Renowned physicist Dr E C G Sudarshan passes away at 86

E nnackal Chandy George Sudarshan, professor at the Texas University and acclaimed scientist, passed away in Texas on Monday morning. ...

Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan, professor at the Texas University and acclaimed scientist, passed away in Texas on Monday morning.

The renowned physicist E C G Sudarshan, who proved Albert Einstein wrong, was recommended for the Nobel Prize nine times but never awarded.

The 86-year-old physicist was born in Kottayam on September 16, 1931.

Sudarshan specialised in Quantum Optics and linked Vedanta with modern physics. He has proved Albert Einsteins theory on the speed of light was wrong as tachyon can move faster than light.

Einstein showed that it is impossible for particles (or space ships) to be accelerated up to or beyond the speed of light because of the infinite energy required. Sudarshan and his colleagues suggested, however, that if particles were created initially with faster-than-light speed in particle collisions no acceleration or infinite energy would be necessary -- something not possible for space ships.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan offered his condolences to the family.

Dr E C G Sudarshan was great son of Kerala and made great contributions to modern Physics. He was a philosopher and a physicist. His death is a great loss for Kerala and world of science, Vijayan told India Today.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said E C G Sudarshan was pride of Kerala and always close to his homeland.

Id great opportunity in meeting him when I was the member of Parliament representing Kottayam. He was a man of great vision and down to earth, Chennithala told India Today.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy expressed his shock over the demise of great physicist, who tagged Kerala with his discoveries.

His contributions to Physics and world of Science will be remembered forever. Unfortunately, he was not awarded Nobel prize for Physics, Chandy said.

George Sudarshan awaits a 'Nobel' justice by Nobel Committee though denied Nobel Prize in 2005

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Once a scientist, there is never an escape, says Kerala-born legendary Indian physicist and professor of the University of Texas at Austin E C George Sudarshan.

Sudarshan, along with his research student Mark Selover, is exploring Super Symmetry particles through high-energy Particle Physics to unravel the mystery of the subatomic universe beyond the Standard Model of physics, .

On his spiritual connect, Sudarshan reveals that he admires and still misses philosopher J Krishnamurthi while refuting some of his claims.

Sudarshan was speaking to TOI on the sidelines of the national colloquium on physics organized here recently.

Though the standard model of physics defines fundamental particles that make up the matter and forces in the universe, including electrons, quarks and photons, it fails to explain the force of gravity that keeps the universe stable. While particles and forces in the standard model account for only around 4% of the mass in the universe, the remaining 96% are dark matter and dark energy. Scientists are trying to unravel them through the prediction of supersymmetry, a term formulated in early 1970's.

Thus, supersymmetry refined in the last 40 years proposes the existence of a set of new particles which would be more massive, supersymmetric partners of the particles that exist in the standard model. But, even after the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment for the last five years at the world's largest particle physics lab built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) at Switzerland, tracing such supersymmetric particles remains elusive.

In their effort to prove the existence of Higgs boson and a large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetric theories, the LHC experiment this month has led to several previously unobserved particles such as bottom baryons, lambda baryons and new fundamental particle a massive boson and confirmed it to the long-sought Higgs boson. Now, scientists predict that the lightest supersymmetric particle - neutralino - could be an entrant to the elusive dark matter that makes up 30% of the universe.

After the high energy neutrino experiments were cancelled, Selover met me. As a research student, he is now with me in the study of super-symmetric particles

Without research students like him, you are lost," he said.

Being the first to propose the hypothetical particle Tachyons that are faster than light, Sudarshan said it was an inference against Albert Einstein's prediction that nothing can travel faster than light.

"Though there was excitement a year ago with LHC experiments, no particle identified could travel faster than light, but that does not mean that it does not exist," he said.

Though LHC is currently switched off for technical upgrade to enhance the high energy proton collisions to the maximum 14 tetra electron volts by the start of 2015, Selover is hopeful that such elusive supersymmetric particles would be detected in the years to come, but suggests that the theory is in trouble and calls for change.

Afresh with memories that he was not conferred the Nobel prize for his work on quantum optics by the Nobel committee while presenting it to Roy J Glauber for Sudarshan-Glauber representation in 2005, Sudarshan says it's like the bubbles in a stream that rise up while the pebbles that carry mass go down. However, he maintained that he was willing to accept justice even if delayed.

On spirituality, Sudarshan says, "True scientists have deeper spiritual connection, while some scientists as administrators essentially continue to make noises about it . "I miss philosopher J Krishnamurthi . He was facile and clear in his thinking," saysSudarshan .