100 Reasons To Be A Scientist

One Hundred Reasons To Be A Scientist

(40^th Anniversary Volume of ICTP, Trieste, Italy)

Published by: Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy

Reviewed by: Prof. H. S. Virk, President Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT)

Pages: 263, Price: 3 Euro, 1^st Edition: Oct. 2004

The book under review is a 40^th anniversary volume of Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), which was founded by Professor Abdus Salam, Nobel Laureate, in Trieste in 1964. As the title suggests, the book contains 100 essays written by eminent scientists who were connected with ICTP during the 40 years since its inception. The galaxy of contributors to this volume include 25 Nobel Laureates, many Field Medallists, ICTP Dirac Medallists and other decorated scientists. Out of 100 selected contributors, 7 are of Indian origin. Most of the essays are written in the first person and revolve around the formative years in the life of the scientist. It mainly focuses on the trials and tribulations undergone by the scientists and their contributions to research.

              The opening essay of this volume is written by the late Professor Abdus Salam, narrating episodes of his student life, a scholarship to Cambridge University at the end of Second World War, his isolation in Lahore and return to Cambridge. Abdus Salam created ICTP to help Third World Scientists from developing countries. He had a prophetic vision and devoted his whole life in building up infrastructure at ICTP, for training of Third World scientists from all over the world. I had the privilege of visiting ICTP, almost a dozen times, first as a participant and later as a Senior Associate of ICTP. I feel delighted that the Director ICTP chose me as one of the contributors for the next volume of the series.

             Reading personal accounts of eminent scientists is an exhilarating experience for both students and teachers. Two decades ago, ICTP arranged special lectures by Nobel Laureates and this monograph was published by ICTP under the title, “My Life of Physics”. I believe this new volume is an extension of the same exercise at a bigger scale. Some of the common themes elaborated by most of the contributors are their adventure or accidental entry into field of science, rewarding experience of working in a world class laboratory helped by peers and reaching the pinnacle of their career resulting in Nobel Prize or some other distinction.

               It is not possible to quote from all essays included in this volume. Just for sake of citation, I choose from D. Allen Bromley’s essay, “A life of Literature, Science, Engineering, Business and Public Policy”. Professor Bromley describes vividly how he entered Queens University at Kingston in Canada by winning a national essay competition on the evils of alcohol. The family could not support his university education. Entering as a freshman in English literature, he shifted to Engineering Physics, then moved on to Nuclear Physics, became Chairman of Physics Department and Dean of Science Faculty at Yale University, Director of New York Stock Exchange Companies, ending up as Science Policy Advisor to the U.S President. In his own words: “Changes of field are actually important to maintaining intellectual interest and acuity and I would urge all scientists and engineers to consider spending some time in public policy and government activities as a small return for all the opportunities and activities that the public provides”.

                                I found equally or more interesting accounts given by some of the Nobel Laureates. ECG Sudarshan in his essay, “An Account of My Theoretical Physics Contributions” describes highlights of his research work. He ends his essay with remarks: “The great miracle is that the physical world can be understood in terms of mathematical models which can make predictions that could be verified by laboratory experiments. From the beginning of my career, I have been fascinated and even mystified by this”. CNR Rao was lucky to be brought up in Bangalore, a city famous for its Raman Research Institute and Indian Institute of Science. He was attracted to research even when he was in school after listening to Sir CV Raman, the Nobel Laureate. CNR Rao is a leading scientist of India involved in Science Policy and planning cell of Government of India. We have MGK Menon, JV Narlikar, K Kasturirangan, Roddam Narasimha and Partha Dasgupta, other Indian contributors to this special volume.

                        The most interesting essay by the Indian contributors is from Dasgupta: “The Making of an Academic Economist”. The author describes how he shifted from Physics to Economics in Cambridge University during his Ph.D; even without knowing an iota of economics. He is a leading economist in the world in the field of Ecological Economics. He is concerned with environmental ecology and developing world. There are more than a dozen women scientists included in the list of contributors to this volume.