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There are a good few candidates. Max Planck, who had his life ripped apart and his son murdered by the Nazi regime. Or Ludwig Boltzmann, who committed suicide in a fit of depression, just as his theories were winning out against long-term opposition.But I’m going to nominate Hugh Everett, the originator of the Everett, or “Many Worlds” interpretation of quantum mechanics.Everett’s tragedies were largely self-inflicted. He was a brilliant student; in his first year at graduate school he published a paper on “Recursive Games” that John Nash considered extraordinary, and is now thought of as a classic of game theory. He studied quantum mechanics with Eugene Wigner, and wrote his PhD thesis under the guidance of John Wheeler, where he laid out his then new “relative state” interpretation of quantum mechanics.But even as a student, Everett was addicted to alcohol, food and tobacco, and he could not afford to indulge these whims on a junior academic salary. So even before his thesis had been accepted, he landed a job in operations research at the Pentagon, ignoring Wheeler’s pleas to come to Copenhagen, and talk about his quantum mechanical ideas with Niels Bohr.Everett’s later work is almost all classified, but the fragments that have now been published give an idea of what he spent his life doing. These analyses are on kill ratios in the outcomes of nuclear war — how many would live and die in each stage of nuclear exchanges; and whether the US or Russia would be able to absorb more casualties. Later, Everett led the team that programmed the SIOP computers that would have launched the missiles to wipe out much of the population of Europe. They went operational in 1962.Everett suffered from depression his whole life, and it’s difficult to think that his work helped this. In any case, his depressive episodes got worse, as did his addictions. He had married his wife Nancy in graduate school, but he continued womanising and seeing prostitutes, while growing obese and becoming more and more of an alcoholic. Nancy repeatedly cheated on him in return.He was never very commercially successful. Some of the methods that he came up with: “attribute value” algorithms and the generalised Lagrange multiplier method, were later adopted widely and made millionaires of his colleagues. But Everett himself was never able to fully capitalise on his insights, and his spending more than matched his income. Towards the end of his life, he was verging on bankruptcy.But the greatest harm Everett caused was to his family. Somehow he never felt able to show affection to his children: Elizabeth and Mark, both of whom openly craved his love.Elizabeth first attempted suicide in 1982. Mark found her unconscious on the bathroom floor, and got her to hospital just in time. When he returned home that night, he remembers his father looking up from his newspaper and saying mildly, “I didn’t know she was that sad”.Everett himself died just a month later, at 51, of a heart attack brought on by his obesity and unhealthy lifestyle. Mark — then 19 — was the one who found his father’s body, and as he felt for a pulse, realised that it was the first time he could remember touching him.In 1996, Elizabeth succeeded in her latest suicide attempt, after being institutionalised for some years and undergoing electroshock therapy. She left a note, saying she wanted to join her father in another universe.Two years later, Nancy died of lung cancer, almost certainly due to second-hand smoke from her husband.Mark Everett is still around. In fact, you have probably heard of him. He usually goes just by “E” and in 1995, he formed a band, where he serves as the front-man and driving force: The Eels.In recent years, Mark has opened up more about his father, and has given historians of science access to the family’s papers. He even uses his real name from time to time.(Image Source: Eels - official Band Website)So, if you have ever wondered where a song like “Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor”, or indeed an album title like “Electro-Shock Blues” comes from … that’s where.One of the things that turned up in Mark’s recent looks through his family boxes is a 1977 dictaphone recording of his father talking to Charles Misner, an old college friend and expert on General Relativity. This is eerie for historians of physics to listen to, because in 1954, it was a drunken conversation between a much younger Everett and Misner that gave Everett the first ideas that he went on to develop into Many Worlds.In the recording, the two reminisce about the origins of these quantum mechanical ideas, while in the background, you can hear Mark practising on the drums.

