One thing that you may have pointed out, is where the other scientists - from Oppenheimer to Szilard to Bohr - cleared the mechanics of the nuclear reactions, Enrico Fermi was the only one to get into the "minutia" of the reactions, and actually conducted all the mathematical calculations on quantities, timings, and the likes. Without Fermi, the other scientists should have executed many experiments by trial and error; while with Fermi doing the calculations, they always knew what and how much material to use, and what result they had to expect. In only one occasion - in the Hanford reactor for the production of plutonium, he didn't initially consider the dampening delayed effects of radioactive xenon on the chain reaction, but he found the solution (in agreement with Bohr) the day after the malfunction; they added 500 more uranium rods to the reactor, achieving a permanent and balanced criticality. The fact that in the entire period of discovery and invention there had been no serious incident, should be ascribed to the ability of Fermi to calculate the result of the experiments in advance. Fermi was was an outstanding scientist as he was unique. But - possibly - the continued vicinity with radioactive materials had a nefarious effect on his health. Thank you for the video...
He is my favorite nuclear scientist. I wish you could have told these two stories about Fermi. Fisrt, his understanding of the physics of CP-1, the first man-made nuclear reactor, was such that as the control rod was inched out, he accurately predicted with a slide rule the power level the reactor would steady out at after each pull. Second, when the larger versions of CP-1 for producing plutonium were mysteriously shutting down by themselves, he knew befote anyone else it was because of the buildup of specific isotopes left over from splitting of uranium that would absorb enough neutrons to stop the chain reaction until they decayed away.
Yeah, i knew that he was highly respected exactly for this, for being one of the few physicists to have both theoretical and sperimental knowledge: basically he made things work ( maybe thanks to his passion towards engineering).
He was from my town in Italy and then he moved to USA after the "fascist racial laws" of 1938 (he was not a jew but his wife was, although their two daughters were baptized). Italy lost one of the best brain of the world with those notorious and infamous laws. Jews in Italy were always loyal to the kingdom of italy before , many of them got knighthood and noble titles.
My Physics Professor used to say that the first half of XX century is an statistical outlier when it comes to number of geniuses that lived in it. Emilio Segrè wrote that Fermi was the last “universal” physicist, someone who could discuss topics across all physics: from subatomic particles to the expansion of the universe.
Fermi was a great mind and he surrounded himself with many other brilliant scientists, the so called “Via Paninsperna Boys” (you posted a picture of them but didn’t mention it…). Among those guys was Ettore Majorana: his talent and abilities even exceeded those of Fermi. His life and mysterious disappearance would make a great biographics video !
My favorite Fermi story: When the Trinity test took place, no one knew how powerful it would be. He measured how far some scraps of paper flew in the wind of the explosion to get a pretty good, seat of the pants estimate.
Yhey was amazing! He was only 40% of whit almost no information at all. As I heard som saiy, an analogy whit movie's: Openhimer was the producer and fermi the director.
Another interesting thing is that Enrico was second to his brother, his brother was way more brilliant than him and everybody believe he was going to be the genius, before unfortunately dying of course
@@MrTexasDan That is nothing good. Those "others" would never use that knowledge if it hadn't been developed in the first place. Don't you see this? This knowledge will inevitably cause the end of the human species. Indeed ignorance of it would have been far better for the world.
@@iltoni6895 You are ignorant of the others ability to develop their own in time ... then use it on you. That's how the knowledge ends the human species. Instead we have settled in to the best we could hope for ... parity, deterrence ... and the end of world wars.
@@MrTexasDan The end of world wars? How long for? No one expected another great war after the end of the first one either. I am not ignorant of anything, it's entirely unjustified to develop a weapon of mass destruction "in case" the others do it first. More importantly, that is not what the creators had in mind when they did develop the first nuclear bomb, they were simply looking to actually mass destruct, which they did, twice, so that point is moot. Now because of that the most possible cause of the extinction of the human species already exists.
