1. Nobel Prize for Physics 2022

GS Paper – 3 (Science and Technology)

The Nobel Prize for Physics 2022 is being shared by three scientists, Alain Aspect, John F Clauser and Anton Zeilinger, for their work on quantum mechanics. The award was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 4 October 2022 at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

What the scientists worked on

1.    The three conducted a series of experiments on something called entangled quantum states, where two separate particles behave like a single unit.

2.    Their pathbreaking results will have implications in the fields of quantum computers, quantum networks and secure quantum encrypted communication. Put simply, quantum computers use quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for regular computers.

3.    For a long time, scientists have examined if the correlation in entangled particles was because they “contained hidden variables, instructions that tell them which result they should give in an experiment”.

4.    In the 1960s, John Stewart Bell developed the mathematical inequality that is named after him.

5.    This states that if there are hidden variables, the correlation between the results of a large number of measurements will never exceed a certain value.

6.    However, quantum mechanics predicts that a certain type of experiment will violate Bell’s inequality, thus resulting in a stronger correlation than would otherwise be possible.

7.    Clauser worked on Bell’s ideas and his measurements supported quantum mechanics by violating a Bell inequality. His experiment had some loopholes, which were closed by Aspect.

8.    Zeilinger, according to the Nobel Prize website, “started to use entangled quantum states. Among other things, his research group has demonstrated a phenomenon called quantum teleportation, which makes it possible to move a quantum state from one particle to one at a distance.”

Features of Quantum Computing

1.   Superposition: This refers to a combination of all possible configurations of the qubit.

2.   Entanglement: It is integral to quantum computing power. Pairs of qubits can be made to become entangled, which means that the two qubits then exist in a single state. In such a state, changing one qubit directly affects the other in a manner that’s predictable.

3.   Decoherence: It occurs when the quantum behaviour of qubits decays.

 

2. World Teachers’ Day celebrated

GS Paper – 2 (Important organisation, IR)

World Teachers’ Day, also known as International Teachers’ Day, is celebrated on 5 October every year. This is a day to celebrate, thank and honour teachers for their contributions to their students. This year’s theme for World Teachers’ Day is “the transformation of education begins with teachers”.

Origin of World Teachers’ Day

1.    5 October was proclaimed as World Teachers’ Day by UNESCO in 1994, with the aim of honouring the adoption of UNESCO/ILO Recommendation.

2.    This was a part of the intergovernmental conference convened by UNESCO in Paris that recognised the status of teachers in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

3.    After the adoption of this recommendation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 5 October to be World Teachers’ Day.

4.    World Teachers’ Day identifies, celebrates and motivates the accomplishments, contributions and efforts of teachers all around the world on this day.

5.    Policymakers and experts around the globe also use this day as an opportunity to identify and resolve issues involving the teaching profession.

India Teacher’s day

 

1.    Teachers’ Day is celebrated to honour the memory of India’s first Vice President and to commemorate the importance of teachers in our lives.

2.    He was serving as the second President of India in 1962 his students approached him to seek permission to celebrate his birthday – 5 September – as a special day.

3.   To this, Dr Radhakrishnan instead made a request to observe 5 September as Teachers’ Day, to recognise the contribution of teachers to the society.

 

 

3. Mars Orbiter craft non-recoverable

GS Paper – 3 (Space Technology)

The Indian Space Research Organisation confirmed that the Mars Orbiter craft has lost communication with ground station, it’s non-recoverable and the Mangalyaan mission has attained end-of-life. The ISRO gave an update on the Mars Orbiter Mission and the national meet held on 27 September 2022 to commemorate the MOM, on the event of completion of its eight years in the Martian orbit.

What

1.    It was discussed that despite being designed for a life-span of six months as a technology demonstrator, the MOM has lived for about eight years in the Martian orbit with a gamut of significant scientific results on Mars as well as on the Solar corona, before losing communication with the ground station, as a result of a long eclipse in April 2022, the national space agency said.

2.    During the national meet, ISRO deliberated that the propellant must have been exhausted, and therefore, the “desired altitude pointing” could not be achieved for sustained power generation.

3.    It was declared that the spacecraft is non-recoverable, and attained its end-of-life”, an ISRO statement said.

4.    The mission will be ever-regarded as a remarkable technological and scientific feat in the history of planetary exploration.

Flashback

1.    MOM was launched on 5 November 2013, and after completing 300 days of interplanetary journey, it was inserted to the Martian orbit on 24 September 2014.

2.    Equipped with a five scientific payloads onboard, during these eight years, the mission has gifted significant scientific understanding on the Martian surface features, morphology, as well as the Martian atmosphere and exosphere.