| George Sudarshan | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 16, 1931 Pallam, Kottayam district, Kerala, India |
| Residence |  U.S. |
| Nationality |  India |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Institutions | University of Texas at Austin Indian Institute of Science IMSc Harvard University University of Rochester TIFR |
| Alma mater | University of Madras TIFR University of Rochester |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Marshak |
| Doctoral students | Mohammad Aslam Khan Khalil |
| Known for | Sudarshan-Glauber representation V-A theory of the weak force Tachyons |
| Notable awards | Padma Vibhushan (2007) Majorana Prize (2006) Third World Academy of Sciences Prize (1985) Bose Medal (1977) CV Raman Award (1970) |
Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan (born September 16, 1931), also E.C.G. Sudarshan, is a prominent Indian American physicist, author, and professor at The University of Texas at Austin.
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Early life
George Sudarshan was born in Pallam, Kottayam district, Kerala, India. He graduated with honours from the Madras Christian College in 1951. He obtained his master's degree at the University of Madras (India) in 1952. Then he moved to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and worked there for a brief period with Homi Bhabha as well as others. Subsequently he moved to University of Rochester in New York with Robert Marshak as a graduate student. In 1958, he received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Rochester.
Career
Sudarshan has made significant contributions to several areas of physics. He was the originator (with Robert Marshak) of the V-A theory of the weak force (also done later by Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann), which eventually paved the way for the electroweak theory. Feynman said in 1963 : "The V-A theory that was discovered by Sudarshan and Marshak, publicized by Feynman and Gell-Mann".[1]
He also developed a quantum representation of coherent light (for which Glauber was awarded the 2005 Nobel).
Sudarshan's most significant work might be his contribution to the field of quantum optics. His theorem proves the equivalence of classical wave optics to quantum optics. The theorem makes use of the Sudarshan representation. This representation also predicts optical effects that are purely quantum, and cannot be explained classically.
Sudarshan has made significant contributions to many other fields of physics. He was the first to propose the existence of tachyons, particles that travel faster than light. He developed formalism called dynamical maps that is one of the most fundamental formalism to study the theory of open quantum system. He, in collaboration with Baidyanaith Misra, also proposed the quantum Zeno effect[2].
He has taught at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), University of Rochester, Syracuse University, and Harvard. From 1969 onwards, he has been a Professor of Physics at The University of Texas at Austin and a Senior Professor at the Indian Institute of Science. He worked as the Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), Chennai, India for five years during the 1980s dividing his time between India and USA. During his tenure, he transformed it into a centre of excellence. He also met and held many discussions with philosopher J Krishnamurti.
His areas of interest include elementary particle physics, quantum optics, quantum information, quantum field theory, gauge field theories, classical mechanics and foundations of physics. He is also deeply interested in Vedanta, on which he lectures frequently.
Controversy regarding Nobel Prize
ECG Sudarshan has been overlooked for the Physics Nobel Prize on more than one occasion.
There was a controversy involving Sudarshan and the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2005 too. Several physicists wrote a letter to the Swedish Academy, protesting that Sudarshan should have been awarded a share of the Prize for the Sudarshan diagonal representation (also known as Sudarshan-Glauber representation ) in quantum optics, for which Roy J. Glauber won his share of the prize. The Nobel Committee has often been criticized for allegedly ignoring scientists who did seminal work on a topic while awarding a prize to other scientists for the same topic.[3]
For the first time, Sudarshan himself has broken his silence over the Nobel controversy. Speaking to the Hindustan Times, he expressed frustration at the way he was ignored for top science honours, saying
"The 2005 Nobel prize for Physics was awarded for my work, but I wasn’t the one to get it. Each one of the discoveries that the Nobel was given for were based on my research.
"... The irony of the situation is that in spite of all these facts being available in print, the diagonal representation instead of being referred to as the Sudarshan representation is dubbed as either the P-Representation (as if Glauber discovered and named it first) or at best as `Glauber-Sudarshan' Representation. "[4]
About having been denied the Nobel in 1979 as well, Sudarshan said, "Steven Weinberg, Sheldon Glashow and Abdus Salam built on work I had done as a 26-year-old student. If you give a prize for a building, shouldn’t the fellow who built the first floor be given the prize before those who built the second floor?"
Awards
In 2007, Sudarshan was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India, the second highest civilian award in the country.
- Padma Vibhushan second highest civilian award from Government of India, 2007.
- Majorana Prize, 2006.
- First Prize in Physics, Third World Academy of Sciences, 1985.
- Padma Bhushan decoration by President of India, 1976.
- Bose Medal, 1977
- CV Raman Award, 1970
Bibliography
- Doubt and Certainty with Tony Rothman
- Classical Dynamics with N. Mukunda
- Fundamentals of Quantum Optics with John Klauder
- Introduction to Elementary Particle Physics with Robert Marshak
- From Classical to Quantum Mechanics: An Introduction to the Formalism, Foundations and Applications with Giampiero Esposito and Giuseppe Marmo
Notes
- ^ The beat of a different drum: The life and science of Richard Feynman by J. Mehra Clarendon Press Oxford (1994), p477, and references 29 and 40 therein.
- ^ Sudarshan, E.C.G.; Misra, B. (1977), "The Zeno’s paradox in quantum theory", Journal of Mathematical Physics 18 (4): 756–763
- ^ Zhou, Lulu (December 6, 2005). "Scientists Question Nobel". The Harvard Crimson. http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510342. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
- ^ Mehta, Neha (April 4, 2007). "Physicist cries foul over Nobel miss". Hindustan Times. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=4430ef80-19e7-4a1f-93ab-f1861c2d5753&. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
See also
External links
- A LOOK-BACK AT FOUR DECADES OF RESEARCH By ECG SUDARSHAN
- Seven Science Quests, Uni. Texas, Austin
- Home page with vita and publications
- [1] Publications on ArXiv
- [2] Collected works
- ECG Sudarshan on Keral.com
- Sudarshan's letter to Nobel Committe
- Lecture- Perspectives And Perceptions: Causality And Unpredictability
References
- Phys. Rev. Lett. 10, 277-279 (1963)
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