Fermi paradox isn't really a paradox and this is what Fermi actually said: “... he went on to conclude that the reason that we hadn’t been visited might be that interstellar flight is impossible, or, if it is possible, always judged to be not worth the effort, or technological civilization doesn’t last long enough for it to happen.”
My uncle was also a physicist who worked on the bomb at Los Alamos during WWII. After the war he stayed on and had a career working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He died in Los Alamos of stomach cancer at the age of 73 in 1995.
It is claimed that Enrico Fermi worked out the yield of the first atomic bomb on a notepad much faster, and more accurately, than the primitive computers at Los Alamos could.
He did it by tearing up paper from that notebook in to small pieces. He dropped them at a regular rate from a known height when the shock wave came from the test. By analyzing where the bits landed, he figured out how strong the shock-wave was. By knowing how far he was from the test, and how the power of the shock-wave went down over distance, he calculated the power of the bomb. I got my Ph.D. in physics. He was that smart.
Fermi had a student who got his phD in physics at age 21 years old. Fermi called him the only genius he ever met. At age 25 he was one of the main designers of the hydrogen bomb. He is still alive today. Research Richard Garwin
Brilliant presentation...as usual. Thank you Simon for your own contribution to a deep awareness of history that had a deep impact to humankind but not necessarily known to the latter in general.
When Simon started talking about Fermi's question of "where is everybody" I played the Force Theme in the background and boy the moment didn't disappoint on bringing me to tears.
Einstein didn’t believe in Enrico when he told him about it. He wrote a letter to Roosevelt not really understanding the details. Enrico was truly inteligente much beyond our capacity to grasp
Einstein was almost obsolete at that point. He thought the bomb would need tons of uranium, and he thought Oppenheimer’s concept of black holes was impossible.
Italy didn’t have the industrial capacity to enrich uranium or create plutonium. Likely the US wouldn’t have had the bomb by the end of WWII without him though.
he came to the University of Chicago from Columbia University where he went after he left Italy--he had to leave Italy because his wife Laura was Jewish and Benito Mussolini was starting to enforce anti-semitic policies like Hitler did-Dr. Fermi died in 1953 from stomach cancer (which likely was related to the nature of the work he was doing with radioactive elements/particles)
Awesome work. Thanks so much. I had heard of Fermi, but knew no details. It is scary to consider how close it came to the Axis getting the bomb first. Good luck for us!
Of course he could! But American movies are merely about making movies telling the American public how great America is and how best of anyone else Americans are. US movies are mere circus shows to maximise profits by instigating American nationalism. Everyone in Italy knows Fermi is the founder of atomic physics. But who cares if this is not aligned with typical American nationalistic rhetoric? As an Italian, I find all US movies usually rubbish movies: Fake, over-engineered, to maximise monetary returns, with propagandist nationalistic goals
Need a biographics on mongol general Subodai. Wolf of Genghis. Most successful general in history. Father of command and control, conquered russia in winter with tactics not seen till barberossa in WW2.
He spied out conquests years in advance, coordinated armies 100s miles apart and brought them together to take out organised resistance. Often outnumbered he liked to lure armies into a position of weakness before committing using tactics never seen before or since.
That was BOMB! Sejong The Great, a South Korean King and national hero, as well as the founder of their alphabet 'Hangul' I'd really like to see a Biographic on him
I will not rest until you do a video on Vincent Price, he is such an interesting and multi faceted human being he definitely deserves a video in my opinion.
I had never heard of Enrico Fermi but if Simon thinks he deserves a video, I'm going to watch it. Then I find out about the Fermi paradox Then I find out about the Dark Forest Theory Then I find out about the Drake Equation Then I find out about the Prisoner Dilemma Wow! Thank you Simon PS Do you know who Rutgur Hauer or Benny Hill are yet? ;-)
Ricardo Becerra yes. They have a kind of museum observation floor up at the top that you can go to. It’s been a few years since I’ve gone but it’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
Sir James Chadwick also played a great part of the development of the Atom Bomb as he discovered the Neutron and the UK sent the Tizard Trunk to the USA with all technology info in 1940
The US Department of engery hosts free tours of Hanford B reactor. They still have his office set up for historical purposes. I highly recommend going if you are interested in history. Tri-cities in Washington are amazingly beautiful too with a lot of local dive spots.
