The Lost Notebook of ENRICO FERMI

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-X

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 1-3

3. Fermi in Italy: his manuscripts

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 4-12

4. The beginning of Nuclear Physics in Rome

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 13-45

5. Nuclear Physics in Rome after the Rome Conference: 1931-1933

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 46-68

6. New particles and new theories: 1932-1933

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 69-94

7. The Solvay Conference and Fermi’s theory of beta decay: October-December 1933

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 95-107

8. The discovery of alpha-particle–induced radioactivity

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 108-118

9. The discovery of neutron-induced radioactivity

   • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

   Pages 119-139

10. Fermi’s strategic choices

    • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

    Pages 141-149

11. Fermi at work: chronicle of a discovery

    • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

    Pages 150-177

12. Pages from the Irpinia notebook and the loose sheets of paper

    • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

    Pages 179-226

13. Further developments and conclusions

    • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

    Pages 228-232

14. Erratum to: The Lost Notebook of ENRICO FERMI

    • Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

    Pages E1-E1

15. Back Matter

    Pages 233-261

    PDF

This book tells the curious story of an unexpected finding that sheds light on a crucial moment in the development of physics: the discovery of artificial radioactivity induced by neutrons. The finding in question is a notebook, clearly written in Fermi's handwriting, which records the frenzied days and nights that Fermi spent experimenting alone, driven by his theoretical ideas on beta decay. The notebook was found by the authors while browsing through documents left by Oscar D'Agostino, the chemist among Fermi's group. From Fermi's notes, they reconstruct with skill and expertise the detailed timeline of the critical days leading up to his vital discovery. While much is already known about the road that led Fermi to his important result, this is the first time that it has been possible to reconstruct precisely when and how the initial evidence of neutron-induced decay was obtained. In relating this fascinating story, the book will be of great interest not only to those with a passion for the history of science but also to a wider audience.

• history of nuclear physics
• neutron-induced radioactivity
• Enrico Fermi
• Fermi's beta decay theory
• Hirpine notebook
• Physics Rome Congress: 1931
• Paris Congress 1932
• Orso Mario Corbino
• Solvay Congress
• Fermi's discovery of neutron-induced radioactivity
• Oscar D'Agostino Archives
• Artificial radioactivity

• Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italy

  Francesco Guerra

• Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, Genova, Italy

  Nadia Robotti

Francesco Guerra is Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Physics at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", and associated to the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics and the Enrico Fermi Research Center in Rome. His research activity includes quantum field theory, elementary particle physics, statistical mechanics of complex systems, and the history of nuclear physics. He has published around two hundred scientific papers, as well as books and monographs. In 2008 he received the Prize for History of Physics from the Italian Physical Society. He is managing editor of the European Physical Journal H (EPJ-H), which is devoted to historical perspectives in contemporary physics.

Nadia Robotti is Full Professor of the History of Physics in the Department of Physics at the University of Genoa, and associated to the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics and the Enrico Fermi Research Center in Rome. Her research activity includes the history of quantum mechanics and atomic and nuclear physics. She has published around 150 research articles, as well as books and monographs. In 2008 she received the Prize for History of Physics from the Italian Physical Society. She is vice-director of the Giornale di Fisica and a member of the International Academy of the History of Science.

 

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