Fer ‧ mi, En ‧ ri ‧ co /ˈfɜːmi $ ˈfɜːr-, enˈriːkəʊ/ BrE AmE
(1901–54) a US scientist, born in Italy, who won a Nobel prize for his work on ↑ radioactivity and produced the first controlled NUCLEAR REACTION (=a process in which the parts in the centre of an atom are rearranged to form new substances) .