Majorana, the Neutron, and the Neutrino: Some elementary historical remarks

TL;DR

This paper provides a historical overview of Ettore Majorana's contributions to neutron and neutrino physics, highlighting original statements and addressing recent rumors about Majorana and Fermi.

Contribution

It offers new insights into Majorana's role in particle physics history through primary quotations and clarifies misconceptions about his interactions with Fermi.

Findings

Highlights Majorana's influence on neutron and neutrino research

Includes original quotations from Edoardo Amaldi

Addresses and refutes recent rumors about Majorana and Fermi

Abstract

At the kind request of the Editor of Hadronic Journal, and of TEC/TNRG (Usa), we recall in this article some elementary historical information about the role played by Ettore Majorana[1-17] with regard to the Neutron, and to the Neutrino. Often we do explicitly insert direct quotations from the original written statements --in particular by Edoardo Amaldi[22-24]--, which in some cases, and for some topics, constitute the main available evidence. We also discuss some recent, unjustified rumors about Ettore Majorana and Enrico Fermi. [Keywords: Ettore Majorana; Neutron; Neutrinos; Enrico Fermi; Edoardo Amaldi; Majorana spinors; Majorana algebras; Majorana fermions; Fred Wilczek; History of XX century physics; Reply to unjustified rumors]