BENGALURU: Nobel Laureate Johannes Georg Bednorz, a German physicist, who together with K Alex Müller discovered high-temperature superconductivity, addressed 250 students from over 23 countries at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Sunday.
Talking to Express, he said his connection to India started very young when one of his managers in Yorktown IBM was a graduate from IIT-Kharagpur. “Praveen Choudhari passed away a few years ago but India has great potential for the likes of him. He was a great influence and he contributed a lot after the discovery of ITC super conductivity.”
An ardent believer of persistence, passion, and intuition, he addressed students who had gathered for the 10th edition of Asian Science Camp 2016, held for the first time at IISc.
Bednorz talked about superconductors, from 20th century discovery to 21st century technology. He began his lecture with a quote of scientist, Justus Von Liebig, - “The secret of all those who make discoveries is that they regard nothing as impossible.”
Encouraging students to dream and believe in chance, he said, “Dreams and luck are sometimes urgently needed.” He spoke about his failed attempts before he made the grand discovery.
The period between 1911 and 1986 was a time when quest for higher temperature was researched on. He first encountered superconductivity when he was doing his PhD research. It was his luck to have met his Nobel Prize counterpart and collaborator K Alex Müller in 1963. “This man brought along with him perovskite that became the key element to our discovery.”
The five-day event was inaugurated by Prof Jayant Modak, deputy director of IISc. Dr R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Dr Arabinda Mitra, Advisor at the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and Bharat Ratna recipient Prof C N R Rao took part in the event.