5 Discoveries at CERN That Changed The World

More than 12,000 scientists from 110 nationalities work at CERN whose discoveries shape the future of technology and advance our understanding of the universe. Founded in 1954, the facilities at CERN include one of the largest and most advanced particle accelerators in the world.

Higgs Boson

The 2012 detection of Higgs Boson was groundbreaking for two reasons. Firstly, the elusive particle was postulated in 1964, almost five decades prior to discovery. Its search required big budget and collaboration of many countries.

Secondly, because the Higgs Boson explains as to how fundamental particles such as electrons and quarks have mass. Due to its pervasive nature, Higgs particle was termed the God Particle by several scientists. However, Peter Higgs himself didn't endorse the name.

World Wide Web

It was physicist Tim Berners-Lee who developed the concept of hypertext at CERN in 1989. Many engineers including Robert Cailliau chipped in and the first website was ready by 1991, as a tool to allow scientists to share information.

The world wide web was made freely available to the world in 1993 so that anyone anywhere could connect to the internet. Not only www, the scientists at CERN have also helped develop technologies like PET scans, which is used to detect cancers.

Antimatter

Antimatter was theoretically described by physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. Creation of antimatter could shed light on why almost everything in the known universe consists of matter.

In 1995, scientists at CERN successfully created a stable antihydrogen for the first time. In 2002 they produced antihydrogen atoms in large quantities, but for an incredibly short lifespan, just several milliseconds.

In 2011, scientists were able to maintain antihydrogen atoms for more than 15 minutes, a historic feat. This will allow them to conduct a more detailed study of the antimatter and to create stable antimolecules soon.

Weak Neutral Current

Weak neutral current, a prediction of electroweak theory, is how subatomic particles interact with one another using the weak force. Here, the word current only implies the exchange of Z particle and has nothing to do with electrical current.

In 1973, weak neutral currents were detected by CERN in a neutrino experiment and confirmed the electroweak unification theory by Salam, Glashow and Weinberg who were recognized by the Nobel Prize in 1979.

New State of Matter

In the 1970s and early 1980s, cosmologists theorized the conditions immediately after the Big Bang. They predicted the existence of a new state of matter, a quark-gluon plasma in which quarks, instead of being bound up into protons and neutrons, are liberated to roam freely.

One of the objectives at CERN is to mimic those early universe conditions. In doing so, detection of quark gluon plasma was confirmed in 2000. The then director general of CERN called it an important step forward in the understanding of the early evolution of the universe.

Summing up

You will be surprised to know that of all the people working at CERN, only 3% are physicists. They employ technicians, engineers, IT specialists, writers, etc. who not only aid the advancement of physics but also help change the world by innovating medical, computing and aerospace technologies.

10 Famous Physicists Who Played Chess

Chess is a tactical board game that is enjoyed by professionals and hobbyists all over the world. It is well known that chess playing not only develops concentration but also improves memory. In this post, let us look at ten physicists who enjoyed the game of Chess.

Paul Dirac

Growing up, Dirac played Chess on the Sundays with his father. He learned it quickly and went on to become the president of chess club of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Paul Dirac also played chess with the Nobel Prize winning physicist friend Pyotr Kapitsa.

Roger Penrose

He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 2020 for the work done on black hole singularities. His brother is the chess Grandmaster Jonathan Penrose. Their love for chess emerged thanks to their father Lionel Penrose who was a geneticist, mathematician and chess theorist.

Stephen Hawking

Hawking played chess just for fun with his youngest child, Timothy.

picture credit: pinterest

Albert Einstein

The renowned physicist was friends with German chess player and world champion Emanuel Lasker. In 1933, Oppenheimer played against Einstein in Princeton, USA and lost by resignation. Einstein was a good player but played very little chess.

Richard Feynman

American physicist Richard Feynman was drawn to chess in the high school. He was particularly interested in observing the chess gameplay. In one interview, Feynman said, in regards to physics: The gods are playing a great game of chess and the scientists are merely observers trying to figure out the rules of the game.

Werner Heisenberg

As a young boy, Heisenberg spent his free time in the evenings playing chess against neighborhood friends. His love of the game grew and became intolerable for teachers and professors. Especially Arnold Sommerfeld, Heisenberg's doctoral advisor, forbade him to play chess.

