READING COMPREHENSION WITH ANSWERS

 Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. The Higgs boson has been called, or miscalled, the God particle,

enabling it to pass into the realm of popular scientific lore, like the

discovery of the smallpox vaccine, the structure of DNA, or the theory of

relativity. It would be difficult for most people to understand its

significance, just as it would be to comprehend the notion of relativity,

but such problems are overcome by locating science in personalities as

well as cultural and national traditions. The first thing that you and I know

about the Higgs boson is that it’s named after Peter Higgs, a physicist at

Edinburgh University who made the discovery — although the original

insight, in one of those recurrent back stories of science, was Philip

Anderson’s.

2. Still, we have Higgs, and Edinburgh, and western civilisation to fall

back on. The rest — “the Higgs boson is a hypothetical elementary

particle predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. It belongs

to a class of particles known as bosons ...” — we needn’t worry too much

about. But maybe we should worry just enough to ask, “What is a boson?”

since the word tends to come up as soon as Higgs does. Is it, an ignoramus

such myself would ask, akin to an atom or a molecule? It is, in fact, along

with the fermion (named after Enrico Fermi), one of the two fundamental

classes of subatomic particles.

3.From Bose

The word must surely have some European genealogy? In fact, “boson”

is derived from Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian physicist from Kolkata

who, in 1924, realised that the statistical method used to analyse most

19th-century work on the thermal behaviour of gases was inadequate. He

first sent off a paper on quantum statistics to a British journal, which

turned it down. He then sent it to Albert Einstein, who immediately

grasped its immense importance, and published it in a German journal.

Bose’s innovation came to be known as the Bose-Einstein statistics and

became a basis of quantum mechanics. Einstein saw that it had profound

implications for physics; that it had opened the way for this subatomic

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particle, which he named, after his Indian collaborator, “boson.” Still,

science and the West are largely synonymous and coeval: they are words

that have the same far-reaching meaning. Just as Van Gogh and

Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings digest the Japanese prints they were

responding to so we don’t need to be aware of Japanese prints when

viewing the post-impressionists, western science is pristine, and bears no

mark of what’s outside itself.

4.Other Indian contributions

The last Indian scientific discovery that is universally acknowledged is

the zero. Indians are very strong at maths, and the only modern Indian

who’s remotely part of the western mythology of science is Srinivasa

Ramanujan, equally well known for his Hindu idiosyncrasies and his

agonised stay in Cambridge as he is for his mathematical genius.

5. Indians can be excellent geeks, as demonstrated by the tongue-tied

astrophysicist Raj Koothrappalli in the U.S. sitcom Big Bang Theory; but

the Nobel prize can only be aspired to by Sheldon Cooper, the super-geek

and genius in the series, for whom Raj’s country of origin is a diverting

enigma, and miles away from the popular myth of science on which Big

Bang Theory is dependent. Bose didn’t get the Nobel Prize; nor did his

contemporary and namesake, J.C. Bose, whose contribution to the

fashioning of the wireless predates Marconi’s. The only Indian scientist

to get a Nobel Prize is the physicist C.V. Raman, for his work on light at

Kolkata University. Other Indians have had to become Americans to get

the award.

6. Conditions have always been inimical to science in India, from colonial

times to the present day; and despite that, its contributions have

occasionally been huge. Yet non-western science (an ugly label

engendered by the exclusive nature of western popular imagination) is

yet to find its Rosalind Franklin, its symbol of paradoxical success.

Unlike Franklin, however, scientists were never in a race that they lost;

they simply came from another planet.

Based on your reading of the passage, answer twelve out of fifteen

questions that follow: [ 1 X 12 = 12]

(a). What is the first thing which the narrator knows about Higgs Boson?

(b). What is Bose-Einstein statistics?

(c). How does Sheldon view Raj’s country of origin?

(d). What do Van Gogh’s paintings do to Japanese prints?

(e). Has India always got the credit for its merit?

(f). What do Higgs Boson have in common with Smallpox vaccine?

i. Both are used in medical radiography.

ii. Both are part of scientific myth and legends now.

iii. Both were met with scepticism on their discovery.

iv. Both fetched their teams a Nobel prize.

(g). Which statement is not true about Boson?

i. They were not discovered by Enrico Fermi.

ii. They constitute one class of subatomic particle.

iii. It is named after an Indian Physicist.

iv. It was discovered by Satyendra Nath Bose.

(h).Choose the word which is an apt synonym of the word Ignoramus

(used in para 2)

i. Idiot

ii. Intelligent

iii. Idealist

iv. Ingenious

(i). How are esoteric scientific concepts made understandable for

people?

i. By printing short introductory courses.

ii. By comparing it with other scientific discoveries.

iii. By locating science in personalities, social and cultural

traditions.

iv. By revising the country’s educational structure.

(j). Based on the reading of the passage, which statements are correct

about Higgs Boson.

1.They are called God’s particle.

2. Philip Anderson’s study provided the original insight.

3. This concept is easily understood by common people.

4. A physicist from Edinburgh University made the discovery.

5. It was discovered by Albert Einstein.

i. 1,2 & 3

ii. 2,3 & 5

iii. 1, 4 & 5

iv. 1,2 & 4

(k). Which field of Physics was SN Bose working on?

i. Quantum Mechanics

ii. Electromagnetism

iii. Geophysics

iv. Acoustic

(l). Which scientist/ mathematician out of the following won the Nobel

prize?

i. J C Bose

ii. C V Raman

iii. Srinivasa Ramanujan

iv. S N Bose

(m). What is Srinivasa Ramanujan known for in the popular culture?

(1) Mathematical genius.

(2) For formulation of game theory.

(3) Hindu Idiosyncrasies.

(4) Troubled stay in Cambridge.

(5) For devising another explanation for chaos theory.

i. 1, 2 & 3

ii. 1, 3 & 5

iii. 1, 3 & 4

iv. 1, 4 & 5

(n) . The conclusion of third paragraph highlights that

i. Western art grants recognition to all its inspirations.

ii. Van Gogh painted Japanese prints.

iii. Western art subsumes all the influences under it.

iv. Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec are post-impressionist

painters.

(o). Why did JC Bose deserve a Nobel?

(i) He was an Indian physicist.

(ii) He was the only one researching on wireless.

(iii) His research & findings on wireless started before Marconi.

(iv) He acquired an American citizenship

ANSWERS

1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:                                            

12 (a) Named after Peter Higgs- an Edinburgh University Professor  (b) based on quantum statistics-was born when Bose realised that the statistical method used to analyse most 19th-century work on the thermal behaviour of gases was inadequate (c) a diverting enigma- and miles away from the popular myth of science (d) Van Gogh’s paintings digest the Japanese prints they were responding to (e) No – very few acknowledgments – CV Raman -only Indian Physicist to have won the Nobel Prize (f) ii. Both are part of scientific myth and legends now (g) iv. It was discovered by Satyendra Nath Bose. (h) i.  Idiot  (i) iii. By locating science in personalities, social and cultural traditions.  (j) iv. 1,2 & 4  (k) i. Quantum Mechanics  (l) ii. C V Raman  (m) iii. 1, 3 & 4  (n)  iii. Western art subsumes all the influences under it.   (o) iii His research & findings on wireless started before Marconi.