The Via Panisperna boys were the young scientists led by Enrico Fermi who, in 1934 in Rome, made the famous discovery of slow neutrons that opened the way to the realization of the nuclear reactor and the atomic bomb. They are named after the street in Rome where their university laboratory was located. Enrico Fermi (September 29, 1901 – November 28, 1954) was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on beta decay, the development of the first nuclear reactor, and for the development of quantum theory. ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Location within Italy The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin: Roma) is the capital city of Italy and of its Latium region. ... Nuclear power station at Leibstadt, Switzerland. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ...

In addition to Enrico Fermi, the other boys were: Edoardo Amaldi, Oscar D'Agostino, Ettore Majorana, Bruno Pontecorvo, Franco Rasetti and Emilio Segrè. All but D'Agostino, the chemist of the group, were physicians. Ettore Majorana (Catania, Sicily, 1906 - Tirrenian Sea (supposedly), 1938) was a great Italian physicist, abruptly disappeared at the age of 32. ... Bruno Pontecorvo Bruno Pontecorvo (Pisa, Italy 1913 - Dubna, Russia 1993) was an italian atomic physicist, early assistant of Enrico Fermi then author of numerous studies on high energy particles, especially on neutrinos. ... Franco Dino Rasetti (August 10, 1901 – December 5, 2001) was an Italian scientist. ... Emilio Gino Segrè (February 1, 1905 - April 22, 1989) was an Italian American physicist who, with Owen Chamberlain, won the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the antiproton. ...

In the years following their famous experiment, after the dramatic events of those times (racial discrimination against the Jews during the late years of Fascism in Italy, then the Second World War), the group was dispersed and the majority of the boys emigrated from Italy. Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, refers to the right-wing authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...