The obscure young physicist later became one of the most mysterious and controversial names of the 20th century. The man who, in the face of social events, suddenly became a genius in a field he never wanted.
In the mid-1930s, when the Great Depression hit the West, it seemed like the whole world was in a terrible financial storm. International trade fell by almost 30% and the industry was shaken with nearly 30 million unemployed worldwide in 1932. Today in Europe fascism is on the rise in Germany, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Germany came to power, reestablished German economic power, and war threatened all of Europe.
Autocrats understand the importance of scientific developments that will benefit any nation. During the 1930s, major countries invested in physics research, focusing mainly on radioactivity and nuclear weapons. In 1932, researchers Frédéric Joliot and Irène Joliot-Curie recorded the existence of a new and unusual particle, suspecting that it could be evidence of mysterious gamma rays. However, this discovery was explained differently by a well-known young physicist who later became one of the most mysterious and controversial names in science. throughout the twentieth century.
An unwanted genius
Ettore Majorana was born in Catania, Sicily, and from an early age he was passionate about research, especially in physics. As a teenager, Majorana joined Enrico Fermi’s “Via Panisperna boys” group, a group of young researchers who recorded the first discovery of neurons, including energies between 1 and 10 eV. This famous discovery led to the development of nuclear reactors, which subsequently contributed to the creation of atomic bombs. Faced with social events, in a sudden turn, the young scientist became a genius in a field he did not want.
And then, unfortunately, despite many remarkable achievements in science, Majorana is best known outside of his scientific achievements. He is most remembered and remembered about the strange circumstances involving mysterious disappearances.
Disappearance
Back in the days when he was a talented scientist at the Institute of Physics in Naples, Majorana decided to leave suddenly, at first it was thought that he was going back to his homeland to meet everyone in his family, but his family. He also didn’t know where Majorana was going. With this sudden departure, Majorana left a message to Antonio Carrelli, director of the Institute of Physics in Naples, saying that he “felt sad, helpless and could not find a way out …”.
Majorana’s message leads to the idea that he committed suicide. However, later, the police discovered that Majorana had bought a train ticket to Naples, but no one had found it in Naples. Colleagues at the Institute of Physics in Naples still believe that the talented physicist, unhappy with his work, joined a monastery or committed suicide.
Although there have been many theories until the 2000s with countless conjectures and clues regarding Majorana’s disappearance, his disappearance remains a complete mystery. However, in 2008, a strange event led to a breakthrough in the incident when someone called for an Italian TV show called Chi l’ha visto (who saw it). , said he had a photo of the man believed to be Majorana. This information convinced the Rome Ministry of Justice to begin its own investigation into the case, in which carabinieri (Italian military police) analyzed the photo and discovered similarities in the photo taken around 1955 in Argentina with previous photographs of Ettore Majorana.
Finally, in February 2015, the office of the Ministry of Justice in Rome issued an official statement, stating that Majorana is indeed still alive after he went missing from Naples, and that he went into hiding in South America, where he lived until his death. “Ettore Majorana, a great physicist classified with figures like Newton and Einstein mysteriously disappeared in 1938, still living in the period 1955-1959 in the Venezuelan city of Valencia” – The final message from the Office of the Ministry of Justice of Rome has revealed this information.
The question, however, is why did this physicist give up his job and his family to live in isolation in another part of the world? Some family members, as researchers say, Majorana went into hiding, fearing the moral and psychological consequences of his work, helping to create nuclear weapons, making him feel powerless towards yourself led to the negative decision. above.
