The world of science has lost an eminent physicist with the passing away of Prof. ECG Sudershan, who was nominated for Nobel Prize several times but missed the coveted honour every time. His research interests spanned a wide range of fields from particle physics, quantum optics, and quantum field theory to quantum information theory, gauge theories and classical mechanics.
Born on September 16, 1931, at Pallam in Kottayam district of Kerala, he did his M.Sc. from Madras University and Ph.D from University of Rochester, New York. He had his academic career mostly in the US. He passed away at Texas. He was a Professor at University of Texas for the past 40 years. In 1980s, he worked as Director of Institute of Mathematical Sciences at Chennai for five years.
One of the most accomplished and renowned theoretical physicists of Indian origin, he is known for his prodigious creative output.
He together with American physicist, Robert Eugene Marshak came out in 1957 with what is called the V.A.Theory of Weak Interactions. Three others, Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg, developed it further. It eventually evolved as electro weak theory of weak interactions. The three got the Nobel Prize for their work in 1979. Dr. Sudarshan and Prof. Marshak got left behind.
Dr. Sudarshan achieved another breakthrough in 1960s, when he propounded the theory of Tachyons. According to the theory, there should be particles called Tachyons, which had speeds larger than that of light. So far, the particles have not been found experimentally.
But, physicists are hopeful. As and when they are discovered, it will be a historical moment as it would markedly change the conception and understanding of the universe. Tachycon is considered as a revolutionary idea within the framework of the Special Theory of Relativity.
Even as he missed the Nobel prize several times, Dr. Sudarshan openly expressed his anguish when the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences chose to give a prize to Dr. RJ Glauber in 2005 “for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence”, ignoring Dr. Sudarshan’s work.