If I remember correctly, he wasn't even watching the Trinity test when it went off; he was turned away from the blast, throwing pieces of paper into the air at timed intervals to measure the size of the blast wave
The first time I watched a Biographics video you reminded me of a British "Rod Serling" doing an intro to a Twilight Zone episode. That's a compliment cause I love Rod Serling. Your videos are excellent and well informed.
Dr. Fermi essentially knew his days were numbered by doing the kind of work he was doing by blasting neutrons and creating new elements/particles-the radiation emitted would eventually catch up to him (he ultimately passed away from stomach cancer in 1953_--nevertheless although knowing the dangers involved he pressed on for as he said the work was simply too important to worry about his own well being--that's the kind of person Dr. Fermi was--he only thought about how his work would benefit others--we have electricity generated by nuclear power plants/CT and MRI machines that operate on the principals he discovered--thank you Dr. Fermi RIP
The story about Fermi getting his family out of Italy by collecting the Nobel Prize is just amazing! The USSR declared war on Japan the same day Nagasaki was destroyed. I understand there is some differing of opinion as to which was more influential on the Japanese decision to surrender when they did. This made more sense to me when I realized that Japan found itself at war with BOTH of the world's superpowers at the same time.
Fermi didn't start studying physics when his brother Giulio died; he was already deep into science by that age (14) and devouring physics texts. Good video! My only other nitpick is the mispronunciation of every Italian name. LOL.
Good video as always! I have a request/ a tip though. Look into Axel von Fersen the younger. He has a really interesting story being around most of the biggest figures of the 18th century, from the founding fathers to Marie Antoinette. His incredibly brutal murder is a lesson in his courage, and the source of stories of haunting in Stockholm to this day.
Oppenheimer’s quote “Now i am become death, The destroyer of worlds” still is so haunting. Imagine your life’s work went on to kill over 200,000 people. Do you feel successful? Or just...broken..
Good bio! Not to be pedantic, but there was no doctoral program in Italy when Fermi attended university. In fact, the first PhDs in Italy were only granted in the 1970s. But Fermi's undergraduate degree was much more impressive than a PhD - the Scuola Normale Superiore was, and remains, one of the most exclusive undergraduate institutions in the world. In any case, Fermi never received a PhD, although with his degree he was able to qualify for a professorial teaching position.
There was zero possibility that Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany could have developed the atomic bomb- the Manhattan Project employed 130,000 people in a dozen cities and cost $2Billion ($23 Billion in constant dollars), and over 10% of the total electrical capacity of the entire US- resources FAR beyond the capacity of the Axis powers. But a fascinating bio!
The Fermi Paradox is a brilliant concept that I have yet to hear a good explanation for. Even with with explanations like the great filter, the sheer scale of the number of planets out there, we should be hearing something.
Ever hear of "The Prime Directive..?" ET races worth their "salt" aren't supposed to make contact with developing planetary cultures except under specific, special circumstances. 👽 😘
Check out Brilliant: brilliant.org/biographics
Fermium element 100 Actinides class of elements heavy elements. Atomic mass of 257 *FM*
Love your videos
Just checked gratz on getting toptenz back =D
What are you doing about getting top tenz back? I know it's been hacked please get it back.
Mate can you please consider or just Google the story of Don Pedro Albizu Campos. I promise that you won't regret it.
