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Yash Pal (1926–2017)

In the evening hours of Monday, 24 July Yash was born in the small town of perhaps even more importantly, Nirmal 2017 Professor Yash Pal the educator Jhang, on the eastern banks of the Sharma who was a fellow student. Nir- and scientist passed away. Nirmal, who Chenab River in Punjab on 26 November mal was a courageous and brilliant has known him for 75 years, and was his 1926, to a prosperous family with highly young girl, with a sparkling good hu- constant companion and wife for 64 ethical and cultural values. His father mour that lights up her face even today. years, and their two sons, Anil and Rahul Ram Pyare Lal Bhutani was a Gazetted Yash was captivated; they became good are deeply saddened by this loss and my Officer in the Central Government under friends. The year was 1943. heart goes out to them. Millions of per- the British rule, a well-respected posi- At that time World War II was raging sons, scientists, administrators, people in tion, and his mother Lakshmi Devi was a in Europe and Africa in the West, and in the villages of India, students, children highly intelligent and generous lady. Burma and Rangoon in the East, and the and indeed the widest spectrum of people Yash was the eldest of five siblings, with civil disobedience movement demanding we can think of are touched by his de- a sister Swarn, and three brothers, Om independence for India from British rule mise. Such was the life of Yash Pal, and Prakash, Rajinder Kumar and Sunil, who was gathering strength. Amidst all this, such was his personality that everyone Yash completed the Intermediate stage individually felt a personal bond with (F.Sc.), and imbibed the patriotic spirit, him. He was a man of fine aesthetic sen- and assimilated ideas of egalitarianism sibilities and egalitarian principles. and ahimsa advocated by leaders like Words cannot assuage the sorrows of this Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal loss; only time will work its alchemy to Nehru. He read Nehru’s autobiography convert our pathos into fond memories, Towards Freedom (written in the Almora and a celebration of his wonderful and prison), Tolstoy and Thoreau. From extraordinary life. ‘He is gone, but his Lyallpur, Yash moved to Punjab Univer- values and wisdom will remain to guide sity, to enroll in B Sc (Physics us,’ said Shyam Narayan Tandon, his honors), and in the few years’ time he student and long-standing associate1. took to graduate and then enroll in the During his many splendored career master’s programme, the divisive feel- Yash Pal made pioneering contributions ings of hatred among different communi- to particle physics, to observational and ties, and the feverish demands for a theoretical study of astrophysics and division of India on religious lines had cosmic rays, to cosmology, to building of were all well educated, and have served vitiated the atmosphere. In June 1947, scientific and educational institutions, to the country admirably in various capaci- for his summer vacation Yash went to the national space programme, including ties. His primary education was in the New where his father had been to the application of space technology to city of in Balochistan where his transferred from Jabalpur. At midnight, remote sensing and to reaching out to father had been posted. Fortunately he as the fifteenth day in August com- every nook and corner of India to spread and his family survived the terrible 1935 menced Nehru proclaimed the independ- general education on subjects like health earthquake, which claimed more than ence of India from the ramparts of the and hygiene, animal husbandry and agri- 60,000 lives. This disrupted his studies Red-fort: ‘…at the midnight hour – when culture, to the popularization of science, for almost a year during which the city the whole world is asleep, India is to bring about inter-departmental coop- was rebuilt, allowing him to return to awake…’ There were celebrations all eration, and to infuse a self-confidence Quetta to complete his primary and sec- over India, but India had been partitioned into one and all of us that we can solve ondary school education. His father was into two countries, India with a wide dis- our problems, technological, societal transferred to Jabalpur on the banks of tribution of ethnicity and religions, and