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The Disappearance and Death of Ettore Majorana

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Abstract

At the end of March 1938, Ettore Majorana disappeared under still mysterious circumstances while he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Naples. We exploit new archival documents that provide evidence that without any doubt he was deceased before September 1939. These include documents pertaining to the foundation of a Fellowship in his name, announced on November 3, 1939, in the journal, The Missions of the Society of Jesus, and documents pertaining to the Police and Vatican inquires after his disappearance. We conclude by discussing the biographical sketch of Majorana that his uncle Giuseppe Majorana wrote before his death in 1940.

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Notes

  1. Quirino Majorana also would receive the prestigious Mussolini Prize of the Academy of Italy in 1940.

References

  1. Francesco Guerra and Nadia Robotti, “Ettore Majorana’s Forgotten Publication on the Thomas-Fermi Model,” Physics in Perspective 10 (2008), 56–76, on 67–69; idem, Ettore Majorana: Aspects of his Scientific and Academic Activity (Pisa: Edizioni della Scuola Normale Superiore, 2008), pp. 48–53.

  2. Quoted in Guerra and Robotti, Ettore Majorana (ref. 1), p. 52.

  3. Quirino to Giuseppe Majorana, November 27, 1937, Majorana Fund, Regional University Library Giambattista Caruso, Catania, Sicily, Box 183.

  4. Decree of [Giuseppe] Bottai, December 6, 1938, reproduced in Guerra and Robotti, Ettore Majorana (ref. 1), Figure 83, p. 222; partially translated, p. 57.

  5. Ibid., p. 57.

  6. Francesco Guerra and Nadia Robotti, “La Borsa di Studio della Rivista ‘Missioni’: un punto fermo sulla vicenda di Ettore Majorana” “[The Fellowship of the Journal ‘Missioni’: a firm point in the case of Ettore Majorana],” Il Nuovo Saggiatore 28 (2012), 86–88; expanded version at website <http://www.sif.it/SIF/resources/public/files/opinioni/op_1202_guerra_robotti-sq.pdf>.

  7. Father Caselli to Salvatore Majorana, September 22, 1939, Historical Archives of the Department of Physics of the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Box Materiale pervenuto.

  8. Bernardini to Gentile, undated, reproduced in Guerra and Robotti, Ettore Majorana (ref. 1), Figure 80, pp. 218–219.

  9. Stefano Roncoroni, “Il promemoria ‘Tunisi’: un nuovo tassello del caso Majorana [The ‘Tunisi’ memorandum: a new piece of information on the case of Ettore Majorana],” Nuovo Sag. 27 (2011), 58–68.

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  10. Savini Nicci memorandum, March 31, 1938, reproduced in Guerra and Robotti, Ettore Majorana (ref. 1), Figure 78, pp. 215–216.

  11. Telegram No. 10639, March 31, 1938, reproduced in ibid., Figure 79, p. 217.

  12. Ettore Majorana, Matriculation document, January 20, 1938, reproduced in ibid., Figure 74, p. 209.

  13. Quirino to Giuseppe Majorana, March 14, 1939, Majorana Fund (ref. 3), Box 186.

  14. Giuseppe Majorana, “A salute and an expectation,” Majorana Fund (ref. 3), Box 218.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Roger H. Stuewer for his careful and thoughtful editorial work on our paper.

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Correspondence to Francesco Guerra.

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Francesco Guerra is Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Physics of the University of Rome “La Sapienza.” His main areas of research are quantum field theory, elementary particles, statistical mechanics of complex systems, and history of nuclear physics. Nadia Robotti is Professor of History of Physics in the Department of Physics of the University of Genova, and a Corresponding Member of the Académie Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences. Her main fields of research are history of atomic and quantum physics, spectroscopy, and nuclear physics.

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Guerra, F., Robotti, N. The Disappearance and Death of Ettore Majorana. Phys. Perspect. 15, 160–177 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-013-0111-7

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