Życie Ettore Majorany

• Authors: FIAŁKOWSKI Krzysztof
• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

On the hundredth birth anniversary of Ettore Majorana, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences allowed me to organize the session devoted to his life and scientific work. Due to the scarcity of informative texts published in Polish, Majorana is known in Poland mainly just as the author of scientific concepts “Majorana forces” and “Majorana neutrino”. This does not reflect the significance of Majorana’s work for the development of modern physics. My contribution presented here recalls the examples of the scientific brilliance of Majorana and the strange ways of his life. His role in the achievements of Enrico Fermi’s group is discussed, as well as his interaction with Werner Heisenberg. His surprising withdrawal from the scientific life, sudden return with his most famous “neutrino” paper and final disappearance, interpreted in various ways by many contemporaries, are described in some detail. Other texts concern specific problems solved by him. First consistent version of the theory of nuclear forces is discussed by Kazimierz Bodek, the formalism for the description of the particles with arbitrary spin is presented by Henryk Arodź, and the theory of “Majorana neutrino”, surprisingly revived in the XXI century, is analyzed by Marek Zrałek.

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Umiejętności
• Journal: Prace Komisji Historii Nauki PAU
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 10
• Pages: 7-15

Dates

cover

2010

Contributors

author

FIAŁKOWSKI Krzysztof

References

• E. Amaldi, Ettore Majorana: una breve biografia, „Giornale di Fisica” 9 (1968): 300.
• S. Esposito, E. Majorana jr, A. Van der Merwe and E. Recami (eds), Ettore Majorana: Notes on Theoretical Physics, Kluwer 2003.
• L. Fermi, Atomy w naszym domu, PWN 1961, tłumaczenie M. Nowakowska-Hurwic.
• D.M. Fradkin: “Comments on a Paper by Majorana Concerning Elementary Particles”, American Journal of Physics 34 (1966) 314.
• A. Icha, Życie i działalność naukowa Ettore Majorany (1906–1938), „Postępy Fizyki” 41 (1989): 181.
• E. Majorana, G. Gentile jr, Sullo sdoppiamento dei termini Roentgen ottici a causa dell’ elettrone rotante e sulla intensita delle righe del Cesio, „Rendiconti Accademia Lincei” 8 (1928): 229.
• E. Majorana, Sulla formazione dello ione moleculare di He, „Nuovo Cimento” 8 (1931): 22. I presunti termini anomali dell’ Elio, ibidem: 78; Reazione pseudopolare fra atomi di Idrogeno,
• E. Majorana, I presunti termini anomali dell’ Elio, , „Nuovo Cimento” 8 (1931): 78.
• E. Majorana, Reazione pseudopolare fra atomi di Idrogeno, „Rendiconti Accademia Lincei” 13 (1931): 58.
• E. Majorana, Teoria dei tripletti P’ incompleti, „Nuovo Cimento” 8 (1931): 107.
• E. Majorana, Atomi orientati in campo magnetico variabile, „Nuovo Cimento” 9 (1932): 43.
• E. Majorana, Teoria relativistica di particelle con momento intrinseco arbitrario, „Nuovo Cimento” 9 (1932): 335.
• E. Majorana, Über die Kerntheorie, „Zeitschrift für Physik” 82 (1933): 137.
• E. Majorana, Il valore delle legi statistiche nella fisica e nelle scienze sociali, „Scientia” 36 (1942): 55.
• E. Majorana, Teoria simmetrica dell’ elettrone e del positrone, „Nuovo Cimento” 14 (1937): 171.
• E. Recami, Il caso Majorana, Arnoldo Mondadori 1987.
• L. Sciascia, Zniknięcie Majorany, PAX 1985, przekład K. Fekecz.