The last man who knew everything : the life and times of Enrico Fermi, father of the nuclear age / David N. Schwartz.

"In December 1942, a team at the University of Chicago achieved a milestone in human history: a nuclear chain reaction. At the forefront of this breakthrough stood Enrico Fermi, the father of the nuclear age. But as David N. Schwartz shows in this groundbreaking biography, Fermi's impact goes well b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Schwartz, David N., 1956- (Author)
Language:English
Published: New York : Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2017.
Edition:First edition.
Subjects:
Fermi, Enrico, > 1901-1954.
Physicists > Italy > Biography.
Physicists > United States > Biography.
Nuclear physicists > Italy > Biography.
Nuclear physicists > United States > Biography.
Nuclear physicists.
Physicists.
Italy.
United States.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science & Technology.
SCIENCE / History.
Biographies.
Genre:
Biography.
Biographies.
Physical Description:xxiii, 453 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Format: Book
Contents:
  • Part one: Becoming Fermi. Prodigy ; Pisa ; Germany and Holland ; Quantum breakthroughs ; Of geckos and men
  • Part two: The Rome years. Family life ; The Rome School ; Beta rays ; Goldfish ; Physics as soma ; The Nobel Prize
  • Part three: The Manhattan Project. The New World ; Splitting the atom ; Fermi meets the Navy ; Piles of graphite ; The move to Chicago ; "We're cookin'!" ; Xenon-135 ; On a mesa ; An unholy Trinity
  • Part four: The Chicago years. Return to Chicago ; In the public eye ; A patent fight ; Brilliant teacher, beloved mentor ; Travels abroad ; Home to die ; Fermi's legacy.