A Tribute to Enrico Fermi
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Wolfgang Pauli Niels Bohr Paul Dirac Max Planck Richard Feynman
Wolfgang Pauli Niels Bohr Paul Dirac Max Planck Richard Feynman Louis de Broglie Norman Ramsey Willis Lamb Otto Stern Werner Heisenberg Walther Gerlach Ernest Rutherford Satyendranath Bose Max Born Erwin Schrödinger Eugene Wigner Arnold Sommerfeld Julian Schwinger David Bohm Enrico Fermi Albert Einstein Where discovery meets practice Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology IQ ST in Baden-Württemberg . Introduction “But I do not wish to be forced into abandoning strict These two quotes by Albert Einstein not only express his well more securely, develop new types of computer or construct highly causality without having defended it quite differently known aversion to quantum theory, they also come from two quite accurate measuring equipment. than I have so far. The idea that an electron exposed to a different periods of his life. The first is from a letter dated 19 April Thus quantum theory extends beyond the field of physics into other 1924 to Max Born regarding the latter’s statistical interpretation of areas, e.g. mathematics, engineering, chemistry, and even biology. beam freely chooses the moment and direction in which quantum mechanics. The second is from Einstein’s last lecture as Let us look at a few examples which illustrate this. The field of crypt it wants to move is unbearable to me. If that is the case, part of a series of classes by the American physicist John Archibald ography uses number theory, which constitutes a subdiscipline of then I would rather be a cobbler or a casino employee Wheeler in 1954 at Princeton. pure mathematics. Producing a quantum computer with new types than a physicist.” The realization that, in the quantum world, objects only exist when of gates on the basis of the superposition principle from quantum they are measured – and this is what is behind the moon/mouse mechanics requires the involvement of engineering. -
Bringing out the Dead Alison Abbott Reviews the Story of How a DNA Forensics Team Cracked a Grisly Puzzle
BOOKS & ARTS COMMENT DADO RUVIC/REUTERS/CORBIS DADO A forensics specialist from the International Commission on Missing Persons examines human remains from a mass grave in Tomašica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. FORENSIC SCIENCE Bringing out the dead Alison Abbott reviews the story of how a DNA forensics team cracked a grisly puzzle. uring nine sweltering days in July Bosnia’s Million Bones tells the story of how locating, storing, pre- 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers slaugh- innovative DNA forensic science solved the paring and analysing tered about 7,000 Muslim men and grisly conundrum of identifying each bone the million or more Dboys from Srebrenica in Bosnia. They took so that grieving families might find some bones. It was in large them to several different locations and shot closure. part possible because them, or blew them up with hand grenades. This is an important book: it illustrates the during those fate- They then scooped up the bodies with bull- unspeakable horrors of a complex war whose ful days in July 1995, dozers and heavy earth-moving equipment, causes have always been hard for outsiders to aerial reconnais- and dumped them into mass graves. comprehend. The author, a British journalist, sance missions by the Bosnia’s Million It was the single most inhuman massacre has the advantage of on-the-ground knowl- Bones: Solving the United States and the of the Bosnian war, which erupted after the edge of the war and of the International World’s Greatest North Atlantic Treaty break-up of Yugoslavia and lasted from 1992 Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), an Forensic Puzzle Organization had to 1995, leaving some 100,000 dead. -
Luis Alvarez: the Ideas Man
CERN Courier March 2012 Commemoration Luis Alvarez: the ideas man The years from the early 1950s to the late 1980s came alive again during a symposium to commemorate the birth of one of the great scientists and inventors of the 20th century. Luis Alvarez – one of the greatest experimental physicists of the 20th century – combined the interests of a scientist, an inventor, a detective and an explorer. He left his mark on areas that ranged from radar through to cosmic rays, nuclear physics, particle accel- erators, detectors and large-scale data analysis, as well as particles and astrophysics. On 19 November, some 200 people gathered at Berkeley to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. Alumni of the Alvarez group – among them physicists, engineers, programmers and bubble-chamber film scanners – were joined by his collaborators, family, present-day students and admirers, as well as scientists whose professional lineage traces back to him. Hosted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of California at Berkeley, the symposium reviewed his long career and lasting legacy. A recurring theme of the symposium was, as one speaker put it, a “Shakespeare-type dilemma”: how could one person have accom- plished all of that in one lifetime? Beyond his own initiatives, Alvarez created a culture around him that inspired others to, as George Smoot put it, “think big,” as well as to “think broadly and then deep” and to take risks. Combined with Alvarez’s strong scientific standards and great care in execut- ing them, these principles led directly to the awarding of two Nobel Luis Alvarez celebrating the announcement of his 1968 Nobel prizes in physics to scientists at Berkeley – George Smoot in 2006 prize. -
