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The Disappearance of Ettore Majorana: An Affair of State? (English description)

Contents:

• Preface, pp. 5-9 Who's Afraid of History?
• Warning, pp. 10-12
• Chapter I, pp. 13-26 A Mysterious Disappearance
• Chapter II, pp. 27-62 Ettore Majorana and "Children via Panisperna"
• Chapter III, pp. 63-85 The Possible "Because" of a Disappearance"
• Chapter IV, pp. 87-121 An Alternative Scenario
• Appendix to Chapter IV, pp. 123-130 A Brief History of the "Manhattan Project" (and Something More)
• Chapter V, pp. 131-162 Majorana's "Secret"
• Chapter VI, pp. 163-182 Epilogue
• Afterword, pp. 183-187
• History Essential, pp. 189-191
• Index of names, pp. 193-201

The book by Umberto Bartocci, Albert Einstein and Olinto De Pretto: The True Story of the Most Famous Formula in the World (Bologna, Andromeda, 1999) is likely to become even more rare than De Pretto if the publisher does not hasten to reprint. The book is part of the series History impossible, is a book just in time, that is printed just in time, in time to be saved.  It is 'the fate of those books that publishers do not consider suitable for publication and that without such a formula would not be able to ever see the light. The manuscripts would fall into oblivion, with the passage of time should be lost in a move or because of some relative distracted.  Are the chills to think about how many novels, essays or those who scientific work has been denied even the simple come to light. Certainly the story was written by unknown hands, which sometimes was not the slightest trace. And it is very exciting to follow these mysterious footsteps. In the near future - and can play almost as a joke - the book Bartocci may be disputed by bibliophiles in search of original texts and prophetic, that do not have marked an era when their silent exit, but they did afterwards, as anticipatory of truth have become such only in the future, sometimes a distance of many years. It is a simple paperback publishing in the eighth, with the black cover on all sides. The face of Einstein and the atomic mushroom that campeggio sul front are two very clear symbols of the concept expressed by the most famous formula in the world. Before that book Bartocci had tried - in vain - to accept for publishing a four-hands, with Marco Mamone Capria on the same topic. The scientific journal to which he had directed the rejected manuscript, in a courteous but final.  All these difficulties stem from the responsibility that is behind the name of Albert Einstein. Still too great and splendid is its star to be able to blur without exposing brutally critical of the 'scientific orthodoxy. Einstein can not be questioned, not yet, at least. Perhaps one day new conceptions of the world of physics toned down his theories, but at the moment remains an immovable pillar, slightly less than untouchable. For this reason that no magazine wants to be a voice worthy of note in academic would dare hold a decidedly "against the tide" that is not supported by evidence and irrefutable around a doubt - albeit qualified - on the paternity of the most famous formula world. It is logical that the problem at the moment can not be presented to a level of conjecture. It is not yet certified, if it ever will be, that Albert Einstein read the work of Olinto De Pretto and, above all, it drew inspiration. Perhaps the only feasible way is to focus attention on the figure of Michele Besso, who was a friend Einstein and connected to De Pretto. Einstein knew Italian, also held conferences in our language.  The science seems not to want to make that De Pretto, this obscure agronomist Vicenza, perhaps inspired the great scientist. Maybe they are formal, not decisive, since the concept of ether does not seem to be applied to the theory of relativity, but certainly the phrase that appears in the work of De Pretto 1904 (a year before Einstein published in Annalen der Physik his two famous works) is explanatory in this regard: "The matter of whatever a body contains in itself a sum of energy represented the entire mass of the body, which moved all united and collectively in space, with the same velocity of individual particles. [...] the mv formula gives us the strength and the living formula mv² gives us, expressed in calories, such energy.  Since m = lev equal to 300 million meters, which would be the speed of light, also admitted to the ether, everyone will see that you get a lot of calories represented by 10,794 followed by 9 zeroes that is, more than ten million million."

