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The top 10 engineers who should have or would have been awarded the Nobel Prize

4/7/2019

Mildly explicit language warning!

This list is slightly different from a list of greatest engineers of all time. Engineering has mainly dealt with applied sciences and while building something useful out of an abstract theory is a prize on its own, usually, the Nobel prize is traditionally awarded for the advancement of knowledge and breakthrough in the understanding of mankind.

What’s already controversial is engineer’s rightful claim to the prize. If you were to go through the will of Sir Alfred Nobel himself (which will be attached at the end of the article), there’s nothing preventing Steve Jobs or Charles Babbage from winning a Nobel prize in physics for the prize should be awarded to anyone who makes the biggest discovery, or invention of the preceding year, ‘invention’ being the keyword here.

Nonetheless, as past trends suggest, Nobel prize has established itself only for radical discoveries and so here is the list of top 10 engineers of all time who came up with radical discoveries worthy of a Nobel prize.

10. Frank Whittle

Nobel prize in physics: For the discovery of heated supersonic flow expansion in a rarefied fluid flow.

The inventor of the turbojet engine, his biggest radical moment of brilliance was discovering how a supersonic flow from the combustion chamber can be made to do work in the most efficient way possible. This was important because the physics of supersonic flow was not at all developed at his time. Literally no one had much ideas about the trade-offs between shockwave losses and high-speed jet ejections, especially in case of an afterburner.

Why you should care? Because without this, none of your air-force fighter jets, or your intercontinental ballistic missiles would work. Be it Iran, India, Russia, China, France, USA or literally any other country in the world with a fighter jet, you have a lot to thank this guy for. Without him, we would go back to the slow days where the war was won or lost on naval and land dominance.

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What is the cost of our sun?

3/23/2016

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Sun, the ultimate source of power for everything in this solar system, regarded by many as the only god we can see, literally the focal point around which our world revolves. The USA, Russia and China have already started to plan how to make money from our celestial neighbours, namely comets and asteroids, even moon, perhaps someday other planets too example, Jupiter. It will not be a surprise if someday, our sun becomes a commodity for inter-galactic trade.In that case, what is the worth of this fiery ball?

What is the cost of our sun?

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Are we running out of sand?

3/13/2016

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Waves vigorously collapsing into each other, rushing towards you with unprecedented momentum but due to one certain thing, all its momentum is drained. You stand peacefully and feel the dying waves washing your feet, all thanks to the “Sand” beneath you.

In the vast expanse of shores, it will be more than scary if someone tells you that all this sand around you, is running out.

Is It?

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Physics enthusiasts Exclusive: Quantum cryptography, Coronal loops, Quantum Cheshire Cat & more.

6/29/2015

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Note: Links are enumerated at the end of the article. If you still don’t understand, feel free to comment

1) Quantum Cryptography

For this, you need to have a good hold on (1) Heisenberg’s principle, not just the formula but the concept itself. You also need to know (2) Fourier’s series and, you need to know how to use (3) Fourier analysis to resolve and understand Heisenberg’s principle. These cannot be explained in short so make sure to follow the links below if you don’t know and come back to read the article once you know what they are.

Quantum Cryptography is based on the (4) “thought experiment” or better known as “Heisenberg’s Microscope”, proposed by Heisenberg in 1927, to back his theory which is still not yet proven wrong although it is at the verge of being so. If the theory is correct, you cannot interact with anything, without effecting its uncertainty. Scientists are developing quantum encoders and modulators which will encrypt messages at quantum level and the destination will be informed about the uncertainty in the source code based on which it will be decoded. When anyone will try to eavesdrop, no matter even with photon, the uncertainty will be effected and the destination will immediately know something is wrong. This will be the ultimate level of security. However, some papers published about 4 years ago shows that there is this method called (5) “Weak measurements” which can actually interact without effecting the uncertainty. While the debate is still on, the problem remains unsolved and the research, hanging with millions of dollars in the pot. Anybody out there willing to solve this?

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