Author: G.V. Pavan Kumar

Namaste, Hola & Welcome from G.V. Pavan Kumar. I am a Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, India. My research interests are : (1) Optics & Soft Matter: Optically Induced Forces – Assembly, Dynamics & Function; (2) History and Philosophy of Science – Ideas in Physical Sciences. I am interested in the historical and philosophical evolution of ideas and tools in the physical sciences and technology. I research the intellectual history of past scientists, innovators, and people driven by curiosity, and I write about them from an Indian and Asian perspective. My motivation is to humanize science. In the same spirit, I write and host my podcast Pratidhvani – Humanizing Science.

A capitalistic Galileo ?

Some books on the history of thermodynamics

Müller, Ingo. 2007. A History of Thermodynamics: The Doctrine of Energy and Entropy. Springer Science & Business Media. https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/A_History_of_Thermodynamics/u13KiGlz2zcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover.

Truesdell, C. 2013. The Tragicomical History of Thermodynamics, 1822–1854. Springer Science & Business Media. https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Tragicomical_History_of_Thermodynami/3EjaBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover.

Planck replies to Sommerfeld

Gamow, George. 1966. Thirty Years That Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory.

An excerpt from the book mentioned above:

“Planck was a typical German professor of his time, serious and probably pedantic, but not without a warm human feeling, which is evidenced in his correspondence with Arnold Sommerfeld who, following the work of Niels Bohr, was applying the Quantum Theory to the structure of the atom. Referring to the quantum as Planck’s notion, Sommerfeld in a letter to him wrote:

You cultivate the virgin soil,
Where picking flowers was my only toil.

and to this answered Planck:

You picked flowers—well, so have I.
Let them be, then, combined;
Let us exchange our flowers fair,
And in the brightest wreath them bind.”

Who thought these scientists were so poetic!

Conversation with Nirmal Raj

Nirmal is an astroparticle theoretical physicist actively searching for dark matter and its constituents. He is also very passionate about communicating physics to a broad audience.

He is an Assistant Professor at IISc, Bengaluru: http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/

This episode discusses his intellectual journey from Engineering Physics at IIT to optics, condensed matter physics, particle physics, and dark matter. Through this journey, we learn how he developed an interest in this field and his experience communicating physics via newspaper articles.

Listen…as we humanize science…

Youtube (audio) :

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apple podcast

References:

  1. “Nirmal Raj @ CHEP.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/nirmal-raj.
  2. “RESEARCH – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed December 1, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/physics.
  3. “Popular Publications – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/physics:popularpublications.
  4. “What Ho! – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/.
  5. “Nirmal Raj (@PhysicsNirmal) / X.” 2023. X (Formerly Twitter). January 20, 2023. https://twitter.com/PhysicsNirmal.
  6. Bramante, Joseph, Bradley J. Kavanagh, and Nirmal Raj. 2022. “Scattering Searches for Dark Matter in Subhalos: Neutron Stars, Cosmic Rays, and Old Rocks.” Physical Review Letters 128 (23): 231801. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.231801.
  7. “Daksha.” n.d. Accessed December 1, 2023. https://www.dakshasat.in/.
  8. “DEAP-3600 – Dark Matter Experiment Using Argon Pulse-Shape Discrimination.” n.d. Accessed December 1, 2023. https://deap3600.ca/.
  9. “Nature Unsolved – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/physics:unsolved.
  10. Raj, Nirmal. 2022. “Names from Greek Myth in Fundamental Physics.” arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.10623.
  11. Weinberg, Steven. 2003. “Four Golden Lessons.” Nature 426 (6965): 389–389. https://doi.org/10.1038/426389a.