Ettore Majorana (Catania, Sicily, 1906 – Tyrrhenian Sea, 27 March 1938 (presumed)) was an Italian physicist who began promising work on neutrino masses. He abruptly disappeared at the age of 31. Location within Italy Catania is the second largest city of Sicily and is the capital of the province which bears its name. ... Sicilian redirects here. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Tyrrhenian Sea. ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (87th in leap years). ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. ... The neutrino is an elementary particle. ...

Life and Work

Majorana was mathematically extremely gifted, and was very young when he joined Enrico Fermi's team in Rome as one of the "Via Panisperna boys", who took their name from the street address of their laboratory. His first papers dealt with problems in atomic spectroscopy. An important paper (1932) in the field of atomic spectroscopy concerned the behaviour of aligned atoms in variable magnetic fields. Subsequently, he studied with Heisenberg in Leipzig and worked on a theory of the nucleus (published in 1933) which, in its treatment of exchange forces, represented a further development of Heisenberg's theory of the nucleus. Enrico Fermi in the 1940s Enrico Fermi (September 29, 1901–November 28, 1954) was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on beta decay, the development of the first nuclear reactor, and for the development of quantum theory. ... University of Rome La Sapienza (Università della Sapienza) is the most ancient university of Rome, Italy. ... The Via Panisperna boys were the young scientists led by Enrico Fermi who, in 1934 in Rome, made the famous discovery of slow neutrons that opened the way to the realization of the nuclear reactor and the atomic bomb. ... Atomic spectroscopy is the determination of elemental composition by its electromagnetic or mass spectrum. ... Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976) was a celebrated German physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. ...

Majorana did prescient theoretical work on neutrino masses, a currently active subject of research. He also worked on an idea that mass may exert a small shielding effect on gravitational waves, which did not gain much traction. The neutrino is an elementary particle. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

His uncle Quirino Majorana was also a physicist.

Disappearance

Majorana disappeared in unknown circumstances during a boat trip from Palermo to Naples. Despite several investigations, the truth about his fate is still uncertain. His body has not been found. Nickname: Palermu Motto: Official website: http://www. ... Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Nàpule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region and the Province of Naples. ...

Hypotheses include that

• He could have committed suicide. (He left two letters which contained a sort of farewell.)
• He could have been kidnapped by foreign powers.
• He could have voluntarily disappeared, changed his identity and possibly left Italy.

Some argue for this latter hypothesis, conjecturing that after having envisioned the destructive power of atomic energy, Majorana 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. Italian fascism (IPA; in Italian, fascismo) was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ...

The Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia has summarized some of the results of these investigations and these hypotheses in his passionate book "La Scomparsa di Majorana (Einaudi, 1975)" (English translation: "The Moro Affair and The Mystery of Majorana," Carcanet (1987), ISBN 0-85635-700-6). The various hypotheses on Majorana's disappearance have been extensively discussed by Erasmo Recami in his book "Il caso Majorana" (Mondadori, 1991) and in a journal article (E. Recami, I nuovi documenti sulla scomparsa del fisico Ettore Majorana, Scientia, vol. 110, pp.577-588 (1975)). In his book, Recami offers his own evidence and hypothesis on Majorana's disapparance. For a summary of Majorana's scientific output, see the following article (in Italian): E. Amaldi, L'opera scientifica di Ettore Majorana, Physis, vol. X, pp.173-187 (1968). To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Quotes

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 ... — Enrico Fermi

A genius is a person with distinguished mental abilities. ... Enrico Fermi in the 1940s Enrico Fermi (September 29, 1901–November 28, 1954) was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on beta decay, the development of the first nuclear reactor, and for the development of quantum theory. ...

See also

• Majorana equation
• Majorana neutrino

The Majorana equation is a relativistic wave equation similar to the Dirac equation but includes the charge conjugate ψc of spinor ψ. It is named after the Italian Ettore Majorana, and in natural units it is written in Feynman notation, where the charge conjugate is defined as Equation (1) can alternatively...

External links:

• Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture