Dr.N.Lakshminarayan, Associate Professor of Physics, MCC, gave an enlightening lecture on ‘The Physicists from MCC & Making of Modern India’ today (26 October 2012) at 9:30 am, to a packed audience at the Anderson Hall, with a host of distinguished luminaries, achievers, historians and scientists [all MCC-ians] among the audience, enlivening the session.
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| Dr.K.S.Krishnan [BA 1916-18] |
Physics has driven civilisations and transformed societies. Physics and Physicists have been at the root of everything. Today’s strategic thinking is based on nuclear power. Japan, after its recent natural disasters has charted a road map towards ‘zero’ nuclear energy by the year 2040. However, the Japanese Cabinet abstained from fully endorsing the zero-nuclear option, and a small number of new nuclear reactors remain under construction. The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022.
Choosing the adoption of solar energy vigorously, Germany came close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) mark a few times in recent weeks. We are one of the most highly skilled nations in nuclear technology and held with high esteem because of that. In space technology, we joined the race late but now we are among the top six – USA, Russia, Europe, China, Japan & India – in no particular order. Tamilnadu Government is now taking a bold and necessary initiative towards use of solar energy.
I chose to dwell on the above mentioned events to establish that Physicists are essentially needed by every Politician, Statesman or Government in trying to shape the destiny of one’s nation!
In this context of reckoning we shall realise that MCC Physicists have been some of the chief architects in the unfolding drama of India. I propose to talk about MCC Physicists who have shaken up scientific thinking, formulated strategies and effected them and have been a part of the bigger picture of Indian Science. We still continue to do that and to a recent rough count we know that in the past 40 years there are around 100 or more PhDs in Physics. Ten, fifteen years later, in another such meeting, you will hear many more names of the Physicists from MCC. I am talking of a world scenario. Recently, in 2009, when we held a regional seminar called ‘Vistas in Physics Research’ the four internationally acknowledged experts happened to be our alumni. A Professor invitee from another reputed college of Chennai said that only MCC could boast of such a ‘bench strength’. I cite this with great pride.
Many of MCC’s physicists have contributed and are doing so even now. Here, within the ambit of my own precarious scholarship I shall attempt to focus on just four of them in Indian Science, who have shaped scientific thinking and also played a key role in the management of the science & technology of India. Just the tip of the huge iceberg.
DR.K.S.KRISHNAN
Krishnan after his earlier studies came to Madras Christian College in 1916, where he studied in the science group II – physical sciences. He distinguished himself as a meritorious student by winning the Aberdeen Prize for Physical Sciences in 1918. He became a favourite of Alexander Moffat, professor of physical science and a great scholar. Moffat saw in Krishnan a rare flair for science and he did not want to lose him. So, soon after Krishnan finished his studies in BA, Moffat found an opening for him in the chemistry department of MCC, and prevailed upon the college authorities to offer him an appointment. Prof. Moffat and Prof. Barnes tried to get Krishnan a permanent position at the Kodaikanal Observatory, but due to some protracted sequence of events, that fell through. Krishnan, then decided to complete his MSc in Physics at Calcutta University and continue in CV Raman’s lab at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. His interests were not confined to research alone. He avidly read books on literature, religion and philosophy. He played a significant role in the discovery of Raman Effect for which Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930. Known for his experimental skills, he was equally adept in theoretical work also.
This amazing corpus of work (that also required the ability to create the labs enabling such extensive research) won K.S. Krishnan the admiration of his fellow scientists both in India and internationally, the absolute devotion of his students, and the admiration of his countrymen, Jawaharlal Nehru being one of them. His various trips to Europe starting in the late thirties also sharpened his awareness of the role of science in the industrial development of the country.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1940. By accepting the role of Physics Chair in Allahabad in 1942, he ended up moving close to the national centre of activity and became part of the core group of scientists selected by Nehru to shape India as a modern industrialized nation. He was knighted in 1946. After opening the thirty fourth annual session of the Indian Science Congress in Dehli, Nehru, now Vice-President of the interim National Government, made it clear to K.S. Krishnan that he wanted him to not only work for science, but also for the country. Just before India’s independence he was invited to take up the position of the Director, National Physical Laboratory (NPL) set up by free India, at New Delhi. From then on K.S. Krishnan played a critical role and was associated with the most important scientific and educational organizations in the country. He became an influential figure in multiple international science organizations. In the late forties and early fifties Krishnan spent considerable time working with the CSIR[Council of Scientific and Industrial Research],UGC [University Grants Commission], AEC [Atomic Energy Commission], and several other important government agencies.
The first Indian Nuclear Reactor went critical at 15:45 hrs. on Saturday, Aug 4, 1956. That event marked the beginning of the Indian Nuclear programme. It was Pandit Nehru, along with the Commission member,Dr.K.S.Krishnan, who named this reactor, APSARAseeing the beautiful Cerenkov radiation that could be seen in the pool. Apsara truly served as the cradle for the development of nuclear technology in the country.
