The appearance of the peculiar particle in superconducting wires was predicted in 2001 by KITP/Caltech physicist Alexey Kitaev \cite{Kitaev_2001}. First indications of the existence of the particle came from experiments conducted in 2012 at Delft University by the team of Leo Kouwenhoven \cite{Mourik_2012}, but only this latest work could put the discussion on the existence of the particle to rest. However this is just the start. The importance of the discovery is related to the special nature of the Majorana particle, which cannot possess intrinsic electric charge and has only a minimal interaction with electromagnetic fields. Therefore this makes the particle a potential candidate for dark matter, which is believed to make up for almost 85 percent of the mass content of the Universe, but so far eluded detection. Majorona particles, again due to their minimal interaction with the rest of the world, could also help scientists to build quantum computers. While nobody is really sure what happened to Ettore Majorana ("Ettore was too intelligent. If he has decided to disappear, no one will be able to find him" - E.Fermi \cite{Holstein_2009}), it is clear his legacy will keep driving important scientific progress for years to come.

Read more : Huffington Post
Read more (Technical): Scientific Article
Read more : Who is Ettore Majorana?