Unearthing Fermi's Geophysics

Follow Nobel laureate and legendary teacher Enrico Fermis lost course on geophysics. Nobel Prizewinning physicist Enrico Fermi (190154) is known for his work on experimental particle and nuclear physics, quantum theory, and statistical mechanics, and for his particular ability to condense complicated problems into approximations for understanding and testing theory in a variety of scientific disciplines. Six of his graduate students went on to win their own Nobel Prizes. Unearthing Fermis Geophysics opens a window onto two underrepresented facets of this extraordinary thinker: Fermis teaching and his contribution to the field of geophysics. Drawing on Fermis handwritten calculations and notes, many of which are reproduced here in photographic facsimile, physicists Gino Segr and John Stack have reconstructed a coursebook of Fermis insights into the physics of a range of geological and atmospheric phenomena. From gravity on Earth to thermodynamics in the atmosphere, the physics of raindrops, the Coriolis effect in hurricanes, tidal physics, earthquakes and seismic waves, Earths magnetism, atmospheric electricity, and much more, Unearthing Fermis Geophysics reveals the hidden workings of the world above, around, and below usand of the mind of a great scientist who was able to bring those physical workings to light.