Related papers: Ettore Majorana and his heritage seventy years lat…
The conceptual basis for understanding the interplay of neutrino mass and mixing for neutrino oscillations were paradoxically discussed in a period when the prevailing view was that of massless neutrinos. The name of Bruno Pontecorvo is…
The coming into light of the neutron is discussed. It is remarked that some experiments had already suggested that the penetrating radiation from beryllium had an electromagnetic component, before Joliot-Curies suggested the beryllium…
The conceptual bases of Fermi's $\beta$-ray theory (at its 90th anniversary) are examined, highlighting the innovative drive and inspirational role for the progress that followed just afterwards. Moreover, the three different ideas of the…
We give an account of the appearance and first developments of the statistical model of atoms proposed by Thomas and Fermi, focusing on the main results achieved by Fermi and his group in Rome. Particular attention is addressed to the…
Sir Arthur Eddington is considered one of the greatest astrophysicist of the twentieth century and yet he gained a stigma when, in the 1930s, he embarked on a quest to develop a unified theory of gravity and quantum mechanics. His attempts…
One of the great scientific enigmas still unsolved, the existence of dark matter, is reviewed. Simple gravitational arguments imply that most of the mass in the Universe, at least 90%, is some (unknown) non-luminous matter. Some particle…
Carlo Cercignani was known all over the world for his works on the Boltzmann equation and on kinetic theory. There was however another aspect of his scientific life, which is not much known. Namely, his interest for the foundations of…
The discovery of neutrinoless double-beta decay could soon be within reach. This hypothetical ultra-rare nuclear decay offers a privileged portal to physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Its observation would constitute the…
The discovery of neutrino oscillations invites many fundamental physics questions that have yet to be answered. Two of these questions are simple, easy to state, and essential: What are the values of the neutrino masses? Are neutrinos…
During the 1920s and 1930s, Italian physicists established strong relationships with scientists from other European countries and the United States. The career of Bruno Rossi, a leading personality in the study of cosmic rays and an Italian…
A brief sketch is given of the present observational status and future prospects of the physics of neutrino mass, including a survey of the various theoretical schemes of neutrino mass generation. Emphasis is given to those which are…
During a series of experiments performed between 1907 and 1911, Domenico Pacini (Marino 1878-Roma 1934), at that time researcher at the Central Bureau of Meteorology and Geodynamics in Roma, studied the origin of the radiation today called…
We explain the relationship between Majorana neutrinos, which are their own antiparticles, and Majorana neutrino masses. We point out that Majorana masses would make the neutrinos very distinctive particles, and explain why many theorists…
The history of research associated with the fundamental problem of the nature of massive neutrinos, which can be Dirac particles or Majorana fermions, and the related processes of neutrinoless double beta decay, $(A,Z)\rightarrow (A,Z+2) +…
After a recent series of rapid and exciting developments, the long search for the Majorana fermion - the elusive quantum entity at the border between particles and antiparticles - has produced the first positive experimental results, but is…
We review the non-trivial issue of the relativistic description of a quantum mechanical system that, contrary to a common belief, kept theoreticians busy from the end of 1920s to (at least) mid 1940s. Starting by the well-known works by…
The paper presents a memoir of 1931 written by Vito Volterra on the Italian physicists of the nineteenth century and the researches these scientists made after the discoveries of Michael Faraday on electromagnetism. Here, the memoir…
Enrico Fermi lived from 1901 to 1954, a period of great progress in physics and a period in which opportunities for women to study and work in institutions of higher learning increased significantly in Europe and North America. Though there…
The discovery of cosmic rays, a milestone in science, comprised scientists in Europe and the US and took place during a period characterised by nationalism and lack of communication. Many scientists that took part in this research a century…
There is a broad theoretical consensus on the idea that ordinary neutrinos have a Majorana mass, but we have no clear prediction about its value, and direct experimental measurements of this quantity are rather challenging. In this work, we…