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Giorgio Salvini
Fisico. Nato a Milano il 24 Aprile 1920. Professore di Fisica nelle Università di
Pisa (1952-55) e Roma (dal 1955; Professore emerito dal 1995). Nel 1952-60
diresse i lavori per la costruzione dell'Eleftrosincrotrone Italiano da 1100
Me V, che entrò in funzione nel 1958 a Frascati, e fu per alcuni anni il più
potente sincrotrone del mondo per elettroni.
Ha compiuto ricerche sugli sciami estesi dei raggi cosmici, e sulla
fotoproduzione dei mesoni, con particolare riguardo ai mesoni Eta. In una
collaborazione internazionale al CERN (Centro Europeo di Ricerche Nucleari)
ha stabilito l'esistenza dei bosoni intermedi di grande massa We Z (1978-
1983). Si è così confermata definitivamente la validità della teoria
eleftrodebole. Aftualmente impegnato in ricerche col nuovo Acceleratore LHC
per Protoni del CERN. Già Ministro dell'Università e della Ricerca Scientifica
nel 1994-96. E' Socio e Presidente Onorario dell'Accademia Nazionale dei
Lincei.

Abstract: Enrico Fermi: a Guide in a restless Century
Our twentieth century has just ended. It contained so many hopes and human
contradictions. Let's try to outline it with regard of physics.
Right at the beginning, between 1900 and 1902, six great physicists were
born, and led us toward a new vision and understanding of matter , light ,
stars and particles in our universe. The great revolution of which they were
protagonists occurred between 1922 and 1935. The basis of their
theoretical discoveries were special relativity (1905 ), the atom's structure
(1911 ), the Bohr model (1913), the universal role of h, the Planck's
constant in thermodynamics and electromagnetism. Among the new
conquers, we recall the exclusion principle and the uncertainty relations . It
is sad to recall that, in this splendid phase of human history, violent
barbarian wars took piace, in 1914 -18 and 1939 - 45 .
We recall the youth of Fermi, his coherence and character. He gained

immortal fame with the Fermi - Dirac statistics; with the behaviour of
neutrons in matter; with the discovery of a new type of field and forces, the
weak interactions.
In the United States, 1938 - 1954, he realised the first Atomic Pile (1942)
and contributed to the study of nuclear energy for civil and military use. In
1946 he tried unsuccessfully to stop the preparation of the hydrogen bomb.
In his last years of life, Enrico Fermi studied the different nature of muons
and pions , and the best ways to study elementary particles.
He has been a great experimentalist, and a great theoretician. This allows
us to understand ,from his successes and his surprises in front of
unexpected phenomena in nature, that we are very far from having fully
understood our Universe and its generai laws . Therefore we shall
continue and boldly prepare the instruments which are necessary to
progress and to satisfy our curiosity.