I'm an Indian, so I can answer this question..India or Indians are NOT PERFECT.In an unbiased way I will jot down the major drawbacks and problems of India, and subsequently mention some points that are good about it qualitatively and quantitatively.Cons first.We have a problem handling and controlling population growth. We have got a grip over it over the last 20 years, but a lot remains to be done.We have terrorist threats and militancy in Kashmir. Maoists in Chattisgarh etc.We have cases of female infanticide, rape, dowry, honor killing, extortion, theft, burglary, murder among other crimes.We have heated debates on caste system, unwarranted fatwas, triple talaaq, reservations for backward castes, LGBT rights, political agitation, rallies.Our country as any other 3rd world ones are infested with corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.We have inequal distribution of wealth. The poor live below poverty level. There are problems of poverty, unemployment, under employment and infrastructure like road, health etc. We do have the second largest road network in the world, but only 61% is paved, so there is a lot of room for improvement.Now that I have given you the cons, it’s time to list down the pros.Whatever your religion is. Whatever you skin tone is. What ever your caste/creed/ethnicity is. No one here is trying to kill you, maul you or end your civilization.No one is forcing a brand of nationalism or a certain interpretation of any religion down your throat.We are secular. Our country has Hindus, Muslims,Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians and Jews among others. These religions have been living together since centuries if not a whole millennium. We have the largest population of Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and Baha’i population in the world along with the 3rd largest Muslim population, largest in any non Muslim country.We are the world’s most populous democracy. We hold national, state, and municipal/Panchayat elections. Even our most disturbed state has a 64% voting percentage.Our population is 1.3 billion. We have 22 official languages, 122 major languages and 1599 other languages, 29 states, 7 union territories. We have seven agglomerations with popuation of 53 million or more.Our economy is the 7th largest by nominal GDP, 3rd by PPP.We are a regional power. A nuclear power, the third largest army in the world. We have cordial foreign relations and trade relations with most of the nations in the world.Our IT and pharmaceuticals are the fastest emerging ones. We have the fastest growing telecom and the 2nd fastest growing automotive industry.Culturally we are the most diverse country on the planet with history spanning over 5000 years, literature spanning 4000 years, a movie industry that produces most watched cinema in the world, a cuisine that is loved around the world for it’s diversity.In less than 70 years after independence a country this huge that inherited a feeble economy, wasn't self sufficient on food, low on foreign reserve, a nation that suffered world wars, famines, a bloody partition and had a leadership without any prior experience of governance has formed a secular republic, sustained democracy, preserved it's sovereignty, persevered through further hardships, grown through socialism, and as it's economy matured it opened up, scaled up and have become a self sufficient, formidable economy with throbbing sectors. There is no country on the face of earth that has sustained such diversity to begin with after hundreds of years of colonial exploitation.As I mentioned, we are in no way perfect. We are a long way from achieving our goals, but is India a bad country?well, now that you have read this answer.. decide.

Hind sight and historical perspective confer certain unfair advantages, in so far as they enable certain events of the past to be seen in sharp focus in the light of the latter day developments, but sadly they also cause some distortions by blurring the need or impact of the events at the time of their actual happening.They enhance your objectivity, but at the same time dull your sensitivity.Having been in the prime of my youth around the time of proclamation of the state of emergency,and it's aftermath,I will try here to chronicle the period and what preceded and followed it, in as objective and sensitive a manner as it is possible for me.The country, post independence, had a stable, single party rule, both at the Center and All the States for nearly two decades from 1947 to 1967. But the Chinese war and the inglorious mauling it inflicted in 1962, the death of Nehru in 1964,yet another war with Pakistan in 1965 and the sudden,mysterious death of the second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent in 1966 - all these had a destabilizing and debilitating impact on the nascent polity of India. It was at this point and during this turmoil that Indira, who was just 47 years old then and a woman to boot,was pitch forked into the Prime Minister's seat, by a coterie of wily old congressmen,with a plot to rule by proxy.Though the inexperienced Indira Gandhi initially gave the impression of toeing the line of this old guard, she was meanwhile having her own agenda. Apart form being old, these leaders were extreme right wing ( Possibly with the exception of K.Kamaraj who seemed to profess genuine socialism) and lacked any