A promising career in physics was opening before him. But Ettore Majorana mysteriously disappeared. Maybe he is still alive and hiding behind the monastery walls? Or went to Argentina? Or maybe even then he threw himself into the sea?
On the evening of March 25, 1938, the 31-year-old Italian physicist Ettore Majorana boarded a mail ship in Naples bound for Palermo in Sicily. Before sailing, he wrote two letters. The first, which he left in his room at the Bologna Hotel, was addressed to his relatives. In it, he addressed them with a strange request: “I have only one desire - that you do not dress in black because of me. If you want to observe the accepted customs, then wear any other sign of mourning, but no longer than three days. After that, you can keep the memory of me in your heart and, if you are capable of this, forgive me. " In its very tone, the letter ominously resembled the notes that suicides leave. The second letter, sent by mail, seemed to confirm that Majorana had decided to commit suicide. It was addressed to Antonio Carrelli, Director of the Physics Institute of the University of Naples,where the young scientist taught since January. “I made a decision that was inevitable,” he wrote to Carrelli. - There is not a drop of selfishness in him; yet I am well aware that my unexpected disappearance will cause inconvenience to you and the students. Therefore, I ask you to forgive me, first of all, for neglecting your trust, sincere friendship and kindness. " Before Carrelli could receive this letter, a telegram came from Palermo from Majorana. In it, he asked not to pay attention to the letter sent from Naples. The telegram was followed by a second letter, dated March 26, also sent from Palermo. “Dear Carrelli,” wrote Majorana. - The sea did not accept me. Tomorrow I am returning to the Hotel Bologna. However, I intend to leave teaching. If you are interested in the details, I am at your service. " No Carrelli,neither the relatives of the young scientist ever saw him again or received any news about him.
Brilliant mind and commitment to excellence
By the unanimous recognition of his contemporaries, Ettore Majorana had an outstanding mind. His teacher, Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi, even put him on a par with Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton. Ettore was born on August 5, 1906 in Catania, Sicily, and already at the age of four he was unusually fast in solving complex mathematical problems in his head. During the years of study, this talent will often surprise and baffle others. At first he was taught at home, then sent to a Jesuit school in Rome. But he completed his secondary education already at the Lyceum named after Torquato Tasso - he was not yet seventeen years old. In the fall of 1923, he entered the Technical School of the University of Rome, where he studied with his older brother Luciano and Emilio Segre. Emilio and persuaded him later to study physics, and in 1928 Majorana transferred to the Institute for Theoretical Physics,which at that time was led by Enrico Fermi. A year later, he received his doctorate with honors, but for another five years he continued to work with Fermi on solving problems in nuclear physics. Although all of Majorana's scientific works consist of only eight articles published from 1928 to 1937, they still cause amazement and admiration in the scientific world. His articles show a thorough knowledge of experimental data, the ability to clearly and simply formulate problems, a lively mind and an unyielding desire for perfection. His criticism of the work of his colleagues earned him the nickname "Grand Inquisitor." But he was no less demanding of himself, which, perhaps, explains the slowness and the relatively small number of scientific papers published in the years after defending his doctoral dissertation. On the urgent recommendation of Fermi in early 1933, Majorana,having received a scholarship from the National Scientific Council, he went abroad. In Leipzig, he met another Nobel laureate, Werner Heisenberg. The letters that Majorana later wrote to him show that they were bound not only by science, but also by a warm friendship. Heisenberg urged the young Italian to publish his works as quickly as possible, but he apparently did not want to rush.
Looming crisis
In the fall of 1933, Majorana returned to Rome. He did not feel well: in Germany he fell ill with acute gastritis, and besides, he clearly suffered from nervous exhaustion. Forced to follow a strict diet, he became a recluse, was harsh with his family. He wrote to his mother, whom he had previously treated with warmth from Germany, that he would not be able, as usual, to go with her to the sea in the summer. He appeared at the institute less often, and soon he almost completely stopped leaving the house; a promising young scientist turned into a hermit.
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For almost four years he did not communicate with friends and did not publish anything. It wasn't until 1937 that Majorana returned to what could be called a "normal" life. This year, breaking a long silence, he published a scientific article, which will be his last published work, and applied for the position of professor of physics. In November he became professor of theoretical physics at the University of Naples. Majorana's lectures were poorly attended, which hurt his pride. But most of the students were simply unable to understand what he was trying to explain to them. On January 22, 1938, he asked his brother to transfer to Naples all his money that was stored in one of the Roman banks, and in March he asked to give him all the salary accumulated over several months of work at once. Taking his passport and money with him, on March 25, Majorana boarded a steamer and disappeared forever.
