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.

This book provides the first comprehensive historical account of the evolution of scientific traditions in astronomy, astrophysics, and the space sciences within the Max Planck Society. Structured with in-depth archival research, interviews with protagonists, unpublished photographs, and an extensive bibliography, it follows a unique history: from the post-war relaunch of physical sciences in West Germany, to the spectacular developments and successes of cosmic sciences in the second half of the 20th century, up to the emergence of multi-messenger astronomy. It reveals how the Society acquired national and international acclaim in becoming one of the world’s most productive research organizations in these fields.

This book offers the first comprehensive and authoritative text on the history of physics in Italy’s industrial and financial capital, from the foundation of the University of Milan’s Institute of Physics in 1924 up to the early 1960s, when it moved to its current location. It includes biographies and a historical-scientific analysis of the main research topics investigated by world-renowned physicists such as Aldo Pontremoli, Giovanni Polvani, Giovanni Gentile Jr., Beppo Occhialini, and Piero Caldirola, highlighting their contributions to the development of Italian physics in a national and international context. Further, the book provides a historical perspective on the interplay of physics and politics in Italy during both the Fascist regime and the postwar reconstruction period, which led to the creation of the CISE (Centro Informazioni Studi Esperienze, a research center for applied nuclear physics, funded by private industries) in 1946, and of the Milan division of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in 1951.

Enrico Fermi is unquestionably among the greats of the world's physicists, the most famous Italian scientist since Galileo. Called the Pope by his peers, he was regarded as infallible in his instincts and research. His discoveries changed our world; they led to weapons of mass destruction and conversely to life-saving medical interventions. This unassuming man struggled with issues relevant today, such as the threat of nuclear annihilation and the relationship of science to politics. Fleeing Fascism and anti-Semitism, Fermi became a leading figure in America's most secret project: building the atomic bomb. The last physicist who mastered all branches of the discipline, Fermi was a rare mixture of theorist and experimentalist. His rich legacy encompasses key advances in fields as diverse as comic rays, nuclear technology, and early computers. In their revealing book, The Pope of Physics, Gino Segré and Bettina Hoerlin bring this scientific visionary to life. An examination of the human dramas that touched Fermi’s life as well as a thrilling history of scientific innovation in the twentieth century, this is the comprehensive biography that Fermi deserves.

Winner of the 2007 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society. Feynman diagrams have revolutionized nearly every aspect of theoretical physics since the middle of the twentieth century. Introduced by the American physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) soon after World War II as a means of simplifying lengthy calculations in quantum electrodynamics, they soon gained adherents in many branches of the discipline. Yet as new physicists adopted the tiny line drawings, they also adapted the diagrams and introduced their own interpretations. Drawing Theories Apart traces how generations of young theorists learned to frame their research in terms of the diagrams—and how both the diagrams and their users were molded in the process. Drawing on rich archival materials, interviews, and more than five hundred scientific articles from the period, Drawing Theories Apart uses the Feynman diagrams as a means to explore the development of American postwar physics. By focusing on the ways young physicists learned new calculational skills, David Kaiser frames his story around the crafting and stabilizing of the basic tools in the physicist's kit—thus offering the first book to follow the diagrams once they left Feynman's hands and entered the physics vernacular.

"World War II was the largest and most destructive conflict in human history. It was an existential struggle that pitted irreconcilable political systems and ideologies against one another across the globe in a decade of violence unlike any other. There is little doubt today that the United States had to engage in the fighting, especially after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The conflict was, in the words of historians Allan Millett and Williamson Murray, "a war to be won." As the world's largest industrial power, the United States put forth a supreme effort to produce the weapons, munitions, and military formations essential to achieving victory. When the war finally ended, the finale signaled by atomic mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, upwards of 60 million people had perished in the inferno. Of course, the human toll represented only part of the devastation; global environments also suffered greatly. The growth and devastation of the Second World War significantly changed American landscapes as well. The war created or significantly expanded a number of industries, put land to new uses, spurred urbanization, and left a legacy of pollution that would in time create a new term: Superfund site"--

Here, for the first time, in a brilliant, panoramic portrait by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, is the definitive, often shocking story of the politics and the science behind the development of the hydrogen bomb and the birth of the Cold War. Based on secret files in the United States and the former Soviet Union, this monumental work of history discloses how and why the United States decided to create the bomb that would dominate world politics for more than forty years.

In this biography of Enrico Fermi (1901-54), who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1938 for his work on radioactivity by neutron bombardment and his discovery of transuranic elements and who achieved the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in Chicago in 1942, his student, collaborator, fellow Nobel Prize winner and lifelong friend Emilio Segrè presents the scientist, and explains in nontechnical terms Fermi’s work and his achievements. “Segrè’s description of Fermi’s early life and his involvement with and commitment to physics is extremely interesting... Segrè understands and describes very clearly the outstanding characteristics of Fermi’s theoretical work: clarity and completeness... Segrè has succeeded admirably in describing Fermi’s entire scientific career, and this book is strongly recommended.” — M. L. Goldberger, Science “We must thank Emilio Segrè for this authoritative, revealing and inspiring book. It covers in a masterly fashion the most exciting thirty years of modern physics and the character and activities of one of its greatest contributors.” — Nature “A rich, well-rounded portrait of [Fermi] the scientist, his methods, intellectual history, and achievements. Explaining in nontechnical terms the scientific problems Fermi faced or solved, Enrico Fermi, Physicist contains illuminating material concerning Fermi’s youth in Italy and the development of his scientific style.” — Physics Today “All that might be hoped for in a biography of one Nobel Prize winner in physics by another has been realized in Emilio Segrè’s biography of his friend, Enrico Fermi... A truly masterly drawing of Fermi’s character, along with his physics and the events through which he moved, Segrè has provided us with a brilliant appreciation of one of the most pre-eminent figures of modern physics.” — Physics Bulletin “This excellent biography, written by one of the original group who worked with him during the 1930s at Rome, catches beautifully the style and spirit of its subject... With Fermi’s passing the age of the universal experimental and theoretical physicist is gone. Segre’s book tells the story of this heroic age of physics and of its principal actor; it is a delight to read, and I recommend it heartily.” — American Scientist “Here we meet the man at work and we see the meticulous scientist... This book also shows us another facet of Fermi: that of the conscientious scientist torn between his love of pure research and his love of teaching.” — V. Barocas, Annals of Science “Segrè is a sensitive biographer, responsive to all problems that can plague the creative scientist; he shows, above all, Fermi’s dedication, zeal, and extraordinary talents. Segrè has provided more than sympathy. Much that is new about Fermi’s youth in Italy appears here... [A] very rewarding book... Every physicist will want to read this biography, along with every reader who has an interest in intellectual developments during the 1920-1960 era.” — J. Z. Fullmer, The Ohio Journal of Science

This is a personal narrative about growing. It is also about growing up, which does not necessarily follow. Some grow in wisdom; some grow in foolishness; some grow in the grace of God. Some only grow old, without much else. The tale it tells touches three centuries: the nineteenth, the twentieth, and the twenty-first. May it bless you and cheer your journey through this mortal life.

Varian Fry, an American war correspondent, set up a secret refuge escape system in Marseilles to get leading artists and intellectuals out of occupied France.