While India hasn’t achieved many laurels at the Olympics yet, an Indian scientist based in Allahabad bagged the biggest prize in the world of physics. Not your usual piece of news! We have heard about Indians based abroad receiving prizes in science and other fields, but seldom do we hear about a scientist based in a small town in the heart of India getting the biggest prize in the world of physics.
The Fundamental Physics Prize is in its inaugural year and so far nine physicists have been awarded for their path-breaking advances in physics. It was started this year by Russian billionaire and entrepreneur who selected the first nine winners for this $3million award. Other scientists who have been awarded the prize are Nima Arkani-Hamed, Alan Guth, Alexei Kitaev, Maxim Kontsevich, Andrei Linde, Juan Maldacena, Nathan Seiberg and Edward Witten. All the nine pioneer recipients have agreed to be on the selection committee for the future recipients of this prestigious prize.
This is encouraging news both for all physicists in the world as well as a proud moment for all Indians. It is the highest amount awarded as a prize for physicists. And the recognition of an Indian amongst the world’s foremost physicists is a real boost for all aspiring Indian physicists. This prize sets a precedent by recognizing the work of researchers in geographically diverse regions, thus, incentivizing younger researchers to work towards bigger scientific breakthroughs. Having an Indian and a Frenchman on the panel for selecting future recipients also ensures that research in different regions of the world will not be overlooked.
Ashoke Sen is a professor at the Harish Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad and has been awarded for his research in the string theory, which mainly unearths that Einstein’s justification of gravity is not in sync with the quantum theory, that is for “uncovering striking evidence of strong-weak duality in certain supersymmetric string theories and gauge theories, opening the path to the realization that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory.”
Three million US dollars as an award prize is an amazing aid for researchers and hopefully will improve the existing research facilities and pour in donations for the lesser known facilities in places other than the big cities like Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai or New Delhi. From here on, India is only moving closer towards unearthing a world changing phenomenon.
Image Source [http://www.infosys-science-foundation.com/images/laureates/ashoke-sen-new.jpg]