CHENNAI: Drawing attention to racism, bigotry and fundamentalism, theoretical physicist David J Gross, who won the Nobel prize in physics in 2004, said on Sunday that the cause for many of these problems is sheer ignorance.
While speaking from the US at the 57th convocation of IIT-Madras held virtually, Gross said, “The ignorance of basic facts make racism and bigotry possible. The ignorance of other cultures promotes radical nationalism.”
He pointed out that the graduating students have the responsibility to be the forces of enlightenment and asked them to strive to dispel ignorance.
“The reason that fundamentalists are so dangerous is not that they are so dangerous, but they are so certain that they possess the absolute truth. It is this certainty that can lead to oppression, bigotry, racism and fanaticism.