Members of the Fermilab Amateur Radio Club (WB9IKJ) will operate special event station W9F until December 16 (UTC) to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), named to honor Nobel Laureate Enrico Ferm (1901-1954). W9F will be active on or about 7.250, 7.275, 14.260, 14.340 MHz SSB and may operate CW on 7.040, 10.130, and 14.040 MHz. QSL to Fermi Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 500 MS #109, Batavia, IL 60510; e-mail to request a commemorative QSL card.

A professor of theoretical physics at the University of Rome, Fermi emigrated to the US to escape the Mussolini regime after he received the Nobel Prize in 1938. At that time, he was considered the world’s greatest expert on neutrons. Upon the discovery of fission, Fermi envisioned the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction, and his experiments led to the first controlled nuclear chain reaction on December 2, 1942, in Chicago. He subsequently played an important role in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb.

Visit the Fermilab 50th anniversary website for more information. — Thanks to Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922-1941, Elsevier Press, for some information, and to the Fermilab 50th Anniversary website