As all eyes are on the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, famously known as CERN, Indian scientific and technological contributions are among the many that keep the world’s biggest particle physics laboratory buzzing.
In a ‘quantum’ leap in physics, CERN scientists on Wednesday claimed to have spotted a sub-atomic particle “consistent” with the Higgs boson or the “God particle”, believed to be a crucial building block that led to the formation of the universe.
There is an intrinsic Indian connection to what is happening at CERN — Satyendra Nath Bose. It is Bose after whom the sub-atomic particle boson is named.
His study changed the way particle physics has been studied ever since. The Higgs Boson is a particle that is theoretically the reason why all matter in the universe has mass.
The name Higgs Boson came from a British scientist Peter Higgs and Bose. The work done by Bose and Albert Einstein, later added by Higgs, lead to this pioneering day.
“India is like a historic father of the project,” Paolo Giubellino, CERN spokesperson had said back in October last year when PTI visited the facility.
At the core of the CERN, spread over two countries as it is situated near the Swiss-Franco border, is the 27-km long tunnel, over 70 metres beneath the ground, where the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or commonly referred to as the Big Bang experiment was conducted last year.
The experiment had aimed to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang, when the universe is thought to have exploded into existence about 14 billion years ago.
The CERN runs a number of experimental projects and over 100 Indian scientists are working round the clock.
Significant contribution by Kolkata institute
The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) said in Kolkata on Wednesday that its scientists had made significant contributions to the development of the CMS experiments at CERN.
“This led to the observation of the new particle at 125.3 GeV, consistent with a Higgs Boson as predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics, announced just now,” SINP Director Milan Sanyal told PTI in Kolkata.
Stating that it was a historical moment in physics and SINP took pride in being a part of the history, he said “It will require more data and intense scrutiny to establish these findings beyond any doubt.
“This is an important moment for the development of science and I am very happy that our institute, this city and our country is part of the science revolution,” Mr. Sanyal said.
He said that the core CMS team of the SINP had five faculty members — group leader Prof. Sunanda Banerjee, Prof. Satyaki Bhattacharya, Prof. Suchandra Datta, Prof. Subir Sarkar and Prof. Manoj Saran.
Most of the team members, he said, had worked for more than a decade with the CMS experiment with notable contributions in the development of the experiment right from the early stage and were actively participating in the analysis of the incoming data.
He said that the SINP was committed to contribute in all areas of the future development and in participating in the exciting physics programme of the CMS experiment in the years ahead.
Mr. Sanyal said that the SINP had joined in the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider facility through a memorandum of understanding with CERN signed here during the last visit of the CERN Director-General.
“Our institute has significantly expanded its collaborative research activities at CERN since then, particularly in three experimental areas, like ALICE, CMS abnd ISOLDE,” he said.
SINP is the oldest institute in the area of nuclear physics in India.
Keywords: Higgs boson, God particle, CERN, Large Hadron Collider, CMS, ATLAS, Satyendra Nath Bose
Science is, indeed, a collective enterprise, as Isaac Newton
trenchantly and famously pointed out. But if connections between India
and the Higgs Boson must be celebrated, yes, let us remember
Satyendranath Bose, certainly; but let us not forget that Tom Kibble
of London's Imperial College, one of the other British scientists
involved in the development of the theoretical basis for the Higgs
field, was born in Chennai and might have trod as a toddler the
nascent campus of Madras Christian College in Tambaram, where his
father, Walter F. Kibble, was professor of mathematics.
The role of Indian contributors in CSM and ALICE is also very important. Well, Its a starting of a new chapter of nano-scale science.
In addition to the scientists listed above, Prof Meenakshi Narain of Brown University, USA, is also actively involved in the pursuit of Higgs Boson particle. Prof Narain is the one who also discovered one of the other sub-atomic partcles.
Its a pity that none of the Western newspaper article writers ask the question as to what does 'Boson' mean? They are crazy about Peter Higgs. But know nothing about the 'boson' part of the so-called God Particle. Satyendra Nath Bose was a professor of my Alma mater, the University of Dhaka.
As Paolo said,"India is a historic father of project",the Indian scientists had made that words come true at CERN..Its really a fact about the pride of Indians.but somehow it must be useful to our nation and our people and it is not explained clearly by the CERN..
What will we gain if international media mentions Indian contribution to this huge expensive experiment which involved thousands of scientist from almost every region??? We should concentrate on appreciating the beauty of scientific discovery & its potential to change lives, living standards. Only science can improve living standards unlike what majority believes that only money can improve living standard. Money can only finance inflation. The majority's belief leads to billions of rupees, dollars invested in stock market to generate money (falsely believing that it will improve living standard) but sadly only inflation is generated out of stock exchange (that's why Hindu scriptures call money as "Maya" that will vanish in no time while science, knowledge is permanent). If same money was invested in scientific research the living standard would improve by leaps & bounds.
Great achievements for human civilization .Many congratulations to scientists.
The discovery of Higgs boson is a tribute to the theoretical prediction of Sayendra
Nath Bose decades ago. Unlike him, Peter Higgs was amidst the team of Scientists
from all over the world, involved in this epic experiment in Geneva yesterday, when
the vindication of his life long efforts in finding the 'God Particle' was announced.
Hopefully, this event will lure youngsters in India pursuing careers in Scientific
Research rather more than Administrative jobs. In a lighter vein, with this discovery,
some may even say "What Bengal thinks today, rest of the world (not just India)
thinks tomorrow" !
Its really great. Congrates to all concerned Indian Scientists.
It is a marvel! Congratulations to the brilliant team of scientists! But yes, it will be nice if the Indian scientist is given some credit too. Of course, it's only yesterday that this discovery was made. Let's wait and see what more news is given to the people to read..
congratulations to the scientists of cern and sinp
Strangely the international media does not mention this fact ?
great job of our indian & other scientist. this will help for next gen...
Beyond the association mentioned in the news story, what was our specific contribution to
this discovery. Details of our contribution will help inspire students of science, which would
be better in the longer term than the short term pride.
Can we tone it down a little ? The article could have possibly explained what a CMS experiment is. If Indian scientists have played a major role in designing the experiment, why can't they explain in layman terms to the public ? Oh, is it only for the scientific elite ?
Let us not forget the role of TIFR ( Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) which was the nodal agency for the ALICE experiment in India.
It will be fitting that late Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose should be
conferred Bharath Ratna posthumously on this proud occasion.
S.N Bose should have got the Physics Nobel.
This is a stupendous discovery and congratulations to all scientists
taking part. Surely a nobel is waiting for the team
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