or political by our own efforts2–5. He the River Narmada, in the Central Prov- with predominantly Muslims. contributed, in no small way, to bind us inces, and his education continued there. Riots had broken out and refugees of mi- together as a nation, poor or rich, villag- A silverlining in all this interrupted edu- nority population were pouring into In- ers or city dwellers, educated or other- cation was that he came under the influ- dia, which was not prepared and had to wise. Accordingly, talking about Yash ence of a great teacher, Pawar, who scramble to house them and feed them. Pal’s SITE experiment that ‘blossomed adopted the Socratic method in his teach- Yash was in the thick of it as a volunteer. into a full scale television facility con- ing instead of conventional lectures, and There was no question of his going back necting millions of villages of India’, introduced Yash Pal to self-study of to Lahore to complete his studies for the N. R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys Tech- various subjects. He matriculated with a Master’s degree; that was impossible. nologies says that SITE together with Secondary School Certificate in 1942. During this period he befriended many CDOT pioneered by Sam Pitroda have Fearing further such disruptions, the artists, students and intellectuals, and his transformed the lives of Indians like family decided to send Yash away to his friendship with Nirmal continued through never before, and have given us vibrant aunt’s house and continue his education those troubled times. With enterprise and TV media, and efficient communication in Lyallpur, better known today as Fais- help from great educators like D. S. systems on par with the best in the alabad. And this was where he met his Kothari, Yash and his friends continued world6. closest friend Mohindra Chadha, and their studies in makeshift classrooms. It

804 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 113, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2017 PERSONAL NEWS is from such a crucible that Yash Pal Yash and Nirmal arrived at Rossi’s lab muon flavors generated by the decay of emerged with sterling character and where they were warmly welcomed by secondary cosmic-ray pions and kaons, dedicated to a life in science and service fellow research workers, Hale Bradt, followed by a prescription of how to de- to his fellowmen. Elihu Boldt, David Caldwell, George tect them in deep underground experi- In order to fulfill the requirement for Clark, Gaurang Yodh and Stanislaw Ol- ments21 are as relevant for the ongoing the Master’s degree he had to conduct bert, besides and Herb experiments even today, as they were for independent research, and write a disser- Bridge. Yash Pal continued his research the TIFR effort in the mines of Kolar by tation. Fortunately, he was able to secure studying the properties and decay charac- B. V. Sreekantan, M. G. K. Menon and a position as a research assistant at the teristics of neutral and charged K- others in the 1960s. A major effort for already famous Tata Institute of Funda- mesons, and of heavier particles called the studies of cosmic-ray neutrinos sub- mental Research, Bombay, founded by hyperons, which are produced in associa- sequently launched by the Japanese Homi Bhabha in 1945. When Yash Pal tion with K-mesons, now using energetic group, led to the discovery of neutrino joined the institute in 1949, he became particles generated in manmade particle oscillations, and the award of the Nobel close friends with another precocious accelerators. Nirmal took up a technical Prize for M. Koshiba. Such instances in- student, Devendra Lal, who was bub- position at MIT. The title and a brief dicate that he focused his research efforts bling with energy and impish humour. summary of Yash Pal’s doctoral thesis8 always on important questions, espe- The visit of Bernard Peters on a visit to submitted to MIT is given in Box 1. This cially on those whose solutions were not the institute in 1950, gave a fillip to their effort carried out with several members only possible but also imminent. The research: They floated a stack of photo- of Rossi’s group led to the publication of study of the cut-off in the cosmic ray graphic emulsion pellicles to altitudes of several important papers9–14. It may not spectrum induced by their interactions ~30,000 feet suspended from