Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi (Paperback)

by Laura Fermi (Author) "On a spring Sunday in 1924 a group of friends asked me to join them for a walk, and we met at a certain streetcar..." (more)
Key Phrases: square balloon, uranium project, physics building, Los Alamos, United States, New York (more...)

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Product Description
In this absorbing account of life with the great atomic scientist Enrico Fermi, Laura Fermi tells the story of their emigration to the United States in the 1930s--part of the widespread movement of scientists from Europe to the New World that was so important to the development of the first atomic bomb. Combining intellectual biography and social history, Laura Fermi traces her husband's career from his childhood, when he taught himself physics, through his rise in the Italian university system concurrent with the rise of fascism, to his receipt of the Nobel Prize, which offered a perfect opportunity to flee the country without arousing official suspicion, and his odyssey to the United States.

About the Author

Laura Fermi (1907-77) also wrote Atoms for the World, Mussolini, and Illustrious Immigrants: The Intellectual Migration from Europe, 1930-1941.

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Product Details Paperback: 277 pages Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (June 15, 1995) Language: English ISBN-10: 0226243672 ISBN-13: 978-0226243672 Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #349,934 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in these categories: (What's this?) #63 in  Books > Science > Physics > Nuclear Physics > Atomic & Nuclear Physics #88 in  Books > Science > Chemistry > Physical & Theoretical > Physical Chemistry #97 in  Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Nuclear Physics

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First Sentence:
On a spring Sunday in 1924 a group of friends asked me to join them for a walk, and we met at a certain streetcar stop on a certain street of Rome. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
square balloon, uranium project, physics building, uranium fission, artificial radioactivity, atomic pile

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Los Alamos, United States, New York, Emilio Segré, Columbia University, Herbert Anderson, Harold Urey, General Groves, Enrico Fermi, Senator Corbino, Tech Area, Ann Arbor, President Roosevelt, Divine Providence, Edoardo Amaldi, University of Chicago, Manhattan District, West Stands, Bathtub Row, Bébé Peugeot, Edward Teller, Professor Pegram, Accelerator Building, Ettore Majorana, New Mexico

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 3 books:

• Los Alamos (Spanish Edition) by Martin Cruz Smith on 5 pages
• Tales from Shakespeare: Children's Classics by Charles Lamb on page 148
• Tales From Shakespeare by Charles on page 148

 

40 books cite this book:

• Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking by William H. Cropper on 4 pages
• Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography by Peter Conn on page 342, Back Matter, and Index
• Gatekeeper to Los Alamos: Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin by Nancy Cook Steeper in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist by Fred Jerome on page 163, and Back Matter
• Heisenberg's War: The Secret History Of The German Bomb by Thomas Powers in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 40 books citing this book

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes

Discusses:

• square balloon
• uranium project
• uranium fission

Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes

Discusses:

• uranium project
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• artificial radioactivity

109 East Palace by Jennet Conant

Discusses:

• uranium fission
• Los Alamos
• Harold Urey

Now It Can Be Told by General Leslie R. Groves

Discusses:

• uranium project
• uranium fission
• atomic pile

Heisenberg's War by Thomas Powers

Discusses:

• uranium project
• atomic pile
• Los Alamos

J. Robert Oppenheimer by the late Abraham Pais

Discusses:

• atomic pile
• atomic explosives
• Los Alamos

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes Discusses: square balloon uranium project uranium fission Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes Discusses: uranium project uranium fission artificial radioactivity 109 East Palace by Jennet Conant Discusses: uranium fission Los Alamos Harold Urey Now It Can Be Told by General Leslie R. Groves Discusses: uranium project uranium fission atomic pile Loading...

