The Last Man Who Knew Everything

by David N. Schwartz

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  NOTES

  PREFACE

  When he was a senior at Columbia: A former colleague of my father objected to this story, recalling that Jack did not have a formal position on the Columbia faculty at the time. All I can say is that this is the way my father remembered it.

  Telegdi’s paper on Fermi: Telegdi, “Enrico Fermi” in Shils, Remembering the University of Chicago, 110–129.

  The biographer is left triangulating: Since 2013, two full biographies have been published: The Pope of Physics, by Emilio Segrè’s nephew Gino and his wife, Bettina Hoerlin (Holt, 2016); and Giuseppe Bruzzaniti’s Enrico Fermi: Obedient Genius (Springer, 2016). The latter is a translation of a book originally published in Italian in 2007.

  INTRODUCTION

  “puerile” prankster consumed by jealousy: Magueijo, Brilliant Darkness, 53–56, 86–87.

  the greatest scientist in Western history: Orear, Enrico Fermi, 64.

  during an interview for the CBC documentary: TWOEF, Interview with I. I. Rabi, 1.

  Snow put it succinctly: Snow, Physicists, 79.

  In terms of influence as a teacher: Telegdi, “Enrico Fermi,” 125. As Valentine Telegdi points out, two other giants of twentieth-century physics, Ernest Rutherford and Arnold Sommerfeld, had records equal to Fermi’s as teachers, but Rutherford trained only experimentalists, and Sommerfeld, only theorists. Fermi’s students number as both world-class experimenters and theorists.

  Calculations of probabilities: Mysteriously, he considered a 10 percent probability of an occurrence to be so low that it was not worth taking seriously.

  The latter was sometimes misinterpreted: Peierls, “Nuclear Physics in Rome,” in Stuewer, Nuclear Physics in Retrospect, 59.

  MAJORANA: There are scientists who “happen”: Cited in Chandrasekhar, “The Pursuit of Science,” 410.

  quantum theorist Wolfgang Pauli once quipped: Wolfgang Pauli to George Uhlenbeck. See Weiner, Exploring the History of Nuclear Physics, 188.

  Nevertheless, it is one worth trying: Geoffrey Chew, interview with author, May 5, 2014. Ugo Amaldi, interview with author, June 7, 2016.

  CHAPTER ONE: PRODIGY

  The Ministry of Railroads was a prestigious place: Schram, Railways and the Formation of the Italian State.

  He clearly had ability and ambition: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 4. Laura Fermi, Atoms, 14.

  Do Not Disturb signs hang: The Fermis occupied only one of the apartments; however, one senses that the current owners of both apartments get unwanted visits.

  Crying was forbidden: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 15.

  Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio: Raboy, Marconi. Marconi’s claim to having invented radio was disputed at the time, and continues to be. Like all great revolutionary technologies, radio was the result of many people working both independently and collaboratively, but Marconi was a central figure, and his fame would have reached the Fermi household.

  When very young he had a bit of a temper: Libby, Uranium People, 15. In her interview for The World of Enrico Fermi, Laura Fermi observed that, although Enrico generally learned to control his temper, bad drivers would bring out the worst in him. TWOEF, Laura Fermi interview, 22.


  Enrico began to impress teachers: Vergara Caffarelli, “Enrico Fermi al Liceo,” in Bassani, Fermi, Maestro e Diddata, 8–15.

  It was home for Enrico: The address was Via Principe Umberto 133, which no longer exists—the street names have changed, and the numbering as well. There is some debate as to whether the building still exists, and if so, where it is located. There is some evidence that it can be found nearby at the current Via F. Turati 48, but some disagree and assert that the building can no longer be found.

  Many photographs of the Fermi children: Vergara Caffarelli, Enrico Fermi, 9–15.

  “On the appointed morning”: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 15–16.

  “The blow could not have been heavier”: Ibid., 16.

  He did, however, resolve: Ibid.

  “We formed the habit of taking long walks”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 2.

  he couldn’t stop talking about it: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 19.

  The two boys conducted a variety of experiments: Ibid.

