6th July 2012 New Delhi, India
Higgs Boson: an international success with Indian ingredients
As excitement built around this week’s announcement of the latest results from the Large Hadron Collider, I wondered whether we ought to be using this blog to mark the occasion in some way. With scientists asking people not to speculate too much about what the result might be, I was pretty sure we ought to wait for results. And once they were out, it was obvious enough would be written elsewhere.
Instead, as someone who works to promote international collaboration in science, I thought I would wait and use this space to share some of things I’ve read in the past few days and particularly enjoyed…
The BBC carried a series of reactions from eminent scientists (including a video from Professor Stephen Hawking) about what the findings mean. Debates on who should win the Nobel Prize, or have roads named after them, will go on for some time. But whichever way you look at it, the announcement at CERN is a triumph of international collaboration. CERN have helpfully listed every country involved, and it makes impressive reading. Even the name Higgs-Boson demonstrates the international dimension to science. Professors Peter Higgs and Satyendra Nath Bose, from the UK and India, each had break-though insights combined and now borne out by an international experiment.
However, as with all eponymous discoveries, the name only tells part of the story. As the Deccan Herald pointed out, the Indian connection doesn’t end with Bose and the Bose-Einstein condensate (takes me back to half remembered Quantum Mechanics 1 in my first year…). India has helped fund the LHC and many Indian scientists have been involved with interpreting the results.
The contributions the UK and India each made to the LHC and CERN are helpfully summarised on CERN’s website. You can also see which of the many institutions in each country are collaborating on the results. I often think however, that when you break down science into money spent, and the august names of the institutions involved, you lose sight of that fact that scientific discovery is a deeply human endeavour. With that in mind, I’ll finish by pointing to you towards some of CERN’s people and the videos they’ve been posting about how their work. Who better to hear from this week?
really great work Mr. tom
Several people have emailed in to ask what the higgs boson is (or why we wanted to find it). There are a million explanations out there on the web but here are two of my favourites:
– Former UK science minister, William Waldegrave, offered a prize in 1993 for the best lay explanation of the Higgs boson. Professor David Miller, of UCL, won the prize with the following analogy: [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18707698 ]
– And this is a very detailed explanation (for those who really want to know more) from Steven Weinberg: [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/opinion/weinberg-why-the-higgs-boson-matters.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all ]
Respected Tom, thanks for the EXCELLENT and REASONABLE information about Higgs Boson.
Respected Tom, i gone through http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-08/special-report/32587911_1_god-particle-higgs-boson-particle-physics.
The ‘Ramachandran plots’ [ http://proteopedia.org/wiki/index.php/Ramachandran_Plots ] by G N Ramachandran (1922- 2001), the Great Physicist [ http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/gnramachandran%20.htm ] , are used by every biophysicist while studying proteins. The angles from a Ramachandran plot are useful not only for determining a amino acids’ role in secondary structure but can also be used to verify the solution to a crystal structure. Furthermore, it assists with constraining structure prediction simulations and helps with defining energy functions. His triple-helix structure of collagen is a classic discovery worth a Nobel. Ramachandran should be considered the father of NMR and CT scan.
In the same way, Dr. Lalji Singh [ http://laljisingh.indianscholars.org/biography/ ] and his colleagues developed a probe called Bkm-derived probe for DNA fingerprinting which brought CCMB to limelight. Since then this probe is being extensively used for forensic investigation, paternity determination and seed stock verification. For the first time in the annals of Indian history DNA fingerprinting evidence was presented in the court of law. The Kerala High Court upheld the verdict and since then this indigenous technique has been used in more than 300 cases including sensational cases such as assassination of the Late Prime Minister of India Shri. Rajiv Gandhi etc. This fetched him and his group CSIR Technology Award for the year 1992 for biological sciences [ http://www.ccmb.res.in/staff/lalji/ ]. His areas of his research interest involves molecular basis of sex determination, DNA fingerprinting, wildlife conservation, silkworm genome analysis, human genome and ancient DNA studies. He was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2004.