I. I. Rabi Papers [Finding Aid]. Library of Congress. [PDF Rendered Tue Apr
I. I. Rabi Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 1992 Revised 2010 March Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms998009 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm89076467 Prepared by Joseph Sullivan with the assistance of Kathleen A. Kelly and John R. Monagle Collection Summary Title: I. I. Rabi Papers Span Dates: 1899-1989 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1945-1968) ID No.: MSS76467 Creator: Rabi, I. I. (Isador Isaac), 1898- Extent: 41,500 items ; 105 cartons plus 1 oversize plus 4 classified ; 42 linear feet Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Physicist and educator. The collection documents Rabi's research in physics, particularly in the fields of radar and nuclear energy, leading to the development of lasers, atomic clocks, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to his 1944 Nobel Prize in physics; his work as a consultant to the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and as an advisor on science policy to the United States government, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during and after World War II; and his studies, research, and professorships in physics chiefly at Columbia University and also at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. -
Enrico Fermi
Fermi, Enrico Inventors and Inventions Enrico Fermi Italian American physicist Fermi helped develop Fermi-Dirac statistics, which liceo (secondary school) and, on the advice of Amidei, elucidate the group behavior of elementary particles. joined the Scuola Normale Superiore at Pisa. This elite He also developed the theory of beta decay and college, attached to the University of Pisa, admitted only discovered neutron-induced artificial radioactivity. forty of Italy’s top students, who were given free board Finally, he succeeded in producing the first sustained and lodging. Fermi performed exceedingly well in the nuclear chain reaction, which led to the discovery highly competitive entrance exam. He completed his of nuclear energy and the development of the university education after only four years of research and atomic bomb. studies, receiving his Ph.D. in physics from the Univer- sity of Pisa and his undergraduate diploma from the Born: September 29, 1901; Rome, Italy Scuola Normale Superiore in July, 1922. He became Died: November 28, 1954; Chicago, Illinois an expert theoretical physicist and a talented exper- Primary field: Physics imentalist. This rare combination provided a solid foun- Primary inventions: Controlled nuclear chain dation for all his subsequent inventions. reaction; Fermi-Dirac statistics; theory of beta decay Life’s Work After postdoctoral work at the University of Göttingen, Early Life in Germany (1922-1923), and the University of Leiden, Enrico Fermi (ehn-REE-koh FUR-mee) was the third in the Netherlands (fall, 1924), Fermi took an interim po- child of Alberto Fermi and Ida de Gattis. Enrico was very sition at the University of Florence in December, 1924. -
EUGENE PAUL WIGNER November 17, 1902–January 1, 1995
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES E U G ENE PAUL WI G NER 1902—1995 A Biographical Memoir by FR E D E R I C K S E I T Z , E RICH V OG T , A N D AL V I N M. W E I NBER G Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoir COPYRIGHT 1998 NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS WASHINGTON D.C. Courtesy of Atoms for Peace Awards, Inc. EUGENE PAUL WIGNER November 17, 1902–January 1, 1995 BY FREDERICK SEITZ, ERICH VOGT, AND ALVIN M. WEINBERG UGENE WIGNER WAS A towering leader of modern physics Efor more than half of the twentieth century. While his greatest renown was associated with the introduction of sym- metry theory to quantum physics and chemistry, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for 1963, his scientific work encompassed an astonishing breadth of sci- ence, perhaps unparalleled during his time. In preparing this memoir, we have the impression we are attempting to record the monumental achievements of half a dozen scientists. There is the Wigner who demonstrated that symmetry principles are of great importance in quan- tum mechanics; who pioneered the application of quantum mechanics in the fields of chemical kinetics and the theory of solids; who was the first nuclear engineer; who formu- lated many of the most basic ideas in nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry; who was the prophet of quantum chaos; who served as a mathematician and philosopher of science; and the Wigner who was the supervisor and mentor of more than forty Ph.D. -
Nobel Prize Physicists Meet at Lindau
