Laura Fermi

Laura Capón Fermi (1907–1977) was an Italian-born Jewish writer and political activist, and the wife of Nobel Prize physicist Enrico Fermi.

Laura Capón was born in Rome, Italy, in 1907. Capón met Enrico Fermi while she was a chemistry student at the University of Rome. The couple married in 1928.

They had two children: a daughter, Nella, in 1931 and a son, Giulio (named after Enrico's older brother, who had died in 1915), in 1936.

In 1938, the Fermis immigrated to the United States to escape the politics of the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini. They traveled to Stockholm to receive Fermi's Nobel prize, and left from Stockholm for the United States, without ever returning to Italy. They were nationalized as Americans in 1944.

After Enrico died of cancer in 1954, Laura became a writer and a peace activist. She published a book about her life with Enrico, "Atoms in the Family", the same year he died. She herself died in 1977.

Works authored

*"Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi" (University of Chicago Press, 1954) ISBN 0-88318-524-5
*"Atoms for the World: United States participation in the Conference on the Peaceful uses of Atomic Energy"(University of Chicago Press, 1957) ISBN 0-88318-524-5
*"Mussolini" (University of Chicago Press, 1961)
*"The Story of Atomic Energy" (Random House, 1961)
*"Galileo and the Scientific Revolution" (with Gilberto Bernardini) (Basic Books, 1961) ISBN 0-486-43226-2
*"Illustrious Immigrants: The Intellectual Migration from Europe 1930-41" (University of Chicago Press, 1968) ISBN 0-226-24378-8

References

*Joseph D. Zund. "Fermi, Enrico"; http://www.anb.org.ezp1.harvard.edu/articles/13/13-00525.html; "American National Biography Online" Feb. 2000, Access Date: Mon Oct 10 2005
*Time 100: Enrico Fermi http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/fermi.html