Ettore Majorana (Catania, Sicily, 1906 - Tirrenian Sea (supposedly), 1938) was a great Italian physicist, abruptly disappeared at the age of 32.
Majorana was mathematically extremely gifted, and was very young when he joined Enrico Fermi's team in Rome (becoming one of the famous so-called "via Panisperna's boys" - that were taking this name by the street address of their laboratory) and specialized in atomic spectroscopy. He worked on a theory about the energies that can give steadiness to the atom, which later would have been known as Heisenberg's theory.
Majorana disappeared in so far unknown circumstances during a boat trip from Naples to Palermo. Despite several investigations, the truth about his fate is still uncertain and his body not been found. Hypotheses include that he could have committed suicide (as he left two letters which contained a sort of farewell) or that he could have been kidnapped by foreign powers or that he could have voluntarily disappeared, changed his identity and possibly emigrated. Some support this latter hypothesis, arguing that after having envisioned the destructive power of atomic energy he did not want to contribute to its deployment in a fascist state. There have been sporadic rumors that he would have been sighted in South America in the 1950's. Also in Italy a story appeared in the news when a man living on the street claimed that he once was a famous physicist.
The Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia has summarized some of the results of these investigations and these hypotheses in his passionate book "Il caso Majorana (1972)".
Quotes
- Enrico Fermi:
- There are many categories of scientists, people of second and third rank, who do their best, but do not go very far. There are also people of first class, who make great discoveries, fundamental for the development of science. But then there are the geniuses, like Galilei and Newton. Well, Ettore Majorana was one of them...
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