From 28 June to 2 July 1971 the German island town of Lindau in Nobel Prize Physicists Lake Constance close to the Austrian and Swiss borders was host to a gathering of illustrious men of meet at Lindau science when, for the 21st time, Nobel Laureates held their reunion there. The success of the first Lindau reunion (1951) of Nobel Prize win ners in medicine had inspired the organizers to invite the chemists and W. S. Newman the physicists in turn in subsequent years. After the first three-year cycle the United Kingdom, and an audience the dates of historical events. These it was decided to let students and of more than 500 from 8 countries deviations in the radiocarbon time young scientists also attend the daily filled the elegant Stadttheater. scale are due to changes in incident meetings so they could encounter The programme consisted of a num cosmic radiation (producing the these eminent men on an informal ber of lectures in the mornings, two carbon isotopes) brought about by and personal level. For the Nobel social functions, a platform dis variations in the geomagnetic field. Laureates too the Lindau gatherings cussion, an informal reunion between Thus chemistry may reveal man soon became an agreeable occasion students and Nobel Laureates and, kind’s remote past whereas its long for making or renewing acquain on the last day, the traditional term future could well be shaped by tances with their contemporaries, un steamer excursion on Lake Cons the developments mentioned by trammelled by the formalities of the tance to the island of Mainau belong Mössbauer, viz. -
52 Annual Greenville County
nd 52 Annual Greenville County and South Carolina Regional 1A Science and Engineering Fair 2006 Sponsored by Rotary Club of Greenville Roper Mountain Science Center and The South Carolina Academy of Science th th st Judging- March 14 , Public Exhibition – March 15 , Award Ceremony - March 21 Palmetto EXPO Center – Greenville, South Carolina For Immediate Release March 7, 2006 Regional Science & Engineering Fair announces new Charles H. Townes Student Research Award GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville County and South Carolina Regional Science and Engineering Fair announces a new award recognizing a local high school student for excellence in science research. The Charles H. Townes Student Research Award is the top award in the 52nd Annual Greenville County and South Carolina Regional Science & Engineering Fair to be held at the Palmetto Expo Center. The award honors the career of Greenville’s Charles H. Townes, who received the 1964 Nobel prize in Physics for his research leading to the invention of the laser. To encourage our local future scientists Dr. Townes wrote: “Being a scientist can be a wonderful career. Science involves exploration, figuring things out, understanding our universe and ourselves, and new discoveries. We live in an amazing universe, understanding it is fascinating and inspiring, and also leads to new possibilities for humans. Applied science or engineering uses our scientific understanding to provide new tools, solutions to problems, and remarkable improvements in human life. To do good science, it's helpful to learn all one can, be familiar with a variety of fields, and enjoy exploring. The more we know, the better we can fit ideas together to make new ones. -
The Early History of the Niels Bohr Institute
CHAPTER 4.1 Birthplace of a new physics - the early history of the Niels Bohr Institute Peter Robertson* Abstract SCI.DAN.M. The foundation in 1921 of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen was to prove an important event in the I birth of modern physics. From its modest beginnings as • ONE a small three-storey building and a handful of physicists, HUNDRED the Institute underwent a rapid expansion over the fol lowing years. Under Bohr’s leadership, the Institute provided the principal centre for the emergence of quan YEARS tum mechanics and a new understanding of Nature at OF the atomic level. Over sixty physicists from 17 countries THE came to collaborate with the Danish physicists at the In BOHR stitute during its first decade. The Bohr Institute was the ATOM: first truly international centre in physics and, indeed, one of the first in any area of science. The Institute pro PROCEEDINGS vided a striking demonstration of the value of interna tional cooperation in science and it inspired the later development of similar centres elsewhere in Europe and FROM the United States. In this article I will discuss the origins and early development of the Institute and examine the A CONFERENCE reasons why it became such an important centre in the development of modern physics. Keywords: Niels Bohr Institute; development of quan tum mechanics; international cooperation in science. * School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia. Email: [email protected]. 481 PETER ROBERTSON SCI.DAN.M. I 1. Planning and construction of the Institute In 1916 Niels Bohr returned home to Copenhagen over four years since his first visit to Cambridge, England, and two years after a second visit to Manchester, working in the group led by Ernest Ru therford. -
Heisenberg's Visit to Niels Bohr in 1941 and the Bohr Letters
