The latest in the Oxford series called Portraits in Science is about the
genius Enrico Fermi. An authority in physics at the age of 17, he fled from
fascist Italy in 1938, the year he won a Nobel prize. In the US he directed the
first controlled nuclear chain reaction and took a leading part in the
development of the atomic bomb. Aimed at young people, the book has lots of
pictures and human detail, gets on with its tale, and manages to be a simple
course in nuclear physics along the way. Published by Oxford University Press,
$21, ISBN 019511762X.
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