Enrico Fermi: The man who got the Nobel for the wrong research!
September 30, 20244 Mins Read
His name is written in golden letters in the history of physics. Half of the particles in the universe—particles of all matter—are called fermions after him. An element in the periodic table is named in his honor—fermium. But this man did not get the Nobel for the wrong research!

Enrico Fermi

Enrico Fermi is one of the few scientists whose names are spread throughout the field of physics. Basically worked with atomic particles or subatomic particles. Received the Nobel Prize (actually, the wrong Nobel Prize!). He himself compared his work to modern particle physics and nuclear physics.

In 1924, Fermi joined the University of Florence in Italy as a lecturer in mathematical physics. During this time he started working on the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. The problem of gas degeneracy was then well known. Bose-Einstein statistics were able to explain some of these phenomena. The behavior of boson particles was known from this theory.

In 1926-27, Fermi and Paul Dirac developed a new type of statistical process. This is called Fermi-Dirac statistics. It was actually Fermi who first developed it. This could explain the behavior of superatomic particles that obey Pauli's exclusion principle (Pauli's exclusion principle is taught in high school chemistry in our country). The spin of such particles is 1/2. Electrons-protons-neutrons—these are all fermion particles. Needless to say, it is named after Enrico Fermi. Why? You get it—Fermi was the first to develop this statistic, right?

The importance of Fermi's work in the world of particle physics and nuclear physics is actually immense. Why, it can be simply summed up like this: There are two kinds of things in the universe. Matter (and antimatter) and energy. All particles of energy are called bosons — after Bengali Satyen Bose. And all matter particles are called fermions. I have already said the reason. How strong Fermi's work is, is it a little understood this time?

However, in 1927 Fermi began working as a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Rome. He stayed here till 1938. During this time he became famous as 'The Pope of Physics'. Along with a group of scientists named Panisperna Boys, he discovered the 93rd element of the periodic table. He also received the Nobel Prize for that year.

In 1938, this scientist fled Italy and moved to the United States to escape Mussolini's dictatorship. On board the ship to America, he heard the worst news of his life. What he thought was the 93rd element, it is actually not a new element! By then, however, he had received the Nobel. History has been written, Enrico Fermi won the Nobel Prize for research that went wrong

Fermi's Nobel Prize was never revoked. After research on beta decay, all elements that undergo a neutron impact (change the element) are; The Nobel committee said in a formal statement that he was awarded the Nobel for the artificial production of radioactivity from neutrons and for stable and controlled nuclear chain reactions. Let's go back a bit to know about this study. For this we have to go to 1934.

While at the University of Rome, Enrico Fermi worked on electromagnetic theory and spectroscopy. Fermi, in 1934, turned away from the electron and focused deeper into the atom, namely the nucleus, while investigating various spectral phenomena. It was the biggest turning point in his career. During this time, while working together with the radiation theory and Pauli's ideas, Fermi made an important discovery regarding the beta-decay theory. Marie Curie and Juliet had done great work on artificially producing radioactivity. It also inspired him.

All in all, he showed that the beta-decay of the nucleus also emits neutrinos. Electrons can come out with that. This theory deals with the interaction of four fermions together. For example, a neutron decays to produce an electron, a neutrino and a proton.

However, it was later discovered that the emitted particle was not a neutrino, but an antineutrino. But from the outside, all particles and their antiparticles look the same. Considering the technology of the time, Fermi's omission of this matter is natural. This theory is now called Fermi's interaction or Fermi's beta decay theory.