Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermiwas an Italian physicist, who created the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". He was one of the few physicists to excel both theoretically and experimentally. Fermi held several patents related to the use of nuclear power, and was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity by neutron bombardment and the discovery of transuranic elements...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth29 September 1901
CityRome, Italy
CountryItaly
Before I came here I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture I am still confused. But on a higher level.
I remember my friend Johnny von Neumann used to say, 'with four parameters I can fit an elephant and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk.'
Some people stick with the traditional, feeling struck by the epic beauty or blown away by the insane scale of the universe. Personally, I go for the old "existential meltdown followed by acting weird for the next half hour. But everyone feels something.
Ignorance is never better than knowledge
The fact that no limits exist to the destructiveness of this weapon [the 'Super', i.e. the hydrogen bomb] makes its very existence and the knowledge of its construction a danger to humanity as a whole. It is necessarily an evil thing considered in any light. For these reasons, we believe it important for the President of the United States to tell the American public and the world what we think is wrong on fundamental ethical principles to initiate the development of such a weapon.
Never underestimate the joy people derive from hearing something they already know.
It is not good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge.
There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.
Experimental confirmation of a prediction is merely a measurement. An experiment disproving a prediction is a discovery.