applications of physical science attracted much talent to the field. It seemed that almost everyone wanted a PhD in physics, and graduate schools like Chicago were mobbed. Fermi was the center of attention, and the students that he trained, both individually and in classes, went on to illustrious careers.
This book covers many aspects of this exciting time. Space limitations in this review restrict my comments to only a few specifics. Fermi's computer program to calculate charged particle orbits in the cyclotron, written for the Los Alamos Maniac computer, is wonderful. It should be read by every programmer. The review talks by Fermi's colleagues, Richard Garwin, Murray Gell-Mann, and Marvin Goldberger, are not to be missed. The reading public interested in the history of 20th century science, in particular the period 1945-1954 when government support of peacetime research came into being, will find this book full of information not easily obtained elsewhere.