More than a hundred years ago, back in 1906, a boy was born in the Sicilian town of Catania, who was named Ettore. The kid was growing up, and the parents suddenly found out that their son has just phenomenal mathematical abilities.
Already at the age of four, the boy could solve the most difficult problems, and he did it faster than adults. The talented boy was sent to a Jesuit school in Rome, then he studied at the Lyceum, and at the age of seventeen he entered the University of Rome.
In the early 30s. science has come to the greatest discoveries. On the agenda was an important issue for all mankind - mastering a new type of energy. The discovery of artificial radioactivity and the study of the structure of the atom suggested that energy can be extracted by splitting the atomic nucleus; it was believed that energy is, as it were, walled up inside matter itself.
The great Italian scientist Enrico Fermi, who built a nuclear reactor, became a pioneer in the field of mastering a new type of energy. And on December 2, 1942, a self-sustaining controlled nuclear chain reaction was carried out at the University of Chicago at the CP-1 reactor.
Back in 1926, a new department of theoretical physics was opened at the University of Rome, headed by Enrico Fermi. The department was located on Panisperna street. Physicist Franco Rasetti, mathematician Eduardo Amaldi, future Nobel Prize laureate in physics Emilio Segre and Bruno Pontecorvo, who later emigrated to the USSR, worked on it.
Talented theorists and experimenters called themselves “the guys from Panisperna Street”. These "guys" ideas laid the foundations of modern physics. This raises the question, what does all this have to do with the Sicilian prodigy? And the thing is that the most mysterious of the “guys” was just Ettore Majorana, “the genius of mathematics and physics,” as his colleagues said about him. Fermi considered him the most talented of his students and sometimes even shyly in front of Ettore. If Fermi among his associates had the nickname Pope, then Ettore was called the Grand Inquisitor for his ability to instantly find errors and weaknesses in scientific theories and hypotheses.
The young scientist's own ideas anticipated future scientific discoveries. He proposed one of the hypotheses concerning the nature of the forces that hold the atomic nucleus. The main achievement of the Italian genius, however, should be considered the creation of a theoretical model of the neutrino, the fundamental particle of matter. Until now, physics has not resolved the question of which neutrino model - Majorana or Dirac - is realized in nature; perhaps a kind of mixed.
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Majorana also invented mathematical objects, the so-called Majorana spinors, which at the end of the last century became one of the main building blocks of the modern theory of supergravity. Even this short list of the achievements of the young theoretical physicist testifies to the fact that he was ahead not only of his time, but even of modern scientific views.
The young scientist managed to write only a few scientific papers, but all experts unanimously claim that they are brilliant works - he saw Majorana so deeply, his conclusions are so unexpected and original … By the way, he was the first to point out the possibility of the existence of a neutron.
But as is often the case, genius often turns into a negative side. Ettore started having mental problems. When in 1933 he fell ill with gastritis and was forced to follow a strict diet, he became very nervous, irritable, in conversations he often broke into a cry. Friends and co-workers expected that Ettore would soon return to his normal state, but he was getting worse and worse. He stopped appearing at the University of Naples, where he taught at that time, almost never left the house, preferring complete solitude.
Only in 1937 there was an improvement. Majorana seemed to come to his senses, appeared at the university, expressed a desire to teach again. Then he published his article, which turned out to be the last in his life …
After the seemingly past crisis, Majorana suddenly surprised everyone: he transferred his money to an account in Naples, asked to give him all his salary and advances, and bought a ticket for a steamer leaving on March 25, 1938 for Sicily, in Palermo. But when the steamer arrived at its destination, there was no physics on it …
In the room of a Neapolitan hotel, a terrible letter was found addressed to the family of Mayoran: “I have only one wish - 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."
A second letter was sent to the director of the Karelli Physics Institute in Naples: “I made a decision that was inevitable. 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 having neglected your trust, sincere friendship and kindness. This letter was later lost.
