This week, India was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Why?

Let’s not talk about the reason, which is political. Let’s talk about one which is academic.

Yes, the NEET enthusiasts in the country have suffered a jolt when the results for 2024 showed 67 students scored full marks (720/720).

Many students have got marks, which is absolutely improbable. The authority – NTA – who is conducting the exams claim those were grace marks awarded. 

Questionable as the case is in court now.

In one centre, eight students were awarded full marks. The centre is in the state of Haryana, India.

Eight scoring full marks is a rare instance and that brings to memory what happened at the University of Chicago back in 1930.

The Nobel laureate Dr. Chandrasekhar – a Tamil and a proud Indian – was a passionate teacher. He was professor of astrophysics. 

While he was in the USA, he wanted to teach the subject to aspiring students, but he, unfortunately, had only two students in his class. And the venue was located too far away too. About 100 kilometers he had to travel every day to teach the pair.

He was undeterred though.

For this very reason, the professor was laughed at by his colleagues on the Chicago campus. All advised him to drop the idea. Many ridiculed him for traveling 100KM each day to teach. So embarrassing.

But the professor had seen a greater opportunity in the negativity.  

He thought a small class would give him an ample atmosphere for teaching the subject well and spend a good amount of time for discussion, if any. The class went ahead as planned.

As the professor, Dr. Chandrasekhar envisaged the class consisting of T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang went on to win a Nobel each for Physics in 1957. 

That’s not the end of the story. 

Dr. Chandrasekhar himself got the Nobel Prize in 1983. 

Thus, the world witnessed one of the rarest instances in history, where an entire class, including the teacher, has bagged a Nobel.

A proud moment in academic history! 

​

Hope Dr. Chandrasekhar wasn’t the inspiration behind the story of eight NEET students winning big in a single exam centre in Haryana.