A Doubly Dextrous Physicist Catherine Westfall Lauds a Candid Life of Enrico Fermi, Pioneer of Nuclear Fission
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COMMENT BOOKS & ARTS CORBIS VIA GETTY Enrico Fermi in his laboratory in 1931. PHYSICS A doubly dextrous physicist Catherine Westfall lauds a candid life of Enrico Fermi, pioneer of nuclear fission. obel laureate Enrico Fermi con- description of Fermi’s Pontecorvo and Emilio Segré) and put Italy tributed to the discovery of nuclear work so far, as well as on the physics map. fission and was part of the Man- fresh insights into his With this group, Fermi performed Nhattan Project, which built the first atomic personality. (Interest- radio activity-inducing experiments with bombs. Unlike his contemporaries, Fermi ingly, Schwartz’s father, the newfangled neutron, which James was proficient in both theory and experi- physics Nobel laureate Chadwick had discovered in 1932. These ment, knowing everything there was then to Melvin Schwartz, met experiments revealed (among other know about physics. It is therefore surprising Fermi in 1953 and results) that the particles are captured more that political scientist David Schwartz’s new passed up the chance readily when they are slow. The resulting biography is one of just a handful. of working with him.) expertise — and his genius for practical, The Last Man Who Until a few years ago, Fermi featured in Knew Everything: Fermi’s tribulations intuitive problem-solving and painstaking only two full-length accounts. In 1954, the The Life and Times and successes were experimental execution — enabled Fermi year he died, his wife Laura Fermi published of Enrico Fermi, framed in tumult. He to make key advances. He demonstrated the Atoms in the Family, a charming, sometimes Father of the emigrated from Italy first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, cheeky account of their marriage and fam- Nuclear Age to the United States in and built the world’s first nuclear reactor ily life. In 1970, Enrico Fermi, Physicist by DAVID N. SCHWARTZ 1938 to ensure that his at Stagg Field, at the University of Chicago former student Emilio Segré nicely added Basic: 2017. Jewish wife escaped in Illinois. It was this proof of concept that explanations and details of Fermi’s physics. the anti-Semitic spurred the US military, with support from Segré’s nephew Gino and co-author Bet- laws of Benito Mussolini’s fascist govern- Britain and Canada, to develop the atomic tina Hoerlin provided a more complete life ment. By then, he had already conducted bomb during the Second World War. and work in their lyrical The Pope of Physics ground-breaking theoretical research in In particular, The Last Man Who Knew (Henry Holt, 2016), reviewed in these pages Italy that illuminated the weak interaction Everything reveals much more about the (G. Farmelo Nature 538, 168–169; 2016). and beta decay. The famous ‘Rome School’ of context of Fermi’s contributions. Schwartz Now, Schwartz’s The Last Man Who Knew physics he founded gathered many up-and- deftly positions Fermi’s early research on Everything offers the most comprehensive coming young researchers (including Bruno beta decay within the overall development 28 | NATURE | VOL 552 | 7 DECEMBER©201 72017Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. ©2017 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. BOOKS & ARTS COMMENT of quantum mechanics. He also sets HISTORY OF SCIENCE Fermi’s work as an adviser and ad hoc problem solver at Los Alamos against the full drama of the Manhattan Project. In those intense and hectic days, Fermi’s Warring with chaos door was always open to provide on-the- fly solutions to any technical problem Jordi Cat on a history of the Vienna Circle, which experienced by an engineer or a physi- wielded science to counter the turmoil of the 1930s. cist designing the weapons. At the same time, Fermi and Laura heartily joined in the social life of Bathtub Row, the street arl Sigmund is alarmed. In Exact standards through where J. Robert Oppenheimer and other Thinking in Demented Times, the book series, the philo- project members lived. (Schwartz notes, Viennese mathematician and pio- sophical journal Erk- however, that Fermi watched the square Kneer of evolutionary game theory identifies enntnis, conferences dancing with some puzzlement, while sustained threats to rationality today, from and lectures. The Laura joined in.) religious fundamentalism to a “debilitating model they conceived The book is rich in political, historical flood of trash culture” and public ennui. was, first, based on for- and technical detail. But its prose style is Sigmund worries that many scientists ignore mal concepts and rules awkward. And I was irked by