Sunday, August 26, 2007

Sympathy for the spouse

Haw.

To the Editor:

The reference to Enrico Fermi in your conversation with the physicist Gino Segre (“In the Footsteps of His Uncle, Then His Father,” Aug. 14) reminded me of an equally interesting conversation I had 35 years ago with Fermi’s widow, Laura. Knowing that the scientists were sworn to secrecy, I asked her what she thought was happening during those three years.

Her answer: “To tell you the truth, I was so happy not to hear anything about physics for three years that I never gave it a thought.”

Harold Ticktin
Shaker Heights, Ohio

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