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He didn't want to participate in the building of the atom bomb. Hero.

by recibe 12y ago

keithpeter 12y ago
"Because another factor which invalidates the suicide theory is that Ettore Majorana had taken his passport and a sum of money with him." [1] Majorana left with the entire contents of his and his brother's joint savings account and five months salary cheques (previously uncashed). Sounds like he had plans, monastic or otherwise. Sciascia's essay was produced as a radio play by the BBC years ago (possibly decades ago) and struck me as plausible then. The possibility of a fission weapon was inherent in a lot of the detailed work on the nucleus in the late 30s. The Bohr-Wheeler semi-empirical model is just that: fit a polynomial to the known properties of the radioactive materials available and you have your yield... Is there an Italian speaker with access to the original here who can render a slightly more idiomatic translation? [1] Leonardo Sciascia The Mystery of Majorana, Tr Sacha Rabinovich, New York Review of Books Classics, 2004
- menoinglish 12y ago
  Italian here, but translation of what? If you refer to the "Il fatto quotidiano" article linked here, the story so far is: - (if the story is true) Majorana was alive and lived in Valencia, Venezuela, between 1955 and 1959 - Italian police is investigating - An Italian TV Show "Chi l'ha visto?" (it's a very dramatic show where they try to find missing people...) found a guy who lived in Valencia those years and claims he was friend with Majorana, but he didn't know his real identity - The supposed Majorana called himself Mr."Bini", but one day they convinced Bini to take a photo, the photo traveled back to Italy to the witnes' family - Police examined this photo and they say Bini's face is compatible with Majorana's one and Bini looks very similar to Majorana's father - If the story is true, this means Majorana didn't suicide and was not forced by anyone to leave Italy, he just left. - Police is trying to confirm, finding out the driving license/identity of this Mr. Bini, but they also say that Venezuelan police is kind of lazy.. Didn't want to translate it all, I'm also lazy. There are many stories on Majorana, and a lot of people claimed and still claim to have seen him. There are many many stories, really, another recent one is that he ended up as an homeless guy. Hope this was helpful.
  - keithpeter 12y ago
    Yes, very helpful - better job than the original page.
Panoramix 12y ago
I find this the weakest theory. Nobody would have forced him to participate in the Manhattan project.
- privong 12y ago
  > I find this the weakest theory. Nobody would have forced him to participate in the Manhattan project. It does not necessarily need to be the Manhattan Project. He was in Italy at the time, with a fascist government – he could have been avoiding an atomic program run by the Axis Powers. Majorana disappeared in 1938; the Manhattan Project was not started until 1942, and even the Einstein–Szilárd letter[0] was not written until mid-1939. Perhaps a more compelling argument against the theory is that nuclear fission was not demonstrated until 9 months after Majorana's disappearance. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szil%C3%A1rd_letter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szil%C3%A1rd_...

He didn't want to participate in the building of the atom bomb. Hero.

by recibe 12y ago

He didn't want to participate in the building of the atom bomb. Hero.

"Because another factor which invalidates the suicide theory is that Ettore Majorana had taken his passport and a sum of money with him." [1] Majorana left with the entire contents of his and his brother's joint savings account and five months salary cheques (previously uncashed). Sounds like he had plans, monastic or otherwise. Sciascia's essay was produced as a radio play by the BBC years ago (possibly decades ago) and struck me as plausible then. The possibility of a fission weapon was inherent in a lot of the detailed work on the nucleus in the late 30s. The Bohr-Wheeler semi-empirical model is just that: fit a polynomial to the known properties of the radioactive materials available and you have your yield... Is there an Italian speaker with access to the original here who can render a slightly more idiomatic translation? [1] Leonardo Sciascia The Mystery of Majorana, Tr Sacha Rabinovich, New York Review of Books Classics, 2004

menoinglish 12y ago
Italian here, but translation of what? If you refer to the "Il fatto quotidiano" article linked here, the story so far is: - (if the story is true) Majorana was alive and lived in Valencia, Venezuela, between 1955 and 1959 - Italian police is investigating - An Italian TV Show "Chi l'ha visto?" (it's a very dramatic show where they try to find missing people...) found a guy who lived in Valencia those years and claims he was friend with Majorana, but he didn't know his real identity - The supposed Majorana called himself Mr."Bini", but one day they convinced Bini to take a photo, the photo traveled back to Italy to the witnes' family - Police examined this photo and they say Bini's face is compatible with Majorana's one and Bini looks very similar to Majorana's father - If the story is true, this means Majorana didn't suicide and was not forced by anyone to leave Italy, he just left. - Police is trying to confirm, finding out the driving license/identity of this Mr. Bini, but they also say that Venezuelan police is kind of lazy.. Didn't want to translate it all, I'm also lazy. There are many stories on Majorana, and a lot of people claimed and still claim to have seen him. There are many many stories, really, another recent one is that he ended up as an homeless guy. Hope this was helpful.
- keithpeter 12y ago
  Yes, very helpful - better job than the original page.

Panoramix 12y ago

I find this the weakest theory. Nobody would have forced him to participate in the Manhattan project.

privong 12y ago
> I find this the weakest theory. Nobody would have forced him to participate in the Manhattan project. It does not necessarily need to be the Manhattan Project. He was in Italy at the time, with a fascist government – he could have been avoiding an atomic program run by the Axis Powers. Majorana disappeared in 1938; the Manhattan Project was not started until 1942, and even the Einstein–Szilárd letter[0] was not written until mid-1939. Perhaps a more compelling argument against the theory is that nuclear fission was not demonstrated until 9 months after Majorana's disappearance. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szil%C3%A1rd_letter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szil%C3%A1rd_...