La scomparsa di Maìorana is one of the most thought provoking and controversial books written by Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia. The book is based on a chronicle report in La stampa on the alleged death of Italian physicist Ettore Maìorana in 1938. Sciascia collects fragmentary news on the facts, the statements of the persons close to Maìorana and re-examines them personally. Through these documents Sciascia outlines in an effective manner the peculiar personality of the scientist. The author believes that Maìorana had discovered the formula to build atom bomb much before its official realisation but he did not reveal it because he had had premonition of its dire outcomes. This literary proposition provoked a fierce controversy between Sciascia and other scientists who had either taught Maìorana or worked with him.