Enrico Fermi — "The atomic age is a new age, and we must learn to live in it."
The atomic age is a new age, and we must learn to live in it.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Enrico Fermi
"The fundamental problem is to find out if we can make a chain reaction go. If we can, then we have a new source of power. If we can't, then we don't."
"The future of science depends on the education of young people."
"If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist."
"Before I came here I was not only a little confused about the subject, but also had some doubts about my confusion."
"I hope it won't take long."
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
Humanity has crossed a threshold into an era defined by nuclear power — a force capable of destruction and benefit at unprecedented scale. Conscious adaptation is required: not denial or panic, but deliberate effort to understand nuclear technology's implications and govern it responsibly. This shift is permanent and irreversible, demanding new thinking, new ethics, and new institutions to manage what science has unleashed into the world.
Relevance to Enrico Fermi
Fermi personally initiated the atomic age — on December 2, 1942, he achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction beneath the University of Chicago stands. He later worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Witnessing both the power he helped create and Hiroshima's aftermath, Fermi spent his final years advocating for responsible nuclear policy, serving on the Atomic Energy Commission's General Advisory Committee.
The era
Fermi's era saw nuclear technology transform from laboratory secret to global existential threat. The U.S. bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, ending World War II but inaugurating nuclear dread. The Soviet Union tested its first bomb in 1949. Cold War arms races, atmospheric testing, and fallout fears dominated public consciousness. Governments and scientists urgently debated arms control, civilian nuclear power, and whether humanity could manage this force without self-annihilation.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].