In December 1942, a team at the University of Chicago achieved a milestone in human history: The first nuclear chain reaction. At the forefront of this breakthrough stood Enrico Fermi, creator of the world’s first nuclear reactor, and, later, a key figure of the Manhattan Project. A man whose impact went well beyond these epochal events, revolutionized modern physics, and was awarded with a Nobel Prize.
But how did Fermi become Fermi? The answer, as you may guess, is not simple and straightforward. Join us at 7p.m, on Saturday, February 17, when David N. Schwartz, whose biography “The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age,” published by Basic Books in 2017, will speak about Fermi’s life trajectory and offer some perspectives on how this universal physicist – perhaps the last of his kind – was able to achieve what he did.
David N. Schwartz received a BA from Stanford and a PhD from MIT, both in political science. He has written widely on various subjects, including defense policy and nuclear weapons strategy, as well as a recent book about the retailing giant Costco, “The Joy of Costco” which he wrote with his wife Susan. His father, Melvin Schwartz, shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in physics for performing the first high energy experiment studying neutrinos, and the discovery of the second type of neutrino, related to muon decay.
The Zoom room opens at 6:30pm (EST) for mingling. The program starts at 7:00pm (EST). Please remember that all attendees need to pre-register by clicking on the following link: https://tinyurl.com/SEMM-2024-Gathering . There is no charge for the Zoom presentation, but, due to rising costs, your donation via PayPal is greatly appreciated. Please donate $5! To donate go to http://www.paypal.com and click on the “Send Money” tab. Enter the e-mail address treasurer@nullmensadetroit.com and your payment amount. Be sure to include a notation that your donation is for “SEMM Zoom Presentations.”
