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Nobel Prize

Degrading Standards in publishing

The story goes like this. It shows how the publishers go ahead with publishing the work of authors. The Name sells. A literary fan and writer Serge Volle has conducted a damning experiment. He sent fifty pages of French author Claude Simon’s 1962 novel ‘The Palace’, set during the Spanish civil war, to nineteen French publishers touting it as fresh material to be considered for publication.  The submission was rejected by 12 publishers outrighly, while seven never replied despite the fact that Simon won the Nobel prize for literature in 1985. One editor claimed in a rejection letter that the… Read More »Degrading Standards in publishing

Putting the Elements in their Proper Places

Elements are entities of the matter which have different chemical and physical properties. Almost all the elements exist in the form of compounds in which different elements are joined in definite ratios and this ratio is always constant. Water is made up of 2 atoms of hydrogen element and 1 element of oxygen. No matter from where you collect the water, it shall have the same composition. But notwithstanding the differences, they form groups which are like the siblings. They are similar and dissimilar at the same time meaning that they follow a progression of physical and chemical properties. For… Read More »Putting the Elements in their Proper Places

Nobel Prize Controversies 

This article pertains to October 2015. Nobel Prizes for this year are on. Already the prize for medicine has already been announced to William C. Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura and Tu Youyou on nature based medicines. Prizes in other categories will be announced one by one. There had been times when Controversies arose over the prizes. Following is the list of some controversial prizes. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Henry Kissinger Peace prize to Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, in 1973 is considered as the most controversial. Two members resigned from committee in protest. Milton Friedman Economics prize to Milton Friedman in 1076… Read More »Nobel Prize Controversies 

Nobel Prizes: USA far ahead in tally

There is no doubt that USA laps up the talent from all over the world. US leads the tally of Nobel prize winners which were introduced in 1901 and Economics prize introduced in 1968. Since then 585 Nobel prizes have been awarded to 922 winners out of which only 49 are women. Youngest and oldest Youngest person to receive the Nobel is Malala Yousafzai who received it at the age of 17 years in 2014. Although she belongs to Pakistan, her country may hardly be happy over her winning it. Oldest Nobel laureate is Leonid Hurwicz of US who received… Read More »Nobel Prizes: USA far ahead in tally

A Soccer Ball and C60 Molecule

Carbon, a small atom with atomic weight of 12 amu and atomic number of 6, is the element on which the life on this planet is based. Carbon atom forms 4 single electron bonds of sp3 configuration and hence can combine with 4 different atoms including carbon atoms. Thus it can form giant or macromolecules often found in nature. Some examples are carbohydrates, hydrocarbons, proteins, lipids and so on. Carbon as such exists in two allotropic forms namely diamond and graphite with very different physical properties. While diamond is the hardest material and inert towards chemicals, graphite is active, chemically… Read More »A Soccer Ball and C60 Molecule

Melting of Glaciers: Is the doomsday so near?

This is what Dr.Pachauri said about the IPCC during his Nobel Prize speech. The IPCC produces key scientific material that is of the highest relevance to policy making, and is agreed word-by-word by all governments, from the most skeptical to the most confident. This difficult process is made possible by the tremendous strength of the underlying scientific and technical material included in the IPCC reports. The Panel was established in 1988 through a resolution of the UN General Assembly. One of its clauses was significant in having stated, “Noting with concern that the emerging evidence indicates that continued growth in… Read More »Melting of Glaciers: Is the doomsday so near?

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