This article was given to me by Ranjan Laha ( IISC BANGALORE) .

Scientist: Four golden lessons

STEVEN WEINBERG

Steven Weinberg is in the Department of Physics, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712, USA. This essay is based on a commencement talk given by the author at the Science Convocation at McGill University in June 2003.

When I received my undergraduate degree — about a hundred years ago — the physics literature seemed to me a vast, unexplored ocean, every part of which I had to chart before beginning any research of my own. How could I do anything without knowing everything that had already been done? Fortunately , in my first year of graduate school, I had the good luck to falling to the hands of senior physicists who insisted, over my anxious objections, that I must start doing research, and pick up what I needed to know as I went along. It was sink or swim. To my surprise, I found that this works. I managed to get a quick PhD — though when I got it I knew almost nothing about physics. But I did learn one big thing: that no one knows everything, and you don't have to.

Another lesson to be learned, to continue using my oceanographic metaphor, is that while you are swimming and not sinking you should aim for rough water. When I was teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1960s, a student told me that he wanted to go into general relativity rather than the area I was working on, elementary particle physics, because the principles of the former were well known, while the latter seemed like a mess to him. It struck me that he had just given a perfectly good reason for doing the opposite. Particle physics was an area where creative work could still be done. It really was a mess in the 1960s, but since that time the work of many theoretical and experimental physicists has been able to sort it out, and put everything (well, almost everything) together in a beautiful theory known as the standard model. My advice is to go for the messes — that's where the action is.

My third piece of advice is probably the hardest to take. It is to forgive yourself for wasting time. Students are only asked to solve problems that their professors (unless unusually cruel) know to be solvable. In addition, it doesn't matter if the problems are scientifically important — they have to be solved to pass the course. But in the real world, it's very hard to know which problems are important, and you never know whether at a given moment in history a problem is solvable. At the beginning of the twentieth century, several leading physicists, including Lorentz and Abraham, were trying to work out a theory of the electron. This was partly in order to understand why all attempts to detect effects of Earth's motion through the ether had failed. We now know that they were working on the wrong problem. At that time, no one could have developed a successful theory of the electron, because quantum mechanics had not yet been discovered. It took the genius of Albert Einstein in 1905 to realize that the right problem on which to work was the effect of motion on measurements of space and time. This led him to the special theory of relativity. As you will never be sure which are the right problems to work on, most of the time that you spend in the laboratory or at your desk will be wasted. If you want to be creative, then you will have to get used to spending most of your time not being creative, to being becalmed on the ocean of scientific knowledge.

Finally, learn something about the history of science, or at a minimum the history of your own branch of science. The least important reason for this is that the history may actually be of some use to you in your own scientific work. For instance, now and then scientists are hampered by believing one of the over-simplified models of science that have been proposed by philosophers from Francis Bacon to Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper. The best antidote to the philosophy of science is a knowledge of the history of science. More importantly, the history of science can make your work seem more worthwhile to you. As a scientist, you're probably not going to get rich. Your friends and relatives probably won't understand what you're doing. And if you work in a field like elementary particle physics, you won't even have the satisfaction of doing something that is immediately useful. But you can get great satisfaction by recognizing that your work in science is a part of history.

Look back 100 years, to 1903. How important is it now who was PrimeMinister of Great Britain in 1903, or President of the United States? What stands out as really important is that at McGill University, Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy were working out the nature of radioactivity. This work (of course!) had practical applications, but much more important were its cultural implications. The understanding of radioactivity allowed physicists to explain how the Sun and Earth's cores could still be hot after millions of years. In this way, it removed the last scientific objection to what many geologists and paleontologists thought was the great age of the Earth and the Sun. After this, Christians and Jews either had to give up belief in the literal truth of the Bible or resign themselves to intellectual irrelevance. This was just one step in a sequence of steps from Galileo through Newton and Darwin to the present that, time after time, has weakened the hold of religious dogmatism. Reading any newspaper nowadays is enough to show you that this work is not yet complete. But it is civilizing work, of which scientists are able to feel proud.

IS PRABHAKARAN ALIVE?

I guess so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO FIND OUT

HOW I GOT 100 IN BIOLOGY ( part 2)

So friends , you are back. It seems that my blatant comments on my sexual ignorance has found quite a few takers has it not? Lets continue.

So as I told you in my earlier post , Bollywood had messed up all my concepts. But there was more thing about which I had a wrong idea ( frankly speaking I am ashamed of it now)….condom.

It was around class 6 that I started to hear the words AIDS and condom a lot. “ use condom and prevent AIDS” all great personalities said on the T.V( even Shabana Aazmi). Arrey boss. First tell us what the hell is a condom . Nobody bothers about that , do they? Till class 11 I thought condom was a tablet. Can you believe it? Shame on me and shame on all those T.V people.

