The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age

The book is written by Fermi's son and portrays a warm insiders account of his father. Although Fermi was one of the worlds leading scientists and an extremely intelligent man in a very complicated field - the account of his like and work is gripping and not over technical.The book is packed with information and quite long so a slow but sure read is the best way to go.

This was a fascinating account of Fermi's life ! It revealed aspects of his life which I knew nothing about: his early work whilst in Italy, the fact that he and his group had, without realising it, induced artificial fission of Uranium, for which he was later awarded the Nobel prize. His enormous number of students, colleagues and friends whom he taught, mentored and helped during his extraordinary life. This he was able to do because he was very talented both as a theoretical and an experimental physicist. As the Americans would say " the go to guy* if you had a problem in Physics.

A really close look at Mr. Fermi one of the genii of the 20th century. It was wonderful to accompany him and feel his brilliance. The father of the atom bomb as well as Nobel prize winnner. Only difficulty, he did not spend as much time with his family as he could have.

Fabulous book. Well written with humour and full of information about Enrico Fermi's life and work. You don't have to be interested in science or engineering to enjoy this!

A great read about a man who knew physics like no other human of his time! He was the modern Newton who knew every dimension, extension and implication of physics! Indeed he was a great scientist and perhaps the most profound generalist of his generation! His knowledge of physics was deep and broad.....but it was all physics. A gentleman but not a Leonardo. If there were other dimensions to him it didn’t shine through! Non-the-less he was an intensely driven problem solver! Hunan and humane yes...but not a bongo drummer like Feynman or Philosopher like Oppenheimer! A great story about a great scientist!