riment proved that it was very possible to build an atomic bomb. “Fermi’s task however, was to create a controlled nuclear reaction; that is to split an atom without creating a deadly explosion” (Sonneborn 69). President Roosevelt was then convinced to appoint Fermi head of a research team of the secret project of developing an atomic bomb. “From that first small pile grew production reactors that bred plutonium for the first atom bombs” (154). After moving from Chicago to Los Alamos, New Mexico, Fermi was on hand for the first test of the brutal new weapon in July 1945” (154). Fermi argued against the development of the hydrogen bomb in 1949 when the project was debated. He called it “a weapon which in practical effect is almost one of genocide.” His council went unheeded and the U.S. – Soviet arms race that ensued put the world at mortal risk…” (154). The discovery of how to release nuclear energy had long term beneficial results – the development of an essentially unlimited new source of energy and forestalling, maybe permanently, of world-scale war. Fermi received a special award of $25,000 for his work on the atomic bomb from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1954. Later that year, Fermi prematurely died of stomach cancer. Of the many important discoveries that occurred during the 20th century, several have had far-reaching ramifications and altered the course of history. Those tremendous advances that were made in science had tremendous effects worldwide and laid the foundation for further scientific developments that were to come. Enrico Fermi’s contribution to the area of physics, which led to the development of the first atomic bomb, opened up the secret of the atom, unleashing its tremendous power. The world lost its innocence and entered the atomic age. There would be no turning back. Thesis: Without Enrico Fermi’s cont...
