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ITALY BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS
E. Amaldi
To cite this version:
E. Amaldi. ITALY BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS. Journal de Physique Colloques, 1982,
43 (C8), pp.C8-329-C8-330. �10.1051/jphyscol:1982819�. �jpa-00222379�
JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE
CoZZoque C8, supple'ment au no 12, Tome 4 3 , de'cembre 1982 page C8-329
I T A L Y BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS
E . Amaldi
I s t i t u t o d i Fisica "GugZieZmo Marconi", Piazzale AZdo Moro, 2, 00185 Roma, ltaZy
A f t e r t h e f i r s t World l i a r a sudden r e v i v a l o f research a c t i v i t i e s i n Physics took place i n I t a l y i n two places : t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Rome and t h a t o f Florence.
I n Rome e v e r y t h i n g s t a r t e d w i t h t h e c r e a t i o n o f a c h a i r o f t h e o r e t i c a l physics and t h e anpointment ( i n 1926) t o t h i s c h a i r o f t h e 25 years o l d Enrico Fermi.
These formal b u t e s s e n t i a l steps were the r e s u l t s o f a few years work of Senator Orso Mario Corbino, d i r e c t o r o f the I s t i t u t o d i F i s i c a d i Via Panisperna, whose ef- f o r t s were supported by a group o f w e l l known mathematicians a l s o members of t h e F a c u l t y o f Science : Guido Castelnuovo, Federigo Enriquez and T u l l i o L e v i - C i v i t a . About two years 1 a t e r Corbino and Fermi j o i n e d t h e i r -forces and succeeded i n c r e a t i n g a c h a i r o f spectroscopy f o r R a s e t t i .
I n a few years a group o f e x p e r i m e n t a l i s t s and one o f t h e o r e t i c i a n s was r a p i - d l y formed. The f i r s t one i n c l u d e d E. Segre, E. Amaldi, B. Pontecorvo and E. Fubini
,
who l a t e r went t o USA and became a w e l l known e x p e r t i n e l e c t r o n i c s and a recognized research planner. I n 1934 the group o f e x p e r i m e n t a l i s t s was enlarged by the a d d i t i o q o f a chemist, Oscar D ' Agostino.
The group o f t h e o r e t i c i a n s was composed o f E. Majorana, G.C. Wick, G. Racah, G. G e n t i l e and U. Fano.
R a s e t t i was a f i r s t c l a s s e x p e r i m e n t a l i s t and taught us a few techniques.
Fermi i n s p i r e d a l l the researches o f t h e o r e t i c a l as w e l l as o f experimental nature, by h i s teaching and example, more than by suggesting themes o f research.
Around him the atmosphere was always t h a t o f a group o f people i n v o l v e d i n a d i f f i c u l t b u t very agreeable game, which r e q u i r e d a g r e a t a t t e n t i o n and considerable a b i l i t y b u t p a i d i n i n t e l l e c t u a l pleasure a n d k n t h e nature o f t h e human r e l a t i o n s which were those t y p i c a l o f a w e l l h a n n ~ n i z e d s ~ o r t team.
The r o l e o f Corbino was o f t h e g r e a t e s t importance. He was a selfmade man from Augusta ( i n province o f Syracuse, S i c i l y ) who had s t u d i e d a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Catania and Palermo, w i t h the moral support o f h i s mother and t h e h e l p o f h i s s e n i o r b r o t h e r , Leone,a noncommissioned o f f i c e r o f t h e c a r a b i n i e r i . Both o f them were c o n f i d e n t i n the b r i l l i a n t i n t e l l i g e n c e o f the young Orso Plario. Corbinowas nominated Senator of t h e I t a l i a n Kingdom i n 1920 on proposal o f G i o l i t t i and i n 1921 became M i n i s t e r o f P u b l i c Education i n Bonomi's (1 i b e r a l ) cabinet. I n 1923-24 he was f o r a few months M i n i s t e r of Economics and I n d u s t r y o f t h e f i r s t Muss01 i n i cabinet, composed o f t e n non f a s c i t s (Corbino was one o f them) and f o u r fascist-Members.
