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27
Americans in World War II
BIOGRAPHY READING
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi, an Italian physicist, was the first
person to split the atom. His research introduced the
concept of atomic fission, which is splitting the
nucleus of an atom, causing a release of energy. This
concept led to the technology that facilitated the use
of controlled nuclear reactions as a source of energy,
including the development of the atomic bomb.
Fermi’s work was instrumental in ushering in the
atomic age.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
E
nrico Fermi was born in 1901 in Rome,
Italy. An extremely gifted child, Fermi
turned to physics at the age of 14 for consolation upon the death of his older brother. He
found two antique physics texts in a bookstore,
purchased them, and read through them, stopping occasionally to correct their mathematics.
Only after working his way through the texts
did he pause to notice that they were written in
Latin, not Italian. Fermi continued to study
physics with the help of a family friend, an
engineer. In high school, he wrote an essay on
physics as part of the admission requirements
for the University of Pisa. Judges found Fermi’s
essay to be of the quality of a doctoral dissertation—a work usually completed after four
years of college and several years of graduate
school.
Fermi made original contributions to the
field of physics while he was still a college student at the University of Pisa. He was so precocious that he often instructed his teachers.
Fermi graduated in 1922, and went on to
become a lecturer at the University of Florence,
where he developed a new statistical method to
explain the behavior of atomic particles. After
two years, he became a professor of theoretical
physics in Rome and began the studies that
would lead to his most important discovery.
Literature, Primary Source, and Biography Readings
While at the University of Rome, Fermi
and his colleagues accidentally split the nuclei
of a uranium atom. Initially, he did not believe
the atoms were splitting. He thought the reaction was due to the atom emitting a new element, and was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in
physics for his discovery. Later, Fermi realized
that the atoms had actually split and that the
reaction could be controlled.
When Italy’s premier, Benito Mussolini,
started to pass anti-Semitic legislation in Italy,
Fermi feared his Jewish wife would not be safe
there. After securing a position at Columbia
University, Fermi and his wife fled to New
York City from the Nobel awards ceremony in
Stockholm, Sweden.
In New York City, Fermi and researcher
Leo Szilard developed the ideas for a nuclear
reactor. After transferring to the University of
Chicago in 1942, Fermi developed the technology that allowed the first self-sustaining atomic
chain reaction, which resulted in the controlled
release of nuclear energy. During this time,
Fermi joined the Manhattan Project, which
was the American-led research project to build
the first atomic bomb. Fermi attended the detonation of the first atomic bomb near Los
Alamos, New Mexico, in 1945. He tested the
power of the blast with a simple experiment,
dropping slips of paper in the air before and
after the detonation to compare their movements.
Even though he had greatly contributed to
the development of the atomic bomb, Fermi
was strongly opposed to the development of
the more powerful hydrogen bomb. He called
it a “weapon which in its practical effect is
almost one of genocide.” His description
proved to be horribly accurate when the hydrogen bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the end of
World War II.
Chapter 27 161
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Chapter 27, Biography Reading, Continued
After the war, Fermi continued to teach at
the University of Chicago, becoming the university’s Distinguished-Service Professor for
Nuclear Studies. At the University of Chicago’s
Metallurgical Laboratory, he studied mesons,
units that describe the force that holds the
nucleus of an atom together. He also partici-
pated in the construction of a large particle
accelerator called the synchrocyclotron. For his
contributions to the field of physics, the 100th
element was named after Fermi, and an award
was established in his honor. Fermi died of
stomach cancer in 1954.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU READ After you have finished reading the
selection, answer the following questions in the space provided.
1. What important scientific event took place while Enrico Fermi was at the University
of Rome?
2. How did Fermi feel about the development of the hydrogen bomb? What is your
reaction to how he felt?
4. If you were a scientist, and you made an important discovery that had the potential
to be harmful, what would you do with the information?
ACTIVITY
Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter who, along with Fermi, was present at the
detonation of the first atomic bomb. Write a news story in which you interview
Fermi on his contributions and reactions to the event you have both just witnessed.
162 Chapter 27
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3. How might history be different if Fermi had recognized that he was splitting the
atom the first time he did it, while he was living in Fascist Italy?
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3. the rising tides of the river, drowning them
4. He was angry at the doctors and crew of
the naval hospital ship because it was not
coming to help the victims. He was also
angry at the doctors at the Army medical
unit because they would not come to
Asano Park and the riverbank to help the
dying people.
5. Mr. Tanimoto became angry at himself.
Answers should explain that he had
promised people he would bring medical
help, and “They might die feeling
cheated.” He came to realize that the
number of injured people and limited
medical help would not allow him to keep
his promise.
ACTIVITY
Students’ letters will vary but should draw
upon the information in the selection.
PRIMARY SOURCE
1. Peggy Terry and her husband were living
day to day, moving around and working
wherever they could find work.
2. She had money to buy shoes and a dress,
and to pay rent and put food on the table.
3. She had only vague knowledge, and did
not really think about it. This was just
after the depression, and she lived in a
poor, rural area. She was focused on just
“stayin’ alive” and being happy to have
work.
4. He fought in France, North Africa, and
Germany, as a paratrooper.
5. He had started having nightmares, and
shaking at the thought or sight of shooting.
6. Answers will vary but should explain how
Terry came to see and understand the
bigger picture, that many people died in
the war and that both she and her husband played a role in that.
ACTIVITY
Students’ charts should reflect an understanding of the various roles of these women in
building weapons to supply the fighting, as
workers versus managers, as the primary
breadwinners, and as responsible for the
home and children. Comparisons to women’s
240 Answer Key
roles today could include military service,
business/management, child care and custody,
and changes in family dynamics.
BIOGRAPHY
1. Fermi and his fellow researchers inadvertently split the atom, which led the way to
future atomic fission technology.
2. He was totally against the development of
the hydrogen bomb because he saw its
destructive power as virtually absolute.
Students’ reactions will vary.
3. Students’ speculations will vary, but
should suggest that Italy would have been
extremely powerful if that were the case.
4. Answers will vary but should demonstrate
an understanding that some scientific
information can be helpful as well as
detrimental.
ACTIVITY
Students’ articles should demonstrate an
understanding of the awesome power demonstrated by Fermi’s research. The interview
should reflect both Fermi’s accomplishments
and his misgivings concerning what might
happen if a more powerful bomb could be
built.
CHAPT E R 2 8
LITERATURE
1. He doesn’t remember if he felt anything
at all; he just remembers being cold and
sleepy.
2. Crispus Attucks and other African
Americans who had fought in wars and
fought for the right to fight for freedom
and democracy in America
3. to forget about patriotism and stick
together and stay alert
4. The “realities of war” were that African
Americans were fighting for their lives, not
for “liberty, justice, and freedom for all.”
ACTIVITY
Students’ magazine articles should explain
what war the person they interviewed fought
in, what that person felt about fighting from
that person’s point of view.
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