Edward Teller

Hungarian physicist Edward Teller learned to play chess from his father at the age of 6. Like his doctoral advisor Werner Heisenberg, Teller was also an avid chess player. Unfortunately, he could never beat Heisenberg at chess, though he was able to defeat Heisenberg in table tennis.

picture: ESVA

William Henry Bragg

He won the Nobel Prize in physics along with his son for their work in the analysis of crystal structure using X-rays. He was the secretary of the Adelaide University Chess Association.

Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Schrödinger shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics with Paul Dirac. He once wrote "I do like chess, but it has turned out to be not the appropriate relaxation from the work I am doing."

Max Planck

German physicist Max Planck, who proposed the quantum theory, played chess with the world chess champion and mathematician Emmanuel Lasker.

Climate Scientists Win Nobel Prize In Physics

In 2020, mathematician Roger Penrose was bestowed upon the most prestigious honor in science along with Andrea Ghez, who became only the fourth woman laureate in physics and Reinhard Genzel of the Max Planck Institute, for furthering our understanding of the black holes.

This year, the Nobel Prize foundation has again elected three joint winners. One half of the Nobel prize to climate scientists Syukuro Manabe of U.S.A and Klaus Hasselmann of Germany and the other half to Italian physicist Georgio Parisi.

We have all read about the global warming in our school textbooks, that humans are influencing the climate and the earth's temperature by burning fossil fuels. But how did the scientific community arrive at that conclusion in the first place?

The answer is, works of notable scientists like Syukuro Manabe, who is a senior meteorologist at the Princeton University, have helped establish humanity's increasing role in much of everything that is gone wrong with this planet.

Starting in the 1960s, Manabe pioneered the use of computers to simulate climate change. He demonstrated in 1970 that increase in the amount of carbon dioxide levels will rise global temperatures by 0.57°C by 2000. He was spot on as the earth had warmed by 0.54°C.

Klaus Hasselmann, leading oceanographer in Germany and the then director of the Max-Planck-Institute of Meteorology, also arrived at the same conclusion. He showed that despite short term weather fluctuations, climate models are reliable in long term.

Their studies further revealed that the global temperature is projected to increase by an additional 2°C – 3°C during the 21st century. So, we may take climate change lightly today but in the future its dangers will be observable in day to day life as the scientists have warned.

The third winner is Geogio Parisi whose research areas include statistical mechanics and complex systems. He has developed a mathematical model in order to understand complex systems such as the earth's global climate, the human brain and ultimately the entire universe.

Did you know that total 115 Nobel prizes in physics have been awarded since 1901? The winners this year include some of the oldest awardees. Manabe and Hasselmann are 90 and 89 respectively, while Parisi is relatively younger at 73 years.

Their recognition by the Nobel Prize committee shows that our knowledge about the climate change is built upon strong scientific foundations. Thus, no matter how much the politicians, the industrialists or the others deny climate change, it is happening at every moment.

After the announcement, Giorgio Parisi said in relation to climate change: “It is very urgent that we take strong decisions and move at a very strong pace. It is clear for future generations that we have to act now to tackle the climate change."

How to become a physicist like Isaac Newton?

Did you know that Isaac Newton's mother wanted him to become a farmer? He was 16 at the time and busied himself by building model windmills and sundials to take his mind off farming, an occupation he hated.

Was Newton a child prodigy? Well, his teachers did think so and he invented calculus by the age of 22, so the answer to that question might be yes. However, one can imbibe Newton's three qualities as a teenager to become a physicist like him...

Curiosity

Newton was way more inquisitive than his schoolmates. He always wanted to get to the bottom of things and never gave up before quenching his curiosity. This would sometimes cause him to end up alone though.

It was one summer afternoon that he was resting in the shade of an apple tree in their farm. It is said that a fall of an apple encouraged Newton to investigate the force of gravity. Was this the first time that things fell to the ground?

No. Millions saw the apple fall before Newton, but nobody ever bothered to ask why it did. This questioning attitude is the hallmark of a physicist or any scientist for that matter.

