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Q: Recently, an Indian physicist was chosen to be awarded the Boltzmann medal – the top honour in statistical physics. Who is he?
Deepak Dhar, who is now at IISER Pune. This is the first time an Indian is being chosen for this award which consists of a gilded medal with an inscription of Ludwig Boltzmann on one side.
Sriram Ramaswamy
Deepak Dhar
Mustansir Barma
None of the above
A: 2
Q: Which of the following areas is one in which Ludwig Boltzmann made a major contribution?
Kinetic theory of gases – He used the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution to describe the speeds of molecules in gases.
Second law of thermodynamics
Spin glasses
Kinetic theory of gases
Photoelectric effect
A: 3
Q: James Clerk Maxwell, the Scottish physicist is, arguably, most famous for writing down the so-called Maxwell’s equations. What phenomena do these equations present a unified picture of?
Electricity and magnetism. The four equations written down by him show that electricity and magnetism, both are different manifestations of the same phenomena.
Heat and thermodynamics
Electricity and magnetism
Work and energy
Strong and weak nuclear forces
A: 2
Q: This biologist who shares his name with a famous 19th century mathematician is considered one of the most important evolutionary theorists of the 20th century. Who among the following are we talking about?
William Donald Hamilton, who shares his name with William Rowan Hamilton, iris mathematician of the nineteenth century, was famous for his theory that there is a genetic basis to altruism.
Stephen Jay Gould
Charles Darwin
W. D. Hamilton
F.W. Herschel
A: 3
Q: J.B.S. Haldane, British scientist known for his work in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology and mathematics, was born in 1892. Which of the following statements about him is false?
He did not work at the IACS, Kolkata but at the Indian Statistical Institute.
Renouncing British citizenship, he became an Indian
He worked at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Sciences, Kolkata
He worked at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
He was a professed atheist
A: 2
