Laura Fermi

Laura Fermi (b 1907) was the wife of American physicist Enrico Fermi.

Born Laura Capon in Rome, Italy, in 1907, she married Enrico Fermi in 1928. They had two children: a daughter, Nella, in 1931 and a son, Giulio (named after Enrico's older brother, who had died tragically in 1915), in 1936.

In 1938, the Fermis immigrated to the United States to escape the anti-Semitic politics of the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini Laura was Jewish, though Enrico was not.

Laura settled in Chicago along with her husband while he worked on the American atomic bomb project at the University of Chicago during World War II. When the Race's invasion forced everyone connected with the project to evacuate, Laura relocated to Denver along with her husband and his team. She was present when they successfully developed an atomic pile and an atomic bomb.