Ettore Majorana: Unveiled Genius and Endless Mysteries [= La cattedra vacante (IT 2009]

Translation from the Italian language edition: La cattedra vacante © Liguori Editore 2009 "I must thank the following for their collaboration: G. Paparo and L. Rossi from the Italian embassy in Buenos Aires, C.A. Barba from the Museo Postal y Telegrafos—Museo de Telecomunicaciones at the Correo Central in Buenos Aires, Anna Sicolo from the Polo Archivistico Sanitario of Regione Campania (Italy) and Edoardo Giaquinto and Giovanna Paola Perdonà, as well as the staff of several institutions: the Archives of the Accademia delle Scienze detta dei XL in Rome, the State Central Archives in Rome, the Archives of the University of Naples “Federico II”, the Library of the Department of Mathematics “Guido Castelnuovo” of the Sapienza University in Rome, the “Giovanni Spadolini” Library of the Senate of the Republic of Italy, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, ETH in Zurich, Niels Bohr Library, of the American Institute of Physics." Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 An Archimedes from Sicily Studies in Rome....Pages 3-21 A Certain Interest in Pure Science....Pages 23-42 Ten Short Papers....Pages 43-64 Front Matter....Pages 65-65 The 1937 Opportunity....Pages 67-75 Arrival in Naples....Pages 77-89 Front Matter....Pages 91-91 The Mystery of the Missing Papers....Pages 93-105 Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Famous Director....Pages 107-119 Front Matter....Pages 121-121 Before March 26....Pages 123-131 In Search of a Missing Professor....Pages 133-150 The Last Chapter....Pages 151-172 Back Matter....Pages 173-191 This biography sheds new light on the life and work of physicist Ettore Majorana (including unpublished contributions), as well as on his mysterious disappearance in March 1938. Majorana is held by many, including Nobel Laureate, Enrico Fermi, to have been a genius of the rank of Galilei and Newton. In this intriguing story, the author, himself a leading expert on the work of Majorana, supplements the existing literature with new insights, anecdotes and personal accounts of contemporaries of Majorana.