NobelPrize.org
http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=635
Enrico Fermi won the Nobel Price in physics in 1938. This site has a basic biography about Enrico Fermi which is revisited in other links on this page, but what makes it so interesting is that there is a video posted here of him actually winning the award. This is where the link above will direct you to, however there is a wealth of other data about his discoveries included in the site. Enrico won the award "for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons.
In Addition to the great video is a photo gallery, and a Nobel lecture given December 12, 1938 regarding "Artificial radioactivity produced by a neutron bombardment. It was said that he used neutrons as projectiles in his experiments with shattering atoms in even the heavier and heaviest elements in the Periodic System. He was presented the award by Swedish King Gustav V along with his classmate in the Nobel class of 1938, Pearl Buck, Literature Laureate.
Direct link to other information about Enrico Fermi available on this site. The site features a copyright date of 2012 and is the official web site of the Nobel Prize. It is produced, managed, and maintained by Nobel Media which is a Swedish corporate entity and subsidiary of the Nobel Foundation Rights Association, a non-profit association managing the rights of the Nobel Foundation.
In Addition to the great video is a photo gallery, and a Nobel lecture given December 12, 1938 regarding "Artificial radioactivity produced by a neutron bombardment. It was said that he used neutrons as projectiles in his experiments with shattering atoms in even the heavier and heaviest elements in the Periodic System. He was presented the award by Swedish King Gustav V along with his classmate in the Nobel class of 1938, Pearl Buck, Literature Laureate.
Direct link to other information about Enrico Fermi available on this site. The site features a copyright date of 2012 and is the official web site of the Nobel Prize. It is produced, managed, and maintained by Nobel Media which is a Swedish corporate entity and subsidiary of the Nobel Foundation Rights Association, a non-profit association managing the rights of the Nobel Foundation.
University Of Chicago Library
http://fermi.lib.uchicago.edu/
Enrico Fermi was a professor of physics at the University Of Chicago. In addition the University Of Chicago was the home for the Manhattan Project experiments where teams succeeded in obtaining the first controlled self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction on December 2, 1942. This event would make possible the creation of the atomic bomb. Fermi was also involved in the team that developed the bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Fermi became a member of the newly formed Institute for Nuclear Studies at the university (the present day Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies). Even during his time as a professor at the university, he worked in an advisory capacity to the Atomic Energy Commission and it's associated laboratories served as the President of the American Physical Society in the early 1950's, delivered many lectures, taught several university courses, and published numerous papers on the various theoretical and experimental topics in physics.
The site features a great classic photo gallery as well as a wealth of actual scans of mathematical documents which even though you don't understand them when you look at them in most cases, still fill you with wonderment about how someone really developed a method to explode an atom and create a nuclear reaction. There is a plaque and statue on the college grounds designed by British artist Henry Moore which stands on the University's old Stagg Field West Stands, where the experiment took place in a former squash court.
This site is a product of the Library at the University of Chicago. It is regularly updated with new data and accepts donations to support it's studies.
Fermi became a member of the newly formed Institute for Nuclear Studies at the university (the present day Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies). Even during his time as a professor at the university, he worked in an advisory capacity to the Atomic Energy Commission and it's associated laboratories served as the President of the American Physical Society in the early 1950's, delivered many lectures, taught several university courses, and published numerous papers on the various theoretical and experimental topics in physics.
The site features a great classic photo gallery as well as a wealth of actual scans of mathematical documents which even though you don't understand them when you look at them in most cases, still fill you with wonderment about how someone really developed a method to explode an atom and create a nuclear reaction. There is a plaque and statue on the college grounds designed by British artist Henry Moore which stands on the University's old Stagg Field West Stands, where the experiment took place in a former squash court.
This site is a product of the Library at the University of Chicago. It is regularly updated with new data and accepts donations to support it's studies.
Fermi In Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/204747/Enrico-Fermi
For a great non specific view of Enrico Fermi's life and times being born in Italy on September 29, 1901 all the way to his death in Chicago, IL in 1954. The site breaks up Fermi's career between his European career where he worked as a professor at the University of Rome in 1926 thanks to his work with English physicist P.A.M. Dirac where they developed statistics to handle the electrons, protons, neutrons (which had not yet been discovered). It leads into his major discovery of using a neutron projectile to bombard charged nuclei in order to initiate reactions. What was interesting was that his wife Laura was Jewish which created issues in Italy during the Nazi Germany crisis. However, his winning of the Nobel prize afforded him the right to travel to America and establish them in the United States.
