His theory, later referred to as Fermi's interaction and still later as the theory of the weak interaction, described one of the four forces of nature.

The study of the strong and weak nuclear forces (the latter explained by Enrico Fermi via Fermi's interaction in 1934) led physicists to collide nuclei and electrons at ever higher energies.

In particle physics, Fermi's interaction (also the Fermi Theory of Beta Decay) is an explanation of the beta decay, proposed by Enrico Fermi in 1933.