Monday, August 6, 2012

Ashoke Sen is Crore-Pati

String theory is an exotic discipline, even by standards of physics.
Practitioners of string theory try seriously to communicate the excitement of their field to general public but the fact of life is that it is mainly academicians delight.
In view of this it is not surprising that Ashoke Sen is not an house hold name in India.
This is in spite of the fact that in academic circles his statute is dizzying, for those who can perceive it.
With this background one is pleasantly surprised when some unknown Russian connoisseur (Yuri Milner) deposits a sum of about 16 crore rupees (that 160 million rupees) in his account - a prize that is three times more in amount as compared to the Nobel Prize.
Wonderful news for Indian string theory in general.
Congratulations Ashoke Da.
And congratulations Madam.
(Madam is Professor Sumathi Rao, professor Ashoke Sen's wife.)

Have a glimpse of both of them here. Hearing him speak Hindi for the first time!

Aligs will be happy to know Ashoke Sen's AMU connection. He donated, over the years, very expansive and relevant physics journals to the Seminar Library of Physics Department. Net worth of these periodicals will run into lakhs. In terms of books we might be the biggest beneficiary of his kindness and love.

Thank you sir, from the core of our heart.

[ Fundamental Physics Prize Laureates

 Ashoke Sen (1) Biodata (2) Wikipedia (3) Official page (4) Top 25 (Go to 7) (8) Google
(9) Plugged-In (10) India Today

Yuri Milner on (1) Wikipedia (2) Newsweek (3) Reuters (4) NY Times ]