# Enrico Fermi

_Italian–American physicist (1901–1954)_

Canonical: https://diginpl.com/people/enrico-fermi
Last updated: 2026-10-31

> Enrico Fermi (Italian: [enˈriːko ˈfermi]; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized-American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project. He won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics "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". He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". He was one of very few physicists to excel in both theoretical and experimental physics. With his colleagues, Fermi filed several patents related to the use of nuclear power, all of which were taken over by the US government. He made significant contributions to the development of statistical mechanics, quantum theory, and nuclear and particle physics.

## Quick facts

- **Born:** 29 September 1901 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P569))
- **Place of birth:** Rome ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P19))
- **Died:** 28 November 1954 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P570))
- **Place of death:** Chicago ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P20))
- **Citizenship:** Kingdom of Italy; Italy ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P27))
- **Occupation:** physicist; theoretical physicist; nuclear physicist; university teacher; inventor ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P106))
- **Education:** University of Pisa; Scuola Normale Superiore. Classe di Scienze; Leiden University; University of Göttingen ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P69))
- **Spouse:** Laura Fermi ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P26))
- **Awards:** Nobel Prize in Physics; Max Planck Medal; Rumford Prize; Matteucci Medal; Franklin Medal; Hughes Medal; Henry Norris Russell Lectureship; National Inventors Hall of Fame; Silliman Memorial Lectures; Barnard Medal for Meritorious Service to Science; Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award; Fellow of the American Physical Society; Foreign Member of the Royal Society ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753#P166))

## About

Fermi's first major contribution involved the field of statistical mechanics. After Wolfgang Pauli formulated his exclusion principle in 1925, Fermi followed with a paper in which he applied the principle to an ideal gas, employing a statistical formulation now known as Fermi–Dirac statistics. Today, particles that obey the exclusion principle are called "fermions". Pauli later postulated the existence of an uncharged invisible particle emitted along with an electron during beta decay, to satisfy the law of conservation of energy. Fermi took up this idea, developing a model that incorporated the postulated particle, which he named the "neutrino". His theory, later referred to as Fermi's interaction and now called weak interaction, described one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. Through experiments inducing radioactivity with the recently discovered neutron, Fermi discovered that slow neutrons were more easily captured by atomic…

## Questions

**When was Enrico Fermi born?**  
Enrico Fermi was born on 29 September 1901 in Rome.

**Where did Enrico Fermi study?**  
Enrico Fermi was educated at University of Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore. Classe di Scienze, Leiden University, University of Göttingen.

## Related

- [Albert A. Michelson](https://diginpl.com/people/albert-a-michelson)
- [Maria Goeppert Mayer](https://diginpl.com/people/maria-goeppert-mayer)
- [Robert Millikan](https://diginpl.com/people/robert-millikan)
- [Steven Weinberg](https://diginpl.com/people/steven-weinberg)
- [Wolfgang Pauli](https://diginpl.com/people/wolfgang-pauli)
- [Erwin Schrödinger](https://diginpl.com/people/erwin-schrodinger)
- [Eugene Wigner](https://diginpl.com/people/eugene-wigner)
- [Hendrik Lorentz](https://diginpl.com/people/hendrik-lorentz)
- [Henri Becquerel](https://diginpl.com/people/henri-becquerel)
- [J. J. Thomson](https://diginpl.com/people/j-j-thomson)
- [James Chadwick](https://diginpl.com/people/james-chadwick)
- [Johannes Diderik van der Waals](https://diginpl.com/people/johannes-diderik-van-der-waals)

## Sources

- [Wikipedia (English): Enrico Fermi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikidata item Q8753](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8753) — [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- [Image: Enrico Fermi 1943-49.jpg by Department of Energy-Office of Public Affairs, restored by Yann (Public domain)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enrico_Fermi_1943-49.jpg)

## Licence and attribution

Text from the Wikipedia article Enrico Fermi, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Enrico Fermi 1943-49.jpg — Department of Energy-Office of Public Affairs, restored by Yann, Public domain.

## Cite this page

"Enrico Fermi". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/enrico-fermi. Retrieved 6 November 2026.