In search of a clue
An investigation immediately after the disappearance of the physicist uncovered several seemingly promising moves. But, as it turned out, they all led to a dead end. On March 26, the day Ettore Majorana sent a telegram and a second letter to Carrelli, he appeared to have boarded a mail ship returning from Palermo to Naples. According to the shipping company, a ticket in his name was handed over at check-in. Later, when asked to provide proof, company representatives stated that the ticket was lost. One witness initially claimed that Majorana rode with him in the same cabin, but later said that he was not sure if the missing physicist was his companion. At the same time, the nurse, who knew the young scientist well, insisted that she saw him in Naples after the return of the steamer on 26 March.
Hiding in a monastery?
Majorana's family advertised his disappearance with a photo of Ettore. The answer came in July. The abbot of the monastery of Gesu Nuovo in Naples reported that a young man very similar to the one depicted in the photograph came to him in late March or early April with a request to receive him as a guest at the monastery. Seeing that the abbot did not dare to grant his request, the young man left and never returned. The abbot did not remember the exact date of this visit, so it was impossible to tell whether it happened before or after the trip to Palermo. It was further established that on April 12, a young man who looked like Marjorana asked to enter the monastery of San Pasquale de Portici. There he was also refused, and he left. Nearly 40 years later, these extremely curious, albeit not entirely conclusive, messages became the basis of the theory put forward by the writer Leonardo Shasha. He suggested that, tired of the world and the responsibility that scientific activity imposed on him, and perhaps disillusioned with teaching, which was clearly not successful for him, Majorana sought refuge in religion. And somewhere he found a place where he could live under a false name, devoting the remaining years to prayer and reflection.
Escaped to Argentina?
Ettore Majorana's last and perhaps most intriguing trail leads to South America. In 1950, the Chilean physicist Carlos Rivera lived in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, and stayed at the house of an elderly woman. When she once accidentally saw the name of Majorana in Rivera's papers, she told her guest that her son knew a man with that last name. Soon Rivera was to leave Buenos Aires, and he did not have time to learn more. It is surprising that the Chilean scientist happened to once again stumble upon the traces of Majorana in Buenos Aires. In 1960, while dining in a hotel restaurant, he absentmindedly wrote mathematical formulas on a napkin. The waiter came up to him and said: “I know another person who, like you, draws formulas on napkins. He sometimes comes to us. His name is Ettore Majorana,and before the war he was a prominent physicist in his homeland in Italy. Again, the thread did not lead anywhere. The waiter did not know Majorana's address, and Rivera was again forced to leave without solving this mystery.
Three old ladies keep a secret
At the end of the 70s, the news of the amazing discoveries of Rivera in Argentina reached Italian scientists. Physics professor Erasmo Resami and sister Ettore Maria Majorana decided to follow the found trail. During these searches, they found another trail leading to Argentina. The widow of the Guatemalan writer Miguel Angel Asturias, who arrived in Italy, learned of new attempts to uncover the mystery of Ettore Majorana's disappearance. She said that in the 60s she met with an Italian physicist at the house of the sisters Eleanor and Lilo Manzoni. According to Senora Asturias, Majorana was a close friend of Eleanor, a mathematician by profession. It seemed that the mystery would finally be solved. However, in response to a request for more details on what she knows, Senora Asturias retracted her words. She did not actually meet Majorana in person,but only heard from others about his friendship with Eleanor. But, she added, her sister and Lilo Manzoni could provide evidence; Eleanor, unfortunately, was no longer alive. However, two elderly ladies could not or did not want to answer the questions asked to them. Had he and Señora Asturias agreed not to share Ettore Majorana's secret with anyone? Since there were two completely unrelated tracks leading to Argentina, it is very likely that the Italian physicist really fled there in 1938 - and did not go to a monastery and commit suicide. But the motives for his unexpected escape remain unclear and may never be known. Perhaps Enrico Fermi was right when he dryly commented on failed attempts to investigate Majorana's disappearance, saying that if Ettore Majorana had decided to disappear without a trace,then with his mind he would easily do it.
Andrey Kleshnev