Nepali
scientist awarded in USA for research

By A
Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU,
Nov. 13: For decades, scientists around the world have been working to bring
about a thermonuclear reaction in the lab. Should that happen, a Nepali
scientist, Uday Shah, will have made a significant contribution in achieving
that feat.

Thermonuclear
reaction, also called fusion, is what generates energy in the sun and stars.
Scientists believe that if this can be achieved on earth, it will help produce
infinite amounts of energy which is clean and cheap.

Uday Shah
was recently awarded a doctorate for his inventive research in plasma physics
from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Troy, USA for his research on 'Electric
Field Measurements in a Reversed Field Pinch with Heavy Ion Beam Probe'.

"His
research has enabled, for the first time, the study of the mechanisms of
electrostatic turbulence suppression in the core of reversed field," said
a statement of the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute.

His research and development work in the field of particle beam diagnostics for
the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) has produced the
first measurement of the electric potential in the hot core (of about a million
RFP Plasma) of any such experiment device anywhere in the world. "Many
researchers in the scientific community once doubted the measurements were
possible," the statement said.

"Shah's
measurements of the electrical field have produced new and significant
information that provides substantial help in achieving the goal of producing
electric power from controlled thermonuclear fusion." And his unique
results are of interest to many scientists around the world involved in nuclear
fusion research.

Shah did his
early schooling at Siddhartha Banasthali High School, Kathmandu, and Higher
School Certificate (equivalent to I.Sc.) from Ashfield Boys' High School in
Sydney, Australia, where his father Dr. Shree Govinda Shah was doing his Ph.D.
in ecology. Uday also double graduated in mathematics and physics from the
University of Oregon, USA.

CHECK the WEBSITE:

http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/trn/2002/nov/nov14/index.htm