4th weekend of Aug'12

While the entire country has just basked in the glory of Olympic medals,
here is one more reason for the country to be proud of. Dr. Ashoke Sen who
has been researching on one particular aspect of Physics for the past 2
decades wins the richest prize in theoretical physics. This weekend tiding,
I include a small write-up on the person and the award. Interested souls
can delve deeper into the subject and the individual by googling; whats
more lets be inspired for building the dying culture of research into the
nex-gen.

Indian Scientist Ashoke Sen Wins World's Richest Academic Prize
Ashoke  Sen,  a  theoretical  physicist  and string theorist at Allahabad's
Harish  Chandra  Research Institute is one of the nine winners of the first
Yuri  Milner  Fundamental  Physics Prize which at Rs 16.7 crore is the most
rewarding academic prize in the world.
The  prize,  which is almost three times that of the Nobel Prize - which is
frequently  shared  by  two  or  three winners, has been introduced by Yuri
Milner,  a Russian student of physics who dropped out of graduate school in
1989 and later made billions as an investor in companies like Facebook. The
reward  is  aimed  at  recognizing  contributions of younger researchers to
fundamental  physics.  The  nine  winners  of 2012 are expected to form the
committee to decide on the awardees of next year.
Ashoke  had  received the Padma Shree in 2001 and the SS Bhatnagar Award in
1994.  He  was  also elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1998,
and to the Indian National Science Academy in 1995.
Further,Yuri  Milner,  50,  became  an  overnight sensation in California's
Silicon  Valley.  In  the  past  three  years,  he  has invested greatly in
social-media  companies  including  Twitter, Facebook and Spotify and today
his  various  investment funds are worth approximately $12 billion, and his
private worth is set at $1 billion.
He created the award out of a love of theoretical physics, which he studied
at  Moscow  State University and the Russian Academy of Sciences during the
1980s  and  early  1990s.  The  early  prizewinners  were  chosen by Milner
himself.  Unlike  other  awards, such as the Nobel Prize, this award can be
given  to  theorists  whose  ideas have not yet been supported by data. The
objective  is  to  reward  innovative concepts that are driving theoretical
thinking forward.

Like I always say, brickbats and bouquets welcome!


-Sukhi