What medals have you won and why? (A: I won the Nobel prize in 1938 for discovering Neutron induced radioactivity. I won the Hughes medal in 1942 for my contributions in knowledge of the electrical structure of matter, my work in quantum theory, and my experimental wok in neutrons. I also won the Max Planck Medal for extraordinary achievements in theoretical physics in general. And, finally, I won the Rumford prize in 1953 for my studies in radiation theory and nuclear energy.) 

What has been named after you and why? (A: Fermions were named after me for my work in that specific group of subatomic particles. I've also had the element Fermium named after me. The element has no particular connection to me like many other elements named after people like Einsteinium. There is also a distance which is equivalent to 1 x 10-15m which is named after me. It is known as a Fermi and is named after me because this is the distance hydrogen atoms have to be from each other to allow nuclear fusion to occur. This is what you need to make a hydrogen bomb which I contributed to. I've also had many buildings, structures and an award named after me. These are: The Enrico Fermi award, the Enrico Fermi institute, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, and the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. These were named simply in honor of me like many other locations.) 

What major events have you contributed in. How? (A: I played a part in the creation of the first ever Atom Bomb which helped end the Second World War. I helped with the research also the next thing I'll mention helped out. This is the fact that I led the team that managed to control the first ever nuclear chain reaction. I took part in ground breaking research on Fermions and bosons with Wolfgang Pauli, and I also helped create the hydrogen bomb which I never thought would exist.) 

What was one of your hardest moments? (A: One of my hardest moments actually had nothing to do with my career. When I was 14 years old, my brother, Giulio died of throat abscess. I felt so much heartbreak. When my son was born, I named him Giulio in memory of my brother. Giulio was a successful child and made me and Laura proud.) 

Why didn't you go home? (A: I didn't return home for three reasons. The first one was because of anti-Jewish laws which were put in place because of the Nazi regime. Even though I wasn't Jewish, my wife was. So, I didn't want to go home for risk of being captured or uncovering the location of my family. Not to mention, the threat of war in Europe. So, after receiving my Nobel prize, I moved to America and eventually became a U.S citizen.) 

What caused you to want to become a physicist? (A: From a young age, I had always loved math and physics. It was more of a hobby and something I might want to do in the future. But only as a thought, not a solid feeling. But, when my brother died of throat abscess, I moved to physics to try and forget about what had happened. This act of trying to distract myself led me to becoming who I am. 

What were your views on the Atomic Bomb? (A: I quite liked the atomic bomb at first. It showed that there was a use for creating the first ever controlled nuclear reaction. And, let's not forget, it led to the end of the bloodiest war in human history. The short term effects were great as it shortened the war by many years, but the long term effects are not so good. The radiation has caused even more innocent people to die than the bomb itself. That's part of the reason why I opposed the hydrogen bomb. The possible repercussions of weapons like this are not worth the scientific advances.) 

Why were you against the H-bomb? (A: I felt that it would be waste of time trying to create this bomb and that it wasn't worth the effort. I also figured that such a bomb would be too hard to make with current technology and, immoral. We'd seen the destruction the atom bomb had caused. A hydrogen bomb could do 10 times that. I decided to work on the development of the H-bomb anyway just to try and prove that we couldn't in fact build a hydrogen bomb. But, of course, as we all know, we were able to build a hydrogen bomb. The first one was built in 1952.) 

What was your proudest moment? (A: I have two moments that I am extremely proud of. My first was when I won the Nobel prize in 1938 for physics. It showed me that my efforts were being noticed and that I was doing something for the world. I was changing it. I never thought that I would get recognition at a level like this. My other proud moment was when my team successfully created the first ever controlled nuclear reaction on an abandoned squash court in the university of Chicago. Once I announced we had reached critical mass, cheers filled the area. A chianti bottle was opened shared around in paper cups. [smile]) 

What was your most humiliating moment? (A: I don't remember when it happened, but I remember me and a small team were discussing what type of nuclear salt should be used in our water boiler. I instantly said that uranium nitride was the most soluble uranium salt and should be used. Then, a man named Gerhart Friedlander came up to me and said that I was wrong and that it was actually uranium sulfide. So, I decided to bet 25 cents saying that he was wrong. But then, well, he won the bet. He should be proud for his bravery, debating against a Nobel prize winning physicist and coming out on top. But, he was a chemist and I wasn't, so he had the upper hand.)