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oct10-in-memoria-weil.pdf

When it became necessary for me to earn some money, to support my education at the University of Chicago in the late 1940s, fate led me to the doors of an elderly lab space in the West Stands (former football stadium), where a part-time job in a metallurgical project was offered to me, a mere beginner in the Physical Sciences.  Little did I know what was impacting on me.

Starting at more-or-less the janitorial level, I soon had a research project of my own, and began meeting the most amazing people, many of them holders of Nobel prizes.  One of these was Enrico Fermi, with whom special ties evolved.  This in part was due to the fact that he and his family lived in a home (5337 S. Woodlawn Ave.) close to the household (4752 S. Ellis Ave.) which I had joined as a result of my early marriage.  Not least, Mrs. Fermi (Laura) was friend and visitor of my newly acquired mother-in-law.

Both Fermi and I owned somewhat dilapidated bicycles, and at times used these to travel the ca. 10 blocks to and from work (The Research Institutes on Campus).  It was an unspoken agreement that we would race when we met.  The problem was that I could never beat him, despite the 28-year age difference.  I finally figured out the reasons.  For him the cars on 55th Street were Fermions, appearing at most one or two at a time.  For me on the other hand, they acted as Bosons!

Once, when I was working to construct an electronic wavefunction for an f-electron atom, using the Fermi-Thomas model (and my super-duper clanking Marchant calculator, which could do square roots of numbers), I was stuck and asked him for guidance.  He castigated me:  “There is no such thing, but I would help you utilize the Statistical model for such an atom”.

Fermi’s lectures were fabulous, but the kinetic aftermath was startling.  It took a few hours to move from a state of complete understanding to the realization that one had been hypnotized, and in fact the insights delivered were fading fast.

To offset the words, the hands-on encounter with Fermi too was startling.  One day, I was working away at a lathe in the student/faculty workshop, constructing a plastic light cone, designed to lead light from a mercury arc source into a magnetic resonance cavity.  I felt a presence behind me, which eventually said: ”John, I think the angle of your tool bit is not quite correct.  Allow me”.  About half-an hour later, I was allowed to access the device, only to find that it had been finished to perfection.  I still own this collaborative piece, somewhat the worse for wear now.

Another Fermiesque episode resulted early on (1954?) from my need to take on a night-time job to support my burgeoning family.  This meant 21h00 to 04h00 at Cuneo Press, at 22nd & Canal, a distinctly shadowy neighborhood.  I soon learned that on Friday (Pay) nights, the probability of having a gun thrust in my ribs was distinctly non-zero. 

I posed the problem to Enrico as to how much cash I should have on me.  Clearly a well-defined maximum existed.  The problem was posed to assorted Physics Faculty at the UofCh Quadrangle Club (Faculty Lunch).  I know that Chandrasekhar was involved (he told me so), and it seems that Hans Bethe was visiting and hence consulted.  At any rate, Enrico told me that the correct answer for me is US$12.31.

And finally, in the last month of my PhD period, before leaving for Princeton, it was my lasting and deeply impressive moment in late 1954 to attend the Memorial service for Fermi, held in the Chicago Rockefeller Chapel.

18 Sept. 2010
John A. Weil