During a l l those years Corbino p r o t e c t e d w i t h g r e a t a b i l i t y Fermi and a l l o f us from any p o l i t i c a l pressure and generously took on h i m s e l f t h e burden o f t h e a m i n i s t r a t i o n o f the I n s t i t u t e .
A r o l e s i m i l a r t o t h a t played by Corbino i n Rome and i n general on the whole country, was played i n Florence by Antonio Garbasso, who a l s o favoured t h e formation a t t h e I n s t i t u t e o f Physics o f the U n i v e r s i t y , l o c a t e d on t h e A r c e t r i h i l l , o f a
Article published online by EDP Sciences and available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/jphyscol:1982819
C8-330 JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE
group of young p h y s i c i t s . He was helped i n t h i s task by E n r i c o Persico, a schoolmate of E n r i c o Fermi, who had been a s s i s t a n t o f Corbino, and, i n 1926, was nominated professor of t h e o r e t i c a l physics a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Florence. I n Florence t h e new experimental research a c t i v i t y s t a r t e d around 1929. The main f i g u r e s were Bruno Rossi, G i l b e r t o B e r n a r d i n i , Giuseppe O c c h i a l i n i , Daria B o c c i a r e l l i and Sergio De Benedetti.
From t h e beginning t h e i r research f i e l d was comic rays, w h i l e i n Rome t h e work was m a i n l y i n atomic and molecular spectroscopy u n t i l t h e beginning of 1934,
when t h e main research subjects became a r t i f i c i a l r a d i o a c t i v i t y induced by neutrons, and the neutron p r o p e r t i e s . Only i n 1938, under the i n f l u e n c e o f G. B e r n a r d i n i , a p a r t o f t h e Rome a c t i v i t y s t a r t e d t o be devoted t o cosmic rays.
The r e l a t i o n s h i p among t h e two groups, o n e i n Rome t h e o t h e r i n Florence, were always e x c e l l e n t and v i v i f i e d by frequent r e c i p r o c a l v i s i t s f o r seminars and discus- s i ons.
The p e r s o n a l i t y o f Fermi a t t r a c t e d t o Rome a number o f f o r e i g n s c i e n t i s t s t h a t , d u r i n g t h e 3 0 ' s spent a t t h e I s t i t u t o d i V i a Panisperna periods v a r y i n g from 4 t o 8 months o r even more. I may r e c a l l : S. Goudsmit, G.E Uhlenbeck, H. Bethe, F. Bloch, C. M f i l l e r , G. Placzeck, E. T e l l e r , F. London, R. P e i e r l s , H. Bhabha, E. Feenberg and 2 . Serpe.
Fermi k e p t always t i g h t connection w i t h Paul Ehrenfest i n Leiden, R a s e t t i went t o work i n b l i l l i k a n l a b o r a t o r y i n Pasadena and L i s e Eleitner Laboratory i n B e r l i n . Segre worked i n P. Zeeman Laboratory i n Amsterdam and i n 0. Stern Laboratory i n Hamburg. I spent a year i n L e i p z i g working under P. Debye, Pontecorvo l e f t Rome i n s p r i n g 1936 f o r t h e Curie Laboratory i n P a r i s , then under the leadership of F r e d e r i c J o l i o t . Majorana was i n L e i p z i g w i t h Heisenberg, Wick i n Gottingen w i t h Max Born and i n L e i p z i g w i t h Heisenberg and G e n t i l e i n B e r l i n w i t h Schrodinger and i n L e i p z i g w i t h Heisenberg.
The i n t e r n a t i o n a l connections o f the " f l o r e n t i n e " group were t h e f o l l o w i n g : Rossi w i t h Bothe i n Berlin-Charlottenburg, B e r n a r d i n i w i t h L. M e i t n e r i n B e r l i n - Dahlem and O c c h i a l i n i w i t h B l a c k e t t i n Cambridge.