These terrible letters clearly indicated that the young man had decided to commit suicide. In principle, given his closed nature, pessimistic and individualistic moods (which miraculously combined in him with a very keen sense of humor), a tendency to depression and not a tendency to ordinary human joys, frequent gloomy mood, loneliness, such a terrible step could be somewhere to somehow justify, but there were no known reasons for suicide …
On the eve of the departure, Ettore saw one of her ministers in the church. He was not familiar with Majorana, but later remembered him for his unusual face and behavior. Something alerted him to the man's behavior.
Relatives and colleagues had already begun to somehow get used to the idea of Ettore's suicide, when a telegram soon arrived at the university. In it, the scientist begged not to pay attention to his gloomy letter.
Then another strange letter was received from Ettore: “The sea did not accept me. I'm going back tomorrow. However, I intend to leave teaching. If you are interested in the details, I am at your service."
But the next day, Majorana did not appear, and none of his relatives and acquaintances ever saw him again …
The police began to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance of the physicist. The main version was simple - he committed suicide by jumping from a steamer. But at the same time, there were witnesses who claimed that they saw Majorana in Naples after his mysterious disappearance …
The family of the young scientist posted an advertisement for his disappearance and a photograph in the newspapers. Soon this announcement was responded to …
The abbot of one of the Neapolitan monasteries reported that once a man appeared to him, very similar to the disappeared, and asked for asylum. He was refused, and the young man left in an unknown direction. After some time, the police found out that another monastery was approached by a person similar to Ettore, but also did not receive shelter with the monks and went nowhere …
Some researchers of Ettore's secret are still convinced that he nevertheless found shelter in one of the monasteries and lived a long and quiet life there …
On this in the mysterious history of the disappearance of the most talented physicist one could put an end to it, but in 1950 new unexpected facts appeared in this matter. Chilean physicist Carlos Rivera came to Argentina, where he rented an apartment from an elderly woman. One day, while cleaning up the tenant's table, the hostess noticed the papers in which the name of Ettore Majorana was mentioned. The woman said that her son knew a man with the same surname.
Rivera began to elicit details from her, but she could not say anything more. Soon the physicist had to leave Argentina, and when he came there again, he no longer found this woman. But he nevertheless came across other traces of the disappeared Majorana. Moreover, purely by chance, he did not at all purposefully seek the disappeared scientist, for he did not set such a task.
In 1960, Rivera dined in an Argentinean restaurant and mechanically wrote mathematical formulas on a paper 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. Shocked, Rivera began to elicit the details from the waiter, but the thread was cut off - he did not know either the address of his client, or where, at least approximately, one could look for him.
In the late 70s, news of Rivera's amazing discoveries 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 A. Asturias, who arrived in Italy, learned of new attempts to uncover the mystery of Ettore'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. In fact, she did not personally meet with Majorana, but only heard from others about his friendship with Eleanor, and that, unfortunately, was no longer alive.
But, she added, her sister and Lilo Manzoni can provide evidence. 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? Some researchers put forward versions that Majorana trusted them, but took from them a strict oath to anyone and never disclose his place of residence, and they honestly fulfilled this oath.
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 did not commit suicide. But the motives for his unexpected escape remain unclear and may never be known. Perhaps Fermi was right when he dryly commented on the failed attempts to investigate the disappearance of Majorana, saying that if Ettore Majorana had decided to disappear without a trace, then with his mind he would have done it easily.
At the moment, none of the existing versions has been proven regarding both the death of Mayoran and his life in a monastery or in Argentina. By the way, discussions about the reasons for such a strange disappearance also do not cease: someone puts forward a version of mental illness, and someone claims that the case was much more serious …
In 1975, the book The Disappearance of Mayoran was published by the Italian writer Leonardo Shash. It states that the young scientist decided to flee Italy due to the latest developments in the field of physics. Leonardo Shasha claims that thanks to his exceptional mind, Majorana, before many of his colleagues, realized the enormous destructive power of atomic energy and did not want to participate in the development of atomic weapons for the fascist regime of Mussolini.
This version seems plausible, but so far no one has been able to figure out how everything really happened …