Something To Celebrate
Well, it has been a while since such a thing happened...
The news is (well, it is not really new news) Pinaki Majumdar of Harish Chandra Institute, Allahabad, has won the Bhatnagar award (India's topmost scientific award, awarded annually in several disciplines a la the Nobel) in Physics.
Actually, he won it in September last; just that I came to know of it only today. Of course, I knew all along he would get it; and over the last few years I have been occasionally googling with "pinaki majumdar bhatnagar". After a gap of a few months, I did so today and (inspite of the long delay in coming to know of it), I am quite thrilled.
Personally speaking, having been in Academia for a while (and in Physics), I could say the following: There are several Physics Bhatnagars who I know very well; and there are several Physics Bhatnagars who I *respect*. The uniqueness of Pinaki is that he is the *only one* who I can list in both these categories (and this uniqueness I guess will be permanent). Anyways, my next glass of strawberry wine will be raised in his honor and wishing him a long and fruitful journey ahead. Cheers!
The news is (well, it is not really new news) Pinaki Majumdar of Harish Chandra Institute, Allahabad, has won the Bhatnagar award (India's topmost scientific award, awarded annually in several disciplines a la the Nobel) in Physics.
Actually, he won it in September last; just that I came to know of it only today. Of course, I knew all along he would get it; and over the last few years I have been occasionally googling with "pinaki majumdar bhatnagar". After a gap of a few months, I did so today and (inspite of the long delay in coming to know of it), I am quite thrilled.
Personally speaking, having been in Academia for a while (and in Physics), I could say the following: There are several Physics Bhatnagars who I know very well; and there are several Physics Bhatnagars who I *respect*. The uniqueness of Pinaki is that he is the *only one* who I can list in both these categories (and this uniqueness I guess will be permanent). Anyways, my next glass of strawberry wine will be raised in his honor and wishing him a long and fruitful journey ahead. Cheers!
posted by R.Nandakumar @ 8:02 AM
2 Comments:
At 1:42 AM,
Karthik said…
Hi Nanda,
I belive India had a lot more quality physicists in the 60's and 70's than they have now. The reason is the total neglect of basic sciences and the mad rush for engineering seats..
But there are exceptions to this also, but to word the cliche, exceptions cannot be examples
At 4:49 AM,
R.Nandakumar said…
thanks karthik for visiting.
i am afraid i am not qualified to compare the present indian physicists to those of an earlier era, technically speaking. but i have always believed the present level of research in the country can be greatly improved if it moves out of exclusive 'institutes' to proper universities - again that is just a personal belief!
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