From: Eric Walker
Funny Rossi mentions Fermi in 1939 instead of 1934. LOL - what a putz Andrea can be on occasion. He is an inventor – not a scientist and certainly not a historian. It was in 1939 that Fermi collaborated with Leo Szilard to create the first nuclear reactor shortly after the discovery of fission. Not really - fission had already been discovered in Rome by most accounts (but not acted on either intentionally, or by plan). That delay of five years was indeed the essence of the “miracle.” IOW the whole point of the observation of a “Five Year Miracle” is that the extreme politics of Italy effectively denied this technical advance to the Fascists, since otherwise Italy would have developed the bomb … had Fermi and others not been forced to leave by racists. Fermi essentially discovered fission in 1934, and a bomb/reactor could have (should have) followed … but for what writer W.L. Laurence has called the "Great Five Year Miracle that Saved the World"… Jones Chronology 1934-1935 Enrico Fermi and his colleagues in Rome undertake a systematic study of neutron induced nuclear reactions of every element. One purpose is to produce new nuclides. In May 1934, they bombard uranium for the first time. On October 22, 1934 they discover that paraffin wax slows the neutrons and greatly increases the activity. During this time, Fermi and his team become the first humans to cause nuclear fission, but they do not recognize it. Part of their standard experimental procedure includes covering their uranium samples with a thin sheet of aluminum foil to filter out unwanted alpha particles. Unbeknownst to them, the aluminum also stops the fission products from reaching their detectors. It would not be until the beginning of 1939 that nuclear fission would finally be recognized.