  Persico recalled extended conversations: American Institute of Physics (AIP), “Oral History Interviews: Franco Rasetti and Enrico Persico,” interviewed by Thomas S. Kuhn, April 8, 1963, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4995.

  Fermi particularly enjoyed the traditional Italian: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 5.

  Seven years younger than Alberto Fermi: On Amidei’s education, see Vergara Caffarelli, “Enrico Fermi al Liceo,” 8. Data on his employment record are based on his employment file at Ferrovie dello Stato, graciously supplied by Sandra Romiti.

  “Is it true that there is a branch of geometry”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 9ff.

  He lent Enrico the book: The book was considered at the time the definitive treatment of this most abstract of geometric disciplines.

  “I became convinced that Enrico”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 9.

  Olga recounts a chance encounter: The story is recounted by Vergara Caffarelli in “Enrico Fermi al Liceo,” 9. Many years later David Lilienthal, a major figure in the development and regulation of atomic energy in the United States, made the same observation. Lilienthal, The Journals, 2:128. Giuseppe Bruzzanti picks up the comparison with Galileo throughout his recent biography, Enrico Fermi: Obedient Genius.

  Amidei believed that Fermi was ready: Many years later Segrè would stumble upon a two-volume set of Poisson’s textbook at a rare bookstore and buy it for Fermi as a forty-fifth birthday gift. EFREG, Box 59.

  “I had already ascertained”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 10. Segrè recounts that a proof offered by Fermi several decades later tracked an obscure section of Poisson. Ibid., 12.

  Treatise on Physics by Russian physicist Orest Chwolson: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 12. Jay Orear, many years later, attributed Fermi’s phenomenal grasp of the fundamentals of all of physics to his intensive study of Chwolson during this period. Orear, Enrico Fermi, 63–64. See also Bernardini, “Enrico Fermi e il trattato,” 15ff. Orear and Bernardini suggest that the version he read was in French.

  British physicist Joseph John (J. J.) Thomson’s: To this author’s knowledge, it was only published in English, meaning that the two young men plowed through some fairly advanced physics in a foreign language.

  Fermi also recommended the book: AIP, “Oral History Interviews: Franco Rasetti and Enrico Persico.”

  “I studied mathematics with passion”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 10.

  Annalen der Physik: The former, edited by Max Planck, was the journal in which Einstein published his five groundbreaking papers of 1905.

  When he arrived at university in the fall: AIP, “Oral History Interviews: Franco Rasetti and Enrico Persico.”

  And it did have a direct effect: Elenco Degli Allievi Dal 1813–1998. Edizione Provvisoria (Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore, October 1999), 26–27.

  it was the most prestigious institution: There is no clear equivalent in the United States. With its miniscule size and extreme selectivity, the Scuola Normale was unique, and remains so to this day.

  The entrance exam paper Fermi submitted: He also wrote exam papers in algebra and geometry, both of which survive alongside the physics exam in the archives of the Scuola Normale Superiore.

  CHAPTER TWO: PISA

  The mathematicians of the Scuola Normale: Rasetti, in AIP, “Oral History Interviews: Franco Rasetti and Enrico Persico.”

  much of his time in independent study: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 193.

  Fermi earned perfect grades: SNS Archives, Enrico Fermi Folder.

  the only courses that involved some work: Pre-med students throughout the world will rejoice to learn that organic chemistry was one of only two science courses at the university in which Fermi did not receive honors. He did, however, receive a perfect grade.

  His name was Franco Rasetti: Del Gamba, Il raggazzo di via Panisperna, is the only full-length biography available on Franco Rasetti.

  They were saved only: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 24.

  The Anti-Neighbor Society eventually grew: It is unclear when the Anti-Neighbor Society first admitted women to its ranks; Fermi mentions female members in a letter to Persico. Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 198.

  “barring one or two exceptions ugly enough”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 202.

  They scored a perfect grade: Rasetti in AIP, “Oral History Interviews: Franco Rasetti and Enrico Persico.”

  He dutifully recorded the entire sum: Later he began to compile a reference system that he called his “mechanical memory,” a series of carefully organized folders that contained reference material he found useful in his daily work. These are stored in nineteen boxes with folders on subjects as varied as Pion Experiments and Quantum Electrodynamics, Liquids, Solids, and Algebra and Calculus.

