V Balakrishnan is in the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. His research interests are dynamical systems and applications of stochastic processes.

In Voltaire's classic satire Candide, the preceptor Pangloss is an unquestioning optimist who  keeps insisting that we live in `the best of all possible worlds', in spite of the most harrowing adversities he and his companions face. Pangloss' unbridled optimism is foolish, if  not dangerously stupid,   in the light of the events that take place -- so much so, that `panglossian' has come to describe a hopelessly idealistic view held in spite of direct evidence to the contrary.

Read full article (2.84 Mb)

Address for Correspondence
V Balakrishnan
Department of Physics
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai 600 036, India.
Email: vbalki@iitm.ac.in