Majorana

Scientists claim to have discovered the Majorana fermion, a particle which contains as many negative ions as positive (if I have got that right).

The existence of the particle was posited by Ettore Majorana, a hugely gifted theoretical physicist who worked with Fermi and Heisenberg and Bohr, sometimes, it is said, making dramatic discoveries and refusing to take credit for them.

In 1938, aged only 31, he disappeared from a boat travelling from Palermo to Naples. The body was never discovered.

Various reasons for his disappearance have been suggested, and in particular the celebrated writer Leonardo Scascia suggested, in his book 'The disappearance of Majorana' (La Scomparsa di Majorana) that he hid in a monastery; others say that he fled to Argentina, in order to avoid having to work on an atomic bomb.

Anyhow, it is important that these people are remembered. It has taken three quarters of a century for his ideas to be shown to be correct.