Biswa Prasun's Blog

Monday, 10 February 2025

Asia's contribution to Quantum Mechanics on its centenary

I read with great interest the editorial (1) and essay (2) on celebration of the centenary of quantum mechanics. I was particularly happy about the mention of Lucy Mensing, a woman scientist who contributed to quantum mechanics.

However the focus on the development of the subject of quantum mechanics was shown to be mainly Euro Centric. Though it is true and many American scientists like Oppenheimer indeed congregated in Europe to study the new science of quantum mechanics, there were two major centres outside Europe which played a crucial role in the development of the theory of Quantum Mechanics. Self-taught Physicists from Calcutta, India and Osaka, Japan, independent of the European stalwarts developed theories in Quantum Mechanics which became part of the subject matter and its history. For example, Satyendra Nath Bose trained in Calcutta University and while working as a young professor in Dacca, now called Dhaka, developed Bose - Einstein Statistics (3). This statistical model had a far reaching impact in categorising sub atomic particles as Bosons and in Bose Einstein Condensate research. Though many Nobel laureates owe their award to Bose Einstein Condensate and Bosons, S.N.Bose himself never got a Nobel. Also, trained in Cambridge, another Indian nuclear physicist, Homi J Bhabha used quantum mechanics to explain the cascade showers in cosmic rays.

Similarly, Hideki Yukawa of Osaka University combined quantum mechanics with nuclear forces to predict Meson, a subatomic particle. Yukawa Potential results from an analogy of quantum field theory. When Mu Meson and Pi Meson were proved to exist by experimental physicists in 1936 and in 1947, Yukawa was awarded a Nobel prize in 1949 (4). Bhabha and Yukawa attended the immensely eminent Solvay Conference of Physics with master proponents of Quantum Mechanics.

So, it appears that outside Europe there were Asian centres of excellence where quantum mechanics theory was developed without training from Europe. Very often, these Asian masters are overlooked however it must not be forgotten that S.N.Bose and Yukawa were homegrown talents who played a crucial role in the development of quantum mechanics in the very beginning. Both of them later on went to Europe and the USA for further work; however their formative years when they formulated their contributions were totally independent of the then European stalwarts.

References :

1. Quantum mechanics 100 years on: an unfinished revolution. Nature 637, 251-252 (2025)

2. Kristian Camilieri. (2025) How quantum mechanics emerged in a few revolutionary months 100 years ago. Nature 637, 269-271 (2025)

3. Sahana Ghosh (2024) As the world looks for quantum solutions, Bose statistics turns 100 https://www.nature.com/articles/d44151-024-00018-6

4. https://www-yukawa.phys.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/university

Tuesday, 10 December 2024

Need for more Psychological Counsellors and First aid in mental disease

The way we are behaving is increasing the rate of mental illness day by day. The stress, the relationship issues, the constant hook up and break up culture, financial distress all are adding up to our constant misery. Modern life is no longer easy. We pay the price of living by depression and anxiety.

India has now >15% population suffering from mental illness. However help is scanty with less doctors and counsellors available mostly in urban set up. I feel, instead of making too many engineers ( IT Jobs are the most attractive) we have to start making more psychiatrist and counsellors. The days are coming where common mental disorders like depression and anxiety will become as regular as Common Cold. There is so much to tell but nobody to listen. Tele counseling services are overflooded with suicidal calls. In India where mobile internet penetration is very high we should now add more tele counselors to save the distressed souls. Already like weight reduction apps India started Tele Manas, Mindpeers, Rocket Health etc for Counseling. Tele Manas the GOI initiative is spreading its network to different states in India.

https://telemanas.mohfw.gov.in/home

Click to get help

If you can pay by GPay and Phone Pe then you should be able to unburden your chest by a phone call. IT jobs are always popular, but next big lucrative jobs will be in Psychological health ( Mental Health Care). With every passing year, being a teacher I see many students crying for help. Since I am safe, non judgmental and highly approachable, most students favor to call upon me; however I am ill equipped to treat them. Hence I channelize them to campus doctor and counselors.

We are short of mental health care staff in our country and it is urgent that many more personnel should be trained in counseling and psychiatry. Next big lucrative career will be Psychology professionals because robots and AI cannot touch the soul of a human being. Common mental disorders will be the next pandemic unseen but known to all and with no help nearby the patients will feel helpless, frustrated. Even if they forget the stigma there will be no one to approach because of shortage of trained mental health care professionals.

In this regard I suggest a book " Where there is no Psychiatrist" by Dr Vikram Patel which can be a First aid for mental health. The link is given, free to download.

https://asksource.info/pdf/30256_wherethereisnopsych_ch1_2003.pdf

I also think it is time to increase enrolling of psychological counselors.

Hope is eternal and things will change.

