Current Science

T. V. Ramakrishnan ¹

Affiliations
1 Centre for Condensed Matter Theory, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, IN

Abstract

No Abstract.

Full Text

   

T. V. Ramakrishnan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, IN

Abstract

This year's Nobel Prize in physics is for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter. It honours people whose pioneering work began the ongoing realization of the crucial role that topology can play in condensed matter systems. The announcement says 'The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 is awarded with one half to David J. Thouless, University of Washington, Seattle and the other half to F. Duncan M. Haldane, Princeton University and J. Michael Kosterlitz, Brown University, Providence. Their discoveries have brought about breakthroughs in the theoretical understanding of condensed matter's mysteries and created new perspectives on the development of innovative materials.'

Full Text

   

A. K. Ganguli ¹, T. V. Ramakrishnan ²

Affiliations
1 Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Sector-64, Mohali 160 062, IN
2 Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, IN

Abstract

Bharat Ratna Professor Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao (C. N. R. Rao), now in his 83rd year, a passionate and dedicated scientist, is a multi-faceted living legend. He is the only living Indian scientist who is a Bharat Ratna (gem of India), the country's highest civilian honour. It was awarded to him for his lifelong commitment to high quality science, his exemplary achievement, and his leadership over decades. Rao ranks easily as one of the most prominent chemists of the world. Typically, a living legend in the academic world is a figure who inspires students and colleagues with his insights, attitudes and work.

Full Text

   

T. V. Ramakrishnan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, IN

Abstract

As a person who has been in one Indian higher education institution or another all his life, also having grown up in the campus of one such, some views on higher education have inevitably lodged themselves inside me. This is a subject on which each of us has strong and different views. Such differences and even clashes of view are welcome (action would be even more welcome). I put down some thoughts here; the general spirit is of thinking globally and acting locally. I hope that some local action will result somewhere, sometime soon, from some of you. I will focus here on what I regard as the natural centrepiece of higher education, namely the university. I have a sinking feeling, commonly shared, that over the decades we have witnessed a great decline in these institutions, both in their 'radius' of action, and in the creation of knowledge through them.

Full Text

   

T. V. Ramakrishnan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, IN

Abstract

The long and amazing life journey of Walter Kohn ended in its 94th year on 19 April.

Walter Kohn was born in 1923 in Vienna, Austria, and during the tumultuous period of 1938-1945, lost his home, his parents, was interned in two continents, lost his chosen first career of a farmer (he wanted to be one, having seen too many intellectuals without work) and found himself set on the life path of a professional physicist, as his theoretical talents unfolded.

Full Text

   

T. V. Ramakrishnan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN

Abstract

This volume is one in the mega series brought out by the Centre for Studies in Civilizations, New Delhi, under the general editorship of D. P. Chattopadhyaya, an eminent professor of Philosophy and founder Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. In the general introduction to this series, Chattopadhyaya mentions: ‘The aim of this project is to discover the main aspects of Indian culture and present them in an interrelated way.’ The reviewer knows of the following science and India-related volumes, science being considered an integral part of culture and being a real component of the project: ‘India in the world of physics; then and now’, ‘Science in India’, and ‘Science and modern India: an institutional history’. That the present volume on ‘modern atomism’ is a part of this series is a tribute to the depth and breadth of the undertaking. The editor, J. Pasupathy, who spent his professional life mostly in the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, begins by stating in the Preface, ‘The collection of articles in this volume deals with the following questions: Which are the fundamental particles with which our universe is made? What are the laws that govern their dynamics? What is “space” and what is “time”?’ This interpretation of modern atomism, and consequent thematic emphasis have resulted in the above book of nearly 600 quarto-sized pages.

Full Text

   

G. Parthasarathy ¹, T. V. Ramakrishnan ²

Affiliations
1 School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bengaluru 560 012, IN
2 Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, IN

Abstract

Professor E. S. Raja Gopal, popularly known as ESR to all of us, a well-known experimental condensed matter physicist of the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru passed away on 15 November 2018 at the IISc campus. His demise brings to an end of an era of high-quality indigenously trained physicists with a lifetime commitment to the subject and to its spread in the country (of the sort IISc seemed to host in numbers). He was an exemplar, in the sixties and seventies, of world-class instrumentation confronting cutting-edge problems of physics under conditions of almost no financial support.

Full Text

   

G. Baskaran ¹, T. V. Ramakrishnan ²

Affiliations
1 Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai 600 113, India Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, CA
2 Indian Institute of Science, Benglauru 560 012, IN

Abstract

With the passing away of Robert Schrieffer a few days ago, one of the pioneering figures in modern theoretical physics is no more. Schrieffer, as a Ph D student, working with his mentor John Bardeen and postdoctoral colleague Leon Cooper, gave to the world the microscopic theory of superconductivity in 1957. (Their theory, unbreakably supported by a host of experiments, is considered the gold standard for the atomic-level understanding of the behaviour of electrons in matter, indeed of all fermions.) The flow of electrical current without any resistance, suddenly turning on in a very cold metal (close to, but above the absolute zero of temperature) is one of the most spectacular and mysterious phenomena in physical sciences. Discovered in 1911, its seductive appeal lured almost all the great names of physics into (unsuccessful) efforts at making sense of the phenomenon.

Full Text

   

G. Baskaran ¹, V. N. Muthukumar ², K. A. Muttalib ³, T. V. Ramakrishnan ⁴

Affiliations
1 Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai 600 113, IN
2 Physicists Without Ascription, Chennai 600 017, IN
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Florida State University, Gainesville, Florida, US
4 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN

Abstract

P. W. Anderson, an epochal figure in Physics, passed away on 29 March 2020, at the age of 96, at Princeton, NJ, USA. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977 (which he shared with N. F. Mott and J. H. van Vleck ‘for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems’). Anderson was named the most creative living physicist in a statistical survey in 2006. His foundational contributions, perhaps more than those of anyone else, transformed the field of condensed matter physics from obscurity to prominence. Even the name ‘Condensed matter physics’ is due to him¹ .

Full Text

   

T. V. Ramakrishnan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India; Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, IN

Abstract

Professor Shri Krishna Joshi, who passed away on 15 May 2020, was a remarkable physicist, human being and leader of science in India. He was among the handful of scientists who started their professional life in the early years after independence, grew to prominence and became one of the leaders of science in India. Among them, he was notable for his special combination of professional and personal qualities. His demise leaves a void that is difficult to fill.

Full Text

   

G. Parthasarathy ¹, T. V. Ramakrishnan ², V. Narayanamurti ³

Affiliations
1 School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bengaluru 560 012, IN
2 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN
3 School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., US

Abstract

No Abstract.

Keywords

No Keywords

Full Text