Teaching theoretical physics: The cases of Enrico Fermi and Ettore Majorana

Abstract

We report on theoretical courses by Enrico Fermi and Ettore Majorana, which give evidence of the first appearance and further development of quantum mechanics teaching in Italy. On the basis of original documents, we compare Fermi and Majorana’s approaches. A detailed analysis is made 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 taught in Naples in 1938 complete our analysis. Fermi’s phenomenological approach resounded in Majorana, who combined it with a deeper theoretical approach, closer to the contemporary way of presenting quantum mechanics.

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