This led to the discovery of nuclear chain reactions and took physics into the unprecedented territories of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. (newscientist.com)
A student of Enrico Fermi, Fano played a central role in the early development of modern atomic physics, carrying out the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942. (discovermagazine.com)
Forty - five years after Humanae Vitae, it now seems clear that the invention of the oral contraceptive pill (to adopt one reference point for the broader contraceptive revolution) was one of the three achievements of 20th - century science with truly world - historical impact, the other two being the creation of the self - sustaining nuclear chain reaction and the unraveling of the DNA double helix. (firstthings.com)