The career of Ettore Majorana, who had an astounding talent for Physics, was cut short in 1938 when he mysteriously disappeared at the age of 32, leaving many unpublished works. This book makes these works accessible to the general audience.
Without listing his works, all of which are highly notable both for the originality of the methods utilized as well as for the importance of the results achieved, we limit ourselves to the following: Inmodernnucleartheories, thecontributionmadebythisresearcher to the introduction of the forces called 'Majorana forces' is universally recognized as the one, among the most fundamental, that permits us to theoretically comprehend the reasons for nuclear stability. The work of Majorana today serves as a basis for the most important research in this ?eld. In atomic physics, the merit of having resolved some of the most - tricate questions on the structure of spectra through simple and elegant considerations of symmetry is due to Majorana. Lastly, he devised a brilliant method that permits us to treat the positive and negative electron in a symmetrical way, ?nally elimin- ing the necessity to rely on the extremely arti?cial and unsatisfactory hypothesis of an in?nitely large electrical charge di?used in space, a question that had been tackled in vain by many other scholars [4].
I.- Dirac Theory.- Quantum Electrodynamics.- II.- Atomic Physics.- Molecular Physics.- Statistical Mechanics.- III.- The Theory of Scattering.- Nuclear Physics.- IV.- Classical Physics.- Mathematical Physics.
From the reviews:
"The topics covered in the Quaderni range from classical physics to quantum field theory. ... The editors inserted a minimal number of words to facilitate the reading of the calculations. I find this book extremely useful, because it signifies the importance of mathematics as a unifying tool for science as a whole. Even research physicists working in elementary particle physics will find this book of value in their pursuits." (Gert Roepstorff, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1194, 2010)
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
I.- Dirac Theory.- Quantum Electrodynamics.- II.- Atomic Physics.- Molecular Physics.- Statistical Mechanics.- III.- The Theory of Scattering.- Nuclear Physics.- IV.- Classical Physics.- Mathematical Physics.
An insight into the beautiful mind of the enigmatic physicist, Ettore Majorana
A must for all those interested in the history of modern physics
An extraordinary mixture of mathematical command, physics intuition and creative thought
