UP professor, 27 Pinays get Nobel nominations

Manila – University of the Philippine professor Edgar E. Escuoltrua has been nominated for the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics, according to two members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
This was confirmed by Dr. Johannes Hieber and Dr. Lars Jonhagen in e-mails to Escultura. Dr. Heber told Escultura that “we have read your work on the Grand Unified Theory and deem it worthy of a nomination for the Nobel Prize for Physics."
Dr. Jonhagen, on the other hand said in an e-mail that Escultura received on June 15 said: “You, sir, have demonstrated such a high level of understanding of Physics and, as such, your nomination is very special."
If he wins it, Escultura will be the first Filipino ever to receive the prestigious Nobel prize.
Professor Escultura teaches mathematics at the University of the Philippines. He was in the news recently for having disproved Dr. Andrew Wiles’ “proof” of Fermat’s Last Theorem.
The Grand Unified Theory (or more colloquially known as the Theory of Everything) has been somewhat of a Holy Grail of modern physics.
Albert Einstein spent the last 30 years of his life trying to formulate the GUT with no success.
Scores of physicists all over the world, led by Stephen Hawking, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, and Roger Penrose, professor of mathematics at Oxford, have been working on GUT for decades.
Last month, Escultura received the Michel Prize from the University of Luynes in France, for his work on analysis and foundations of mathematics.
The award was conferred on him by Prof. J. Raymond, who, as it happens, is also a nominee for the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Escultura studied at the University of the Philippines and at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his PhD in 1970.
He was a former mathematics and science editor of The Manila Times. He also introduced the new mathematics and the mathematics of the new physics at The Manila Times School of Journalism.
Meanwhile 27 Filipinas have joined a worldwide bid to bag the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for their significant but largely unheralded roles in peace building.
The Filipino women, among them teachers, artists, political activists, journalists, and religious leaders, were nominated for their valuable and significant roles in promoting peace and unity in the country.
Peace adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles, known graft buster Haydee Yorac, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman are among the nominees. This year’s nominations came from 153 countries.
Deles was nominated following three decades of engagement in peace work as a civil society leader.
The Swiss-based project 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 reports that only 11 women have been accorded the award since its inception in 1901.
The last to get the award was Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi in 2004.
The 27 nominees were announced on Wednesday during ceremonies at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Aside from Deles and Yorac, nominees include Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel, Teresa Banaynal-Fernandez, Piang Tahshim Albar, Mary Lou Alcid, Adoracion Cruz Avisado, Loretta Navarro-Castro, Maria Lorenza Palm-Dalupan, Sister Mariani Dimaranan, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Hadja Bainon Karon, Myla Jabilles Leguro, Zenaida Tan-Lim, Delia Santiago-Locsin, June Pagaduan-Lopez, Seiko Bodios Obashi, Zenaida Hamada-Pawid, Sister Mary Soledad Perpiñan, Elisa del Puerto, Irene Morada-Santiago, Teresita Ang-See, Miriam Suacito, and Pura Sumangil.