Famous Physicist Who Took His Life Due To Depression

Ludwig Boltzmann was an Austrian physicist and philosopher who did not get the recognition for his work that he deserved. It is that which drove him to deep depression and which ultimately led to his suicide in 1906, aged 62.

However, today, we know Boltzmann as one of the founders of thermodynamics. His work, that is, statistical mechanics, is one of the pillars of modern physics. He is remembered not only for his pioneering contributions but also for his great personality.

As a student

He obtained his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1866. His thesis was on the kinetic theory of gases, but it was built upon the idea of atoms, the existence of which was not universally accepted at that time.

James Clerk Maxwell at that time was the only person to take Ludwig's theory seriously. He compiled a list of ideas which helped Boltzmann come up with, what is now called, Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution.

As a teacher

He taught maths and physics at various universities during his lifetime. Name and year of joining are: University of Graz (1869), University of Vienna (1873), University of Munich (1890). His students included the likes of Lise Meitner and Paul Ehrenfest.

But what brought him wider public attention were his lectures on philosophy. The lecture halls were jam-packed and because of their popularity, Boltzmann was also invited for a dinner party by the then Emperor of Austria.

As a husband

In 1872, long before women were allowed to study at Austrian Universities, Ludwig met the love of his life, Henriette von Aigentler. She wanted to become a professor of physics in Graz but her application was rejected.

Unlike his colleagues at the University of Graz, Boltzmann supported Henriette's decision to re-apply and helped her in the same. In 1876, Ludwig and Henriette married and had three daughters and a son.

Work on Entropy

In 1877, Ludwig explained the law of entropy, that all systems will either be in a state of disorder or move towards it, in an equation which is inscribed on his tombstone. His work was viciously attacked by many leading scientists of the time which led ultimately to his suicide in 1906.

5 True Love Stories In The Physics World

Marie and Pierre

The two were among the greatest scientists of the 20th century and married on 26 July, 1895. For their honeymoon, Pierre and Marie took a bicycle tour around the French countryside.

In Pierre, Marie had found a caring and a brilliant lab partner. In Marie, Pierre discovered the love of his life. And together, they went on to win the Nobel Prize, in 1903. Marie went on to win another in 1911.

Richard and Arline

Richard Feynman was instantly smitten by Arline Greenbaum. He wrote about their journey in the autobiographical book, What do you care what other people think? which was adapted into a 1996 movie.

Despite being from two separate worlds, Arline and Richard were united by the threads of love. Although they weren't meant to be forever, as Arline was struck by tuberculosis, their love became an example for everyone.

Carl and Ann

Ann Druyan co-wrote the TV show Cosmos with Carl Sagan, whom she married in 1981. They also went on to collaborate on other projects, like the 1997 film Contact.

It was as if Carl was creatively lost when Ann Druyan entered his life, before and during the filming of Cosmos. Together they were an unstoppable creative force, a proof that true love brings the best out of you.

Stephen and Jane

Stephen and Jane tied the knot in 1965, two years after Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, that would eventually paralyse him completely. They had 3 children together - Robert, Lucy and Timothy.

When Stephen was in need, Jane was always there beside him, like a rock solid support. Stephen and Jane's story proves that true love need not fear what life has to throw at you.

Paul and Margit

Dirac married Margit Wigner, sister of physicist Eugene Wigner and a divorcee, in 1937. He was 35 years old when he took the decision against existing societal norms.

All his life Dirac waited to share his deepest thoughts and feelings with someone he could trust and admire. Paul and Margit happened to meet, although by chance but their chemistry like a classical love story it transpired.

5 Deserving Indians Who Did Not Win Nobel Prize

Yes, lately, there have been many Indian-American Nobel Laureates. But there is, so far, only one, let's say, "wholly Indian" Nobel Prize winner in science. He is C.V. Raman who won it for physics in 1930. In this post, let's take a look at deserving candidates who did not win the most coveted prize.

Satyendra Nath Bose

Bose was a brilliant physicist who collaborated with Albert Einstein to work out what is now called the Bose-Einstein statistics. Several Nobel Prizes were awarded related to the field initiated by him but Bose himself never won the top honors.

He was nominated five times but the Nobel committee did not find his work worthy of the Prize. Paul Dirac, English Physicist, coined (and popularized) the term Boson in Bose's honor (particles that obey Bose Einstein statistics).

So, when asked about his Nobel Prize snub, Bose replied: "I have got all the recognition I deserve." Surely, his name will live on forever in the scientific world, thanks to Dirac.

Meghnad Saha

He was an Indian astrophysicist who made fundamental contributions to astronomy. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectrum of stars to their actual temperatures. This is helpful in studying the composition of star and predicting its life cycle.

Saha was nominated for the Prize several times especially for the work done in astronomy. But at that time astronomy was not considered a branch of physics. Edwin Hubble tried to change that during his lifetime but to no avail.

Homi Bhabha

He was a nuclear physicist who is regarded as the father of Indian nuclear programme. Bhabha figured out the interaction of cosmic rays with the upper atmosphere to produce particles observed at the ground level.

He later concluded that observation of such particles was a straightforward experimental verification of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Bhabha was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1951 and 1953-1956 but never won.

