VI. Alladi Ramakrisnan's letter of 1960 to Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr
and Bohr's response regarding the Theoretical Physics Seminar
When Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr visited India in January 1960 as the
guest of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Alladi Ramakrishnan invited
Professor and Mrs. Bohr to Ekamra Nivas to meet the students of the
Theoretical Physics Seminar and for dinner. Ramakrishnan says in his
memoirs:
"... In January 1960, Professor Niels Bohr was in Madras as the personal
guest of the Prime Minister of India. He was accompanied by a Deputy
Secretary of the Ministry of Scientific Research who travelled with him
as his personal aide. I had written to him earlier and he graciously
agreed to visit my house and meet my students. Though he stayed at the
Government House, he accepted our invitation for dinner at my residence.
It was very flattering when he and his wife stayed until midnight after
an open air dinner on the lawns of Ekamra Nivas under the luscious
foliage of a mango tree near the portico in spite of the repeated
reminders of the aide to get back to the Government House. Mrs. Bohr,
a gracious woman of great elegance and charm, kept a watchful eye
to prevent her husband from putting a burning pipe into his coat
pocket! We could not believe that such a great physicist, engrossed
in his own thoughts, who along with Einstein set in motion the atomic
age, could evince interest in a group of stripling physicists in a
far off country. He did so in generous measure at a press interview
at the airport which was reported in The Hindu in good detail."
Here is the actual report from The Hindu Newspaper.
Dr. Bohr said that the Atomic Energy Establishment was a mighty
endeavour where research is being conducted in the best way under the
leadership of Dr. H. J. Bhabha, a great scientist and at the same time
a very good administrator.
Asked about the place mathematics should occupy in the pursuit of
theoretical physics, the professor said that in Bombay and Madras
energetic efforts were being made for the promotion of knowledge
of physics which demanded new mathematical methods of education of
young people to be able to fruitfully contribute to such work. Wonderful
work was being done in the field of theoretical physics by Professor
Alladi Ramakrishnan of the Madras University.
Alladi Ramakrishnan wrote a letter (see attachment) to Professor Bohr
on January 17, 1960, thanking him for his visit to Ekamra Nivas, and his
kind words to the press. Professor Bohr responded by letter (see attachment)
of February 13 in which he said that he and his wife enjoyed their visit
to Ekamra Nivas immensely, and that he was much impressed with
Ramakrishnan's efforts to train students. In that letter, Professor
Bohr also invited Alladi Ramakrishnan to his institute in Copenhagen.
The endorsement of Ramakrishnan's efforts by Bohr is what ultimately
convinced the Prime Minister to give the nod for the creation of
MATSCIENCE.
DOCUMENTS
The url of this page is http://www.krishnaswami-alladi.com/old-website/ar-important-letters/partVI.html.
Created by
K. Alladi
(alladik@ufl.edu) on
Thursday, January 28, 2010.
Last update made Thu Jan 28 23:41:34 EST 2010.
alladik@ufl.edu
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