Enrico
Fermi, who passed away on 18 November
1954, aged 53, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., was an Italian-born American
scientist who became one of the chief architects of the nuclear age. He
developed the mathematical statistics required to clarify a large
class of subatomic phenomena, explored nuclear transformations caused by
neutrons, and directed the first controlled chain reaction involving nuclear
fission. He was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize for Physics.