Sunday, 22 September 2024

Women Safety and Men’s Upbringing in West Bengal

Recent rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata has raised nation wide alarm just like Nirbhaya rape case did in 2012. It is evident even after the Nirbhaya case perpetrators were hanged there is no deterrence in rape crime. There is no doubt the issue of women’s safety bugs the nation. Kolkata with its prominence in social reforms, culture and intellect has failed to make it safe for its women. Kolkata women are educated and progressive in nature. Bengali women have joined workforce since long. Widow remarriage is nothing new in this part of the country and it is said Women are Stree Shakti and the people here pray to goddesses every year with such pomp and glory. However the same feeling of respecting women is not reflected on the streets. The shocking incident of RG Kar is a testimony of what is wrong regarding women safety.

There are protests being organized, social media is flooded with anger and memes to create awareness against hate crime against women, but the authors feel this armchair protest and keyboard warriors achieve nothing to curb the crime. The current author has left Kolkata in 2005 and stayed in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Guwahati for last 19 years. His maximum time was spent in Mumbai (10 years), Pune (5 years), Guwahati (2 years). Snob high nosed Bengalis from Kolkata had always jeered “Non Bengalis” and passed snide remarks about their culture. However I saw no eve teasing and roadside Romeos in Mumbai, Pune or Guwahati for last so many years. Kolkata and Bengal is still a hotbed of eve teasing. There is a strong undercurrent of dowry, domestic violence, eve teasing and lack of support for working women beneath surface veneer of cultural sophistication in Bengal. Many Bengali women are still trying to break the glass ceiling. However, the so called “Uncultured” states of India according to Bengali genteel bhadralok, do not exhibit eve teasing culture. Mumbai, Pune and Guwahati are safe for women according to me. In Mumbai, at midnight female passenger is safe in a local train. At any time of the day Mumbai is safe for women. I have stayed for a pretty long time in Powai, Navi Mumbai and taught in Xavier’s Mumbai. I never seen fear in the faces of my girl students in Pune, Mumbai or Guwahati. In Pune I had stayed in Viman Nagar and Lohegaon without seeing any eve teasing cases. In Guwahati I never see boys in groups teasing women and passing lewd comments, however in Bengal it is still the case. “Rokbaji” they say is rampant in Kolkata. Groups of young men with teacups and cigarettes in hand are seen to tease any passing girl. In localities or “Para” as they say boys find vicarious pleasure in making lewd comments, ogling, jeering and teasing women. In the lanes and bylanes of Kolkata eve teasing is a common pastime of young men. Staring is not an offence. These are the same boys who join plum IT jobs out of Kolkata and want submissive women to marry them and take care of their domestic work. Boys are not trained from young age to take care of their daily household chores. Most of the Bengali educated families train their boys to excel in study and get plum jobs. They are all dubbed as “Brilliant” “Gem” “Studious” and then they behave as entitled men bossing over their women. Most of them marry not for a loving partner but for someone who will settle in happy domesticity and take care of their “Sansar”. I have seen many of these bachelors accommodation in Mumbai and Pune and I dub them as Pigsty. Only a marriage rescues these high earning bachelors from unkempt household and brings some order.

Reams have been written on how to train our men so that rape crime is prevented but nobody talks about the actual methods to train these boys. The actual education comes from the household where parents teach the equality concept and no gender bias to their boys. From the dining table they learn girls have equal share of nutrition. Many mothers try to feed their boys with bigger pieces of fish and chicken than their girls. From the kitchen the boys must learn how to cook and clean as a basic survival skill not to think this is a woman’s job. They must learn how to iron clothes, keep their room tidy and belongings neat. They must understand they can also make a cup of tea when their working wives come home and do the laundry. They can also participate in their child’s school education, most of the mothers actually take care of school level education in India. It is time fathers learn how to educate their child at home and prepare them for school. Going to “Bajaar” should not be the only prerogative of these entitled males, they have to bring in participation in domestic chores. When a parent decides to allocate funds for future education for both boys and girls should be equally dealt with. It should never be like saving for daughter’s marriage and son’s education whereas a daughter’s education takes backseat. The concept of bias free upbringing begins from ancestors. If the fathers stops getting privileges like not cooking, cleaning ; continues watching TV reading newspapers and ordering tea and coffee then the boys will learn how domestic chores are not priority of a woman. The recent rape case may have different cause, there may be ugly details getting unearthed but overall, I feel respecting women begins at home and the society. It is high time our boys learn and the parents advice accordingly.

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Author Dr Biswa Prasun Chatterji, PhD (IIT Bombay) Professor, Faculty of Science Assam down town University

Wednesday, 3 July 2024

Western Classical Music, Death and Funeral

Actually Mozart was very afraid of death. He died quite young and during his last days he was commissioned by a Count in Vienna to write a Requiem which he did with a dark assumption that the messenger of the Count is a harbinger of his death which was near. Listen to Mozart's Requiem

Then Beethoven courted death when he was turning deaf. Music was everything to him and how frustrating it must have been for him to discover at the prime of his musical career that he is losing the sense of hearing. A musician turning deaf is like a surgeon who cannot hold a scalpel because his hands tremor or like an orator who cannot speak ! Beethoven thought of suicide and wrote a will which is famously known as Heligenstadt testament ..

