Today’s newspaper carried sad news of the passing of Prof
Yash Pal yesterday. A brilliant scientist and astrophysicist, who did great
work in the field of cosmic rays, was advisor to planning commission, and was
the Chairman of university Grant Commission besides being awarded the Padma
Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. He was
popular with the students for his TV series ‘Turning Point” and for his weekly column in the Hindustan Times,
where he answered questions relating to science. I always waited for the day
when his column will appear in the newspaper. His answers were always to the
point and explained in a very simple way so that anyone with simple knowledge
of science could understand. It was this column which gave me a chance to meet
this simple, down to earth but otherwise a brilliant scientist for a short time
in Delhi. It was his answer to a very fundamental question which one reader has
asked. The question was:-
“The temperature of earth is around 35 degree centigrade
while that of sun’s outer ring is about 2-4000 degree centigrade. Hence the
temperature is increasing as you travel from Earth to the Sun. Then why it is
that Shimla which is 6000 Ft closer to the sun is colder then Chandigarh?”
A phenomenon, which most of us have experienced but few have
bothered to ask the question and try to find the answer.
I remember during my childhood and even till I graduated from
Allahabad University , all of us(My sister, self and my brother) had the privilege
of the early morning company of Prof Rajendra Singh, alia Rajju Bhaiya” whose
house was in the same compound as my father’s. Prof Rajendra Singh would come
to our house in the morning to have a cup of tea and read newspaper but the
most important reason was to talk to us, give us scientific puzzles and enhance
our reasoning power to develop a scientific temper. A teacher who was widely
respected, admired, revered and his class was always full in the university. He
would explain the most complicated principles and formulae’s of physic in
simple, lucid way that all of us would remember it by heart. The problems which
he would pose to us ranged from, Why it is easier to skate on water than on
glass, If you drill a hole from north to south pole and drop a tennis ball then
where it will go, If the tunnel has vacuum then what would happen t the ball,
If you go near the sun in a spaceship and had the capability to come out of it
then why would you burn to death if you came out on the side facing the sun and
freeze to death f you came out on the shadow side of the ship, what will happen
to your weight as you travel from equator to pole, etc. I had just joined the
university when the question of a hill station being colder than plain was
asked to me. It took me quite some time to find the answer only to be told that
I was on right path but only had half the answer. It took again quite some time
again before I could muster the courage to give the answer which I thought was
right. To my surprise he agreed with my answer.
Prof Yash Pal did answer the question in a very simple and
lucid way but it had one flaw. I wrote a letter to him explain where the flaw
was and what should have been the correct answer. I forgot about the letter as
I never thought that I will get a reply from this great scientist. I was in
corporate world after leaving Air Force and that branded me as a scientific
fool in the eyes of general public. But to my surprise I got a reply from him
after about two months asking me to meet him on my next visit to Delhi. After a
couple of months I was in Delhi for some company work as our Head Office was in
Delhi and rang him up. He immediately remembered me and asked me to meet him
next day.
It was a short meeting and I was thoroughly impressed by his
simplicity, scientific temper, his ability to listen to other and to ask the
right question. But what impressed me most was him humility to accept other’s
point of view as being correct. He asked me about my education and teachers. I
told him that I am a postgraduate in Physics from Allahabad University, which impressed
him as at that time Allahabad University was considered to be the Cambridge of
East. I gave him the answer which I had given to Prof Rajendra Singh and he
listened to it, asked two questions and was satisfied by my reasoning. Then he
asked me about my teachers and on being told that my scientific temper and
reasoning was shaped by none other than Prof Rajendra Singh, whom he knew very
well, and had asked me this question while I was doing the graduation, closed
the topic by saying that when you are a student of this great teacher then you
cannot be wrong. Such was his simplicity and humility.
The passing away of this great simple, humble scientist who always advocated for a
scientific temper which is now missing in students is not only a loss to the nation but also to
the scientific community and students at large. May his soul rest in peace.
