The Hindu : National : Nobel laureate on a mission

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Friday, Dec 07, 2007
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Nobel laureate on a mission

Staff Correspondent

Seeks to make young minds take keen interest
in research
Some discoveries came about through careful design

Belgaum: Nobel laureate Sheldon Lee Glashow, in his first-ever talk on Indian soil on Thursday, not only posed a question, “Does science evolve through blind chance or intelligent design,” but also gave a quick answer.

He was addressing a gathering of eminent academicians, faculty members of universities and students at the launch of the Honeywell Nobel Initiative Lecture Series (December 6 and 7) on the Jnana Sangama campus of the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) here.

In fact, he is on a mission to make young minds take keen interest in research and basic sciences by directly interacting with students in group discussions.

Speaking on “Blind chance or intelligent design: The need for basic research,” the American physicist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1979, observed that some scientific discoveries, such as X-ray and penicillin, were unexpected.

“Kantian mode”

But the discovery of streptomycin and the advances in the nuclear field resulted from targeted and premeditated research, and came about through careful design in what he described as “Kantian mode”.

He spoke of the important scientific discoveries in recent centuries and spoke on Kantian and Serendipitous procedures.

He said the importance of these two procedures must be kept in mind not only by aspiring scientists, but also government and industrial agencies that seek to foster scientific progress.

He pointed out that Italian scientist Enrico Fermi, while setting himself out to see what would happen when different elements were bombarded with neutrons, found that a neutron striking a large nucleus was often absorbed. The heavier and unstable isotope thus formed soon transmuted itself into an element one step higher in the periodic table.

Wondering what would happen if neutrons struck uranium, Fermi concluded in 1934 that he had produced elements number 93 and 94 to which he gave “charming, but forgotten” names “Ausenium” and “Hesperium.” Subsequently, he was awarded Nobel Prize for Physics 1938 “for his demonstration of the existence of new radioactive elements.”

Dr. Glashow was all the praise for the two great Indian physicists and Nobel laureates, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and C.V. Raman.

Concluding from what he described as disjointed incidents of travel through the history of science, he observed that modern scientists rarely consulted classical philosophers.

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