One thing that you may have pointed out, is where the other scientists - from Oppenheimer to Szilard to Bohr - cleared the mechanics of the nuclear reactions, Enrico Fermi was the only one to get into the "minutia" of the reactions, and actually conducted all the mathematical calculations on quantities, timings, and the likes. Without Fermi, the other scientists should have executed many experiments by trial and error; while with Fermi doing the calculations, they always knew what and how much material to use, and what result they had to expect. In only one occasion - in the Hanford reactor for the production of plutonium, he didn't initially consider the dampening delayed effects of radioactive xenon on the chain reaction, but he found the solution (in agreement with Bohr) the day after the malfunction; they added 500 more uranium rods to the reactor, achieving a permanent and balanced criticality.
The fact that in the entire period of discovery and invention there had been no serious incident, should be ascribed to the ability of Fermi to calculate the result of the experiments in advance.
Fermi was was an outstanding scientist as he was unique. But - possibly - the continued vicinity with radioactive materials had a nefarious effect on his health.
Thank you for the video...
True indeed.
He is my favorite nuclear scientist. I wish you could have told these two stories about Fermi. Fisrt, his understanding of the physics of CP-1, the first man-made nuclear reactor, was such that as the control rod was inched out, he accurately predicted with a slide rule the power level the reactor would steady out at after each pull. Second, when the larger versions of CP-1 for producing plutonium were mysteriously shutting down by themselves, he knew befote anyone else it was because of the buildup of specific isotopes left over from splitting of uranium that would absorb enough neutrons to stop the chain reaction until they decayed away.
Xenon gas was the problem, he was a true genius
Very interesting and educational to read, thank you for sharing this with us!
Yeah, i knew that he was highly respected exactly for this, for being one of the few physicists to have both theoretical and sperimental knowledge: basically he made things work ( maybe thanks to his passion towards engineering).
He was from my town in Italy and then he moved to USA after the "fascist racial laws" of 1938 (he was not a jew but his wife was, although their two daughters were baptized). Italy lost one of the best brain of the world with those notorious and infamous laws. Jews in Italy were always loyal to the kingdom of italy before , many of them got knighthood and noble titles.
And he did it all before computers, before even calculators - just a slide rule, pencil and paper! Bravo The Italian Navigator!
My Physics Professor used to say that the first half of XX century is an statistical outlier when it comes to number of geniuses that lived in it.
Emilio Segrè wrote that Fermi was the last “universal” physicist, someone who could discuss topics across all physics: from subatomic particles to the expansion of the universe.
Fermi was a great mind and he surrounded himself with many other brilliant scientists, the so called “Via Paninsperna Boys” (you posted a picture of them but didn’t mention it…).
Among those guys was Ettore Majorana: his talent and abilities even exceeded those of Fermi. His life and mysterious disappearance would make a great biographics video !
Veneziano was at least that good, father of the string theory!
My favorite Fermi story: When the Trinity test took place, no one knew how powerful it would be. He measured how far some scraps of paper flew in the wind of the explosion to get a pretty good, seat of the pants estimate.
Yhey was amazing! He was only 40% of whit almost no information at all. As I heard som saiy, an analogy whit movie's: Openhimer was the producer and fermi the director.
Another interesting thing is that Enrico was second to his brother, his brother was way more brilliant than him and everybody believe he was going to be the genius, before unfortunately dying of course
@@Sbinott0It’s sort of like John F. Kennedy. His father wanted his older brother to be president one day, but he died piloting a drone bomber in WWII.
You too read the biography!!
Fermi: Where is everybody?
Probably built nuclear weapons and wiped themselves out...
the first man to ask 'where them aliens at?'
“It no good to try stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge”
Enrico Fermi
False. Absolutely nothing good will come out of going so far in nuclear knowledge.
@@iltoni6895 How about the ability to deter those who who would use that same knowledge against you?
@@MrTexasDan That is nothing good. Those "others" would never use that knowledge if it hadn't been developed in the first place. Don't you see this? This knowledge will inevitably cause the end of the human species. Indeed ignorance of it would have been far better for the world.
