Foreword by P. P. Divakaran
I first met Babu Joseph sometime in the mid-1970s in connection with the Ph.D.
qualifying examination of one of his first students at the then not-so-old Cochin
University of Science and Technology. After that, my occasional visits, for various
purposes, continued over many years; especially memorable was the decade that
followed immediately and I am now happy to remember my friendship and association with several of Babu Joseph’s students, some of whom subsequently became
stalwart members of the CUSAT physics faculty. It was an exciting time: several
of the areas of research in which CUSAT became an active and respected participant
were already beginning to produce new results. It was an exciting time also for the
values of good science in Kerala. The hard struggle to save Silent Valley from those
who would destroy our natural heritage was at its height, a battle in which CUSAT
played its due role. My visits gave me, personally, a ringside seat from which to
experience the power that a committed community of citizen-scientists can wield.
Babu Joseph’s own high standards, both in the choice of problems on which he
and his students worked and in the manner in which they were solved and written
up, played no small part in making CUSAT such a stimulating place to be at. To
this must be added his personal qualities: generousity, open-mindedness and
hospitability. This is not just my personal experience; I know many visitors to
CUSAT who will heartily endorse it.
Babu Joseph’s main scientific interest has always been physics at its most
fundamental level which, at that time, was concerned mostly with the description
and understanding of the physics of elementary particles. The high point of that
period was the organisation of one of the regularly held national high energy
physics symposia (in the winter of 1980–81, if memory serves) by him. It was
among the very best of these symposia, with a wide participation of distinguished
high energy physicists from India (and a few from outside). Among the many
memories I have of it, two stand out: scientifically, the several unofficial or informal
sessions, full of passion and noise, devoted to a particular theme or a particularly
interesting new piece of work; socially, the warm efficiency with which everything
was organised and conducted.
v
I first met Babu Joseph sometime in the mid-1970s in connection with the Ph.D.
qualifying examination of one of his first students at the then not-so-old Cochin
University of Science and Technology. After that, my occasional visits, for various
purposes, continued over many years; especially memorable was the decade that
followed immediately and I am now happy to remember my friendship and association with several of Babu Joseph’s students, some of whom subsequently became
stalwart members of the CUSAT physics faculty. It was an exciting time: several
of the areas of research in which CUSAT became an active and respected participant
were already beginning to produce new results. It was an exciting time also for the
values of good science in Kerala. The hard struggle to save Silent Valley from those
who would destroy our natural heritage was at its height, a battle in which CUSAT
played its due role. My visits gave me, personally, a ringside seat from which to
experience the power that a committed community of citizen-scientists can wield.
Babu Joseph’s own high standards, both in the choice of problems on which he
and his students worked and in the manner in which they were solved and written
up, played no small part in making CUSAT such a stimulating place to be at. To
this must be added his personal qualities: generousity, open-mindedness and
hospitability. This is not just my personal experience; I know many visitors to
CUSAT who will heartily endorse it.
Babu Joseph’s main scientific interest has always been physics at its most
fundamental level which, at that time, was concerned mostly with the description
and understanding of the physics of elementary particles. The high point of that
period was the organisation of one of the regularly held national high energy
physics symposia (in the winter of 1980–81, if memory serves) by him. It was
among the very best of these symposia, with a wide participation of distinguished
high energy physicists from India (and a few from outside). Among the many
memories I have of it, two stand out: scientifically, the several unofficial or informal
sessions, full of passion and noise, devoted to a particular theme or a particularly
interesting new piece of work; socially, the warm efficiency with which everything
was organised and conducted.
v