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- Enrico Fermi was an Italian scientist, who 

later became known as the ‘Architect of the 

Nuclear Age’ from his discovery of nuclear 

fission. 

- He sought to experimentally conduct 

artificial transmutation and thus discover 

elements of atomic number greater than 92 

(Uranium)

- He bombarded many known elements with 

neutrons 

- The neutrons were absorbed by the nuclei of 

the particular element 

- This produced new isotopes of the same 

element or sometimes elements underwent 

transmutation whereby a new element was 

produced.  

- He focused his experiment on the neutron 

bombardment of Uranium giving the reaction:

-     -     Elemental isotopes were produced as a result 

from the emission of beta/ alpha particles 

-     Observed that slow neutrons are more easily 

absorbed by the nucleus as they spent a longer time 

near the nucleus 

-     He observed the half-lives of radiation emitted by 

atoms and believed he had observed the creation of 

element 93

-     However this was later disproven by Strassman 

and Meitner as they repeated the experiment and 

found the result to be nuclear fission instead of 

transmutation. 

•     He attempted to produce a controlled nuclear chain 

reaction

•     In 1942, Fermi attempted to produce a controlled nuclear 

chain reaction by building the first atomic pile in a converted 

squash court at the University of Chicago. 

•     He used 6 tons of uranium metal (the entire nation's 

supply) and 40 tons of uranium oxide separated by 385 tons of 

graphite bricks. Control rods of cadmium, known to be a good 

neutron absorber, were inserted amongst the uranium and 

graphite bricks to absorb and control the presence of neutrons. 

The experiment was successful and generated 0.5 W of thermal 

power.

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