Book Review - Uncertainity: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr and the struggle for the soul of science

Completed this wonderful book on the history of quantum science by David Lindley. A gripping read which charts the history of quantum physics from the early decades of the 20th century till the years after the conclusion of the Second World War. The book starts with Robert Brown and his Brownian Motion, ending with the Uncertainty Principle of Heisenberg.

Reading this book I got to know more closely each of the characters involved in this journey chief among them being Bohr and Heisenberg; Bohr was the god while Heisenberg was his prophet.

Understanding the personality of the geniuses like Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, Schrodinger and others is an enriching journey. We have all read about the concepts like Uncertainty principle,  Schrodinger wave equation or the wave-particle duality of matter in our high school physics but to know how these theories evolved over decades of brainstorming discussions is a different experience.

Playing with God's own creation

• Ladakh, 2010 - officially more than 250
• Uttarakhand, 2013 - officially more than 5700
• Kerala, 2018 - officially more than 1000 so far and counting, estimated damages in the order of $3 billion

As the fight rages on social media as to who should give the money for aid / relief and who should be taking that, let's take a moment to retrospect on what caused this deluge in Kerala. A crisp answer to this question would be simple: 'unprecedented heavy rainfall' which is way more than the expected average. But was that all? It is no doubt excessive rainfall is the reason for Kerala as was for Ladakh and Uttarakhand but there is something more to the tragic story every time.

For Ladakh the amount of water the cloudburst dumped on 6th August, 2017 was truly exceptional. The region is a cold desert and on an average receives around 100 mm of rainfall all through the year. However in that one night within a few hours time span it received more than 250 mm rainfall.

A tribute to Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee..

When I think of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee (ABV) as a Prime Minister, I remember him along with PV Narasimha Rao as the two stalwarts who provided stability to the seat from the early 90s, from after the death of Rajiv Gandhi, till the last decade of the last century. They both led the country during very similar and tumultuous periods.
Their tenures brought an end to the instability which was making a mockery of Indian democracy. Vajpayee came at a time when dirty coalition politics was creating havoc and prime ministers were getting changed at whims and fancies of hitherto irrelevant policians.

During his first tenure Vajpayee and his cabinet resigned just after being 13 days in power. His speech at the end of this first premiership is yet another display of his masterly oratory skills and teaches how to look for hope in defeat as well. The same number 13 turned out to be lucky for him when he stitched a strong NDA alliance to truly become the 10th Prime Minister winning a majority in the 13th Lok Sabha elections. After having sat for decades on the opposition side he ushered an eventful second tenure as Prime Minister of India.

Even now in present time we have BJP in power at the center but differences can't go unnoticed between now and then. There was less of hatred and religious mongering all around; notwithstanding the fact Vajpayee had to keep under control a radical Deputy Prime Minister.