Page 13 - merged

Gerald Holton
/s Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard Un iversity. Among his books
(severa/ of which have been issued in Italian trans/ations), are Thematic
Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein; Science and Anti-Science;
The Advancement of Science and its Burdens; Einstein, History and Other
Passions; and Project Physics. As pari of his historical research on the work
of Enrico Fermi, he co-produced a biographical film, "The Wor/d of Enrico
Fermi." He is on the Editoria! Commitiee of the Collecfed Papers of A/beri
Eisntein and of /earned journa!s, inc/uding Physis and Nuncius. Among the
honors he has received are the George Setion Meda/, the R. A. Millikan and
H. C. Oersted Meda/s, and e/ection to such offices as President of the History
of Science Society, Vice President of the Academie /nternationale d'Histoire
des Sciences, and to other Academies in Europe and the United States.

Abstract: The Birth of the Fermi Group
THE RISE OF THE FERMI GROUP. The presentation plans to concentrate
on the formation of the group and its early years (to 1934 inclusive), with
special attention to Enrico Fermi's ability to combine his mastery of theoretical
and experimental physics serendipitously with the historic situation in which
he found himself with regard to the state of science and culture at the time.