RAJA RAMANNA
Raja Ramanna was a multifaceted personality – an eminent nuclear physicist, a highly accomplished technologist, an able administrator, an inspiring leader, a gifted musician, a scholar of Sanskrit literature and philosophy, and above all a completed human being. He made important contributions, both theoretical and experimental, in various areas of nuclear physics. He was not a so-called ivory tower scientist.
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| Dr.Raja Ramanna |
Dr.Ramanna played a leading role in organizing physics and reactor physics programmes at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay. He was a young reactor physicist in the team under Bhabha, when India’s first research reactor, Apsara, was commissioned on August 04, 1956. As a part of the studies relating to the design and construction of Apsara, India’s first reactor, Ramanna studied the process of neutron thermalisation in several moderating assemblies. Apsara, once commissioned, made intense thermal neutron beams available for basic research.
The stochastic theory of fragment mass and charge distributions in fission is a unique contribution of Ramanna to fission theory.
Dr Bhabha and Dr. Ramanna realized that the universities had become rather ineffectual in imparting useful science education. They did not want to deplete the universities of the few good teachers by recruiting them directly. They started the training school in August 1957. Ramanna chaired the training school co-ordination committee from the very beginning. At the informal meetings, he listened to the trainees carefully and spoke quietly. He spiced his talk with funny anecdotes. Each one of the trainees felt that he was talking to them individually. The training programme helped to harmonize the standards of students from different universities.
Directly or indirectly, he helped to build up a number of institutions in the country. He also played a leadership role in other important nuclear programs such as the Dhruva reactor & IGCAR. In the early 1980s he took the initiative for setting up a Centre for Advanced Technology at Indore, devoted to the development for advanced accelerators, lasers and other related technologies. which has been renamed as the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, in his honour. He helped to establish the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VEC) at Kolkata. He was the founder- Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) at Bangalore established by JRD Tata.
Raja Ramanna occupied many prestigious positions. In whichever capacity he worked, he worked with a missionary zeal.
India’s first peaceful nuclear [PNE] experiment was carried out underground in the Rajasthan desert on May 18, 1974 under his leadership. As Ramanna later pointed out, “The Pokhran experiment was a landmark in the history of nuclear research in the country. It was an assertion of the technological advancement India had determined to perfect in the post-independence era.”
E.C. GEORGE SUDARSHAN
EC George had an inclination to master mathematical techniques, as a student at MCC, and showed early glimpses of his extraordinary intellect and scientific curiosity. As a student, he took part in the experiments with cosmic rays that were conducted by TIFR in the MCC campus. After his BSc Honours he was on the faculty for some time, before he left to TIFR and then the world, to what is now the chronicled history of one of the world’s greatest scientists, from MCC.
Prof. ECG is a Senior Professor at University of Texas at Austin after earlier stints at Syracuse and Harvard.
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| Dr.ECG.Sudarshan |
As Rodger M Walser says, “George and Bob Marshak’s formulation of the V-A theory for the weak nuclear interactions was erroneously assigned to Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann”, even though the entire scientific community knew that ECG was the first contributor! It really did not matter what Feynman felt, and always stated, that ECG should have also shared the Award.
In fact, Marshak acknowledged the originality of ECG’s contribution during the 60th birthday celebrations of ECG at Univeristy of Texas at Austin: “ . .George Sudarshan’s thesis problem turned out to be so exciting that his professor entered as part-time participant. This was easy to do because George was brought up in the Indian tradition which instils great respect on the part of the student towards his teacher. . . .” He further explains his three cardinal blunders and asks for the forgiveness of them , which, “ will purge your soul[and mine] of the pain associated with the V_A theory and enable you to remember with undiluted intellectual joy the triumphs of the V-A theory”.
Recently, in 2005, the Royal Swedish Academy declared that Professor Roy J. Glauber of Harvard University shared the NOBEL “for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence”. Many of Sudarshan’s colleagues, round the world, were shocked by this glaring mistake. His seminal and singular role in the development of this theory was well known. The fact of the matter was that "While the distinction of introducing coherent states as basic entities to describe optical fields certainly goes to Glauber, the possibility of using them to describe `all' optical fields (of all intensities) through the diagonal representation is certainly due to Sudarshan. “Give unto Glauber only what is his."
He has visited MCC many times and more importantly he agreed to come down in 2008, to receive a citation from his alma mater. More recently, in 2011, he inaugurated the Apple Tree lectures series. It was such a warm sight to see him become emotional as he remembered his favourite teachers at MCC. In 2010, he shared the Dirac Medal for his contributions to Physics. An entire volume, 196[1], 2009, in the Conference series of the Journal of Physics, published by the Institute of Physics, London had been compiled from the conference proceedings to honour ECG’s contributions to Physics entitled: Sudarshan : Seven Science Quests.
