Oscar D'Agostino (29 August 1901 – 16 March 1975) was an Italian
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
and one of the so-called ''
Via Panisperna boys'', the group of young scientists led by
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project ...
: all of them were
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
s, except for D'Agostino, who was a
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
.
In 1934 he contributed to Fermi's experiment (that gave Fermi the possibility to win the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
in 1938) to showing the properties of
slow neutrons.
That led the way to the discovery of
nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radioactiv ...
, and later on to the construction of the first
atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...
.
Bibliography
* O. D'Agostino: ''Il chimico dei fantasmi''. Mephite, 2002
See also
*
Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...
*
Nuclear chain reaction
*
Slow neutron
*
Via Panisperna boys
*
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project ...
External links
Enrico Fermi and the Via Panisperna Boysfrom the Museum of Physics of
"La Sapienza" University in Rome
Il chimico dei fantasmi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagostino, Oscar
1901 births
1975 deaths
People from the Province of Avellino
Italian chemists
National Research Council (Italy) people