There might not be immediate answers to most your questions. However, when all other people give up chasing them the scientist continues to dig deeper – it's a game after all. As Feynman said: There is a pleasure in finding things out.

Experiment

How to feed curiosity? By experimenting. Experiments come in two kinds: theoretical or practical. And Newton was well versed in both. That is why, he not only invented something as complicated as calculus but also Newton's disc, as shown below:

Once again the idea was inspired by nature itself. Newton was mesmerized whenever he saw the rainbow over his house in Woolsthorpe. This led him to questions about the behavior of light which he investigated with glass objects.

After completing experiments, Newton illustrated his findings with a color circle, popularly known as Newton's disc, in 1704. He divided the circle into component colors and it would appear white when spun really fast.

Approach

Newton was a keen observer of things so he carried around pocket notebooks to record any interesting activities of the day. After he obtained his BA degree in 1665 the university shut operations due to the ongoing plague.

He returned to his village and revisited the notes from his university days. It was there and then in Woolsthorpe that private studies of his notes would lead him to discover the binomial theorem which in turn gave rise to calculus later.

Newton also had recorded life and work of notable previous philosophers such as Descartes, Kepler and Galileo. Hence, his most famous saying: If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Newton took great pleasure in writing or drawing things down. Taking notes would ensure that he wouldn't miss any good ideas. For example, the following is an original drawing of Newton's reflecting telescope:

Newton would spend most of his time alone, thinking. He would completely engulf himself in the process of ideation. Much of the human civilization today is built upon Newton's ideas and drawings. We enjoy our lives at his expense.

Summing up

Sure one has to go through college and rigorous training in order to become a professional physicist. But we can learn from Newton that ideas are lying around everywhere, waiting to be noted down and drawn.

He famously said: To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me. So, let's mimic Newton's infinite curiosity, adopt his approach and do experiment in the backyard. For who knows what is possible?

5 Applications of Dimensional Analysis

The concept of dimensional analysis was introduced by French mathematician Joseph Fourier in 1822. It is a useful method in physics and engineering to identify the relationships between various physical quantities by analyzing their base quantities.

There are seven base or fundamental quantities of primary importance in physics. The rest of all the physical quantities are derived, that is, written in terms of the following base quantities:

1. Mass (M)
2. Length (L)
3. Time (T)
4. Temperature (K)
5. Electric current (A)
6. Amount of substance (Mol)
7. Luminous intensity (Cd)

Others are derived quantities, for example: Speed is distance upon time, where distance is a type of length. So, the dimension of speed in terms of base quantities is [L][T]^-1

1. Find dimension of unknown quantity

Example: To increase the temperature of a substance by ΔT, heat required is given by Q=mSΔT where m is mass and S is specific heat capacity of the substance. We can find the dimension of S by doing simple algebra.

S=Q/mΔT

S=[M L² T^-2]/[M][K]

S=[L² T^-2 K^-1]

Since heat (Q) is a type of energy we have used the dimension of energy [M L² T^-2]. Knowing the dimensional dependence is useful while performing experiment in laboratory.

2. Find unit of physical quantity

Example: The dimension of force is [M L T^-2]. Therefore, the unit of force in the standard MKS system is kg.m.s^-2 corresponding to the base quantities used. Likewise, the unit of force in the French CGS system is g.cm.s^-2

3. To check correctness of formula

In an equation, the left hand side should match the dimensions on the right hand side. That's because, you can't have apples on one side and oranges on the other. This is useful in multiple choice questions as it helps in eliminating the wrong options.

Example: Is force F=mv²/r correct? where m is mass, v is velocity and r is radius. To find out, we start by writing the dimensions on both sides.

[M L T^-2] = [M][LT^-1]²/[L]

[M L T^-2] = [M][L²T^-2][L^-1]

∴ [M L T^-2] = [M][L][T^-2]

The formula is correct. In fact, it is the centripetal force if you might recall, which acts upon a body directed towards a fixed center, thus keeping it in orbit.

4. To roughly derive formula

Example: Suppose that the time period of a simple pendulum is dependent on mass of the bob, length of the string and gravitational acceleration due to earth.

Let's assume that the time period is proportional to some powers of mass, length and gravity: t∝m^al^bg^c

To find the formula of time period, we must obtain values for a, b and c. We start by writing the dimensions on both sides.

