Enrico Fermi: The Man Behind the Fermi Paradox
What does a nuclear physicist have to do with our speculation on extraterrestrial civilizations?
Perhaps you’ve heard about the Fermi Paradox through an article you read or a Youtube video you watched. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you could check out the article I wrote about it here or the Youtube video I made about it here (shameless plug!). Have you ever wondered about the person who the Fermi Paradox was named after? His name was Enrico Fermi, and he was a pretty cool dude. He was a pioneer in the field of nuclear physics and even won a Nobel Prize for his work. But what does a nuclear physicist have to do with the speculation on intelligent alien life? Read on to find out.
Fermi was born in Rome, Italy in 1901 to a father who was a civil servant and a mother who was a school teacher. From a young age, he had an extraordinary ability for mathematics. He eventually went on to study physics at Scuola Normale Superiore University in Pisa, Italy. He was talented in both theoretical and experimental physics, which was extremely rare in his day. His unique talents led to numerous contributions in physics…
