The Cover

Disclaimer: Will not be responsible for any minds blown at the end of the article

Pictured is the NGC 604 nebula, a massive swirling galaxy of hydrogen molecules.

Being the most abundant chemical in the universe and relatively simple atomic structure, molecular dynamics of Hydrogen was only understood more fully in the 20th century with the advent of group theory, a mathematical advancement developed in the 20th century.

What other modern goodies has group theory brought us? It helped solved the Oppenheim Conjecture.

The picture on the left is Tan Sri Professor Alexander Oppenheim, (1903 – 1997) a world famous British-Jewish mathematician. In 1929 he proposed the Oppenheimer Conjecture, a mathematical postulation which was not solved until 1987  – some 50 years later! by Margulis, a Yale mathematician,;with the help of group theory. 

Oh, and Alexander Oppenheim was also the first vice-chancellor of University of Malaya.

During the Second World War, he was interred in the notorious Changi Camp and underwent unspeakable sufferings. An academician even in such times, he set up a “POW University” for his fellow prisoners

Nonetheless, along with others, the good professor was sent to work on the Death Railway on the Thai-Burma border. (which he survived; naturally)

The cover to A Little Sweet was a countryside snapshot of Kanchanaburi taken by me while on a train along The Death Railway in 2013.