popular support base even in their own states. The first post-independent generation of youth just emerging then had no respect for these leaders or their party. This new constituency was restless,impatient, disillusioned with the old order and clamoring for change.This demographic change manifested itself for the first time in the defeat of Congress party in many states, including my own, Tamilnadu in the elections in 1967.So, Indira Gandhi, by now having been forced to become a seasoned and scheming politician in her own right just to survive, sensed that, the Congress had to jettison some of it's altruistic baggage, and more importantly get rid of an ageing leadership unable to inspire the youth of the day. She also sensed the popular disconnect and discontent and gradually started asserting her own populist agenda to capture the imagination of the newly emerging and socially relevant constituencies, like the Scheduled castes/tribes, the minorities like Muslims,the Landless poor and the labor classes, to create her own vote base.This was naturally resented by the Old Guard/ High Command of the Congress party which was largely represented or patronized by Upper castes, Rich land lords and Big Business-Industrial houses till then.The areas were getting demarcated and the battle lines were being drawn for a power struggle in the guise of idealogical conflict.Both sides were waiting for the most opportune moment to strike.The moment arrived in the form of the sudden demise of the then President Dr. Zakir Hussain in May 1969, while still holding office. V.V.Giri who was the Vice President, and a known close confidente of Indira Gandhi,was acting as the President.While Indira wanted that Congress should enable him to continue by nominating him as the party's candidate, the Old Guards had a different plan.The idea was to clip the wings and cramp the authority of the recalcitrant Prime Minister by having one of their own men as President and there by make her ultimately fall in line.To this effect they proceeded to nominate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, the then Speaker of the Parliament, and a known Indira baiter, brushing aside a vocal opposition from Indira Gandhi and her supporters in the party.Miffed at this and seeing through the ploy, Indira Gandhi played her political cards shrewdly.When V.V.Giri resigned as the acting president, and then threw his hat in the ring as an independent,rebel candidate in the Presidential elections,just to fathom the actual levels of support, Indira Gandhi gave a call to the electorate to "vote" according to their conscience,on the eve of the election.but stopped short of asking them to vote for the rebel candidate against the official candidate.Her supporters in the party took the cue and cross voted in favor of V.V.Giri, which resulted in his election to the Highest office of the country,though by a thin margin.Indira Gandhi had won a major battle,and outwitted her detractors in the party.The High Command yet again played in toher hands, by attempting to banish her from the party, without actually estimating the relative support she enjoyed from the party men.This gave Indira the fig leaf of justification she needed to break the party and walk away with a major chunk of her supporters. by November of 1969.The split now was official,open,vertical and complete, with each faction claiming to be the Original Congress.Now assured of the support of a majority of sycophantic party men, and secure in the knowledge of having a "loyal' President, Indira Gandhi launched a slew of policies and programs to further her populist agenda.Notable among them beingNationalization of 14 Major Private sector Banks in 1969, Nationalizing many more industries like coal and services like insurance with the aim of pursuing socialism and abolition of Privy Purse to the erstwhile rulers of the Indian kingdoms,though her political rivals were always trying to sabotage her attempts and some times even succeeding, just as when defeating the Bill to abolish Privy purses in the Rajya Sabha by a solitary vote.Discussing the merits and demerits of these moves, or their correctness or otherwise will require separate chapters for each step, and therefore beyond the scope of this already long answer. Suffice it to say that the implementation of such policies, along with the county's resounding victory in the war of "Liberation" of Bangladesh,and coining the catch phrase " Garibi Hatao" (Destroy Poverty) caught the imagination of the entire Nation, and sent Indira Gandhi's popularity soaring among the masses sky high, culminating in her faction winning a Two third majority in Parliament in the 1971 general elections.OTOH, the other faction variously called Congress(O) or the Syndicate was decimated beyond repair in the elections.With such a popular mandate, Indira Gandhi was further consolidating her position, by starting the Green Revolution to achieve food self sufficiency and carrying out under ground Nuclear weapons test in Pokhran in the year 1974.While being at the height of her popularity, things suddenly started going hay wire inexplicably, to undermine her authority.First, the Allahabad High court annulled Indira's election to the Parliament on 12.06.1975, in a case filed by the losing candidate Raj Narain almost 4 years back.The judgement was rather peculiar.While absolving the Prime