latex bal- be out of place here to note that in 1959, with a hypothetical neutrino background loons filled with hydrogen gas, to record Segre and Chamberlain were awarded the in the universe20 foreshadowed the cut- cosmic ray particles and their interac- Nobel Prize for the discovery of the anti- off in the cosmic-ray spectrum predicted tions. By that time such methods of re- proton, and in 1964, Christenson, Cronin, by Greisen, Zatsepin and Kuzmin owing search were well established by Cecil F. Fitch and Turlay in their continued study to their interactions with the 2.7 K uni- Powell of Bristol University, who had of the decay neutral K-mesons made versal microwave background. Once the discovered the ‘ meson’, the Yukawa the Nobel prize-winning discovery of the discovery of the background became particle responsible for the binding force violation of the combined symmetry of known in India, his group calculated the among protons and neutrons inside an parity and charge conjugation. Yash Pal effects of Compton scattering of the mi- atomic nucleus. The effort of D. Lal, returned to TIFR in 1958, accompanied crowave photons on the cosmic-ray elec- Yash Pal and B. Peters7 was highly suc- by Nirmal and their newly born son, trons and estimated their lifetime in the cessful. They discovered several events Anil. Galaxy23. The comparison of the U–Pb of ‘K+ and K–-mesons’ decaying into ei- Students flocked to him upon his arri- and the K–Ar dating of the same meteor- ther two or three pions, that indicate vio- val in TIFR – A. K. Ray, T. N. Rengara- itic samples yielded a strict upper bound lation of the symmetry called ‘parity’ jan, P. Babu, R. Cowsik, S. N. Tandon of less than 0.5% variation of the fine- and commonly referred to as the  –  and R. P. Verma; he also collaborated structure constant  over the age of the puzzle. Such events triggered intense extensively with postdoctoral research universe25. The analysis of the air shower theoretical studies culminating in the workers such as S. M. Chitre and other data yielded evidence for the increase of Nobel Prize winning work by T. D. Lee professors at TIFR. His international col- the p–p cross-sections with energy31,32, a and C. N. Yang on parity non-conser- laborations were mainly with Bernard result later confirmed by the experiments vation in -decay and other processes Peters and Gaurang Yodh. The research at the ‘collider’ at CERN. involving ‘weak interactions’. They also was on several fronts15–32 spanning high- We have described Yash Pal’s growth discovered events in the stack represent- energy physics, neutrino physics, cosmic from birth into a brilliant scientist to ing the short and long-lived decay of rays, astrophysics and cosmology. It is show how the events that he experienced 0 0 neutral mesons, KS and KL . The other impossible to present here a full account on the way tempered and conditioned members of the ‘nuclear emulsion’ group of all their research findings, and only a him to take up even more challenging at TIFR like S. Biswas, R. R. Daniel and selection of results are included: The de- tasks in the public domain, and accom- Rama Thor provided much support in the tailed calculation of the fluxes of neutri- plish so much on so many different technical aspects of the experiment and nos/antineutrinos of the electron and fronts. Thus when he was invited in 1973 in the measurement of the events. Soon after the publication of their joint paper Box 1. Decay and interaction of neutral strange particles produced at in 1953, with the M Sc Degree (Punjab cosmotron energies University) thus earned, Yash Pal be- came a regular member of TIFR, and For his Ph D Yash studied cloud chamber tracks of kaons and hyperons married Nirmal in a simple and elegant produced by the interaction of 1.6 GeV -mesons produced at the Cosmo- ceremony. In 1954, a year after the pub- tron, a manmade accelerator facility. He measured the lifetimes of both lication of these results, Homi Bhabha 0 0 short and long-lived neutral K-mesons,  and  , and also estimated deputed Yash to Massachusetts Institute 1 2 roughly their mass difference using the quantum mechanical particle mix- of Technology, for graduate work under 0 0 ture theory. He also observed the decay mode Λ  n +  and measured the guidance of his friend and distin- 0 the lifetime of the Λ particle. guished scientist Bruno Rossi.

