or Professor Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, two weeks were all that it took to complete a masterpiece.
The 1991 Nobel Prize winner for Physics told World Scientific that he had "for a long time noted some strange situations and some strange attitudes" among people in the science community and decided to pen them down. The scientist did so during the nights and completed the work, Petit Point, in less than two weeks.
The literary work, which provides a critical account of aberrations of the scientific community, is certainly a great departure from his research focus. "At the moment I try to enhance (and to contribute to) our knowledge of brain functions. I am especially interested in the number of neurons involved for the storage of a memory object, " he enthused.
Born in France in 1932, Prof. de Gennes pointed out that great masters in France such as Alfred Kastler (1966 Nobel Prize in Physics), Pierre Aigrain (founder of semiconductor science in France) and R P Feynman (an unusual theorist) have had much influence on him.
Dubbed the "Isaac Newton of our time", Prof. de Gennes is certainly no stranger to awards. He has received the Holweck Prize from the joint French and British Physical Society; the Ampere Prize, French Academy of Science; the gold medal from the French Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); the Matteuci Medal, Italian Academy; the Harvey Prize, Israel; the Wolf Prize, Israel; The Lorentz Medal, Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences; and polymer awards from both American Physics Society and American Chemical Society.
Still, the Nobel Prize is special to Prof. de Gennes for it led him to work at least an extra hour each day answering mails from scientists who ask for advice or help and attending to visitors. He has also been deluged with requests to speak and write. Instead of dismissing them, however, Prof. de Gennes took to the road to tour French high schools, lecturing on the virtue of sciences, research life and science education. He has visited some 200 high schools in France and countries such as India and Jamaica over two to three years. He even co-authored a book, Fragile Objects, which is based on the talks given to those high schools. The book also includes details of a few of these question-and-answer sessions.
"That was a very profound experience. Participating in activities beyond one’s own sector can be a very difficult task, " Prof. de Gennes said.
It certainly appears that the Nobel Laureate, who has treated systems so complicated that few physicists had earlier thought it possible to incorporate in a general physical description, is finally challenged.
he first scientific forum for planetary sciences and geosciences in the Asia-Oceania region, a region that encompasses the largest area and population in the world, was convened in Singapore.
Distinguished speakers from the international scientific community presented their latest research findings at the meeting. These included Professor Peter Fabian, President of the European Geosciences Union and Professor Robert Dickinson, former President of the American Geophysical Union. The duo presented keynote lectures on "Free-Air Ozone Fumigation of Mature Trees" and "The Global Carbon Project" respectively. A series of public lectures aimed at unraveling the mysteries of the universe was also held. It was tailored particularly for the student community and marked one of the many AOGS’s efforts to reach out to the youngsters and excite them with interesting discoveries.
