A brilliant darkness: the extraordinary life and disappearance of Ettore Majorana, the troubled genius of the nuclear age

Description

On the night of March 26, 1938, nuclear physicist Ettore Majorana boarded a ship, cash and passport in hand. He was never seen again. In A Brilliant Darkness, theoretical physicist João Magueijo tells the story of Majorana and his research group, "the Via Panisperna Boys," who discovered atomic fission in 1934. As Majorana, the most brilliant of the group, began to realize the implications of what they had found, he became increasingly unstable. Did he commit suicide that night in Palermo? Was he kidnapped? Did he stage his own death? A Brilliant Darkness chronicles Majorana's invaluable contr.;Prologue : a moment of fatigue or moral discomfort -- Life : the grand inquisitor. The attic of 251 Via Etnea -- Nuclear crisis -- Frankenstein's youth -- Poltergeist exposed -- Bread and sperm -- Strong interactions -- Meet Ettore Majorana -- Boys will be boys -- Neutrinos from Transylvania -- Ode to the vanquished -- Creation and annihilation -- The serpent's egg -- His unfinished symphony -- The hand that rocks the cradle -- Stellar collapse -- Artichokes -- Meanwhile, at Via Panisperna -- The crepuscule of Via Panisperna -- Ettore's neutrino -- The quiet before the storm -- The search party -- Afterlife : the dark matter. Pagliacci -- A pirandellian intermezzo -- Don't cry for him, Argentina -- They thought the sun was sick -- The sign of the beast -- Ettore Majorana -- A vote of silence -- Epilogue : Mediterranean whales.