The Hindu : National : 'Introduce theory of Special Relativity as a school subject'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

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National

'Introduce theory of Special Relativity as a school subject'

By Our Special Correspondent

Explaining a scientific point is Alladi Ramakrishnan, founder-director (retired), MATSCIENCE. To his right is Krishnaswami Alladi, Chairman, Department of Mathematics, University of Florida. They were participating in a function organised by the Alladi Centenary Foundation and ASRAMA to mark the centenary of Einstein's theory of `Special Relativity' in Chennai on Thursday. — Photo: N. Balaji

CHENNAI, DEC. 30. Renowned mathematician and founder-director (retired) of `MATSCIENCE,' Alladi Ramakrishnan, today appealed to school managements in the State to introduce Einstein's theory of `Special Relativity' as a subject in their institutions.

Addressing a meeting here to mark the centenary of the formulation of `Special Relativity,' he said the State should show the way to the country by attracting young talent to the theory, which had space-time unity as one of its themes.

Dubbing `Special Relativity' the "royal entrance for physics and mathematics," he said Chennai had been a tremendous reservoir of mathematical talent, where the theory could be taught after school hours. He appealed to young aspirants to mathematical careers to develop a passion for solving problems.

Boyhood passion

Prof. Alladi Ramakrishnan, who threw light on his book on `Special Relativity' to be published next month, said the theory was his boyhood passion that continued throughout his academic life.

It took 20 years of contemplation after reading Einstein's Meaning of Relativity before he could write his first paper, "Einstein, a natural completion of Newton" in 1971, deriving the Lorentz transformation from Einstein's velocity transformation formula.

"The subject of space-time unity is like a lovely English garden with every flower, leaf and shrub in its appointed place revealing new delights to the ramblers on its grounds."

In his effort to understand space-time unity, he came up with a new and simpler approach known as the "Rod Approach," in which the Lorentz Transformation was used as the entry point to the grand theory, he said.

'Focus on difficult questions'

Krishnaswami Alladi, chairman, Department of Mathematics, University of Florida, who spoke on mathematics as a lifetime passion, stressed the need to contemplate on deep and difficult questions for many years in order to make significant progress. Mathematics was a lifetime passion or obsession for geniuses such as Abel and Ramanujam, as they pursued it in spite of difficulties that plagued their lives. He commended the efforts of some educational institutions in the State to ensure the flow of young talent into mathematics by organising mathematical Olympiads and instituting awards in the name of Ramanujam.

The function was organised by the Alladi Centenary Foundation and the Aswathanarayana Setty Society for Research Aspirants for Mathematical Achievements (ASRAMA).

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