Despite active engagement in various aspects of university life, students at Dhaka University appeared largely indifferent to a significant academic event—even when it featured a lecture by a Nobel laureate in physics.
On Saturday, William Daniel Phillips, the 1997 Nobel Prize winner in physics for his work on laser cooling technology, delivered a lecture at the international scientific conference titled “Centennial Celebration of Bose-Einstein Statistics: A Legacy of Dhaka,” which began on November 7.
However, only a few attendees gathered in the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban to hear him speak, and most of those present were organisers rather than students.
Despite participation of 30 scientists from the US, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, and Nepal in the conference, the organisers seemed to be worried about participation of students and their apprehension came true.
As the session began, Professor Kamrul Hasan Mamun, one of the conference organisers, posted on his Facebook page, urging his colleagues and students to attend, writing, “I'm requesting all my colleagues and students to be at Senate Bhaban now. It will be embarrassing for us if the Nobel laureate finds the auditorium empty.”
The night before, he had posted a reminder: “There are some very important lectures tomorrow. Nobel laureate William Phillips will give a lecture at 9 a.m. He has a worldwide reputation as a good orator. Additionally, the lecture by renowned Bengali physicist Ashok Sen should not be missed. I hope everyone will join in large numbers. We should not be ashamed.”
The conference, organised by the Department of Physics and the Bose Center for Advanced Study & Research in Natural Sciences at Dhaka University, was inaugurated by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.