Post of the Day - Our Forgotten Scientists

Brain Drain is a serious issue in India. From high school, college to post-graduation, bright minds study in premier national institutes at subsidized fees (money of the taxpayers of course), only to migrate to other countries, especially in the field of science.

Those scientists who do stay back, are compelled to work in paucity of resources, inefficient government machinery, corrupt officials, deplorable laboratories and of course, negligible recognition. 

Today's post is dedicated to a few of these extremely talented scientists whose work has gone almost unnoticed and disappeared behind bollywood gossip, political propaganda and news oriented towards TRP and viewership.

ECG Sudershan

1. ECG Sudershan 

He made some significant contributions to many areas of Physics. He laid the foundation for several theories like electroweak theory, quantum representation of coherent light, etc. 

He was also the first one to bring to light 'tachyons' which are particles that travel faster than light.

He developed 'dynamical maps', one of the most primary tools to study open quantum system.

In 2005, he had to face unfair judgement twice regarding awarding of the Noble Prize, where another scientist Glauber, who initially criticized his work, eventually presented Sudershan's work in a different name and got the Nobel for the same.

In 1979 too, work which he developed as a 26-year old was used by three other scientists who were awarded the Nobel, with no recognition to Sudershan.

Narinder Singh Kapany

2. Narinder Singh Kapany

Very few of us know this, Fibre optics, used in high-speed connectivity and networking , especially for internet and Wifi, was in fact invented by Narinder Singh Kapany. However, Charles K Kao, who later developed on the idea, was awarded the Nobel for the concept.

Mansukh C Wani

3. Mansukh C. Wani

All of us are concerned about the rapidly increasing occurrence of cancer in people these days and recognize the need for an anti-cancer drug. I believe you didn't know this, that Masukh C. Wani, an Indian scientist, developed Taxon and Camptothecin, two standard vital drugs used in treatment to fight lung, breast, ovarian and colon cancers.

Jagdish Chandra Bose

4. Jagdish Chandra Bose

He first demonstarted wireless signalling, back in 1895! However, again, the Nobel and credits for the discovery were given to Marconi in 1909, 14 years after it was made.

Satyendra Nath bose

5. Satyendranath Bose

 

He made a path-breaking discovery on statistics of quanta of lights. His work was even appreciated and recognized by Einstein and the famous 'Bose-Einstein' statistics and the term 'Bosons' followed.

Later, three Nobel prizes were awarded for works based on this work, but the originator Bose himself never got one.

These are just a few instances. Let alone the prejudices and bias at international level, our own government does little to ensure they get justice or an appropriate environment to work within the country. 

Even our curriculum is based on mugging up and blindly following established rules, there is hardly any incentive, push or focus towards new research. And which is also a big reason why students run off to developed countries, where they get the apparatus and the opportunity to display their talent.