The Hierarchy of Nine
Celebrating Adrian Korpel's
Ascension towards the Centennial (2022)
Author receiving doctoral plaque from Adrian Korpel, May 1985
(Image by Monish Chatterjee) Details DMCA
My mentor and inspiration for graduate studies and much more for the past 43+ years, accomplished scientist, avid reader, conversationalist and keen humanist, Dr. Adrian Korpel, passed away at age 91 on October 1st, 2023 in his home in Tucson, Arizona.
Adrian Korpel (AK) created an extended family of graduate students (primarily the ones he guided through their doctoral research) during his years at the University of Iowa, training them for scientific inquiry and more (in my own case, to also be mindful of human affairs, respond to issues of social justice, and overall pursue life from the perspectives of such renaissance figures as da Vinci, or Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray from my own Bengali heritage) through what he called the Socratic Method. That family, with members mostly from the 1980s, is still largely together. In 2012, several of us (self, Ting-Chung Poon, Partha Banerjee, Ron Pieper, David Mehrl) had gathered in Iowa City to celebrate AK's 80th birthday (I wrote a tribute poem to mark that occasion, which appeared for a period of time in these tribute pages. I may resurrect that poem in another tribute.
I would like to mention here also that my fellow former graduate students of AK and I had a tribute article published last Fall in Optics and Photonics News (URL:
click here) which summarized some of AK's work and their impact.
In May, 2022, we gathered again in Tucson, AZ, to celebrate AK's 90th birthday. We are fortunate he attended this celebration with great enthusiasm (joined by his wife, Margaret Ann Ellsworth), even though he was a little frail, but in full possession of his wit, humor and sharp intellect.
Here
is something I wrote on my Facebook timeline upon receiving the news of his
loss (Oct 1st, '23):
"...Just received news that my greatest intellectual mentor (also my
Advisor for graduate studies), Dr. Adrian Korpel, passed away earlier today.
Dr. Korpel was among the rarest of scientists with a genuinely Renaissance Man
bend. In his presence, I always felt there was no limit to what we could
discuss- from our place in the Universe to the Upanishads and Hindu philosophy.
The window of his mind was wide open to every possible area of human (and
humane) interest- even though he was deeply rooted in the queries and
discoveries of science, which stimulated him like nothing else.
Dr.
Korpel was a genuinely enlightened human being (a rare feat in our human
encounters).
My heart is much too heavy with the sense of loss of someone whose graciousness
brought me to where I am today. In fact, my journey into the wider world would
not have happened had it not been for his kindness and guidance. Hence, I am
unable to write much more today. Maybe there will be another day for more. The following tribute poem I wrote in honor
of AK was written to celebrate his 90th birthday (one year before he left us
for eternity). Dr. Korpel was moved by
the poem, and described it to me with the words "Thank you for your
meditation on Nine". Here, then is
the poem to Dr. Adrian Korpel on his 90th birthday.
[May
I mention here that I was unable to get the tribute poem published at Optica (formerly Opical Society of America), an organization and a discipline to
which he had devoted his entire career, because of their drastically reduced
word limitations. This is highly
regrettable. MRC]
The Hierarchy of Nine
Celebrating Adrian Korpel's Ascension towards the Centennial
February 18, 2022
2022 Monish R Chatterjee
**
A major milestone, no doubt, trekking
Across science, consciousness and the interplays of creation
For nine decades, anchored in three continents-
Exploring the frontiers of light and sound, ultrasonics
Imaging, holography and nonlinear phenomena-
Even while observing the absurdities inherent in
The living experience with temperance and goodwill.
**
The number nine (here amplified tenfold) through history
Has occupied a place of significance, perhaps more so
In the Indian context. In the royal courts, from Chandragupta
The Vikramaditya to Akbar the Great Mughal- high honor
Was bestowed upon the Nava Ratna, the nine jewels
Bedazzling the court with achievements in astronomy
The sciences, economics, arts and literature.
**
In those early times, preceding the age of the quantum
Space-time and strings by centuries, when astronomy was
Often conflated with astrology and alchemy (not even sparing
Sir Isaac), human destinies were tied to the Nava Graha
The nine planets, Pluto's recent demoted status notwithstanding.
Senses there were six, avatars there were ten, Vedas
There were four, and the Bard himself declared the Seven Ages
**
Of Man, visualizing presciently the grand theater that was
This human life. And so forth with numbers of significance
From Avogadro to Planck, from Bernoulli to Boltzmann, then
Migrating to the number wizards- Ramanujan and Hardy, Gauss
Fermat and Euler. In the decimal system, however, in its land
Of origin- nine has held sway and thereby percolated to life.
The deities have been virtually defined by nine in their myriad
**
Aspects. From the elemental nine cycled to the twelve solar
Months arose the one hundred and eight names or manifestations
Of each divine entity. From thence arose the number 864 crores
Signifying a Brahmic day. Yet in this moment of celebrating
Nine times ten, the limit need hardly be set by mythology- one
May perhaps consider also quantum folklore. One enters here
The realm of Schrodinger's cat (SC), usually anointed a paradox.
**
Now, by folklore, a cat it is said has nine, mark it, nine lives.
An appropriate question, might well be- does the paradoxical
Schrodinger cat have nine lives as well? Or, are there all these
Nested speculations in vogue: Does SC have nine full lives with
Zero non-living intervals, or nine half-lives (in the box) with
Another nine half-lives outside? Or the unresolved probabilistic
Existential issues of whether any of those lives is actually lived
**
Within or without. Perhaps only our nonagenarian sage might
Provide the answers. Or perhaps not. And so today, counting
Our good fortune of having shared these years as fellow
Travelers with you, our activities having taken us near and far
Our together years progressively receding to the farther reaches
Of the memory hole- we are gathered with gratefulness
For the training received by your hands in scientific rationalism
**
Remembering vital, younger years gathering around serialized
Presentations of The Far Pavilions and The Day After long before
The age of the internet and communications tools in every hand-
Products of the very quests and searches you had pursued and
Made us fellow participants in; the many Q&As from the
Socratic meetings- on behalf of our very special league of
Knowledge-seekers, we offer the most heartfelt compliments
**
With the fervent hope:
May your journey to 100 be a blissful ride ON CLOUD NINE !!
**
[P.S. Alas- celebrating his 100th here on earth was
not to be. AK left us for the celestial
sphere on October 1st, 2023 in his 91st year. MRC]
(Article changed on Dec 15, 2023 at 11:40 PM EST)
(Article changed on Dec 15, 2023 at 11:49 PM EST)
(Article changed on Dec 15, 2023 at 11:52 PM EST)