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars 25 % biography of Enrico Fermi., November 10, 1998 By  Angel Alvarez-Cedrón (Majadahonda, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews Laura Fermi explains her husband life: the family, the adventures of the italian physicists, the Nobel prize, the American life, the Manhattan project. But Fermi life is full of physics, and in the book you don't find any explanation of the discoveries which took most of his time. It is a pity that Laura didn't get more information from her husband work to realize how great it was and how it influenced the future of quantum mechanic. Fermi was one of the top ones. I recommend this book as a preliminar biography but not as a deep one. 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Life with a genius, in the strange world of Los Alamos, September 24, 1999 By  N. A. Woodward "normfromga" (Warner Robins, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    I rated this so high, partly because it is one of the few books I remember reading, 35+ years ago. Around the same time I had read another book about the Manhattan Project, "The Traitors," by Alan Moorehead (apparently out of print.) Between the two I found out that most of the scientists' wives were not told why their husbands were so excited on the night of July 16, 1945 until after the war was over; meanwhile Stalin was notified through his spy network within 48 hours, during the Potsdam Conference. I also thought she told a great story about the difficulties for a family to not only move into a strange country with strange languages and customs, only to find themselves rushed into an isolated paramilitary environment. No great lessons in nuclear fission, lots for nuclear families. BTW, I was surprised that Amazon does not cross-list this among the other Manhattan Project books. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A charming account of Fermi's life by his wife, August 10, 1998 By  henrique fleming (Sao Paulo, SP Brazil) - See all my reviews I first read this book more than 40 years ago. I still reread it, now and then. It is the source of most of the anecdotes that helped to explain, and disseminate, the Fermi style of doing physics. I am particularly fond of the memories of the youth of Laura Fermi, when Enrico was a young "dottore", and, together with a group of friends, used to hike the Italian Alps at holidays. Everything was used to teach science, or the way of thinking needed in science (for instance, the thermodynamics of the frying pan!). Later you'll find this "physics at the finger tips" approach used to estimate the power emitted at the first nuclear explosion. A great book.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars Atoms in the Family Excellent book. Very well written, especially considering that it was written in English by a non-native speaker of the language. Read more Published 3 months ago by Carolyn Riccomi 4.0 out of 5 stars This is the report I wrote from this book!!! Wrote by Doogie Ortonward Did you wonder what stopped world war 2? Well I helped end it I'm Enrico Fermi the inventor of the nuclear pile. Read more Published 7 months ago by Dawn Ortonward 5.0 out of 5 stars Living with Enrico! On first glance the title of this book appears to be a play on the ADDAMS FAMILY TV series. However, this book was originally published in 1952 and the TV series didn't come out... Read more Published on June 3, 2007 by D. Roberts 4.0 out of 5 stars A Review on Enrico Fermi's biography by Sahar S. The novel Atoms in the Family; My Life With Enrico Fermi by Laura Fermi is a superbly well written biography. Read more Published on April 6, 2006 by Howarth Physics :D Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (June 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226243672
• ISBN-13: 978-0226243672
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #349,934 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #63 in	Books > Science > Physics > Nuclear Physics > Atomic & Nuclear Physics
  #88 in	Books > Science > Chemistry > Physical & Theoretical > Physical Chemistry
  #97 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Nuclear Physics

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 25 % biography of Enrico Fermi., November 10, 1998

By	Angel Alvarez-Cedrón (Majadahonda, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews

Laura Fermi explains her husband life: the family, the adventures of the italian physicists, the Nobel prize, the American life, the Manhattan project. But Fermi life is full of physics, and in the book you don't find any explanation of the discoveries which took most of his time. It is a pity that Laura didn't get more information from her husband work to realize how great it was and how it influenced the future of quantum mechanic. Fermi was one of the top ones. I recommend this book as a preliminar biography but not as a deep one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life with a genius, in the strange world of Los Alamos, September 24, 1999

By	N. A. Woodward "normfromga" (Warner Robins, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I rated this so high, partly because it is one of the few books I remember reading, 35+ years ago. Around the same time I had read another book about the Manhattan Project, "The Traitors," by Alan Moorehead (apparently out of print.) Between the two I found out that most of the scientists' wives were not told why their husbands were so excited on the night of July 16, 1945 until after the war was over; meanwhile Stalin was notified through his spy network within 48 hours, during the Potsdam Conference.

I also thought she told a great story about the difficulties for a family to not only move into a strange country with strange languages and customs, only to find themselves rushed into an isolated paramilitary environment.

No great lessons in nuclear fission, lots for nuclear families.

BTW, I was surprised that Amazon does not cross-list this among the other Manhattan Project books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A charming account of Fermi's life by his wife, August 10, 1998

By	henrique fleming (Sao Paulo, SP Brazil) - See all my reviews

I first read this book more than 40 years ago. I still reread it, now and then. It is the source of most of the anecdotes that helped to explain, and disseminate, the Fermi style of doing physics. I am particularly fond of the memories of the youth of Laura Fermi, when Enrico was a young "dottore", and, together with a group of friends, used to hike the Italian Alps at holidays. Everything was used to teach science, or the way of thinking needed in science (for instance, the thermodynamics of the frying pan!). Later you'll find this "physics at the finger tips" approach used to estimate the power emitted at the first nuclear explosion. A great book.