@@iltoni6895 You are ignorant of the others ability to develop their own in time ... then use it on you.
That's how the knowledge ends the human species.
Instead we have settled in to the best we could hope for ... parity, deterrence ... and the end of world wars.
@@MrTexasDan The end of world wars? How long for? No one expected another great war after the end of the first one either. I am not ignorant of anything, it's entirely unjustified to develop a weapon of mass destruction "in case" the others do it first. More importantly, that is not what the creators had in mind when they did develop the first nuclear bomb, they were simply looking to actually mass destruct, which they did, twice, so that point is moot. Now because of that the most possible cause of the extinction of the human species already exists.
Fermi paradox isn't really a paradox and this is what Fermi actually said: “... he went on to conclude that the reason that we hadn’t been visited might be that interstellar flight is impossible, or, if it is possible, always judged to be not worth the effort, or technological civilization doesn’t last long enough for it to happen.”
We all know that the Bikini Atoll island "tests" weren't tests, they were trying to kill Godzilla.
The Might One” Look into it bro” :Eddie Bravo
Nuclear weapons make Godzilla stronger.
Don't you mean Godziirra?
@@mcsuibhne005Gojira?
And we all know how that went... just watch the Godzilla documentaries or "movies".
Thanks for this one! Fermi was a totally underrated genius.
Video: "Now, before we continue. I hope that you aren't going to develop any nuclear bombs"
Me: "Darn, there goes my easter isolation plans."
I had similar plans.. I'm off to play Fallout 76 to try and fish myself out of my depressive state.
I'll need to buy it first.
@@reggiep75stop, it's now worth it...
@@samh659 - I was only joking. Fallout 76 is dog poo!
My uncle was also a physicist who worked on the bomb at Los Alamos during WWII. After the war he stayed on and had a career working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He died in Los Alamos of stomach cancer at the age of 73 in 1995.
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
It is claimed that Enrico Fermi worked out the yield of the first atomic bomb on a notepad much faster, and more accurately, than the primitive computers at Los Alamos could.
He did it by tearing up paper from that notebook in to small pieces. He dropped them at a regular rate from a known height when the shock wave came from the test. By analyzing where the bits landed, he figured out how strong the shock-wave was. By knowing how far he was from the test, and how the power of the shock-wave went down over distance, he calculated the power of the bomb. I got my Ph.D. in physics. He was that smart.
Maybe I'm wrong but i think it was only til later they got a more accurate estimate of 25 KT
Fermi had a student who got his phD in physics at age 21 years old. Fermi called him the only genius he ever met. At age 25 he was one of the main designers of the hydrogen bomb. He is still alive today. Research Richard Garwin
Ettore Majorana
ettore Majorana was another level
Brilliant presentation...as usual. Thank you Simon for your own contribution to a deep awareness of history that had a deep impact to humankind but not necessarily known to the latter in general.
"How I learned to stop worrying..." - great Dr. Strangelove reference!
Please consider the amazing *_Niels Bohr_* soon, eh? Thanks as always for keeping me sane during these times!
Eh? Eh? Eh? Like fingernails in a chalkboard
Ettore Majorana (who was one of Fermi's collaborators and disappeared in mysterious circumstances) would make a great Biographics.
I second this! He was one of the brilliant physicists known as the Via Panisperna Boys, and he disappeared in rather odd circumstances.
@@vincenzo7597 Where have you been all those years?!
@@vincenzo7597 I've heard there's a Mr Bini who doesn't like to have his photograph taken. Is that true?
@@vincenzo7597 Sebastiano Sciuti ti manda i suoi saluti!
@@PaleMagnoliawho the hell were u talking to 2 yrs ago? Did u get your meds?
And that’s from where the term “SCRAM the Reactor” comes: Safety Control Rod Axe Man.
Scram the reactor, yeah exactly right
Word?