But how was I to think otherwise? These condom ads, they just show a man and a woman kissing each other, then the camera moves towards a pink silk cloth on which two semi black packets are kept . alongside is a candle. And then it says “ KAMASUTRA CONDOMS….. for the wild beast in you” . And then there is Sachin Tendulkar . He came up every now and then to say ,” SAIYAM RAKHO, BANO WAFAADAAR ,KARO CONDOM KA ISTEMAAL….” . My highly scientific and analytical brain concluded that since Sachin was asking kids to take the Polio drops, he also wanted married couples to take condom tablets to prevent AIDS. That made me believe that condom was a tablet that somehow prevented AIDS by blocking your nose or otherwise. The final confirmation had come when I was on a mini bus to Science city and on the way I saw a huge billboard…totally black with the following words on it ,

DELUXE CONDOMS…..now in strawberry flavor . Underneath was the picture of a beautiful woman showing her bare back . Along side her was written ,” I am in the mood for something special tonight.”

From all this baloney , I made two landmark conclusions.

First , condom was a tablet which prevented AIDS.

Second , it came in different flavors , which flavor to eat was decided by the woman’s mood.

I must tell you that I was pretty confident about these concepts for a really long time. The real jolt came in class 10 when Mishra sir taught the reproductive system. Though the book was utterly useless with sketchy details ( as if the author himself was a censor board panelist) it made two things very clear to me.

First , producing babies involved a touch more finnese than rubbing your noses. Rubbing noses only transmitted influenza microbes.

Second , bellybutton and belly lock were wrong concepts.

It was in class 12 that I understood that a sperm and an ovum fused to form a zygote which later swelled up to become a baby. I think my concepts improved about 75 percent( the rest 25 % were those intricate portions which I don’t think our C.B.S.E books had the courage to clarify on). And yes I understood that condom was not a tablet. I think the last concept was the single biggest achievement of my Biology learning.

To come back to the point there were a lot of thongs in “ THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM” that I did not understand…. still . So I looked at the last 10 years question paper. I noted that two questions SPERMAGENESIS , and OOGENESIS were set alternatively each year. Last year was spermagenesis , so I mugged up oogenesis. I also mugged up 10 different ways of population control because that question had been set in my selection exams.

When I got my paper ,I quickly turned the page to look at question number 11. Bingo ! Oogenesis and ten ways of birth control. I thanked God , cursed Bollywood and started writing.

To tell you the truth I had expected to get 97 in Biology. But when Sangeeta told me that I had got 92.8 overall and 100 in Biology I just could not stop wondering how. A few months ago I received a scrap from a junior student .” Are you Pranay Tiwari , who got 100 in Biology? “ I replied him “No I am Pranay Tiwari, who got 94 in physics.” I was born to be a physicist , you know .

And now , coming to the present times. I believe that my concepts have improved by 99 % thanks to my Presidency and Engineering friends for all the information which they poured into me even when I had not asked for it. Though my friends still tease me saying I have a lot to learn. To tell you the truth , from where I started …… I have learned a hell lot. Atleast now I know that when a dog is onto a bitch in the middle of the road they are as I would have said a long time back “ rubbing their noses”. These days I only say “ YEH TO BADA TOING HAI.”

The end……………………..

I thank all the readers for their comments on the last post. If you want to share anything on this blog please feel free to send it to me on pranaystb@gmail.com. On Saturday I will post a article given to me by my friend Ranjan Laha which is “ FOUR GOLDEN LESSONS” BY STEVEN WEINBERG. Believe me , it’s a must read.

P.S Sangeeta and Arnab are showing unnecessary concern over “ certain” abilities of mine. To them I can only say when the time comes you will see

A VOTE OF THANKS.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who I think are an integral part of my blog

To Arnab Dutta ,one of my best friends because I am sure he reads my blog every day. His honest comments are the most refreshing thing after all the blogging that I do.

To Ranjan Laha my PRESIDENCY buddy for reading my blog with the greatest of carefulness and pointing out all the mistake sI make. Thank you Boss.

To Sangeeta Mondol for finding fault in every thing that I write and for bringing a freshness of views.

Last but not the least to my project partner Tapajyoti Das gupta for never complaining even when I force him to read my posts.

To all the four I can only say THANKYOU.

And to others who read my blog…please give your comments on the posts in the blog itself and not on orkut or gtalk. Thankyou everybody for reading.

How I got 100 in BIOLOGY? ( part 1)

To tell you the truth , my preparations for my Biology exam ( in C.B.S.E, class 12) were pretty decent. But I knew that one chapter would pose the ultimate trouble ….. THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM , as it had done in class 10. Why I dreaded this chapter has a bit of history attached to it like all other things in my life.

Bollywood. It was all due to bollywood , I tell you , my poor concepts on reproduction . They just don’t show the intricacies , do they? And when some brave film maker dares to bare , these dumbasses in the censor board cut all the educational scenes.( Oh how I wish to be on that god damn censor board). So after all the Hindi films that I saw my scientific mind observed that there were two possible methods ( only two mind you!) by which a baby emerged from a woman’s tummy.

First ,the man and his wife marry. On the night of their marriage she brings milk. He drinks it. She smiles. They rub their noses together and wallah! Its done. The next scene, the woman vomits ,asks for tamarind , her belly swells and a child pops up.

