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Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)
Physicist who discovered that the bombardment of the atomic
nuclei by slow-moving neutrons could cause one element to change into another. Fermi
received the Nobel Prize in 1938 for his work on radioactive elements heavier than
uranium. The first controlled nuclear chain reaction was achieved by Fermi in 1942. The
element fermium (atomic number 100) was named for him.
Fermi was born in Rome, Italy. He taught physics at the
universities in of Florence and Rome. While in Sweden to receive the Nobel Prize, Fermi
decided not to return to Fascist Italy. Came to the U.S. in 1939, became a citizen in
1945. He was a professor of physics at Columbia University and the University of Chicago.
Felix
Frankfurter (1882-1965)
Lawyer, presidential advisor, and jurist. Born in Vienna,
Austria; brought to U.S. as a child. He was professor of administrative law at Harvard Law
School from 1914 to 1939. As an advisor of President Roosevelt, Frankfurter helped draft
New Deal legislation. Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1939, retired in 1962. He
became greatly respected by lawyers and judges for his wide knowledge of the law.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Felix
Frankfurter used to amaze reporters and onlookers by expounding his opinions from
memory, including the citing of volume and page numbers of pertinent cases bearing on the
one at hand.
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