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 113, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2017 805 PERSONAL NEWS to direct the Space Application Centre in poses and prevent an arms race in outer tion, for example, among ISRO, DST , whose objective was to space as essential conditions for peaceful and DAE in the expansion of the Institute bring the benefits of space technology to exploration and use of outer space’34 and for Plasma Research, founded by the common man, Yash Pal did not hesi- as it invariably happens when Yash Pal Predhiman Krishan Kaw for develop- tate to give up his pursuit of science, and takes the chair, the members of the ment of fusion technologies for power dedicate his efforts and talent to the ser- committee see the purity of his purpose, generation. vice of the country. The first task was the set aside their narrow differences, and As his tenure as the Chairman of UGC SITE experiment to establish direct re- devote their efforts for the betterment of was coming to a close, the indefatigable ception of television signals to about all humanity. Thus in the span of two Yash Pal started playing an important 2500 villages, where TV sets were to be years he was able to forge an agreement role in the TV series Turning Point, installed to which programmes could be amongst the nations to preserve the outer a science programme broadcast by broadcast using NASA’s ATS-6 geosta- space for use by all, not exclusively by , India. The script and direc- tionary satellite positioned over India. technically advanced nations. tion were jointly by Neelabh Kaul and Yash Pal’s vision was much more ambi- By now it was clear that he had a Indraneel Kaul, and popular film and tious, and of greater relevance for India: transformative influence on every office media personalities like Girish Karnad, He infused confidence in our engineers he held, and so it was when he returned Mahesh Bhatt and Mrinalini Sarabhai and scientists that no task was impossi- to the national scene in 1984 as the Sec- would periodically interview Yash Pal ble, and energized them to develop indi- retary, Department of Science and Tech- and let him explain in his inimitable genously all the needed hardware with a nology, and concurrently served as the manner current issues related to science, quality suitable for space applications. Advisor to the Planning Commission of and answer questions the public had sent Furthermore he transformed SITE into a the . Of special in- on science-related matters that they en- countrywide classroom for the education terest here is to note that he supported countered in their daily lives. The series of isolated population in new agricultural the Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha movement, ran a phenomenal 150 episodes, and methods, animal husbandry, health and established NCSTC wing of DST to made Yash Pal one of the most recog- hygiene, to give voice to their cultural communicate widely the advances in sci- nized human beings in India. Even after values and concerns, and to provide spe- ence and technology, stewarded Bharat the end of the series, the thirst for cial programmes for children. For this Ki Chhap, a series of films on the history knowledge, especially for the children, purpose, he collaborated widely to de- of science in India by Chandita Mukher- never ceased, and Yash Pal continued to velop the programmes in several lan- jee35, and in general tried to ensure that engage them in correspondence through guages, with the villagers coaxed to the benefits of our investments in science post and email, with the participation of playact, speaking their own dialects. He flowed across to all sections of our soci- his son Rahul. During such an illustrious had to also build TV studios and audio- ety, and helped to improve the quality of career, he has been the recipient of nu- visual centres at universities to develop education not only at the university level merous awards, including the Marconi content and record them for broadcast but also from kindergarten upwards. Prize mentioned earlier, UNESCO’s under the acronym EDUCAST. This ef- His life and contributions moved from Kalinga Prize for the popularization of fort has been hailed, nationally and in- crescendo to crescendo, and he was ap- science and – the ternationally, as the most meaningful and pointed in 1986 as the Chairman of Uni- Presidential Medal, and I dare say that challenging communication effort ever versity Grants Commission, a role very the prestige of each of these awards went undertaken and completed with unparal- dear to his heart, as it would allow him to up after he became a recipient. Amidst leled success. He was awarded the revitalize our Universities by providing all this accomplishment in the vast na- international Marconi Prize for commu- them opportunities to carry out research tional and international