  The 1919 notebook is 102 pages: EFREG, 49:1. Included is a summary of analytical dynamics, the electron theory of matter (a summary, presumably, of his studies on Richardson’s “Electron Theory of Matter”), Planck’s work on blackbody radiation, Boltzmann’s entropy theorem, and gas discharges.

  With the pen knife: The author is indebted to Laura Offeddu of the American Academy in Rome, whose grandfather, Filippo Ferrari, studied in Pisa with Fermi and related the penknife incident to her.

  Rasetti and Nello Carrara were admitted: Rasetti, in CPF I, 55–56.

  lay in the direction of X-ray research: There had been enormous interest in understanding the structure of crystals by aiming X-rays into them and exposing film to show how the X-rays bounced off of the crystals’ internal structure. It was this research program that Fermi and his graduate student colleagues decided to explore.

  Rasetti noted that Fermi’s disinterest: Rasetti, in CPF I, 56.

  By the time he was ready to present: CPF I, 1ff.

  The third presented an important theorem: These “Fermi coordinates” have become more or less universally accepted as part of the conceptual apparatus of general relativity theory.

  The fourth was a highly successful effort: This was a solution to the so-called 4/3 problem. Classical mechanics calculates the mass of a rigid spherical charged body as 4 / 3 E / c ; Einstein calculates it as E / c . The difference, Fermi realized, is that rigid spheres do not retain their sphericity as they move in space-time but flatten out perpendicular to the direction they move in; when this is taken into account, the 4/3 factor falls away.

  “If we could liberate the energy”: CPF I, 33–34. Author’s translation.

  Einstein had consulted Levi-Civita: Years later, when asked what he liked about Italy, Einstein is said to have replied: “Two things: spaghetti and Levi-Civita.”

  So impressed was Levi-Civita: Bonolis, “Enrico Fermi’s Scientific Work,” 320.

  So fretful was he: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, Appendix I, 200–201.

  nor was the thesis published: The paper was published in part in 1926, but the full thesis itself was lost in the Scuola archives and discovered after Fermi’s death, in 1959. CPF I, 227ff.

  Years later his wife would claim: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 26.

  C
HAPTER THREE: GERMANY AND HOLLAND

  In the midst of this turmoil: A full treatment on the rise of fascism in Italy can be found in Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy; Hibbert, Il Duce; Smith, Mussolini; and Lyttleton, The Seizure of Power. Laura Fermi also published a more impressionistic, less scholarly, but quite readable book, Laura Fermi, Mussolini.

  Laura Fermi enjoyed a course: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 40.

  With each new role he further cemented: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 30, is particularly good on this point.

  “Do you think he may go”: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 29–30. As with all verbatim conversations recollected years later and reported through the eyes and ears of those who were not there, we might doubt the precise words recorded by Laura Fermi, but the sentiment rings true to what we know about both Fermi and Corbino. They were anti-fascist but also instinctively conservative individuals who were even more worried by the violence that would result if the government resisted Mussolini at this point. Laura Fermi notes that Enrico considered emigrating at that time, but adds “the fact that sixteen years almost to the day he left Italy for the United States does not make a prophet of him.” Ibid., 31.

  Born was a slightly shy, somewhat formal: Born, My Life & My Views, is a short, well-written memoir.

  Though his letters home to his father: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 31–32. For letters during this period, see the sheaf held at the University of Pisa’s physics department library, donated by Maria’s daughter Gabriella Sacchetti after Maria’s death. Letters dated February 28, 1923; March 21, 1923; and June 9, 1923.

  Segrè puts some of the blame: Segrè, Enrico Fermi, 32–33.

  “a stored-up, never forgotten bitterness”: Libby, Uranium People, 15–16, 36.

  Her name was Laura Capon: Much of what follows is based on Laura Fermi, Atoms, 38ff.

  “You should have seen Laura”: Libby, Uranium People, 28.

  “He shook hands and gave me”: Laura Fermi, Atoms, 1.

  “There was an easy self-reliance in him”: Ibid.