One can never get enough snapshots of Enrico Fermi, the 1942 “developer” of the first reactor and, some would say, the last great combined theoretical and experimental physicist. Listen to Stuart McLain, Oak Ridge physicist, from his charming autobiography Me!: Or Don’t Do It My Way (provided with great generosity by his son, Douglas McLain):
Dr. Fermi attended one meeting that I also attended. Then he mainly wanted to discuss the Experimental Fast Reactor. So I met and talked to him only once. He was a large, quite heavy-set man nearly six feet tall, with a light complexion. He had a very pleasant almost continuous smile all the time I talked with him. He acted as a successful Farmer would at a pleasant meeting with friends on a Saturday afternoon. He spoke with a low unanimated, calm, and thoughtful voice, as if the World was a good place to be. My impression of Dr. Fermi was that at a glance he evaluated where things stood. He is one of the World’s most famous men and one of the greatest.
McLain, Stuart. 1982. Me! or Don’t Do It My Way. Unpublished.