arena, he had a nication33. SITE was also responsible for in advance facilities that were earlier special place in his heart for his students the wider development of TV media in available only to research institutes. In from the past: he helped Ramanath India, and for bonding together the mul- order to achieve this, he set up and fos- Cowsik establish one of the highest as- tilingual and multi-ethnic nation. His tered Inter University Centres, for nu- tronomical observatories in the world at second major achievement was to fully clear physics in New Delhi, for laser Hanle in Ladakh, and Shyam Narayan develop indigenously the multi-spectral physics and studies with energetic UV Tandon to build the Ultra Violet Imaging remote sensing programme initiated by beams generated by the electron synchro- Telescope, the best ever built, which is P. R. Pisharoty, which today is one of the tron at Indore, and for astronomy and as- now orbiting the earth, as a part of best in the world, providing meteorologi- trophysics at Pune, and these have had a ASTROSAT, in both cases acting as cal and ecological data, as well as map- transformational effect on our education Chairman of the project management ping out earth resources. system. In this context the Information board. These innovative use of space tech- and Library Network (INFLIBNET) and His life was full of joy, and the chal- nologies for the benefit of the people the Centre for Educational Communica- lenges he faced only made him stronger projected him onto the international tion (CEC) he established are also play- and of purer metal. His life was dedi- arena, and he was appointed in 1982 as ing important roles. He had by now cated to science and he toiled to infuse Secretary General of UNISPCE-II that served in almost all branches and de- ‘the adventurous and yet the critical tem- focused on ‘raising awareness of the vast partments of the government, DAE, per of science’36 into our lives and in the potential of space benefits for all human- Space, DST, Planning Commission, and service of humanity. Let us celebrate the kind and addressed the concerns of how Human Resources. This allowed him to wondrous, loving and many-faceted life to maintain outer space for peaceful pur- work toward interdepartmental coopera- of Yash Pal.

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12. Boldt, E., Caldwell, D. O. and Pal, Y., 26. Cowsik, R., Pal, Y., Tandon, S. N. and 1. Tandon, S. N., , 14 August Phys. Rev. Lett., 1958, 1, 150–152. Verma, R. P., Can. J. Phys., 1968, 46, 2017; http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ 13. Boldt, E., Bridge, H. S., Caldwell, D. O. 646. comment/scientist-leader-institution- and Pal, Y., Phys. Rev. Lett., 1958, 1, 27. Cowsik, R. and Pal, Y., Phys. Rev. Lett., builder/445493.html 256–258. 1969, 22, 550–551. 2. Yash Pal – Eighty Years Young, Fest- 14. Caldwell, D. O. and Yash Pal, Rev. Sci. 28. Cowsik, R. and Pal, Y., Phys. Rev. Lett., schrift with 31 contributions and a selec- Instrum., 1956, 27, 633–638. 1969, 23, 1467–1468. tion of Professor Yash Pal’s non- 15. Pal, Y. and Rengarajan, T. N., Phys. 29. Cowsik, R., Pal, Y. and Rengarajan, T. technical writings, with a preface by A. Rev., 1961, 124, 1575–1576. N., Astrophys. Space Sci., 1970, 6, 390– P. Deshpande, National Centre for Sci- 16. Lal, S., Pal, Y. and Raghavan, R., Nucl. 395. ence Communicators, Vidnyan Bhavan, Phys., 1962, 31, 415–446. 30. Peters, B., Lund, N., Cowsik, R. and Pal, , India, 2006. 17. Pal, Y., Ray, A. K. and Rengarajan, T. Y., Phys. Lett. B, 1970, 31, 553–556. 3. Biman Basu, Yash Pal: A Life in Science, N., Il Nuovo Cimento, 1963, 28, 1177– 31. Yodh, G. B., Pal, Y. and Trefil, J. S., Vigyan Prasar, , 2006. 1189. Phys. Rev. Lett., 1972, 28, 1005–1008. 4. Jayan, T. V., Frontline, 2 August 2017; 18. Babu, P., Cowsik, R. and Pal, Y., Il 32. Yodh, G. B., Pal, Y. and Trefil, J. S., http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/ Nuovo Cimento, 1963, 29, 785–800. Phys. Rev. D, 1973, 8, 3233–3236. for-the-love-of-science/article9796443.ece 19. Pal, Y. and Peters, B., Mat. Fys. Medd. 33. Eric Ash, Professor Yash Pal, in ref. 2, 5. Cowsik, R., Curr. Sci., 2015, 109, 202– Dan. Vid. Selsk, 1964, 33, 1–15. p. 35. 208. 20. Cowsik, R., Pal, Y. and Tandon, S. N., 34. http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/aboutus/ 6. Narayana Murthy, N. R., in ref. 2, p. 26. Phys. Lett., 1964, 13, 265–267. history/unispace.html 7. Lal, D., Yash Pal and Peters, B., Phys. 21. Cowsik, R., Pal, Y. and Tandon, S. N., 35. Chandita Mukherjee, Professor Yash Rev., 1953, 92, 438–440. Proceedings Indian Acad. Sci. Sect. A, Pal: A Friend for Life, in ref. 2, p. 50. 8. Hale and Dottie Bradt, Greetings to Yash 1966, 63, 217–243. 36. Jawaharlal Nehru, Discovery of India, Pal, in ref. 2, p. 57 and private communi- 22. Yash Pal and Tandon, S. N., Phys. Rev., John Day Company, 1946.

