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Chandigarh University signs 14 MoU with top-ranked global universities on the 2nd Day of Global Education Summit
“Misbehaviour of Black Holes interesting, trust human ingenuity to answer unanswered questions in Physics,” says Nobel Laureate Prof Gerardus 't Hooft during 2nd day of Global Education Summit
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, October 4, 2024: “The most mysterious cosmic objects Black holes misbehave which shows something is wrong there because you think anything in nature should not be allowed to misbehave like that. So we are on the wrong path, information on Black Holes needs to be corrected,” said Dutch Nobel laureate in Physics, Professor Gerardus 't Hooft on Friday the inauguration of the 2nd ‘International Conference on Advanced Materials and Devices for Futuristic Applications-2024’ on the second-day of the 4th Global Education Summit (GES) 2024 at Chandigarh University.
Chandigarh University signed 14 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in various academic disciplines with top-ranked global universities for providing international exposure to its students and faculty members through student exchange programs, faculty exchange programs, joint research programs, internships and semester abroad programs.
These 14 universities include Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia, University of San Carlos Philippines, University of Limerick, Ireland, American University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Horizon College of Business and Technology, Sri Lanka, University of Livingstonia, Malawi, American International University West Africa, Gambia, International Strategic Institute, Malaysia, University of Salamanca, Spain and Universitas Islam Malang, Indonesia. With this, the number of partnerships forged by Chandigarh University with top ranked international universities in popular study-abroad destinations has gone up to 516.
Sharing his invaluable insights in the field of science with during ‘International Conference on Advanced Materials and Devices for Futuristic Applications-2024’ organised by Chandigarh University in collaboration with Concordia University, Edmonton, Canada, the Chief Guest Prof Hooft, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1999 for “elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics” said the misbehaviour of Black holes, which are much studied but not fully understood, remains a mystery.
“The reason that it’s still interesting is this behaviour and you want to straighten that up. That is where human ingenuity applies and you have to keep on asking questions. You have to have some idea about where to look for answers to your questions. If you don’t have that idea, it doesn’t help that much,” he added.
On the question if Physics has become stagnant, the Nobel laureate said “I have some much trust in human ingenuity that there will be something unexpected to answer the still unanswered questions in Physics. Albert Einstein made two discoveries in less than 10 years’ time. The important thing is where to look for answers. There are lots of questions for which we don’t know where to look for answers. So it remains an unsolvable problem. But eventually it be solved because of the human ingenuity to figure it out somehow,”.
On importance of international collaborations for advancing research and development in material science, Prof Hooft said, “For theoretical research, it’s fine to have collaboration between three-four people. For practical research, you need larger groups with abilities of people to make machines or parts of machines in order to make something work. For this you need bigger collaborations and the other end is laboratories like CERN in Geneva (Switzerland) where every experiment takes thousands of people to be carried on. There are practical constraints that you have to take into account,”.
On future of Material Science and Technology, Prof Hooft said, the questions that are being asked today are important for materials in general and science in particular.
“Today the magic word is Quantum Mechanics. So people talk of Quantum devices and these certainly will have a bright future. For that we need Universities like this (Chandigarh University) to thrive and prosper,”.
During the valedictory session of the International Conference, Prof Hooft was also felicitated by senior management of the varsity. Renowned academicians from top-ranked global universities, researchers, industry experts and thought leaders from around the globe dwelt on cutting-edge developments in materials science and engineering during the Conference.
A cultural program showcasing dance performances among other extra-curricular activities marked the culmination of the second day of the Global Education Summit.
The Summit is being attended by 60 esteemed academicians from 50 renowned Universities of 30 countries for intensive dialogue, networking and collaborative discussions on future of education.
Ends