.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligenstadt_Testament ...

he actually changed his mind after a visit to a countryside and celebrated by writing the Sixth symphony which I believe is his best. A movie on Beethvoen called Immortal Beloved

Then Gluck's opera Orpheus Euricye speaks of death. This opera is based on a Greek mythological story where Orpheus laments his lover's demise and go to hell and heaven in search for her. Listen to this....

Rossini, Bach and Handel also wrote several mass to be performed during burial ceremony in church.

Wednesday, 24 January 2024

An Indian Surgeon did world’s first pig heart transplant to humans in 1997

Apropos your Feature on Pig Organs Head for the Clinic (1), this is not the first pig heart transplantation in the humans in the world. In 1997 in Guwahati India a heart surgeon Dr Dhaniram Barua, FRCS transplanted a pig heart in a human patient (2,3). The patient survived for a week but passed away after that. There was a huge furore in the media and the surgeon’s office was ransacked. Due to lack of ethical clearance Dr Baruah was given a 40 days jail term as reported in Nature in January 1997 (4). However, Dr Baruah’s pig heart transplant was historically the first in the world. Mentioning David Bennett as the first recipient of pig heart is a distortion of history and it should be corrected and credit should go to the pioneer. It is understood that David Bennett’s case involves a genetically modified pig heart with a Crispr/Cas mediated gene editing which itself is a novelty; however, to be historically accurate Bennet was not the first human to have received a pig heart.

Dr Baruah achieved this feat 25 years ago unbeknownst to the western media with a normal unmodified pig heart. In fact, when Bennet’s pig heart transplant was published in January 2022 several Indian newspapers recounted Dr Baruah’s pig heart transplantation surgery of 1997 (4). Though Dr Baruah’s surgery crossed ethical boundary it has to be appreciated as the world’s first pig heart transplant in humans. He is a maverick whose methods might have been unconventional but the fact that he performed world’s first pig-to-human heart transplant in 1997 and the patient survived for a week cannot be ignored and denied. I urge the editor to please include this fact to correct an error in history of transplant surgery.

References:

1. Sara Reardon (2022) PIG ORGANS HEAD FOR THE CLINIC. Nature. Vol 611, pg 654-655

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaniram_Baruah, last accessed on 26/11/2022

3. Mudur G. Indian surgeon challenges ban on xenotransplantation. BMJ. 1999 Jan 9;318(7176):79

4. K.S.Jayaraman. (1997) Pig heart transplant surgeon held in jail. Nature. Vol 385, pg 378

5. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/transplant-jogs-dhani-ram-memories/articleshow/88843361.cms last accessed on 26/11/2022

Payment for Journal Reviewers

Of late I have noticed a sea change in the publishing model of research articles. Most of the publishing houses and journals are adopting the pay and publish Open Access model. Earlier payment was looked down upon and it was thought if your article lacked quality, you published by paying money. But things have changed rapidly in the past 5 years. More and more journals are becoming Open Access and payment by the authors have become a norm (1).

I have also observed the reviewers are slow to act; they send their opinions across after prodding and pleading. Every editor knows how difficult it is to make the reviewers submit their comments in time. Sometimes it takes months. Their reluctance to review for a journal is not caused by professional ineptitude but by lack of payment. If the journals are taking money for publication then the editors can pay, whatever small the amount may be, to the reviewers. Silver tonic always works in getting things done. Money can be an incentive for the reviewers and the reluctance and lethargy to review can go. This can also be a pathway to generate more income by the reviewers (2,3). The process of review actually takes a long time now and mars the spirit of the scientists who submitted their articles for review. I suggest the journal editors think of paying their reviewers for speedy publication (3). Many scientists prefer a journal for faster publication process. As you increase the speed of publication, the journal profits by attracting more authors and revenue generation in the end.

Reference

1. https://ifis.libguides.com/journal-publishing-guide/open-access-models

2. Open access pay-for-review option — ethical question. Nature 590, 36 (2021)

3.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9893124/

Friday, 7 April 2023

10 top-of-the-mind Western Classical Music Pieces

In advertising there is a term-"top-of-the-mind" or product recall. That means what comes up in your mind when you think about a particular subject; say you think of Impressionism van Gogh comes to your mind. You think of cold drinks Coke or Pepsi comes to your mind.

Similarly what comes to my mind when I think Western Classical Music?

1. Beethoven's Violin Concerto

The Rondo movement is hummable and so memorable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD6UT-y2HPo

2. Eine Kleine nacht Musik by Mozart

The first movement is sprightly and forever favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy2zDJPIgwc

3. On the Beautiful Blue Danube

This waltz by Johann Strauss needs no introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKkDMiGUbUw&t=165s

4. Four Seasons - Spring

This one by Vivaldi may be written in mediaeval age but how popular is it still now.