Enrico Fermi

Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) was a peerless master in both theoretical and experimental physics. At age 25, he formulated Fermi-Dirac statistics governing fermions (particles obeying the Pauli exclusion principle). In 1934, he developed the theory of beta decay and discovered that slow neutrons readily induce artificial radioactivity, earning the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Fleeing fascist Italy, Fermi emigrated to America. On 2 December 1942, beneath Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, Fermi achieved the world's first self-sustaining man-made nuclear chain reaction in Chicago Pile-1. Element 100 (fermium), the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), and fundamental fermions honor his memory.