Ettore Majorana: His Scientific and Human Personality

This article reports part of the invited talk delivered by the author at the “International Conference on Majorana Legacy" held at the Department of Physics, University of Catania, Catania, Italy, on 5 and 6 Octorber, 2006: Conference organized for celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Italian theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana; probably the brightest Italian theoretician of the XX century (Enrico Fermi regarded him as the brightest in the world of his time), even if to many people Majorana is still known mainly for his misterious disappearance, in 1938, when he was 31. In this writing we outline the significance of some publications of his, as well as his life: the biographical data being based on letters, documents, testimonies discovered or collected by the author during almost 30 years, and contained in the book by Recami, "Il Caso Majorana: Epistolario, Testimonianze, Documenti" (initially published by Mondadori, Milan, and presently published, in 2002, by Di Renzo Editore, Rome). At last, some information and comments are added with regard to the manuscripts left unpublished by Majorana.