Prof.ECG’s range of achievements is noteworthy in the sense of its impact on Physics and the strong presence of an Indian Scientist in World Science. Professor Sudarshan is one the greatest scientists India has ever produced. He joins Ramanujan, Raman, Bose or Chandrasekhar as outstanding Indian scientists of our century. He would always be an inspiration for the young Indians and MCCians, in particular. His contribution to Indian Science and the making of India is an irrefutable fact.
G RAJASEKARAN
‘The seniormost active high energy physicist’ in the nation, sums up the value of this gentleman from MCC. Greatness sits lightly on his self effacing personality. A BSc Honours from MCC, 1954-57, he was the Homi Bhabha Medal winner of DAE, as the I Rank holder of the First Batch of BARC Training School. He quailified for his PhD from the University of Chicago [1961-64], the place where Fermi enacted the first man made controlled fission reaction.
Prof.Rajasekaran has held various positions at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1958-76). He has held the position of Prof. and Head, Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Madras, 1976-84 and been the Joint Director & Distinguished Professor at Institute of Mathematical Sciences,1984-2001.
Rajasekaran's main areas of interest have been quantum field theory and high energy physics. His early work with Dalitz led to the discovery of shadow poles that removed a serious obstacle to the application of broken symmetry concepts and also reformulated a basic tenet of S-matrix theory. He also envisaged the possibility of molecular hadrons and gave an empirical test for their identification; conjectured the confinement of massless Yang- Mills quanta much before the advent of QCD; performed the first model-independent analysis of the weak neutral current data; elucidated the remarkable consequences of QCD with integrally-charged quarks; discovered the non-validity of equivalent photon method for the production of charged particles of spin greater than half; discovered many new forms of quantum statistics including orthostatistics; and formulated a theory of generalized Fock spaces. He was the first to do a complete analysis of neutrino oscillation [around the mid-nineties] data including solar, atmospheric and reactor neutrinos and thus got the upper bound on the reactor angle. He constructed the popular A4 model of neutrino mass matrix, and published more than 170 papers. He is now a DAE-BRNS Senior Scientist at IMSc and also Adjunct Professor at Chennai Mathematical Institute. A Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Science Academy of India. Prof.Rajasekaran is a recipient of Meghnad Saha Award (of UGC), FCCI Award for Physical Sciences including Mathematics and SN Bose Medal of INSA.
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| Dr.G.Rajasekaran |
(i) PUSHEP near OOTY & (ii) RAMMAM near DARJEELING
Pottipuram in Bodi West hills of Theni District of Tamil Nadu is now the location for the site, which has been cleared by the Indian government, after careful consideration.
Presently, around 25 National Institutions/Universities are collaborating and the INO Graduate training programme is being used to generate trained personnel for manning the Lab related activities. Over the years this underground facility is expected to develop into a full-fledged underground science laboratory for other studies in physics, biology, geology, hydrology etc. Development of detector technology and its varied applications is an important aspect of the project.
As it is, the inability to proceed with the project at the original Nilgiris site has set back the project by at least six seven years. Consequently, China has upstaged INO in one of its main science goals. Only in 2004 — two years after the INO proposal — did China propose an experiment to use neutrinos from a nuclear reactor at Daya Bay and a detector located in an underground tunnel under a nearby hill. That experiment started taking data last year and, in March 2012, measured a key unknown parameter relating to oscillation between tau-neutrino and electron-neutrino. This was subsequently verified in April by a similar Korean experiment, RENO, initiated in 2006. It also began operation last year. The already much-delayed and important physics project can do without another needless controversy at this point of time.
India was a pioneer in neutrino physics.The very first detection of atmospheric neutrinos was made in the Kolar Gold Field (KGF) mines in South India in 1965. These are the neutrinos produced in the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays and hence are called atmospheric neutrinos. The KGF laboratory was closed in the 90s because of the closure of the KGF mines. It is the further study of these cosmicray-produced neutrinos that led the Japanese physicists to discover neutrino oscillations and their leader M. Koshiba to win the Nobel Prize in 2002. We in India missed the boat. Can we recover the lost initiative? We can and we must. The India based Neutrino Observatory (INO) has been conceived with this objective in view. The reactor angle whose upper bound was found 15 years ago in Chennai was determined only this year by Daya Bay and RENO. The rather large value of this angle gives strong impetus to INO to pursue without delay its original goal of determining the neutrino mass ordering and also to participate in the long baseline neutrino programmes aiming to fix the matter–antimatter symmetry violating phase which is of cosmological importance. Chennai was one of the earliest to initiate a comprehensive study of both solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations using the full mixing among the three types of neutrinos.
IN CONCLUSION
It has been my good fortune that I have had personal contact with three of them. I have touched them. The first, Dr.K.S.Krishnan, of course, was far ahead of my years. On a personal note it is worth recording that all of them are giants and one can only look up to them in awe. But, as MCCians, they would always talk to me as if we were equals, which is quite an unacceptable fact. That is the greatness of this campus and I wish that it shall never wane.
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