As you read into the American career on the 2nd page of the site, it talks about Enrico and his family's settling in New York and a new life at Columbia University. You also learn about the growing government interest in developing an atomic bomb which started really with Einstein's letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, and even then it was slow to muster interest. Fermi joined up with J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project in 1944 whose mission was to fashion weapons out of the rare uranium-235 isotope and plutonium. It even offers up additional reading like his wife's book Atoms in the Family: My Life With Enrico Fermi and more technically Emilio Segre, Enrico Fermi - Physicist.
The site also offers some additional content including quizzes about science. It's a nice robust introduction and thorough walk through of his life pointing out little things you may miss if you are only reading the more specific reading's about his accomplishments. The site Britannica is world renowned for it's longstanding tradition of providing reliable data which inspires confidence. They do this by collaborating with experts, scholars, educators, instructional designers, and user experience specialists. They are deeply involved with schools, parents, and educators designing products for the 21st century classroom. Their site features a copyright date of 2012.
As you read into the American career on the 2nd page of the site, it talks about Enrico and his family's settling in New York and a new life at Columbia University. You also learn about the growing government interest in developing an atomic bomb which started really with Einstein's letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, and even then it was slow to muster interest. Fermi joined up with J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project in 1944 whose mission was to fashion weapons out of the rare uranium-235 isotope and plutonium. It even offers up additional reading like his wife's book Atoms in the Family: My Life With Enrico Fermi and more technically Emilio Segre, Enrico Fermi - Physicist.
The site also offers some additional content including quizzes about science. It's a nice robust introduction and thorough walk through of his life pointing out little things you may miss if you are only reading the more specific reading's about his accomplishments. The site Britannica is world renowned for it's longstanding tradition of providing reliable data which inspires confidence. They do this by collaborating with experts, scholars, educators, instructional designers, and user experience specialists. They are deeply involved with schools, parents, and educators designing products for the 21st century classroom. Their site features a copyright date of 2012.
New York Times Obituary
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0929.html
This is an obituary published by the New York Times on November 29th, 1954. It talks more in depth about his passing including the fact that he was undergoing an "exploratory" operation in Billings Memorial Hospital on October 9th and returned to his home several weeks prior. It features a distinguished (though repeated on this websites links) review of his life and accomplishments and includes specific data about some of his degrees from the Universities of Utrecht, Heidelberg, Columbia, Yale, and Washington and Rockford College. He also won several medals and this site talks about how he had been elected to the Royal Society of England. We also learn about his two children Nella and Guilio on this site.
It also christens him "Father of the Atomic Bomb" stating that his experiments directly led to the discovery of uranium fission, the basic principle underlying the atomic bomb as well as the atomic power plant. We also learn here the the government grants total to the Manhattan Project (or Manhattan District as this obituary refers to it) was $2,000,000,000.
The site is copyright 2010 - The New York Times Company.
It also christens him "Father of the Atomic Bomb" stating that his experiments directly led to the discovery of uranium fission, the basic principle underlying the atomic bomb as well as the atomic power plant. We also learn here the the government grants total to the Manhattan Project (or Manhattan District as this obituary refers to it) was $2,000,000,000.
The site is copyright 2010 - The New York Times Company.
Race For The Superbomb - PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX52.html
A history lesson more related to the bomb that Fermi's research would ultimately create. This site traces back Enrico Fermi's interest in physics to the death of his older brother Giulio (later the name of his son) when he was just 14. His death left Enrico inconsolable and shortly afterwards he found two old physics textbooks at market and he read them straight through not even noticing that they were in Latin.
This site goes on to discuss other people and events directly involved in the creation of the atomic bomb including testing at Los Alamos, NM which Fermi also participated in using flakes of paper to measure the extent of the blast.
This site is a creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which promotes the growth and development of public media in communities throughout America. The site has a copyright date of 2009 indicating it's last update occurred around this time.
This site goes on to discuss other people and events directly involved in the creation of the atomic bomb including testing at Los Alamos, NM which Fermi also participated in using flakes of paper to measure the extent of the blast.
This site is a creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which promotes the growth and development of public media in communities throughout America. The site has a copyright date of 2009 indicating it's last update occurred around this time.
Things Named After Fermi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Enrico_Fermi
Fermi Terminal In Turin
Just for fun and to demonstrate Fermi's influence, here is a list of things named after Fermi.