125 years ago today
Enrico Fermi Is Born — The Architect of the Nuclear Age
On September 29, 1901, Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy. He would grow up to become one of the most consequential physicists of the twentieth century, equally brilliant as a theorist and an experimentalist — a combination so rare it earned him the nickname "the Pope of Physics." In 1938 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on neutron bombardment; on his way to the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm, he used the occasion to flee Fascist Italy with his Jewish wife. In 1942, leading a team beneath the stands of the University of Chicago football stadium, Fermi achieved the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction, inaugurating the atomic age. He went on to play a pivotal role in the Manhattan Project. The unit of length used in nuclear physics — the femtometre, or fermi — bears his name.
Miguel de Cervantes
Spanish Novelist, Author of Don Quixote
Cervantes wrote Don Quixote (1605–1615), universally regarded as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works of literature ever produced. A soldier who lost the use of his left hand at the Battle of Lepanto, he wrote his masterpiece in his sixties after years of poverty and captivity.
Enrico Fermi
Italian-American Physicist, Nobel Laureate
Fermi achieved the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942 beneath the University of Chicago football stadium, opening the atomic age. He won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics and contributed fundamentally to quantum theory, particle physics, and statistical mechanics.
Horatio Nelson
British Admiral, Hero of Trafalgar
Britain's greatest naval commander, Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 destroyed the combined Franco-Spanish fleet and ended Napoleon's threat of invasion. He was killed by a French sniper during the battle, becoming one of history's most celebrated military martyrs.
Lech Wałęsa
Polish Trade Union Leader & President
An electrician at the Gdańsk Shipyard, Wałęsa co-founded the Solidarity trade union in 1980, leading the first major non-communist labor movement in the Eastern Bloc. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and served as Poland's first freely elected president.
László Bíró
Hungarian Inventor of the Ballpoint Pen
Working as a newspaper editor frustrated by the smearing of fountain pen ink, Bíró invented the ballpoint pen in 1938. His design — using quick-drying printer's ink and a tiny rotating ball — became one of the most ubiquitous inventions in human history.
Pompey Celebrates His Third Triumph in Rome
Gnaeus Pompey Magnus celebrates his third and greatest triumph in Rome, parading captives and plunder from his campaigns in the East. It was the most spectacular triumph Rome had yet seen, cementing his status as the foremost general of the Republic.
Danes Capture Canterbury
Danish raiders sack Canterbury, capturing Archbishop Alphege, who would later be martyred for refusing to allow his ransom to be paid from the impoverished English peasantry — an act of personal sacrifice later venerated by the Church.
U.S. Department of War Establishes Regular Army
Congress authorizes the first regular standing army of the United States, establishing the institutional foundation of what will become the world's most powerful military force.
Metropolitan Police of London Founded
Home Secretary Robert Peel establishes the Metropolitan Police Service in London, creating the world's first modern professional police force. Officers quickly earned the nickname 'Bobbies' after their founder.
Babi Yar Massacre Begins
German SS Einsatzgruppen troops and Ukrainian auxiliaries begin the massacre of the Jewish population of Kyiv at Babi Yar ravine, killing 33,771 people in 36 hours — one of the largest single mass executions of the Holocaust.
CERN Convention Signed — Atom Smashers for Peace
Twelve European nations sign the convention establishing CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva. CERN would go on to build the world's largest particle accelerators and discover the Higgs boson in 2012.
Space Shuttle Returns to Flight After Challenger
NASA's STS-26 mission launches, returning the Space Shuttle to flight 32 months after the Challenger disaster. The Discovery crew performs a flawless mission, restoring public confidence in the American space program.
SpaceShipOne Completes First Qualifying X Prize Flight
Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, piloted by Mike Melvill, completes the first of two qualifying flights for the $10 million Ansari X Prize, reaching an altitude above 100 km. The second flight on October 4 would clinch the prize, marking the dawn of the commercial spaceflight era.
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Start a conversation →Émile Zola
French Novelist & Activist
The founder of literary naturalism, Zola wrote the Rougon-Macquart cycle of twenty novels depicting French society in unflinching detail. His open letter 'J'Accuse!' (1898) defending Alfred Dreyfus is one of the most famous acts of literary political courage in history.
Rudolf Diesel
German Inventor of the Diesel Engine
Diesel disappeared from the steamship Dresden crossing the English Channel on September 29, 1913; his body was found in the sea ten days later. The circumstances of his death — financial ruin, possible foul play — remain mysterious. His compression-ignition engine powers the world's freight.
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