G.N. Ramachandran

He was an Indian physicist who is known for the creation of Ramachandran plot for understanding the peptide structure. He completed his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate Sir C.V. Raman.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his fundamental contributions in the understanding of protein structure and functioning. Top scientists including Linus Pauling and Francis Crick regarded Ramchandran's work Nobel worthy.

E.C. George Sudarshan

In 2005, a controversy broke out when Roy Glauber won the Nobel Prize for Glauber–Sudarshan representation in quantum optics while Sudarshan was ignored by the committee. In 2007, Sudarshan told the Hindustan Times, "The 2005 Nobel prize for Physics was awarded for my work, but I wasn't the one to get it."

10 Galileo Galilei Quotes To Succeed In Life

Galileo played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance period. He was the first to discover the rings of Saturn. His work in physics helped Newton formulate the laws of motion. Here is a list of some of his finest sayings:

1. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. (context: Galileo's trial by The Church)

2. The book of the universe is written in a mathematical language, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it; without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.

3. The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.

4. My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who have steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope? What shall we make of this? Shall we laugh, or shall we cry? (In a 1610 letter, Galileo's trial)

5. Nature is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, or cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are understandable to men.

6. In the long run my observations have convinced me that most men, reasoning preposterously, first establish some conclusion in their minds which, either because of its being their own or because of their having received it from some person who has their entire confidence, impresses them so deeply that one finds it impossible ever to get it out of their heads.

7. In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

8. I have been in my bed for five weeks, oppressed with weakness and other infirmities from which my age, seventy four years, permits me not to hope release. Added to this, the sight of my right eye — that eye whose labors (dare I say it) have had such glorious results — is for ever lost. That of the left, which was and is imperfect, is rendered null by continual weeping. [context: His house arrest after the trial; Galileo became partially blind by looking at the Sun through his telescope]

9. Light held together by moisture. (his description of wine)

10. You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it within himself.

Only Pakistani To Win Nobel Prize For Physics

Doctor Abdus Salam is the first and only Pakistani, so far, to receive a Nobel Prize in physics. He is also well known for the development of science and technology in his country.

For example: Salam was an advisor to the Ministry of Science in Pakistan from 1960 to 1974. He was the founding director of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO).

Buy in India

Buy in USA

Salam also played a key role in Pakistan's development of nuclear energy and contributed to the development of their atomic bomb project in 1972. Thus, he was often called the Scientific Father of Pakistan.

However, in 1974, Salam departed from his country, in protest, after the Parliament of Pakistan passed a bill declaring the members of Ahmadiya Muslim community, to which he belonged, non-Muslims.

In 1979, he won the Nobel Prize for physics alongside Sheldon Lee Glashow and Steven Weinberg, for the electroweak unification theory. Thus, after this extraordinary accomplishment, he once again became his nation's hero.

Salam continued to stay in England until his death in 1996. But, his dying wish was to be buried in his beloved nation. It was fulfilled and approximately 30,000 people attended his funeral prayers in Pakistan.

Work

In 1951, he obtained a PhD degree from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. His doctoral thesis earned him not only popularity and reputation but also an Adams Prize.

Salam then worked on the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces (from 1959 onwards) with Glashow and Weinberg.

In 1966, he proposed a hypothetical particle, when he showed the possible interaction between magnetic monopole and C-violation. He thus formulated the "magnetic photon".

In 1972, he collaborated with Indian-American physicist Jogesh Pati. They developed a theory of everything (GUT) known as the  Pati–Salam model.

How James Watt And Harry Potter Are Related

James Watt was a Scottish physicist and inventor who was born on Jan 19, 1736 and strangely has a weird connection with Harry Potter films. Well, at least that's the intention of this post.

Buy in India

Buy in USA

Just as Harry frequently has ache in the corner of his head (where he was scarred at birth), James Watt also is said to have had headaches all his life.

Watt developed the concept of horsepower, a unit to measure the rate at which work is done. In his honor, SI unit of power is called Watt and one horsepower is 746 W.

A related meme had once gone viral on the internet.

Just the way actor Daniel Radcliffe said it did the trick.

Watt was also a pioneer in steam engine technology. He improved upon the old version and developed his own machine in 1770, which radically enhanced the efficiency and cost-effectiveness and ushered the Industrial Revolution in Europe.

In Harry Potter films, the steam engine plays a crucial role as it's what drives the Hogwarts Express. It was provided by West Coast Railways, a train operating company in Lancashire.

Plus, James Watt was Scottish and Harry Potter films have been majorly filmed in Scotland. In fact, Scotland is where J.K. Rowling began writing the books.

Watt was perhaps a magician in some sense. For example, he invented the copying machine in 1780, a technology far ahead of its time, similar to modern photocopy, but with ink. He also invented a machine for copying sculptures and medallions (like 3D printing).

His experiments in chemistry yielded chemicals with great industrial applications such as with good bleaching properties.

Lily, Harry's mother, was well versed in magic; a distinguished personality who stood up to bullies like James Potter. Watt's mother, Agnes, was also forceful in character and highly educated. James Watt is said to have inherited his mother's intellect.

Summing up, it almost feels like James Watt is the inspiration for Harry Potter. In a way. Well, for physics lovers, who also happen to be Potterheads, this is just a very good news!