Have you considered doing one on Ian Fleming?(creator of James Bond)
There a TIFO video on him.
how Ironic I was just watching a documentary on him this week after watching Golden eye videos last week.
Tethloach1 coincidental not ironic.
@@farticlesofconflatulation I am not great with words sorry.
@Barbara Mulvaney I am not the best with words sorry.
When Simon started talking about Fermi's question of "where is everybody" I played the Force Theme in the background and boy the moment didn't disappoint on bringing me to tears.
Einstein didn’t believe in Enrico when he told him about it. He wrote a letter to Roosevelt not really understanding the details. Enrico was truly inteligente much beyond our capacity to grasp
Also, Einstein couldn't understand Dirac's theory.
Einstein was almost obsolete at that point. He thought the bomb would need tons of uranium, and he thought Oppenheimer’s concept of black holes was impossible.
Do one on the strasser brothers, and one on Ernst jünger.
Basically they lost the bomb because they threatened his wife and family. Life sure is cliche sometimes
Italy didn’t have the industrial capacity to enrich uranium or create plutonium. Likely the US wouldn’t have had the bomb by the end of WWII without him though.
I don’t think anyone in Chicagoland doesn’t know who Enrico Fermi is, at least everyone who works at Fermi Labs.
he came to the University of Chicago from Columbia University where he went after he left Italy--he had to leave Italy because his wife Laura was Jewish and Benito Mussolini was starting to enforce anti-semitic policies like Hitler did-Dr. Fermi died in 1953 from stomach cancer (which likely was related to the nature of the work he was doing with radioactive elements/particles)
Awesome work. Thanks so much. I had heard of Fermi, but knew no details. It is scary to consider how close it came to the Axis getting the bomb first. Good luck for us!
Can you do one on Marshall Applewhite?
Sounds like Nolan should have done a movie about this guy.
Of course he could!
But American movies are merely about making movies telling the American public how great America is and how best of anyone else Americans are.
US movies are mere circus shows to maximise profits by instigating American nationalism.
Everyone in Italy knows Fermi is the founder of atomic physics. But who cares if this is not aligned with typical American nationalistic rhetoric?
As an Italian, I find all US movies usually rubbish movies:
Fake, over-engineered, to maximise monetary returns, with propagandist nationalistic goals
Wonderful work, sir. Even your "commercial interruptions" are enjoyable. That is a rare gift.
Fermi is one of my favorite physicist. Great video as usual!
There's a book about the man called 'the last man who knew everything' !
@Jason Wilton You're right it's about Thomas Young.
Need a biographics on mongol general Subodai. Wolf of Genghis. Most successful general in history. Father of command and control, conquered russia in winter with tactics not seen till barberossa in WW2.
Damn dude, thats pretty awesome
he's Asian though, only white accomplishments here buddy
@@vladimirremmirez7671 based
Vladimir Remmirez as is tradition
He spied out conquests years in advance, coordinated armies 100s miles apart and brought them together to take out organised resistance. Often outnumbered he liked to lure armies into a position of weakness before committing using tactics never seen before or since.
That was BOMB!
Sejong The Great, a South Korean King and national hero, as well as the founder of their alphabet 'Hangul'
I'd really like to see a Biographic on him
There’s also Fermilab about 40 miles outside of Chicago. :)
Thanks for the video brother ❤️❤️
I will not rest until you do a video on Vincent Price, he is such an interesting and multi faceted human being he definitely deserves a video in my opinion.
Thank you for this ... Knew about Fermi, but not the details ... great video, as always!!
You forgot to add that Fermilab in Batavia Illinois was named after him and was the largest particle accelerator in the world for a while
Excellent account. Thank you.We look forward to more.
finally know why my elementary school was named after him.
Very interesting 👌 and educative!! Thanks
I had never heard of Enrico Fermi but if Simon thinks he deserves a video, I'm going to watch it.
