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A shy and unassuming Indian scientist in Allahabad has won the world's biggest prize in physics. Ashoke Sen, a professor at the little known but exclusive Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, was today declared one of the winners of the first Fundamental Physics Prize started by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.
Sen and eight other scientists will get $3 million each - double of what is given with the Nobel Prize. Seven of the winners are based in the United States, one s in France and one in India. Sen has been awarded for his pioneering work on string theory.
Typically, Ashoke Sen deflected attention away from himself and pointed at others in the field in India. "You just see - there are going to be many more awards in the future for Indians," he told TOI from Allahabad.
Yuri Milner made his billions from investments in various Internet based companies including Facebook and Twitter after giving up his job as a researcher at Moscow's Lebedev Physical Institute. He personally selected the winners of this year's award but in future the work would be done by a committee, he told media.
Sen had not yet digested the news. "I have no idea what I will do with $3 million!" he exclaimed, resisting any speculation.
Ashoke Sen is considered one of original contributors to string theory, a complex mathematical construct which is meant to resolve one of science's biggest mysteries - that gravity as explained by Einstein does not fit in with quantum theory which explains all other forces and particles of nature.
Scientists in India, especially string theory practitioners in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata were overjoyed. Sunil Mukhi, chair of theoretical physics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, said that Ashoke Sen richly deserves the award as he has made several key contributions to the still-developing string theory.
"It should also be noted that he is the only Indian among the nine awardees. That shows his world stature, and India's too" he told TOI from Mumbai.
Ashoke Sen studied in Shailendra Sircar Vidyalaya, and then Presidency College, in Kolkata before going on to IIT Kanpur in 1976. He got his doctorate from State University of New York, Stonybrook and then worked at Fermilab and Stanford before returning to India.
"I came back in 1988 to join TIFR because I never wanted to work abroad, I wanted to be back in India," he said.
In 1995, Sen shifted to Harish-Chandra Research Institute, run by the department of atomic energy. This shift was partly because his wife Sumathi Rao was there, and partly because a new fillip to mathematical research was given by the new director, H.S.Mani, says Sen.
Sen has won the ICTP Prize in 1989, the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar award in 1994, the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Infosys prize in Mathematical Sciences in 2009.
So, what is his work all about? Mukhi says that present physics assumes that at the fundamental level matter (and energy) is made up of particles. But this leads to the problem of not being able to explain certain things like gravity.
"By replacing particles with vibrating strings, many of these mathematical problems are resolved, though not all," he explains.
Because these strings could only be detected at very high energy levels, there has been no experimental confirmation till now, said Sen.
"But, as of now, string theory has passed all internal consistency checks," he added.
Sen and eight other scientists will get $3 million each - double of what is given with the Nobel Prize. Seven of the winners are based in the United States, one s in France and one in India. Sen has been awarded for his pioneering work on string theory.
Typically, Ashoke Sen deflected attention away from himself and pointed at others in the field in India. "You just see - there are going to be many more awards in the future for Indians," he told TOI from Allahabad.
Yuri Milner made his billions from investments in various Internet based companies including Facebook and Twitter after giving up his job as a researcher at Moscow's Lebedev Physical Institute. He personally selected the winners of this year's award but in future the work would be done by a committee, he told media.
Sen had not yet digested the news. "I have no idea what I will do with $3 million!" he exclaimed, resisting any speculation.
Ashoke Sen is considered one of original contributors to string theory, a complex mathematical construct which is meant to resolve one of science's biggest mysteries - that gravity as explained by Einstein does not fit in with quantum theory which explains all other forces and particles of nature.
Scientists in India, especially string theory practitioners in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata were overjoyed. Sunil Mukhi, chair of theoretical physics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, said that Ashoke Sen richly deserves the award as he has made several key contributions to the still-developing string theory.
"It should also be noted that he is the only Indian among the nine awardees. That shows his world stature, and India's too" he told TOI from Mumbai.
Ashoke Sen studied in Shailendra Sircar Vidyalaya, and then Presidency College, in Kolkata before going on to IIT Kanpur in 1976. He got his doctorate from State University of New York, Stonybrook and then worked at Fermilab and Stanford before returning to India.
"I came back in 1988 to join TIFR because I never wanted to work abroad, I wanted to be back in India," he said.
In 1995, Sen shifted to Harish-Chandra Research Institute, run by the department of atomic energy. This shift was partly because his wife Sumathi Rao was there, and partly because a new fillip to mathematical research was given by the new director, H.S.Mani, says Sen.
Sen has won the ICTP Prize in 1989, the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar award in 1994, the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Infosys prize in Mathematical Sciences in 2009.
So, what is his work all about? Mukhi says that present physics assumes that at the fundamental level matter (and energy) is made up of particles. But this leads to the problem of not being able to explain certain things like gravity.
"By replacing particles with vibrating strings, many of these mathematical problems are resolved, though not all," he explains.
Because these strings could only be detected at very high energy levels, there has been no experimental confirmation till now, said Sen.
"But, as of now, string theory has passed all internal consistency checks," he added.