cation. 1966, 151, 1071–1075. 9. Bridge, H. S., Caldwell, D. O., Pal, Y. 23. Cowsik, R., Pal, Y., Tandon, S. N. and R. COWSIK and Rossi, B., Phys. Rev., 1956, 102, Verma, R. P., Phys. Rev. Lett., 1966, 17, Department of Physics, and McDonnell 930–931. 1298–1300. Center for the Space Sciences, 10. Boldt, E., Bridge, H. S., Caldwell, D. O. 24. Cowsik, R., Pal, Y., Tandon, S. N. and and Pal, Y., Phys. Rev., 1958, 112, Verma, R. P., Phys. Rev., 1967, 158, Washington University, 1746–1749. 1238–1242. One Brookings Drive, 11. Boldt, E., Caldwell, D. O. and Pal, Y., 25. Chitre, S. M. and Pal, Y., Phys. Rev. St Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA Phys. Rev. Lett., 1958, 1, 148–150. Lett., 1968, 20, 278–279. e-mail: [email protected]

Pushpa Mittra Bhargava (1928–2017)

Bhargava and his Camelot for Cellular and Molecular Biologists

Pushpa Mittra Bhargava’s vision for the worked day or/and night in centrally air- arbor with its own blackboard, chalk and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Bio- conditioned laboratories, and exchanged duster (aptly named Shantiniketan). They logy (CCMB), founded by him in Hy- ideas in meticulously designed offices, had abundant storage spaces, common derabad in 1977, is now the stuff of coffee rooms, a lecture hall, or a leafy equipment rooms, walk-in cold rooms, legend. He had already set his sights on emergency power supply, distilled water institution building before he hit 30, at a on tap, extensive supply of fine chemi- time when most researchers are thinking cals and enzymes, a 24-hour centralized about establishing their own careers and monitoring system, lifts equipped with identities. CCMB was the idyll where emergency telephones, and closed circuit about 20 of the finest minds led small- TVs. One entered the campus through to medium-sized groups of scientists to electrically powered gates, and incon- study major unsolved questions in biol- gruously for Hyderabad, there even was ogy. The groups admitted only the most an octagonal ‘Stop’ traffic sign on a exceptional doctoral students, selected campus intersection. Receptionists man- for that ineffable spark, following a rig- ning the lobby were knowledgeable and orous written test, in two arduous rounds helpful. Anyone could engage the emer- of interviews. ‘Describe something inter- gency vehicle anytime and, thoughtfully, esting you saw on the trip from the train the emergency drivers were provided a station’. ‘Why do phulkas puff up when lounge to rest in. The monthly pocket cooked on an open flame?’ ‘What is the P. M. Bhargava (Photograph courtesy: writing pad had easily-detached pages role of the ball in a ball-pen?’ They Chandana Chakrabarti). and listed useful telephone numbers.

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