Then I find out about the Fermi paradox
Then I find out about the Dark Forest Theory
Then I find out about the Drake Equation
Then I find out about the Prisoner Dilemma
Wow! Thank you Simon
PS Do you know who Rutgur Hauer or Benny Hill are yet? ;-)
Benny hill is the guy running England right?
Down the rabbit hole you go!!!!
I’ve lived near Fermilab for years.
Wow have you visited?
Ricardo Becerra yes. They have a kind of museum observation floor up at the top that you can go to. It’s been a few years since I’ve gone but it’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
Super_squishy_awesomeness _ not the time to travel :) I wanted to visit CERN and ITER.
But not that from Montreal... thnx
you're not glowing at night are you?
thanks so much brother you're carrying me on my research project 🙏
“Disaster wasn’t struck” I think that 120,000 Japanese people would disagree if they hadn’t been instantly vaporized
Do one please about Charles Dewey. The inventor of the Dewey decimal system. He pioneered library science.
This video is the BOMB!
And if you dropped your own biography, Simon, it'd be even bigger!
the *Bomb* was god level destruction
Let's drop it on Nagasaki and oroshima
would love to see one of these on Richard Feynman!
You forgot to mention the physics laboratory outside of Chicago named after him.
Also famous for his paradox!
Incredible story!
I'd like to suggest a Biographics video on the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann.
You should really consider doing a biography on Fela, the father of the Afrobeat music genre. He led a very interesting life.
Excellent content as always
Simon, that stray mustache on your left side almost convinced me to sign up to Dollar Shave Club
Why must such brilliant minds perish so quickly
Please do a video on the "Fermi Paradox."
Nice!
Fermi is largely unknown outside of Physics circles.
Sir James Chadwick also played a great part of the development of the Atom Bomb as he discovered the Neutron and the UK sent the Tizard Trunk to the USA with all technology info in 1940
The US Department of engery hosts free tours of Hanford B reactor. They still have his office set up for historical purposes. I highly recommend going if you are interested in history. Tri-cities in Washington are amazingly beautiful too with a lot of local dive spots.
Watch to the end like a BB OG LEGEND.
Loving Business blaze btw 👍
If I remember correctly, he wasn't even watching the Trinity test when it went off; he was turned away from the blast, throwing pieces of paper into the air at timed intervals to measure the size of the blast wave
Annnd he's backk Finally, thank you great video
The first time I watched a Biographics video you reminded me of a British "Rod Serling" doing an intro to a Twilight Zone episode. That's a compliment cause I love Rod Serling. Your videos are excellent and well informed.
Dr. Fermi essentially knew his days were numbered by doing the kind of work he was doing by blasting neutrons and creating new elements/particles-the radiation emitted would eventually catch up to him (he ultimately passed away from stomach cancer in 1953_--nevertheless although knowing the dangers involved he pressed on for as he said the work was simply too important to worry about his own well being--that's the kind of person Dr. Fermi was--he only thought about how his work would benefit others--we have electricity generated by nuclear power plants/CT and MRI machines that operate on the principals he discovered--thank you Dr. Fermi RIP
At 23:13, that's the 1946 test known as Crossroads Baker (a 20 KT Nagasaki-type bomb). The first H-Bomb was Ivy Mike in 1952.
Wow please keep the great videos coming. Love them!!!
This is a necessary biography to know for those who do not understand that time in the world
What a story. This man was brilliant and a lovely family. ☘
He also had an American national laboratory named after him in Batavia, Illinois (Fermilab).
Oppenheimer was finally presented the Fermi award for his lifetime of work ...
Would have liked to hear some stuff about "Fermilab" that is named after him.
It's a fascinating place.
The story about Fermi getting his family out of Italy by collecting the Nobel Prize is just amazing!
The USSR declared war on Japan the same day Nagasaki was destroyed. I understand there is some differing of opinion as to which was more influential on the Japanese decision to surrender when they did.
This made more sense to me when I realized that Japan found itself at war with BOTH of the world's superpowers at the same time.
