ECG Sudarshan | Image Credit: Wikipedia

Acclaimed Indian scientist Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan, also known as E C G Sudarshan, has passed away in Texas. The 86-year-old, was a renowned physicist who was nominated for the Nobel prize in Physics for nine times. ECG hailed from Pallam in Kottayam and was born to E I Chandy and Achamma on 16th September 1931. ECG Sudarshan was serving as a professor at the University of Texas.

The theoretical physicist is known for his numerous contributions to several areas of physics including optical coherence, Sudarshan-Glauber representation, Quantum zero effect, V-A theory among others. ECG Sudarshan was honoured with several awards such as ICTP Dirac Medal, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Majorana Prize, C. V Raman Award and TWAS Prize, among others.

Earlier, ECG had worked with the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) situated in Chennai, Harvard University, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), University of Rochester and Indian Institute of Science.

That being said, ECG Sudarshan is also known to prove one of Albert Einstein’s theories wrong which states that ‘Nothing can move faster than light’.

According to ECG Sudarshan, Tachyon can indeed move or travel faster than light and it is said that Physicist Gerald Feinberg them tachyons because, in Greek, takhus means “fast”, and "on" means “elementary particle”. According to some other scientists, tachyons have an imaginary mass.

While Albert Einstein showed that it is impossible for particles or even spaceships to be accelerated up to or above the speed of light since it requires infinite energy. ECG Sudarshan and his colleagues suggested that if the said particles were created initially with the help of faster-than-light speed during particle collisions, there will be no need of acceleration or infinite energy.

