Ashutosh Vijay Kotwal (born December 20, 1965) is an American particle physicist of Indian origin. He has been a professor at Duke University since 1999, and works in research related to W bosons and the Higgs boson.
Early life edit
Kotwal was born in Mumbai, India, and attended schools in Calcutta, Lucknow and Delhi.[1] He then began studying at the University of Pennsylvania in 1983, with degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and in economics with finance major from Wharton School in 1988. He also has a PhD from Harvard University.[1][2]
Career edit
Kotwal joined Duke University as a professor in 1999,[2] and is also the Director of Particle Physics at the University.[3] Additionally, Kotwal is in charge of a Higgs boson search team as part of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, with the aim of proving the existence of the particle.[3][4] Kotwal was part of the CERN team that announced the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012.[3] He conducts experiments at the Large Hadron Collider as well as at Fermilab in Chicago.[5]
Research edit
Kotwal works in measuring the mass of the W boson, which is connected to the Higgs boson, using the data from the CDF and D0 experiments at Fermilab. In 2012, he analysed 1 million W boson particle masses to an accuracy of 0.02%,[6] and carried out the world's most precise measurements on two propeties of fundamental particles, which in turn allowed him to predict the mass of the Higgs boson prior to its discovery in 2012.[5]
Awards edit
Kotwal became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2008, and in 2013 received a fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his contributions in discovering the Higgs boson.[7] Kotwal is the recipient of the Outstanding Junior Investigator Award from the US Department of Energy, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship. He has received the Leadership Award from Duke University.[citation needed]
References edit
- ^ a b "Their 'Einstein' son was denied school admission". dna. 5 July 2012.
- ^ a b "Visions from Star Trek could become reality this century". The Indian Express. 21 June 2011.
- ^ a b c "Higgs boson discovery has Pune connection - Sakal Times".
- ^ "After Higgs is the Turn to Dark Matter and Gravity". Anne's Astronomy News.
- ^ a b "'LCH could give evidence of evolution'". The Times of India. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
- ^ "Pune scientist devises method to measure 'W Boson' - Sakal Times". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
- ^ "Indian-origin scientist honoured in the US - Sakal Times". Retrieved 24 February 2016.