Also, I think Truman dropped the bomb to keep Stalin out of Japan. There never was a split Japan like Germany or Korea.
Can you do one on Gustav Adolphus🙏 love your vids👍
Fantastic. Thanks!
Do Oswald Mosley
He is not worthy of an episode here. Extremely insignificant compared to other historical figures, in regards to differences made in the world.
Fermi didn't start studying physics when his brother Giulio died; he was already deep into science by that age (14) and devouring physics texts.
Good video! My only other nitpick is the mispronunciation of every Italian name. LOL.
16:46 Oppenheimer didn't just think it, it's from the Bhagavad Gita
Chapter one, the quiet italian... I wish he threw in a budum tssss after that lol
Can you explain?
@@radiantsvnit’s a joke about Italians being loud
I have a sneaking suspicion that Ferme may have actually worked out how to make the atomic bomb, but chose not to. He certainly seems smart enough.
Good video as always!
I have a request/ a tip though. Look into Axel von Fersen the younger. He has a really interesting story being around most of the biggest figures of the 18th century, from the founding fathers to Marie Antoinette. His incredibly brutal murder is a lesson in his courage, and the source of stories of haunting in Stockholm to this day.
Ever thought of John Paul Jones? The man was Scottish, daring, handsome, and absolutely insane- oh yeah also the father of the American navy
Led Zeppelin members don't count.
Continental Congress: "You can't harass the entire British Navy with a single vessel, John!"
John Paul Jones: " *WATCH ME!!* "
The Official Sikris - Captain Jack Sparrow : Hold my rum...😂
he did all that while playing Bass for Led Zep..
Ninebears “I haven’t begun to fight yet because I’m ripping this solo”
There's also FermiLab outside of Chicago.
Oppenheimer’s quote “Now i am become death, The destroyer of worlds” still is so haunting. Imagine your life’s work went on to kill over 200,000 people. Do you feel successful? Or just...broken..
Depends on the person, I think.
or he could've laughed maniacally and started to wear a cape..
"I hope you're not working on a nuclear bomb" *pulls out a Fatman* Welcome to the Wasteland Simon lmao.
21:48 So thats what the game is called!
Hi Simon could you do a video about Jasper Maskelyne The War Illusionist please thank you
Good bio! Not to be pedantic, but there was no doctoral program in Italy when Fermi attended university. In fact, the first PhDs in Italy were only granted in the 1970s. But Fermi's undergraduate degree was much more impressive than a PhD - the Scuola Normale Superiore was, and remains, one of the most exclusive undergraduate institutions in the world. In any case, Fermi never received a PhD, although with his degree he was able to qualify for a professorial teaching position.
Particle Research at Fermi Lab in Chicago. Small version of Hadron collider
I was asking me "why godfather?"
It took me a moment to realise "because he was Italian"...
Cleaver show of stereotypy my friend
"like an out-of-control weather balloon"
Great description.
Michael Collins Irish leader please
I love this channel : )
Knowledge is key wisdom even better
You've done Oppenheimer, you've done Fermi. Now do Feynman, please.
There was zero possibility that Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany could have developed the atomic bomb- the Manhattan Project employed 130,000 people in a dozen cities and cost $2Billion ($23 Billion in constant dollars), and over 10% of the total electrical capacity of the entire US- resources FAR beyond the capacity of the Axis powers. But a fascinating bio!
As they say "well you live and learn". Even old history majors can still learn a thing or two from your sites. 👍
The Fermi Paradox is a brilliant concept that I have yet to hear a good explanation for. Even with with explanations like the great filter, the sheer scale of the number of planets out there, we should be hearing something.
Well, there's the rate that signals degrade, isn't there? That seems like it should cover a lot of the "why arent we picking anything up" questions.
Ever hear of "The Prime Directive..?" ET races worth their "salt" aren't supposed to make contact with developing planetary cultures except under specific, special circumstances. 👽 😘