Enrico Fermi: a forgotten article written for Italian teachers

TL;DR

This paper revisits Enrico Fermi's 1929 article aimed at educators, highlighting its historical significance, providing a transcription and English translation to enhance accessibility and appreciation of his role as a scientific communicator.

Contribution

It presents the first complete transcription and English translation of Fermi's forgotten 1929 article, emphasizing its educational and historical importance.

Findings

Fermi's article was a rare divulgative piece for educators.

The article has been republished and digitized, increasing its accessibility.

Fermi demonstrated exceptional skills as a scientific communicator.

Abstract

In 1929, Enrico Fermi wrote "Problemi attuali della fisica" ("Contemporary Problems of Physics"), a short article in Italian published in the magazine "Annali dell'istruzione media". The magazine was sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Schooling and Education, and it was addressed to teachers and principals of middle and high schools. This short text written by Fermi had been forgotten for a long time. However, in recent years it has been republished in Italy; moreover, the "Annali dell'istruzione media" have been digitized and made freely available online. It is unclear why Fermi wrote an article of a clearly divulgative nature for a non-technical journal, but is still interesting to to read his words and appreciate his skills as a great scientific communicator. In this work we include the transcription of the original article in Italian, and we also propose an English translation to make the text available world-wide and accessible to a broader public.