I was only 22 years old when Ettore Majorana published a revolutionary scientific article on quantum mechanics and the subatomic particles that make up matter. Considered by his teacher and tutor Enrico Fermi as one of the greatest geniuses of modern physics and collaborator in various investigations of theorists of the size of Werner Heisenberg in Germany and Niels Bohr in Denmark; One day Majorana disappeared.
How does a man everyone knows disappear?
On March 25, 1938, Ettore Majorana He vanished from the world. According to the records, before disappearing he took all the money out of his bank account, wrote a letter to the director of the Institute of Higher Studies in Naples where he taught, informing him of an “inevitable decision.” That same day he embarked from Naples to Palermo and on the deck of that ship he was seen for the last time.
Two things were happening in the world that we must point out before advancing further in this story: on the one hand the rise of the Fascist movements in Italy and Germany, which years later would lead to the Second World War and on the other an extraordinary golden era of theoretical physics scientists such as Bohr, Einstein, the Curies, Schrödingery Plank among many others.
Majorana He belonged to that constellation of stars, at a time when they were considered almost divine beings, geniuses capable of deciphering the secrets of matter, what could lead him to choose anonymity?
Two theories: death and travel
Ettore Majorana jumped into the sea and died in the Mediterranean before landing in Sicily. That’s what some say. A conclusion that emerges from the somber mood of his last letter. According to his biographers, despite his brilliance, Majorana was known for being an introvert and having difficulty relating to others. Like any of the scientists we mentioned above.
Among those who support this theory, there are also those who say that it was the lack of recognition, despite the fact that his research was at the level of Bohr, Eintein and their contemporaries, that led him to seek death. Some other versions point out that even the emotional conflicts of an alleged unacknowledged homosexuality could have been the cause.
As usually happens in these cases, nothing in Majorana’s mind gave any prior signs of his supposed decision and, although gloomy in some sentences, the letter in general is not even remotely specific or clear.
What could have been then?
Well, here is the second version: the trip to America.
Argentina, Brazil, Pero or Colombia, multiple witnesses declared over the years that they had seen him. The Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia, accounts for this and argues that Ettore fled before the advances of the fascist regimes and the attempts to recruit him to put his science at the service of the development of the atomic bomb. At that time, America and especially its southernmost region became home to thousands of immigrants seeking to escape poverty, hunger and the war that was on the horizon.
However, no official document or record allows us to prove this version.
The conspiracy theory: Majorana and the infinite energy particle
This is where things get strange.
Some say that the key is in Majorana’s latest work. An investigation into an unknown particle and the instructions to build a device that would allow, in theory, to obtain infinite energy from that “particle”.
In fact, the most impressive thing about this work is that the research of Majorana It is the first serious document on what we now know as antiparticles and antimatter. Concepts of theoretical physics that for decades were ignored due to their “extravagance” and that only the latest technological advances have allowed us to verify and explore in more detail.
In this line, Majorana is therefore the physicist who lays the foundations for much of modern quantum theory and computing, deepening Einstein’s conclusions and venturing a practical application. His “Majorana Machine” is therefore a kind of great-great-grandfather of the CERN particle accelerator or of the recent novel quantum computer designs. An invention that, if it could have occurred at that time, would undoubtedly have catapulted technology and science several centuries forward.
And the best: unlike the CERNwhich consumes enough energy to feed a country in each experiment, Majorana claimed that his invention was capable of operating with 40 whats of energy and with that, opening the secrets of the universe and energy to man.
Was it this invention, of which there are no records, that caused Majorana’s death?
According to conspiracy theorists, the Italian would have been the victim of a complex network of political and economic interests that would have decided his end, murdering him and erasing all traces of his research and inventions.
The enigma continues
We may never know for sure what happened on that fateful day in 1938, and perhaps the Majorana enigma will remain one of the greatest mysteries in science. As his disappearance continues to capture the imagination of scientists, writers and mystery enthusiasts around the world.