Teaching Theoretical Physics: the cases of Enrico Fermi and Ettore Majorana

Abstract

We report on theoretical courses by Fermi and Majorana, giving evidence of the first appearance and further development of Quantum Mechanics teaching in Italy. On the basis of original documents, we make a comparison between Fermi's and Majorana's approaches. A detailed analysis is carried out of Fermi's course on Theoretical Physics attended by Majorana in 1927-28. Three (previously unknown) programs on advanced Physics courses submitted by Majorana to the University of Rome between 1933 and 1936 and the course he held in Naples in 1938 complete our analysis: Fermi's phenomenological approach resounded in Majorana, who however combined it with a deeper theoretical approach, closer to the modern way of presenting Quantum Mechanics.

latex, 21 pages; a contribution in the centenary of the birth of Ettore Majorana

References in corpus (7)

• Majorana solution of the Thomas-Fermi equation
• Fermi, Majorana and the statistical model of atoms
• Following Weyl on Quantum Mechanics: the contribution of Ettore Majorana
• Majorana Neutrino Mixing
• Enrico Fermi and the discovery of neutron-induced radioactivity: a project being crowned
• Il corso di Fisica teorica di Ettore Majorana: il ritrovamento del Documento Moreno
• Una lezione particolare di Ettore Majorana

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Ettore Majorana and his heritage seventy years later
• The Scientific Manuscripts left Unpublished by Ettore Majorana (with outlines of his life and work)
• Radioactivity Induced by Neutrons: a Thermodynamic Approach to Radiative Capture