Abstract
The man of science tries to investigate Nature’s mysteries and, when he sees even a pale light, he shares it right away with his peers. That was not the case with the researcher Majorana, as we have already seen. But perhaps something was about to change.
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Notes
- 1.
Besides the application for the selection and the publications, the candidates had to attach a certificate of membership to the Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista), a birth certificate, a general declaration of criminal record, a certificate of Italian citizenship, and a certificate of good moral conduct. For Ettore, these were released respectively on 21, 24, 25 May and 3, 9 June 1937.
- 2.
See the Bollettino del Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale (Bulletin of the Ministry of Education) (Part II: Administration Records) year 65 (1938), vol. I, p. 280.
- 3.
See the minutes of the Committee for 25 October 1937 quoted in (Recami 1987).
- 4.
See (Russo 1997). Segrè (1993) also writes:
Initially, I had expected that the three winners would be Wick, Racah, and Giovanni Gentile Jr. I never dreamed Majorana would enter the competition, because he had lived in seclusion for several years. Completely unexpectedly, however, he did. The consequence was clear: the three winners would be Majorana, Wick, and Racah; Gentile would be left out. In a theoretical physics selection committee, the opinions of Fermi and Enrico Persico would be decisive, and both would honestly recognize merit. […] I believe, on good grounds, that in order to avoid a defeat for his son, Gentile's father, a former minister of education and still a power in Italian politics, had conceived this plan and suggested it to the committee. With the selection held in abeyance, Majorana was appointed professor at Naples based on exceptional merit. A law allowed for this procedure in special cases involving illustrious persons, and had been used, for example, in the case of Marconi. After Majorana's appointment, the selection process was reinstated, obviously without Majorana's candidacy. The three chosen were Wick, Racah, and Gentile. To my delight, Wick came to Palermo not long thereafter. Needless to say, at the time I was completely in the dark about the maneuvers mentioned above.
- 5.
Letter MG/R6 of 25 August 1937 in (Recami 1987).
- 6.
Though in a different context, one of Carrelli’s (and Majorana’s) students has suggested that Carrelli and the Senator Gentile were more than just simple acquaintances. However, we have no evidence that this happened before the events discussed here.
- 7.
Letter MQ/R29 of 16 November 1937 in (Recami 1987).
- 8.
Letter MG/R7 of 21 November 1937 in (Recami 1987).
- 9.
See the Minister’s announcement letter D/ME4 in (Recami 1987).
- 10.
Letter MF/N1 of 11 January 1938 in (Recami 1987).
- 11.
See the thank you letter MM/N to the Minister of Education of January 12, 1938 in (Recami 1987).
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Esposito, S. (2017). The 1937 Opportunity. In: Ettore Majorana. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54319-2_4
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