• Description in Italian
• English translation
• Prof. Bartocci answers questions about De Pretto

What Physics for the Next Century?: Prospects for Renewal, Open Problems, "Heretical" Truths; Proceedings of the International Conference (Convegno Internazionale), Ischia, Italy 1991

This book presents 26 papers concerning important fundamental questions in mathematics and physics. Is a line a continuum or a dense set of points? Is space empty or does it contain an ether? Is the ether a sea of virtual particles or a gravitational field? Does quantum theory say nature is actually unpredictable? Can alternative logics resolve paradoxes in physics? Are the space-time ideas of relativity tenable? Can absolute velocities be measured? Can conservation of energy be violated? Why are gravitational and inertial masses equal? Does mass really change with velocity? The authors do not agree with each other. Some accept relativity, while others say it is wrong. The observed force between suspended antennas and the results of many other experiments contradict Maxwell theory and special relativity and are predicted by classical Weber electrodynamics. Some claim quantum behavior is intrinsically unpredictable; while others claim microphysical reality and suggest crucial experiments to prove their point. There is a claim to having observed cold nuclear fusion in a spark discharge. There is a claim to having violated the conservation of momentum and energy experimentally. The Weber potential (so successful in electrodynamics) when applied to gravitation predicts the mass-times-acceleration force as an induction force due to the far mass in the universe, verifying Mach?s principle and proving the identity of gravitational and inertial mass. A unipolar device is described that is supposed to extract energy from space. The Weber potential also predicts the result of the Kaufmann-Bucherer experiments; so mass may not, in fact, vary with velocity. This book presents some new important concrete results. It may not provide the reader with the particular answers he seeks; but many of the important fundamental questions are presented; and it provides a gold mine of references to facilitate the search for further answers.

Contents:

• Giuseppe Antoni, Special Relativity as an Evolution of Classical Physics  1
• Prof. Andre K. T. Assis, Modern Experiments Related to Weber's Electrodynamics  8
• Giovanni Boniolo, E?tv?s Experiment, General Relativity and the Problems of Incommensurability  23
• Giuseppe Cannata, Mechanical Image of Electromagnetism  33
• Giuseppe Cannata, The Need for a Probabilistic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Cause and Results  53
• Prof. Jorge C. Cur?, On the Identity of Einstein's Cosmic Ether  61
• Francesco de Stefano, About a Gedankenexperiment to Test the Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics  82
• Dr. Georg Galeczki, About Inertial Frames of Reference, Velocities and Velocity-Dependent Masses  93
• Enrico Giannetto, La Logica Quantistica tra Fondamenti della Matematica e Fondimenti della Fisica  107
• Dr. Peter Graneau, Has the Mystery of Inertia Been Solved?  129
• Prof. Ludwig Kostro, Albert Einstein and the Ether  137
• Dr. Stefan Marinov, Violation of the Laws of Conservation of Angular Momentum and Energy  163
• Lorenzo Mencherini, On the Concept of Integrality in the Theory of Special Relativity  179
• Dr. Theodore D. Mitsopoulos, Disproof of Specila Relativity and Restoration of Classical Physics  183
• Panos T. Pappas, Non-Relativistic Forms of Antenna  203
• Erasmo Recami & Vilson Tonin-Zanchin, Fifth Force, Sixth Force, and All That: A Theoretical (Classical) Comment  215
• Dr. Waldyr Alves Rodrigues Jr. & Q. A. G. de Souza, The Status of the Principle of Relativity  221
• Torgny Sj?din, Real and Apparent Effects in Special Relativity  230
• di Francesco Speranza, La Riduzione di una Disciplina a un'Altra: una Strategia Generale?  237
• Omero Speri & Pietro Zorzi, Nuclear Fusion from Hydrogen and Its Isotopes in an Electric Discharge  248
• Paramahamsa Tewari, Physics and Technology of the Phenomenon of Space Power Generation  253
• Dr. Theodore D. Mitsopoulos, Diurnal Terrestial Aberration of Light  261
• Tito Tonietta, Continuum's Continuous Conflict  271
• Dr. Paul Wesley, Evidence for Weber-Wesley Electrodynamics  289
• Antonino Drago, The Two Options Generating Incommensurability Among Scientific Theories  344
• Dr. Franco Selleri, On the Possibility of a Rationalistic Approach to Microphysics  357