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Posted: 11/28/2015 7:59:46 AM EDT














1954Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, the first man to create and control a nuclear chain reaction, and one of the Manhattan Project scientists, dies in Chicago at the age of 53. Fermi was born in Rome on September 1, 1901. He made his career choice of physicist at age 17, and earned his doctorate at the University of Pisa at 21. After studying in Germany under physicist Max Born, famous for his work on quantum mechanics, which would prove vital to Fermi’s later work, he returned to Italy to teach mathematics at the University of Florence. By 1926, he had been made a full professor of theoretical physics and gathered around him a group of other young physicists. In 1929, he became the youngest man ever elected to the Royal Academy of Italy. The theoretical became displaced by the practical for Fermi upon learning of England’s Sir James Chadwick’s discovery of the neutron and the Curies’ production of artificial radioactivity. Fermi went to work on producing radioactivity by means of manipulating the speed of neutrons derived from radioactive beryllium. Further similar experimentation with other elements, including uranium 92, produced new radioactive substances; Fermi’s colleagues believed he had created a new, "transuranic” element with an atomic number of 93, the result of uranium 92 capturing a neuron while under bombardment, thus increasing its atomic weight. Fermi remained skeptical, despite his fellow physicists’ enthusiasm. He became a believer in 1938, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for "his identification of new radioactive elements.” Although travel was restricted for men whose work was deemed vital to national security, Fermi was given permission to go to Sweden to receive his prize. He and his wife, Laura, who was Jewish, never returned; both feared and despised Mussolini’s fascist regime. Fermi left Sweden for New York City, Columbia University, specifically, where he recreated many of his experiments with Niels Bohr, the Danish-born physicist, who suggested the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction. Fermi and others saw the possible military applications of such an explosive power, and quickly composed a letter warning President Roosevelt of the perils of a German atomic bomb. The letter was signed and delivered to the president by Albert Einstein on October 11, 1939. The Manhattan Project, the American program to create its own atomic bomb, was the result. It fell to Fermi to produce the first nuclear chain reaction, without which such a bomb was impossible. He created a jury-rigged laboratory, complete with his own "atomic pile,” in a squash court in the basement of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. It was there that Fermi, with other physicists looking on, produced the first controlled chain reaction on December 2, 1942. The nuclear age was born. "The Italian navigator has just landed in the new world,” was the coded message sent to a delighted President Roosevelt. The first nuclear device, the creation of the Manhattan Project scientists, was tested on July 16, 1945. It was followed less than a month later by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, Fermi, now an American citizen, became a Distinguished Service Professor of Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago, consulting on the construction of the first large-particle accelerator. He went on to receive the Congressional Medal of Merit and to be elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London. Among other honors accorded to Fermi: The element number 100, fermium, was named for him. Also, the Enrico Fermi Award, now one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology awards given by the U.S. government, was created in his honor.














Link Posted: 11/28/2015 8:04:09 AM EDT
[#1]


Mankind may never again witness such a collection of intelligence and national will as we did with the Manhattan Project.




-p.
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 8:47:05 AM EDT
[#2]
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Quoted:
Mankind may never again witness such a collection of intelligence and national will as we did with the Manhattan Project.


-p.
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Founding fathers might challange that positiin.
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 8:54:52 AM EDT
[#3]
Einstein - Germany
Bohr - Denmark
Szilard - Hungary
Sachs - Russia
Fermi-Italy
Wigner-Hungary
Teller -Hungary
Weisskopf -Austria
Bloch- Switzerland
Et al

 America sometimes forgets that without the world's best and brightest the enormous advances the United States managed in the 25-30 years between being a largely agrarian,isolationist country and putting a man on the moon would not have happened. It's a bit warped of course but if  Mussolini and Hitler had not frightened Einstein and Fermi and many others  away there is an incredible chance that the Axis gets the atomic bomb first.


The other side of this is modern day immigration where the US makes it far easier for uneducated retail workers to enter than physicists.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 9:13:49 AM EDT
[#4]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Einstein - Germany
Bohr - Denmark
Szilard - Hungary
Sachs - Russia
Fermi-Italy
Wigner-Hungary
Teller -Hungary
Weisskopf -Austria
Bloch- Switzerland
Et al

 America sometimes forgets that without the world's best and brightest the enormous advances the United States managed in the 25-30 years between being a largely agrarian,isolationist country and putting a man on the moon would not have happened. It's a bit warped of course but if  Mussolini and Hitler had not frightened Einstein and Fermi and many others  away there is an incredible chance that the Axis gets the atomic bomb first.


The other side of this is modern day immigration where the US makes it far easier for uneducated retail workers to enter than physicists.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile
View Quote


America has never been the hotbed of intelligence.

American Bachelor degree = Europe's / Asia's High School diploma.
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 10:51:01 AM EDT
[#5]

Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
America has never been the hotbed of intelligence.



American Bachelor degree = Europe's / Asia's High School diploma.

View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:



Quoted:

Einstein - Germany

Bohr - Denmark

Szilard - Hungary

Sachs - Russia

Fermi-Italy

Wigner-Hungary

Teller -Hungary

Weisskopf -Austria

Bloch- Switzerland

Et al



 America sometimes forgets that without the world's best and brightest the enormous advances the United States managed in the 25-30 years between being a largely agrarian,isolationist country and putting a man on the moon would not have happened. It's a bit warped of course but if  Mussolini and Hitler had not frightened Einstein and Fermi and many others  away there is an incredible chance that the Axis gets the atomic bomb first.





The other side of this is modern day immigration where the US makes it far easier for uneducated retail workers to enter than physicists.



Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile




America has never been the hotbed of intelligence.



American Bachelor degree = Europe's / Asia's High School diploma.





 
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 10:54:16 AM EDT
[#6]
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 12:10:47 PM EDT
[#7]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


America has never been the hotbed of intelligence.

American Bachelor degree = Europe's / Asia's High School diploma.
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
Einstein - Germany
Bohr - Denmark
Szilard - Hungary
Sachs - Russia
Fermi-Italy
Wigner-Hungary
Teller -Hungary
Weisskopf -Austria
Bloch- Switzerland
Et al

 America sometimes forgets that without the world's best and brightest the enormous advances the United States managed in the 25-30 years between being a largely agrarian,isolationist country and putting a man on the moon would not have happened. It's a bit warped of course but if  Mussolini and Hitler had not frightened Einstein and Fermi and many others  away there is an incredible chance that the Axis gets the atomic bomb first.


The other side of this is modern day immigration where the US makes it far easier for uneducated retail workers to enter than physicists.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile


America has never been the hotbed of intelligence.

American Bachelor degree = Europe's / Asia's High School diploma.

Don't say "never".  The dumbing down of America has been a work long in progress.

Take this 8th grade exam from 1895 and let us know how you do.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 1895

This is the eighth-grade final exam* from 1895 from Salina, Kansas. It was taken
from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society
and Library in Salina, Kansas and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts. per bu, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10.Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?
Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10.Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of N.A.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10.Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 9:49:35 PM EDT
[#8]

Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


I always thought this was interesting:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
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above my pay grade!



 
Link Posted: 11/28/2015 9:56:14 PM EDT
[#9]
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Quoted:
above my pay grade!
 
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Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
I always thought this was interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
above my pay grade!
 



Donald Rumsfeld easily explained how we don't know with  known knowns,known unknowns,unknown knowns and unknown unknowns,essentially
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