Minister of the Country of ALL the major charges like bribery and corruption,her election was set aside for some flimsy procedural lapses like engaging the state police for erecting the dais and using the state electricity and a government official for political work etc. This provoked even the The Times magazine to lampoon the judgement by comparing it to " Firing the Prime Minister for a traffic ticket"From this moment things started spinning entirely out of control.24.06.1975.The Supreme Court upheld the High court judgement disqualifying Indira Gandhi.25.06.1975.Jai Prakash Narayan, the tallest leader spearheading the Anti-Indira campaign, held a rally in New Delhi,where he asked the vast multitude of people to resort to virtual " Non-cooperation" with the Government.26.06.1975.The Prime Minister proclaimed a state of internal emergency through a Presidential decree, suspending the Parliament and the state Legislatures and vesting the administration with enormous, unlimited powers.THE REST IS HISTORY.Regarding the nature and scope of the Emergency provisions and its fall outs, the popular resentment and reactions and the many dark deeds during the period,I fully agree with the points of Balaji Viswanathan vide his answer here and simply second all his statements, with the following qualifications:Contrary to what is generally believed, there was no uniform popular opposition to the Emergency. In fact, the Emergency received support from some respected freedom fighters like Acharya Vinobha Bhave,Industrialists like J.R.D.Tata, and popular Intellectuals like Kushwant Singh.I have personally witnessed many of the educated, urban, middle class people actually welcoming and supporting the Emergency, for actions against the smugglers and hoarders, for enforcing discipline and efficiency among the public servants, and, yes, even for the timely running of trains. I had read somewhere that the last point regarding the timely running of trains was one of the justifications put out by the Nazis in Germany in support of their actions.But, you should have seen to have believed how indisciplined and irresponsible the public servants really were, and how irregular was the running of the trains in those days,to understand that these reasoning and rejoicing were not entirely out of place or without some real logic.And the Economy: As per one estimate according to Wikipedia, the country's economy grew by a whopping 9% and the Per Capita income increased by 5% in just one year (1975-76) during the Emergency.A slight digression here: I have a feeling that the political developments of the years leading to the Congress split and the Emergency,might somehow, had some thing to do with the Cold war world order. Indira Gandhi was never tired of raising the bogey of " foreign hand" (implying CIA) in attempts to destabilize her Government. The intelligentsia of the day used to brush aside this as paranoid publicity stunt of the embattled Prime minister. But with the recent revelations by people like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden,I genuinely feel that one cannot dismiss these allegations off hand as the figments of a fevered imagination.The purpose of the entire foregoing is neither to justify nor defend the Emergency, but just to put the facts in perspective and invest the arguments with some balance.Incidentally my recollection of the Emergency is in the form of some slogans which sum up the spirit of those eventful period:Talk Less Work More.Nothing Exceeds like excess."When we were asked to bend,we crawled" " The Prime Minister is the only male in the entire cabinet" "The people get the Government they deserve"You can bank on an Indian's sense of humor even in times of adversity.The aftermath: The electoral defeat and the formation of Janata Government,in my opinion,is a classic case of the remedy being worse than the malady.It was a golden moment in the country's history laid totally waste by the power struggle among three senile old politicians.As I had already commented elsewhere,if only the much younger elements in the Janata parivar like Chandra Shekhar, Ramakrishna Hegde, A.B.Vajpayee, L.K.Advani, Mohan Dharia, Arjun Arora,Madhu Dantawade and Karpoori Thakur were allowed to form and run the Government, they might have enabled the legacy to survive and continue,and prevented the cynical re emergence of Indira Gandhi and worse still,the entire dynasty,as dominant figures of the India's destiny. I think I would love to expand on this intriguing topic some other time.Epilogue:I have a sense of deja vu'. The present partisan politics seems to have an uncanny and unmistakable resemblance to the circumstances leading to the Emergency earlier.There is a significantly vast and vocal segment of educated urban middle class ( the same segment which justified and supported the Emergency earlier also) which consider the democracy an impediment to Economic growth and a benevolent sort of dictatorship a panacea for all the social ills and a prescription for all round development.There is nothing like benevolent dictatorship- this word is an oxymoron.Remember that power corrupts,and absolute power corrupts absolutely.The experience of Emergency should be carefully studied and considered in the today's context.Otherwise, there is a very real threat of history repeating itself, not as a farce, but may be as a greater tragedy.