[M]⁰[L]⁰[T] = (constant)[M]^a[L]^b[LT^-2]^c

The dimension of constant is 1. So,

[M]⁰[L]⁰[T] = [M]^a[L]^b[LT^-2]^c

Comparing the exponents on both sides, we get:

a=0, b+c=0 and -2c=1

On solving we obtain values of a=0, b=1/2 and c=-1/2. Now, putting back in the original equation t∝m^al^bg^c  gives:

t ∝ m⁰l^1/2g^-1/2

t=(constant) l^1/2g^-1/2

Thus, time period of a simple pendulum is independent of mass of the bob. This is because, physically speaking, mass is both the cause of swinging motion and the resistance to swinging motion, so it cancels out.

5. To express in new base quantities

This type of questions can come up in competitive exams like the JEE-Main. Example: If pressure, velocity and time are taken as base quantities, then what would be the dimension of force?

Let's start by assuming powers

Force = P^av^bt^c

And write dimensions on both sides

[M L T^-2] = [ML^-1T^-2]^a[LT^-1]^b[T]^c

[M L T^-2] = [M]^a[L]^-a+b[T]^-2a-b+c

Comparing powers on both sides

a=1, -a+b=1 ⇒ b=2 and -2a-b+c=-2 ⇒ c=2

∴ Force = Pv²t²

How Antimatter Was Discovered By Carl Anderson

British physicist Paul Dirac showed in 1928 that every particle in the universe should have an antiparticle with the same mass as its twin, but with the opposite electrical charge. Across the pond, an American physicist would detect the first such particle, four years later.

Carl Anderson, inspired by the work of his Caltech classmate, Chung-Yao Chao, set up an experiment to investigate cosmic rays under the supervision of physicist Robert Millikan. In 1932, he won the Nobel Prize in physics at the age of 31, becoming one of the youngest recipients.

Discovering the positron was no easy feat but the mechanism he employed to do so was fairly simple and ingenious enough to overcome the limited budget. He found the mysterious particle almost by accident with the help of his own improved version of the cloud chamber.

A cloud chamber is a sealed box with water vapor. When a charged particle goes through it, the vapour is ionized and leaves behind a trail. Thus, the trajectory of the particle can be seen virtually. Carl used a mixture of water and alcohol to get clearer photographs.

Carl included a Lead plate in the middle to slow down the particles and surrounded the chamber with a large electromagnet, which caused the paths of ionizing particles to curve under the influence of magnetic field.

As can be seen in the picture, the radius of curvature of the track above the plate is smaller than that below. Thus, the particle entered from the bottom, hit the Lead plate and came to a halt above it due to loss of energy. This and the direction in which the path curved helped in identifying that the charge was positive.

That it was antielectron and not proton was determined by the observation that the upper track was much longer in length than predicted for proton. A proton would have come to rest in a much shorter distance, since it is heavier. The trajectory observed was that of a particle much much lighter than the proton.

So, that's how the first antimatter was found and Dirac was proven right within a matter of few years. Furthermore, antiproton and antineutron were discovered in 1955 and 1956 respectively. The first antiatom was produced by CERN in 1996.

Why antimatter is important? Because, studies related to antimatter will help in our understanding of the early universe. Also, Positron emission tomography or PET scan is used to detect early signs of cancer. Scientists hope that some day, antimatter may be used for the treatment of cancer. Who knows!?

10 Roger Penrose Facts That You Didn't Know

Nobel – British mathematician and physicist Sir Roger Penrose is popularly known for black hole singularity theorems which later on inspired Stephen Hawking's singularity theorem for the entire universe. In 2020, Penrose won the physics Nobel Prize for work done in the 1960s. Yes, it took that long.

Childhood – Penrose spent his early childhood during the second World War in Canada. It is quite surprising to know that Penrose was not always the brilliant man he is today. After winning the Nobel prize, in an interview, he revealed: "I was always very slow. I was good at maths, yes, but I didn't necessarily do very well in my tests."

Genius family – There also was added pressure due to the fact that he was born in the Penrose family, a family of artists, scientists and chess players.

