Opinion Look who’s all grown up now

Tathagat Avatar Tulsi,once hailed as a child prodigy,is now 21. What happens to child prodigies? Most of them burn out and wither away under the media glare. Others’ achievements as grown-ups overshadow their childhood promise.

Last week,the Patna-born Tulsi was conferred a Ph.D in physics by IISc. That makes him the youngest Indian Ph.D and part of a select global group of mathematicians and physicists who got their Ph.Ds at such a young age,such as John Forbes Nash Jr.,the MIT mathematician,whose life story was turned into the Hollywood film A Beautiful Mind, and who got his Ph.D in mathematics when he was 21.

Tulsi’s Ph.D. research was titled ‘Generalisations of the Quantum Search Algorithms.’ The thesis is a mere 33 pages. Quantum search algorithm is software for powerful,superfast,future computing called quantum computing. Present-day computers are classical computers. The fastest computer today is a car compared with the promise of quantum computers which can be likened to jet airplanes.

Quantum computing is particularly useful for a group of challenges called optimisation problems,helping businesses to maximise profits with minimum investments. For instance,if a freight company has a lot of shipments and two aircraft,quantum computing can determine the best way to pack the different shapes and sizes in the given space. Or even how to design the best investment portfolio. Over time,such ‘best solutions’ can add up to tidy profits.

Tulsi wants to set up a quantum computing lab in India. He says the country sorely lacks one. Where the United States,Europe and elsewhere governments and private institutions are pouring millions of dollars into quantum research,funding is deficient in India,he says.

Tulsi has been offered a post-doctoral research position at the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo,Canada. But his heart is set on getting a faculty position at the Indian Institute of Technology,Delhi or Mumbai. If he could get a teaching position and access to a good library,he says he would prefer to continue his research in India.

Tulsi,who got his master’s degree in physics when he was 12,says he wants to write a book on child prodigies. In the book,he wants to bust the myth about prodigies losing their childhood. He wants to write about societal expectations and explain how gifted children can deal with sudden fame. He says he has met his share of fake prodigies too.

In fact,Tulsi was caught in the eye of a media storm years ago when his father claimed he had discovered a new particle to explain the presence of dark matter in the universe. He was immediately labeled a ‘fraudigy’. Tulsi later said he suggested the particle theory as an idea but was misrepresented. He says those were rough years and everybody suspected his credentials. “I was depressed,I lost my confidence and I lost a few years of my career,” recalls Tulsi. He says he wants his book to be an eye-opener.

For now,the former child prodigy is dealing with a very normal adult problem. He says he has turned from a shy teenager to an extrovert but cannot find a suitable girlfriend. Tulsi describes the dating scene at IISc as a ‘mismatch’. “When I entered the Institute at 15,the girls said I was too young. Now that I am 21,they look at my Ph.D. and say I am a senior,” laments the author of four single-author physics papers in the prestigious Physical Review.

saritha.rai@expressindia.com