Enrico Fermi was born in Rome on 29th September 1901.

From a very young age, he showed a marked propensity for algebra and physics. He then entered the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where he was able to deepen his knowledge of these disciplines and make a name for himself among the most illustrious professors of the time.

Having completed his studies abroad, he obtained his first chair in theoretical physics in Rome, at the institute in via Panisperna, where he began the most fruitful period of his scientific activity at the head of the group of young men named after the street of the same name.

He became a renowned teacher whose lectures and teachings were widely successful, even in America where he opened several other schools, increasing his notoriety through his innovative methods.

The years between 1927 and 1938 were marked by intense research activity by the entire Roman group on issues of international interest.

In 1938, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Even today, the influence of his work and his profound cross-disciplinary knowledge of the discipline are recognised worldwide.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, he emigrated to the United States with his entire family. There, in Chicago, at the age of 53, he died on 29th November 1954.

You can consult the birth certificate on the Ancestors Portal: Archivio di Stato di Roma > Stato civile italiano > Roma > 1901

The original is kept at the State Archives of Rome

For more on the figure of Enrico Fermi, see the entry in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani edited by Emilio Segrè.