Second, a boy and a girlfriend meet in the park then they go behind a bush or a tree. The bush or the tree shakes. The girl starts puking in the morning and her father says” KALMUHI….. TUNE HUMAARE KHAANDAAN KI NAAK KATWA DI .” The girl goes for an abortion.( only in Kya Kehna , Priety Zinta had the guts to give birth to a child ).

Based on these observations my scientific and highly analytical brain made the following conclusions.

First , rubbing of nose or shaking of the trees is the most important part of a child’s birth. If you don’t do either of the two things you cannot produce a baby.

Second a woman should never tell her husband that she is to give birth to a baby , she has to convey it by mannerisms and not speech. So either she can vomit or she can ask for tamarind , or she can put a picture of a baby on the wall and point out to that picture when her husband returns from office. I also noted that the men behaved in two different ways listening to this news . If the marriage was legal the husband would be pretty happy and hug her wife. If , however, the boy and girl were unmarried, the boy would sweat like a pig I loved it whenever I used to see the boy in such trouble….serves you right for rubbing your nose without marrying I thought.

Third , the only possible way out for a baby was a woman’s belly button. The doctor had the keys of the belly button. After nine months when the baby knocked the hell out of her mother, she would be taken to a hospital , the doctor would open the belly lock with the keys ( how he got the keys was a mystery to me) and pull the baby out and then lock the woman’s belly once again.

Nobody in India likes to discuss these things , if you dared to do it , you were thought to be a pervert. Hence I did not . To tell you the truth till class 10 I was pretty sure that these conclusions were right just as Newton’s laws of gravity.

So I was telling you about my Biology exams. Lets continue.

( the next chapter would be posted tomorrow or day after. Thanks for reading)

Me my wife and ‘HIM’

A story by PRANAY TIWARI.

I’LL be straight. At 5.30 pm today someone was killed by my hands. The worst part is the thought does not weigh heavily upon my mind. Now as I am confined in this ‘jail’( well my wife calls it a net or a web) I ponder over the life that was lost today and if I could have acted otherwise. The only thing I have to say in my defense is that I did this because I cared for my wife and loved her.

I saw him two days ago. I had finished my work early. When I returned I found the main door ajar. Surprised, I walked upstairs to my room . the door was half open . As I approached it I saw my wife sleeping with him or rather he was ‘onto’ her if I can be exact. Her eyes were closed and he was moving all over her. Was she enjoying the feeling? His ‘touch’, was it better than mine? Blood boiled within me and I pushed the door open. He saw me and quickly jumped out of the window.’ Flew ‘ would have been a more apt expression. He was quick I can tell you that. The window was on the first floor and hence I decided not to jump. ‘ Broken bones ‘ was not the medical ground I was looking to stay away from work. Helplessly I saw his outline disappear in the dusk. My wife woke up startled.

“ What! Oh you. How come you are home so early?”

I did not answer her.

“Why was the main door open?” I asked , the anger in my voice palpable.

“ Was it? Maybe Sakubai went to the market.” she replied , doubtfully.

She was uncertain , of that I was certain.

The next day I did not go to work. I wanted to find HIM. So on the pretext of cleaning the backyard I stayed . All day I looked around but I guess he was on the alert too. Moreover my wife was running around all day helping Sakubai clean the garage and that probably kept him away too.

Today I left the office and arrived at 5.15 pm . Sakubai opened the door.

“ Where is she? “ I asked .

“ Upstairs” Sakubai replied and then she looked at me quizzically .” Memsaab said you would come at 9.00”

I did not like the way she talked with me.

“ Do I have to ask you when to return home.” I barked.

I tiptoed my way to my room . The door was closed .But I could hear a man’s soft voice. “Tell me you don’t love me. Tell me you don’t have feelings for me .”

I slowly pushed the door taking care not to make any noise. And as expected he was onto her again. My anger knew no bounds. His lips were touching her elbow.

I guess he did not notice me. As I walked slowly towards him I thought for a second. I looked around . Nothing . I would have to do it with my hands .But I had to do it quickly . The window was open , and I feared that if he got a sense of my presence he would run away.

Slowly I approached him. My wife’s back was facing me. She was about to turn. It had to be done this very moment. Spat. It was over in a second. He did not move. There was blood all over her elbow and she just stood there startled.

“ What have you done?” she asked.

I pointed my finger towards the dead body and she realized.

“ You are a savage you know that , a savage “ and then she hugged me. On the wide LCD tv a movie was playing. A man was sleeping with a woman and consoling him ,it was the same soft voice I had heard earli er “We have done nothing wrong . We love each other.” And then he made love to her again. These movies I tell you , so predictable.

As I prepare to sleep , I look around with discomfort. I just cannot get used to this jail. Then my wife joins me and says.,” I know you don’t like it but we have to use a mosquito net.”

Then she adds “ And please , the next time you see a mosquito on me , please tell me. Don’t kill him and startle me like that.”

Saying that she kissed me.

We have lived happily ever after…and yes I have never killed a mosquito since, too much blood shed .