E. Premkumar Reddy, a biologist, has published over 250 papers. The most notable of his findings are the molecular cloning and sequence determination of a number of viral oncogenes and their cellular homologues. In collaboration with Mariano Barbacid, he was also one of the first to demonstrate that ras genes are activated in human cancers by point mutations. His most recent findings include the generation of A-myb and CDK4 null mutant mice and delineation of the apoptotic mechanisms associated with hematopoietic cell death. His recent work centers around the role of cell cycle and apoptotic genes in cancer progression and as targets for the development of novel anticancer drugs. This work has led to the development of novel therapeutic agents that can differentially induce apoptosis in tumor cells and spare normal cells. One of the drugs developed by his team (ON01910/Estybon) is currently in Phase II clinical trials and shows promise as a powerful anti-cancer agent, especially for the treatment of Myelo Dysplastic Syndrome (MDS). According to data published in 2000 by the Institute of Scientific Information, which compiled the list of most highly cited authors, Dr. Reddy was amongst the top 0.5% of the most highly cited authors in the world [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Premkumar_Reddy ].
These Scientists are Gems in the Scientific World and Gems have their own status, value, energy, power and light. They were, they are and they will remain the LEADERS for the Current and Future Generations of achievers. I am VERY THANKFUL to you, Respected TOM, that you made me to go through the biographies of these Great World Scientists.
Regards
Dear Prabhat, I hope you’re right – Professor Higgs didn’t think he’d see his theory borne out in his lifetime and look what happened there! That’s the beauty of science you never quite know what the answer will be, or when it will come. Best wishes
Thanks Tom for quick reply.
Have a nice day.
Regards
Prabhat ( http://www.twitter.com/redtapemovement )
Thank you very much for your comment Prabhat, and I’m glad you like the post!
I thought you would be interested to know that Edinburgh University has announced a new centre in theoretical physics [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/06/prof-higgs-nice-right-boson ] to be named after Professor Higgs. Although I’m afraid even with the addition of a prestigious new centre we may struggle to answer some of the questions you’ve posed in my lifetime!
I thought you might also be interested in an article the Sunday Times ran looking at other Indian scientists who deserve recognition [ http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-08/special-report/32587911_1_god-particle-higgs-boson-particle-physics ].
On a related subject, the nominations for the international Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering [ http://www.raeng.org.uk/prizes/qeprize/ ] are still open and it would be great to see some of India’s finest engineers being nominated! Mr Narayana Murthy on the judging panel for the prize.
Best wishes,
Tom
Thanks Tom for reply. Actually, my questions are not impossible to answer; i think the level of research going on will give answers to my questions at cumulative rate. Hoping our scientists will be able to find the answers of my questions, in our life. Best wishes. Have a nice day, Tom.
Regards
Respected Tom, First of all, my CONGRATULATIONS to SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY which discovered Higgs Boson particles. Respected Prof. Peter Higgs, the GREAT Physicist and CERN [Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire] should be awarded with NOBEL PRIZE.
World Scientific Community MUST also be thankful to two great scientists of their time, named- Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose, for their contributions to Quantum statistics; providing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. The class of particles known as “Bosons” is named after Bose. Although more than one Nobel Prize was awarded for research related to the concepts of the boson, Bose–Einstein statistics and Bose–Einstein condensate—the latest being the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics, which was given for advancing the theory of Bose–Einstein condensates, Bose himself was not awarded the Nobel Prize [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyendra_Nath_Bose ].
Higgs Boson is NOT the end of the journey; it is just the starting. There are MANY QUESTIONS which are waiting for the answers and proof, such as:
1.who is the maker of Boson and other sub-atomic particles, in the Universe?
2.Why Universe came into existence?
3.What was the immediate need to make Universe and by WHOM?
4.How Energy originated and why?
5.Is there the existence of SUPREME AUTHORITY which is controlling all these events going-on?
Discovery of Higgs Boson particle is a GREAT ACHIEVEMENT before the World Community; BUT, it will take many more years to end the story about the “UNIVERSE- why, how and by whom?”
Tom, my SPECIAL THANKS for the EXCELLENT ARTICLE and your love to India and regard to the contribution of Indian Scientists to CERN project.
Regards