The Disappearance of Ettore Majorana

What happened to the eminent Italian physicist?

Ettore Majorana was widely regarded in the 1930s as one of the most talented physicists in the world. His mentor, Enrico Fermi, regularly praised him: “There are several categories of scientist in the world; those of second or third rank do their best but never get very far. Then there is the first rank, those who make important discoveries, fundamental to scientific progress. But then there are the geniuses, like Galilei and Newton. Majorana is one of these.”

Born in Sicily in 1906, young Ettore was soon recognized as a prodigy, able to multiply large numbers or produce square or cube roots in his head. He was also painfully shy, preferring to shout out the answers from underneath a table.

He studied engineering under the direction of Fermi at the Institute of Physics, writing papers on a variety of topics. In 1932 Majorana suggested the existence of neutrons, but he did not publish his work, with the result that the credit — and the Nobel Prize — went to James Chadwick. Majorana also made key findings in the field of atomic spectroscopy, which is the study of the electromagnetic radiation absorbed and emitted by atoms.

After teaching in Germany, Majorana became a Professor at the University of Naples. However, his colleagues…