Penrose's paternal grandfather was a famous portrait artist while his maternal grandfather was a physiologist and an early biochemist.

His father Lionel was a geneticist whose interests extended well beyond his profession and included such fields as geometry and chess, which he often shared with his children.

No surprise that Penrose's older brother went on to become a distinguished physicist himself. The younger brother and sister became Chess grandmaster and geneticist respectively.

Love of geometry – As a student, Penrose used to create illusory objects like the Penrose Triangle and the Penrose stairs. Several artworks by the renowned Dutch artist M.C. Escher were in part inspired by Penrose's impossible figures.

PhD – Post graduation, Penrose came under the supervision of mathematician W. V. D. Hodge. Though after one year, he was "thrown out" of the class for not being able to find solution to the problem assigned to him. "I decided that the problem Hodge suggested had no solution but he didn't believe me."

For the next two years, Penrose worked under geometer John Todd and in 1958 finished his doctorate degree with a thesis on tensor methods in algebraic geometry.

Inspiration – Roger Penrose was encouraged by his cosmologist friend Dennis Sciama to work alongside Stephen Hawking on the problems in astrophysics. "What are you doing with this pure mathematics nonsense? Come and work on physics and cosmology."

Lectures on quantum theory by Paul Dirac and on general relativity by Hermann Bondi influenced Penrose further. In the 1960s, he joined Sciama and Hawking to derive the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems using Indian physicist Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri's namesake equation.

Consciousness – Apart from the problems in physics, Penrose has also explored the nature of consciousness, especially in his 1989 book: The Emperor's New Mind.

He was partly motivated to write the book after hearing computer scientist Marvin Minsky, one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, say: Human brain is just a computer made up of meat.

Minsky was of the belief that human intelligence could be mimicked artificially in accordance with a learning program. Roger Penrose argued against that viewpoint, saying: Human thought and intelligence cannot be simulated artificially.

In 1997, Penrose devised a theory of consciousness based upon quantum gravity. However, it failed to garner critical or experimental support. Hawking commented: Penrose's argument seemed to be that consciousness is a mystery and quantum gravity is another mystery so they must be related.

Religion – Roger Penrose regards himself as an agnostic. During an interview with the BBC in 2010, he stated: "I'm not a believer myself. I don't believe in established religions of any kind." Penrose is also a well-known supporter of Humanists UK organization.

Cycle of time – According to Penrose, the universe keeps dying and being reborn. In 2010, he reported possible evidence based on the data from cosmic microwave background, of an earlier universe existing before the Big Bang.

His conformal cyclic cosmology model although derives inspiration from Hindu-Buddhist philosophies is built within the framework of general relativity. Penrose has popularized the theory in his 2010 book Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe.

Architecture – Believe it or not but Roger Penrose has made a remarkable contribution to architecture as well. Penrose tiling, a covering of the plane by non-overlapping polygons, is quite a popular choice for floor designs.

According to one alumnus, the campus of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad was inspired by Penrose architecture. "The domes and the corridors were the nodes and connections respectively of the Penrose architecture."

Similarly, Miami University in Ohio, Andrew Wiles Building at the University of Oxford and Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy (as seen in the picture) make use of Penrose Tiling.

Steven Weinberg's four tips for aspiring scientists

Steven Weinberg (1933-2021) was an American physicist who worked alongside Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam to unify electromagnetic and weak interactions in 1967. He shared the Nobel Prize in physics for the same work later on.

Weinberg was not only famous as a scientist but also for his outspokenness and elegant writings outside of science. He thus made important contributions to history as well as to politics. Following are his 4 advices for aspiring scientists.

1. You don't have to know everything

Weinberg's first golden lesson is specialization. He wrote for Nature in 2003: When I received my undergraduate degree, the physics still seemed to me a vast, unexplored ocean.

How could I begin any research of my own without knowing everything that had already been done? Weinberg recalled.

A lot of the times students are so overwhelmed or even excited by that vastness that they fail to go forward. Weinberg says: You don't have to know everything because I didn't when I got my PhD.

2. Aim for rough water

When Weinberg was a professor, a student came up to him and said that he would pick general relativity rather than the area Weinberg was working on - particle physics.

