Editing Franco Rasetti (section)

==Life and career==
Rasetti was born in [[Castiglione del Lago]], Italy. He earned a ''[[Laurea]]'' in physics at the [[University of Pisa]] in 1923, and Fermi invited him to join his research group at the [[Sapienza University of Rome|University of Rome]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/us/franco-dino-rasetti-100-a-nuclear-pioneer.html|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon|title=  Franco Dino Rasetti, 100, a Nuclear Pioneer|work=The New York Times|date= December 25, 2001}}</ref>

In 1928-1929 during a stay at the [[California Institute of Technology]] (Caltech), he carried out experiments on the [[Raman effect]]. He measured a spectrum of [[dinitrogen]] in 1929 which provided the first experimental evidence that the [[atomic nucleus]] is not composed of protons and electrons, as was incorrectly believed at the time.<ref name=Caltech>[http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/archive/00000070/01/OH_Rasetti.pdf Caltech oral history interview] by [[Judith R. Goodstein]], 4 February 1982</ref>

In 1930, he was appointed to the chair in [[spectroscopy]]  at the Physics Institute of the [[Sapienza University of Rome|University of Rome]], at that time still located in Via Panisperna. His colleagues included [[Oscar D'Agostino]], [[Emilio Segrè]], [[Edoardo Amaldi]], [[Ettore Majorana]] and Enrico Fermi, as well as the institute's director [[Orso Mario Corbino]]. Rasetti remained in this position until 1938.

Rasetti was one of Fermi's main collaborators in the study of [[neutron]]s and neutron-induced [[radioactivity]]. In 1934, he participated in the discovery of the artificial radioactivity of fluorine and aluminium which would be critical in the development of the [[atomic bomb]].

In 1939 the advance of fascism and the deteriorating Italian political situation led him to leave Italy, following the example of his colleagues Fermi, Segré and [[Bruno Pontecorvo]]. With Fermi he had discovered the key to [[nuclear fission]], but unlike many of his colleagues, he refused for moral reasons to work on the [[Manhattan project]].

From 1939 to 1947, he taught at [[Laval University]] in [[Quebec City]] (Canada), where he was founding chairman of the physics department.<ref name=Caltech/>

In 1947, he moved to the United States where he became a [[naturalized citizen]] in 1952. Until 1967, he held a chair in physics at [[Johns Hopkins University]] in [[Baltimore]].

From the 1950s onward, he gradually shifted his commitment to naturalistic studies, which had been his great interest outside of physics already as a child.<ref>Laura Fermi, ''Atoms in the Family''</ref> He devoted himself to geology, paleontology, entomology, and botany, becoming one of the most authoritative scholars of the Cambrian geological era.<ref name=Kerwin>{{cite journal|last=Kerwin|first=Larkin|author-link=Larkin Kerwin|title=Obituary: Franco Rasetti (1901–2001)|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|date=2002|volume=415|issue=6872|page=597|doi=10.1038/415597a|pmid=11832928 |s2cid=2625830 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

He died in [[Waremme]], Belgium at the age of 100.<ref>{{cite web|last = Ludvigsen|first = Rolf|author2 = Brian Chatterton|title = Franco Rasetti (1901 - 2001)|work = Trilobite Papers 14|publisher = Denman Institute Research on Trilobites|year = 2002|url = http://www.eagle.ca/~ontariofossils/TP14.htm|access-date = 2016-03-15|archive-date = 2016-03-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160318215000/http://www.eagle.ca/~ontariofossils/TP14.htm|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Kerwin|first=Larkin|author-link=Larkin Kerwin|title=Obituary: Franco Rasetti (1901–2001)|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|date=2002|volume=415|issue=6872|page=597|doi=10.1038/415597a|pmid=11832928 |s2cid=2625830 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The ''Nature'' obituary noted that Rasetti was one of the ''most prolific generalists'' whose ''work and writing are noted for the elegance, simplicity and beauty''.