Schwartz’s these risks to their world view and work. — linguistic, logical or tendency to dwell on an issue, puzzling Sigmund compares our times with Austria Exact Thinking mathematical — simi- through various philosophical considera- between the world wars. Here, between in Demented lar to mathematician tions and conflicting interpretations. In 1918 and 1938, economic and socio political Times: The Vienna David Hilbert’s attempt my view, for instance, there is no need to turmoil paved the way for Adolf Hitler’s Circle and the to unify and formal- ponder whether Fermi should be called invasion and the Second World War. Against Epic Quest for the ize his field through the father of the nuclear age. His work that grim backdrop, a number of philosophi- Foundations of axioms. But any such Science with the first reactor clearly qualifies as cally inclined scientists and scientifically KARL SIGMUND models had to be a seminal event in the development of trained philosophers formed the Vienna Basic: 2017. backed up by empirical nuclear power, even if Fermi was not, as Circle. This intellectual powerhouse devel- evidence and be given Schwartz notes, an architect of the first oped the scientific world view known as empirical meaning. For instance, theories bombs. logical empiricism — an assertion of the about human emotion had to be reducible Eventually, however, I learnt to appre- pre-eminence of scientific knowledge and a to precise, objective, observable descrip- ciate the wrangling with Fermi’s perso- rejection of metaphysics. After the war, a less tions of behaviour or physiological states, nae and legacy. Like other biographers, ambitious version of this philosophy came to countering ideas then prevalent in biology Schwartz shows Fermi’s sweet side: his dominate approaches to science. and psychology, such as vital forces or the ego. loyalty to friends and family, humour and The public group, loosely based at the Along with Hilbert, luminaries who quiet dignity. This is a man who accepted University of Vienna, was a starry one. influenced the Vienna Circle included physi- his own abrupt diagnosis of terminal can- It included mathematicians Hans Hahn, cists Albert Einstein and Ludwig Boltzmann, cer in 1954 without fuss, noting that the Karl Menger and their student Kurt scientist-philosophers Ernst Mach and Henri timing of his death would probably boost Gödel; physicist Philipp Frank; political Poincaré, and philosopher of mathemat- sales of his wife’s book. But we also meet economist and sociologist Otto Neurath; ics Bertrand Russell. The circle argued that the Fermi who could be cold and lost in physics-trained philosophers Edgar Zilsel, Einstein’s ideas on space-time, for instance, his work, to the detriment of relation- Gustav Bergmann, Moritz Schlick and sounded the death knell for philosopher ships, particularly with his family — as Rudolf Carnap; and philosopher Friedrich Immanuel Kant’s concept of space and time Graham Farmelo noted in his review Waismann. (Philosopher Rose Rand, as the as forms of intuition. The charismatic, reclu- of The Pope of Physics. This is the man group’s recorder, deserves special mention.) sive logician Ludwig Wittgenstein was both who did little to help his wife adjust to Sigmund reveals how circle members a revered and a polarizing influence. The the United States after their immigration, sought to counter their era’s dogmatic ide- group mulled over his ideas, such as the lim- and later alienated his son Giulio. ologies and propaganda, even in science, by its of expressible thoughts, and viewed his In short, Schwartz’s blunt style cuts articulating and communicating scientific 1922 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus as a through the gauze of hero worship. And ironically, that unflinching gaze accentu- ates Fermi’s stature. The Last Man Who Knew Everything yields an intimate and engaging portrait of an extraordinary physicist who was also very human. ■ Catherine Westfall is a visiting professor in the history of science at Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University in East Lansing. She has co-authored two L–R: GRANGER HISTORICAL PICTURE ARCHIVE/ PICTURE L–R: GRANGER HISTORICAL books — Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the ALAMY; PAUL FEARN/ALAMY; VIENNA UNIV. ARCHIVE. VIENNA UNIV. FEARN/ALAMY; PAUL ALAMY; Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945 and Fermilab: Physics, the Frontier, and Megascience. e-mail: [email protected] Vienna Circle members (left to right) Moritz Schlick, Otto Neurath and Hans Hahn. ©2017 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. ©2017 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri 7gh tDECEMBERs reserved. 2017 | VOL 552 | NATURE | 29 .