Obviously as the teacher Weinberg was disappointed. When asked to explain, the student replied: The principles of general relativity are well known, while the particle physics is an incoherent mess.

Weinberg quipped: That makes it all the more worthwhile because in particle physics creative work can still be done.

So, according to Professor Steven Weinberg, it would be a lot better to aim for the rough water especially while you are able to swim in that vast, unknown ocean. For who knows what might be out there?

3. Forgive yourself for wasting time

This is his most beautiful advice: Forgive yourself for your failures. Forgive yourself for wasting time on the wrong problems. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, but there will always be silver lining in the end.

Weinberg cites an example in history... When scientists were trying to prove existence of the Ether they didn't know that they were working on the wrong problem. It nonetheless helped Albert Einstein in 1905 to realize the right problem to work upon.

Weinberg adds: You will never be sure which are the right problems most of the time that you spend in the laboratory or at your desk. But if you want to be creative, then you will have to get used to wasting your time.

4. History of science

Final tip to aspiring scientists: Study the history of science as it will make your work seem more worthwhile to you. Because, a work in science may not yield immediate results, but to realize that it would be a part of history is a wondeful feeling.

As you will learn its rich history, you will come to see how time and time again - from Galileo through Newton and Darwin to Einstein - science has weakened the hold of religious dogmatism: Weinberg adds.

In one interview, when asked whether he believed in God, Weinberg replied... If by God you mean a personality who is concerned about human beings, who did all this out of love for human beings, who watches us and who intervenes, then I would have to say in the first place how do you know, what makes you think so?

Science is either physics or stamp collecting?

What is science? In one simple sentence, science is the study of nature. However, different sciences like: astronomy, chemistry, biology, geology, etc. have different approaches to do so. Thus, not all sciences are equal.

The quote 'All science is either physics or stamp collecting' by New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford perfectly reflects that inequality. According to him, physics is the king of sciences because it is fundamental to all other fields of study.

But why exactly did Rutherford think in that manner? Despite himself being the recipient of Nobel Prize in chemistry, what made him consider physics the most noble of sciences?

The answer lies in stamp collecting - a hobby in which people collect and classify stamps as objects of interest or value.

Stamps are available in many varieties - big and small, square and round, stamps with famous human faces, stamps with animals and birds, stamps commemorating anniversaries, etc.

 Rutherford's stamp 

Similarly, some branches of science, such as zoology or botany for example, are mostly concerned with collection and classification of species - animals and plants, respectively.

Although this would be dumbing down those sciences but that is more or less the purpose, isn't it? In other words, those sciences are not fundamental sciences and their scope is limited only to Earth.

Physics, according to Rutherford, is the only science that has an elaborate structure consisting of observation, experiment and mathematics. Physics captures our imagination from mysterious atoms to supermassive galaxies. It truly is the universal embodiment of the scientific method.

By this definition, the science which is closest to physics is astronomy. You observe and measure the effects of, say a black hole on its surroundings, with the help of a telescope and basic knowledge of mathematics. In this way, like engineering, astronomy is an application of physics and mathematics.

Chemistry is a unique science because it has the 2nd most direct impact on day to day life after physics. The objects we use, such as plastic, glass, steel, etc. are all obtained by chemical processes.

Our body is a chemical engine and the food we eat are organic molecules. But just like biology, there is a lot of nomenclature and classification rules in chemistry to deal with. Chemistry is also not universally the same, like on different planets, but the laws of physics governing those chemistries are the same.

Likewise, sciences like computer science and psychology are neither fundamental nor universal. They are narrowed specializations and are heavily dependent on logic, mathematics and observation.

All the sciences, however, must ultimately be experimental because that is how they progress. That is how the hypotheses are tested and verified and accepted. So it is worth pointing out that no amount of belief can make something true. Sciences keep evolving with time as new evidence is uncovered.

Finally, it is equally important to mention that the statement "all science is either physics or stamp collecting" had more truth to it back in Rutherford’s time than today.

As you know, for example: With Darwin's theory of evolution, biological sciences have too become observational rather than just being classification sciences.

So, over time, sciences evolve and become more and more physics-like. They are no longer merely observe and classify but start using mathematical models. Still, Rutherford's point is intact, physics will be the king of sciences.