Fermi, EnricoPronunciation: /ˈfəːmi, ˈfɛːmi, ˈfermi/Definition of Fermi, Enrico (1901–54), Italian-born American atomic physicist, who directed the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942. Nobel Prize for Physics (1938). Fermi, Enrico in other Oxford dictionaries Definition of Fermi, Enrico in the US English dictionary