Klaus Gottstein Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut) Föhringer Ring 6 D-80805 Munich, Germany 26 February, 2002 New insights? Heisenberg’s visit to Niels Bohr in 1941 and the Bohr letters1 The documents recently released by the Niels Bohr Archive do not, in an unambiguous way, solve the enigma of what happened during the critical brief discussion between Bohr and Heisenberg in 1941 which so upset Bohr and made Heisenberg so desperate. But they are interesting, they show what Bohr remembered 15 years later. What Heisenberg remembered was already described by him in his memoirs “Der Teil und das Ganze”. The two descriptions are complementary, they are not incompatible. The two famous physicists, as Hans Bethe called it recently, just talked past each other, starting from different assumptions. They did not finish their conversation. Bohr broke it off before Heisenberg had a chance to complete his intended mission. Heisenberg and Bohr had not seen each other since the beginning of the war in 1939. In the meantime, Heisenberg and some other German physicists had been drafted by Army Ordnance to explore the feasibility of a nuclear bomb which, after the discovery of fission and of the chain reaction, could not be ruled out. How real was this theoretical possibility? By 1941 Heisenberg, after two years of intense theoretical and experimental investigations by the drafted group known as the “Uranium Club”, had reached the conclusion that the construction of a nuclear bomb would be feasible in principle, but technically and economically very difficult. He knew in principle how it could be done, by Uranium isotope separation or by Plutonium production in reactors, but both ways would take many years and would be beyond the means of Germany in time of war, and probably also beyond the means of Germany’s adversaries. -
Enrico Fermi: Genius
ANNIVERSARY Enrico Fermi: genius This year marks the centenary of the birth of Enrico Fermi, one of the giants of 20th- • century science, and one of the last physicists to be both an accomplished experimentalist and an influential theorist. Here, Gianni Battimelli of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" traces the life of a genius. Enrico Fermi was born on 29 September 1901 in Rome to a family with no scientific traditions. His passion for natural sciences, and in particular for physics, was stimulated and guided in his school years by an engineer and family friend, Adolph Amidei, who recognized Fermi's exceptional intellectual abilities and suggested admission to Pisa's Scuola Normale Superiore. After finishing high-school studies in Rome, in 1918 Fermi progressed to the prestigious Pisa Institute, after producing for the admission exam an essay on the characteristics of the propagation of sound, the authenticity of which the commissioners initially refused to believe. Studies at Pisa did not pose any particular difficulties for the young Fermi, despite his having to be largely self-taught using mate rial in foreign languages because nothing existed at the time in Fermi's group discovered the Italian on the new physics emerging around relativity and quantum radioactivity induced by theory. In those years in Italy, these new theories were absent from university teaching, and only mathematicians likeTullio Levi-Civita neutrons, instead of the had the knowledge and insight to see their implications. alpha particles used in the Working alone, between 1919 and 1922, Fermi built up a solid competence in relativity, statistical mechanics and the applications Paris experiments. -
Release of Documents Relating to 1941 Bohr-Heisenberg Meeting
Release of documents relating to 1941 Bohr-Heisenberg meeting DOCUMENTS RELEASED 6 FEBRUARY 2002 The family of Niels Bohr has decided to release all documents deposited at the Niels Bohr Archive, either written or dictated by Niels Bohr, pertaining specifically to the meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg in September 1941. There are in all eleven documents. The decision has been made in order to avoid possible misunderstandings regarding the contents of the documents. The documents supplement and confirm previously published statements of Bohr's recollections of the meeting, especially those of his son, Aage Bohr. The documents have now been organised, transcribed and translated into English at the Niels Bohr Archive. Because of the overwhelming interest in the material, it has been decided that the material should be published in full instead of being made available to scholars upon individual application, as is normal practice at the Niels Bohr Archive. This has been done by placing facsimiles, transcriptions and translations on this website here. An illustrated edition of the transcriptions and translations is published in the journal Naturens Verden, Vol. 84, No. 8 - 9. Reprints can be obtained from the Niels Bohr Archive for USD8/EUR8/DKK50 (prepaid). Release of documents relating to 1941 Bohr-Heisenberg meeting. Document 1. Draft of letter from Bohr to Heisenberg, never sent. In the handwriting of Niels Bohr's assistant, Aage Petersen. Undated, but written after the first publication, in 1957, of the Danish translation of Robert Jungk, Heller als Tausend Sonnen, the first edition of Jungk's book to contain Heisenberg's letter.