Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi

Until coming across this biography I was unaware of spouses serving as biographers. But after reading this book, I must admit - What better person to learn from about Enrico Fermi, one of 20th century's renowned theoretical-cum-experimental physicists, than from his wife of 26 years, Laura Capon Fermi?!Atoms in the family - My life with Enrico Fermi provides an episodic account of events from both Enrico and Laura Fermi's lives with a major focus on Fermi's war time efforts in the 1940s. In some sense, it serves as a biography of Enrico Fermi and an autobiography for Laura Fermi. It's split into 2 parts, with part I describing their encounter, marriage and Fermi's work life in Rome, Italy during the 1920-30s in the midst of rising fascism under Benito Mussolini's dictatorship. It culminates with their flight along with their children and maid from Rome, Italy to New York City, United States in 1938 to escape persecution (since Laura was Jewish) from a fascist government that had by then colluded with Nazi Germany. Part II details their years and efforts at becoming Americanized, Fermi's involvement in the construction of the super-secret Chicago Pile-1 at Met Lab, University of Chicago and finally their secluded life at Los Alamos, New Mexico as participants in the US Army-led Manhattan District Project which resulted in the first atomic bomb. Since activities at Los Alamos were heavily classified, most sections in this part were pieced together by Laura Fermi from the Smyth report that was released after the end of World War II in 1945. (Apparently more details can be found in a hard-to-find book named Atomic Quest by Arthur Compton)For a biography, strangely this book is richly illusrated with around 3 dozen black and white photographs which do a very good job at diverting the attention of the reader from the text. To top it, Laura Fermi uses an engaging prose style which at times turns philosophical (e.g., her description of parting of ways with friends and with her homeland) and at other times, very witty (such as pointing out Enrico Fermi's idiosyncracies). What I was surprised by was the absence of any details of Enrico Fermi's final days. The date of publication by University of Chicago Press and the copyright date on this book appears on the 1st page as 1954 and Enrico Fermi passed away in 1954 of stomach cancer. Addition of these details would have offered closure to this otherwise engaging biography.All in all, I would rate this as an excellent purchase. For a deeper understanding of the background behind some of the pojects that Fermi worked on, I would suggest picking up David Bodanis' classic book (IMHO) "E=mc2: A biography of the world's most famous equation". Yup, that's right, biographies can be written for equations too. Who knew?!

This is an outstanding biography of one of the world's leading physicists of the 20th century, Enrico Fermi, that was written by his wife Laura Fermi. Fermi's early work done in the1930s in Rome with a small team of highly proficient physicists is beautifully described, including the famous experiments that earned Fermi the Nobel prize on new isotopes produced by neutron bombardment of targets spanning most of the periodic table. This work led onto the Fermi's move to USA in the 1940s and Fermi's seminal construction of the first nuclear power reactor in a squash court at Chicago University, and his later work on the atomic bombs of WWII done at the Los Alamos laboratory. Throughout the book Laura Fermi succeeds in describing her husband's experiments in terms anyone can appreciate. I first read the book in 1961 when I was a university student in New Zealand, and it was partly responsible for my continuing on in physics. My recent purchases of the book were for my grandchildren. My only misgiving with the current edition is with the less-than-perfect quality of the photographs that are included.

Mrs. Laura Fermi is a gifted and talented writer. Enrico Fermi is truly a giant of physics in the early 20th century as we all know. Mrs. Fermi does a beautiful job of making us see the loving husband and father who shared her life. We see Enrico hiking and skiing in the Italian Alps. Enrico was proud of the fact the he could out walk and climb young men his junior. Enrico never bragged about his genius and considered it only as a gift he was born with. He most proud of the fact that he was always in tremendous shape and full of superhuman energy. He could outwork all his peers and staff. He was tireless while working on a problem. He had the ability to break a very difficult problem down into simpler pieces and explain it so others would understand it clearly. We all know the scientist, Dr. Enrico Fermi and his legacy. But you must read this wonderful story of the real-life man, Mr. Enrico Fermi, to appreciate all his work and all the help he gave others for which he took no credit.

This book provides an intimate view as his wife on the life of Enrico Fermi, an Italian-born physicist, who made a critical contribution to nuclear power and atomic bomb by demonstrating sustained nuclear reaction. It also provides a glimpse into the Italian society between two world wars. It depicts the difference in the societal status between hers and her husbands, her husband's character as a kind of alpha male, characters of her husband's colleagues and students, people who worked in the Manhattan project. For example, she provides her views and impressions on mysterious people, such as Ettore Majorana, an extremely introvert genius physicist who mysteriously disappeared, Klaus Fuchs, and Bruno Montecorvo, the two physicists who went over to the other side of the Iron Curtain.

Great old book, I got this as a gift and I'll have to clean it up a bit and put a clear cover on it that I bought locally, I'm sure the recipient will love it.

The writing is lively and engaging - a page-turner that I could not put down. The science is excellent. The description of Fermi's early neutron experiments in Rome were wonderful and highly enlightening.

The definitive biography of the man. Good mix of 'science' and 'personal' life. And now 7 more words to meet requirement.

Excellent book. Very well written, especially considering that it was written in English by a non-native speaker of the language. Regardless of the writing, it tells a story that had largely been kept secret from my husband, even though he received a university degree in Physics. He has found substantial confirmation of what Laura Fermi wrote in several books by Emilio Segre, and at many Web sites.

Very interesting book about Enrico Fermi. Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor. Book written by his wife. Laura Capon Fermi was an Italian and naturalized-American writer and political activist. She was the wife of Nobel Prize physicist Enrico Fermi.

un texte bien écrit, agréable à lire et permettant de découvrir avec humour les coulisses de grands événements

Excellent livre qui mélange information scientifique, anecdotes, ambiance humaine et familiale dans une période historique troublée.

Being written by his wife, I wish there had been more insights about Fermi's peronality. It is instead a good biography like any other author could have written.

I studied on Enrico Fermi's books in his former University, that of Rome, and appreciated the clarity, simplicity and troughfullness of his physics book. I didn't imagine that such a characteristics could be shared by his wife.This book is enlightening if Fermi's everyday life as much as Fermi's working style.I liked this book very much.