BEYOND THE HIGGS BOSON – THE W BOSON AND Dr ASHUTOSH KOTWAL’S QUEST FOR THE UNKNOWN By MANIK KOTWAL

‘Ashutosh, an outstanding particle physicist … conducts breakthrough research related to W bosons and the Higgs boson, and searches for new particles and forces. Hope he wins the Nobel Prize one day …’

—Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, FRS, Padma Vibhushan, Former Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

The morning of 4 July 2012 was one of excitement. It was the day when the discovery of the ‘Higgs boson’, the god particle, was announced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). For forty years, three generations of scientists and researchers had been trying to prove the existence of this particle and finally they were successful. A key figure in this discovery was Dr Ashutosh Kotwal, a co-recipient of the 2013 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize from the European Physical Society, who conducted world-leading research into the W boson, which helped predict the mass of the Higgs boson. Dr Kotwal’s measurement provided one of the most powerful tests of the Higgs boson theory. And, more recently in 2022, he led a team of 400 scientists to publish the world’s best measurement of the W boson mass, which became the year’s most-cited research paper in physics and astronomy worldwide.

Written by his mother Manik Kotwal and translated by Jerry Pinto, Beyond the Higgs Boson—first published in Marathi as Putra Vhava Aisa to great acclaim—details Ashutosh’s life from childhood to present day and describes in exciting detail the search for the Higgs boson and beyond.

A unique take on a son’s life through the eyes of his mother, interspersed with photographs that bring alive his story, this biography is an inspirational and compelling tale of how a boy from India made it to the forefront of research in physics.

Manik Kotwal says, ‘Being mother to Ashutosh was my “joie d’être”. Getting my already acclaimed Marathi book, Putra Vhava Aisa, published in English, has multiplied that joy. I feel honoured. Ashutosh’s accomplishments so far in the field of science have been beyond my wildest dreams. The pursuit of the secrets of nature has always been his dream—an innovative search for dark matter is his next challenge. I hope that Beyond the Higgs Boson will inspire our young generation to bring out their best potential. I express my deep gratitude towards HarperCollins, Mr Jerry Pinto and, of course, towards that entity called God who is somewhere “Beyond”!’

Jerry Pinto says, ‘This book was a special challenge, combining the affections of a mother and the demands of science. But it was an exhilarating book that brought me close to the heart of nature.’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mrs Manik Kotwal, mother of Prof. Ashutosh Kotwal, wrote about her son’s journey from his early childhood to becoming a world-renowned particle physicist in her Marathi book Putra Vhava Aisa (2016), which received the Ashok Tilak Award. Prior Marathi biographies to her credit are Doordarshi (of Galileo, 2008), Oppenheimer (2011) and Atma Siddha (of well-known social activist Smt. Nirmala Purandare, 2015). She has translated French classics and the poetry of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. She taught in prestigious schools in Nagpur and Mumbai. An aficionado of dramatics and theatre arts, she has directed and starred in plays performed on the Lucknow, Varanasi and Delhi stages, placing first and second in the Uttar Pradesh state competitions in 1973 and 1974. She has also worked in worked in television in Delhi and Mumbai. Over the last thirty years, she has worked as a child development activist in about 200 villages in rural Maharashtra. Manik Kotwal lives in Pune, India, with her husband, Vijay Kotwal.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Jerry Pinto has translated several important works from Marathi including Daya Pawar’s seminal autobiography, Baluta, and Sachin Kundalkar’s novel, Cobalt Blue. From Hindi he has translated Swadesh Deepak’s account of his mental illness and recovery in I Have Not Seen Mandu. His latest translation was Jnanpith Award-winner Damodar Mauzo’s Konkani novel, Boy Unloved. He is also the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, the National Award for the Best Book on Cinema and the Windham-Campbell Award for Fiction.

Published by HarperCollins

Paperback | Non-fiction | 424 pp | INR 699