2.Sanjay Limaye
(Planetary scientist from the University of Wisconsin)

I was fortunate enough to be at the Jet propulsion laboratory during the Voyager Neptune encounter and I had a night shift. A day before the encounter, I was the first person to see the closer pictures of neptune. On the earth there is no other experience that beats that one.

The next experience was in 1994 when we had that Shoemaker's living that nine comet frgaments in Jupiter I was in the historic Watchman telelscope in Madisson which is a 151/2 inch telescope. We looked at the Jupiter through this beautiful historic instrument and saw the impact that these comets were making. That was another mind blowing experience because in the dome we could hear Mike Jagar playing.

I had the most wonderful experience of listening to Rolling stones and looking at Jupiter. The best thing about science is the sense of excitement,the sense of discovery. Anytime you bring that sense to any child or student is the most rewarding thing for me. Because once they understand something you can always see the light go on in their minds and then their eyes open up real wide. They will never forget their experience and it could be anything as simple as making a crater, or looking through the telescope at the moons of the jupiter, it is a wonderful experience.

3. Prof. Marian Ewurama addy
(Department of Biochemistry - University of Ghana)
Kalinga award winner for 1999

I have been doing a quite a bit of public speaking. But the major one is I being the hostess of the Natioanlly televised programme. We have had it for six years . Originally the aim was to encourage high school kids , make them stick to science , and make them do it, better and better. The programme content is such that it is not only students who are watching but everybody is watching in the country young old , scientists and non scientists.I think it is because of the way the programme is run.

This is a weekly programme. There are five rounds of competition. Every school wants to win. In the first round the questions are just about science information. When you get to round two, we want to know how the students relates the science that they have learnt to everyday life. The questions are different. The average man can also identify with some of the questions that we are asking. Apart from that ,my interaction with others outside the programe, the most popular round is round five. We go into riddles. I give clues . It is not only clues.

The contestants will tell me what identity it is. This becomes a real competition between the two schools and the first to come out with the correct answer is the winner. Because some of the clues are nonscientific the public seems to think that they can also participate. It has made it really popular. The prizes are sponsored by an Industry. The industry awards really good prizes. They do not give it as cash but as laboratory equipment to schools. The individual contestants also get prizes. They are pretty handsome. Teachers from that school also get prizes. Regarding print journalism: I think it is a big business. Of late we think that the Ghana Science assocition itself gets a good grant and get the necessary funds to start print medium. This will enable us to print our own journals. The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and all such big groups who wants to have their material in print can also benefit. Except that nowadays we talk about Internet and it is difficult to get money. Print medium is too good and we are trying to organise or mobilise to get the funding for that.

I am so surprised that little kids, market women, policemen every body will wave at you or shout you down, when I go out. This shows the popularity of the programme. For me it has its good side but little bit of bad side because there are so many students now who want to do science , at the university level. The spaces for science students are so few ,Schools pick only the best. They can't get in.I get calls saying 'look what have you done'. I think in that direction that we should create more spaces for science at the tertiary level.

4.Prof John Claude Beckker
(Department of Theoretical astrophysics at the college of France)

I would like to think that the main message is that 'science is part of culture'. This is unbelievable that some people who would like to consider that science is something dangerous, something menace of the humanity. It is true that science is the only part of our culture which is universal,which aims to be universal.

It is a demanding culture. It reqests not only knowledge but also enthusiasm, looking at the nature, looking around you, trying to understand, not only seeing,but trying to understand what is going on. Why is the sun raising at the east, setting in the west. What is that? Pure science has large number of applications. Years ago pure science had no applications, say beginning of 19th century or 18th century.

The applications of science are somewhat considered by public as dangerous for mankind. Of course it creates a gap, an increasing gap of understanding between the people who have not been educated scientifically and others. The gap should be filled. Science itself for instance Biology itself is increasing the life expectancy of everyone. It almost makes mortality at birth a nonentity in many countries. So science is making something which is extremely positive. On Nuclear power: I think the nuclear power is the only way to produce power in a non polluting way. We need to stop the pollution of this earth. Air pollution, water pollution, these are great dangers for mankind.

I feel that nuclear power is one solution provided it is taken with great care. I think the accidents which happened here and there in nuclear plants are not fatal.The scientific method, the scientific way of maintaining,administering the nuclear plants would eventually bring excellent solutions to that. Now the waste problem is still a big problem.

In my country it is a big problem because the density of population is high and we are producing 80 percent of our energy from nuclear plants. We are looking for solutions. so far I would not say that it is completey satisfactory. But I am convinced that this is a problem that science will solve provided of course we have enough bridges in pure science.

5. Dr Saroj Ghose
(former Director General National Council for Science Museums )
Once my daughter was very young and she used to accompany me to the science centre. When she was six years old she was put to a school. On the first day,she came back with a sorrow face and told her mother that it is not fair that I go to school and daddy goes to play the whole day.

Now to children the science centres are very good playgrounds. They jump all around ,they scream, look through the peep holes,they roll the balls and they manipulate the exhibits. They participate with the exhibits. We call them hands on exhibits. After that we started developing, what I call, the 'minds on' exhibits. That means these are the exhibits were the visitors get really involved emotionally and intellectually. While operating the 'minds on' exhibits, it could be 'hands on' or may not be hands on but really invoke them emotionally. There were plenty of exhibits to demonstrate science. I would say that I developed more than 1000 such exhibits throughout my career.

I also developed lot of activity oriented science centres where you had these exhibits to tell them one thing that science is not a subject which involves a bunch of formulae, it is not a subject to be taught on the blackboard or even in the laboratory. It is an understanding that everything is happening around you, in nature as well as manmade. Science city in Calcutta has been one of my recent activities where I thought after developing a lot of interactive science centres we have to bring a concept of predominantly 'minds on' setup and involving both outdoor and indoor exhibits, putting them together. So science city in calcutta that has been developed on 50 acres of land, occupies only a small portion with indoor exhibits. Large area of outdoor exhibits with nature all around them, beautiful plantations done on very specific themes.

Botanical classifications and not only that with life science corners bringing in the idea of symbiotic relationships growing love for the animals when we talk about the energy pass when we talk about the close system of environment in the science city. The sewage water in the city is treated in the treatment plant and recycled in the garden as irrigation water over there. Sludge is taken as manure in the garden. There is a solar power station which supplies supplementary power.

It is a complete closed system in that city. In the chain of science centres where we have been working, we developed 26 of them in the country in 20 years time. 50% of our time was dedicated for taking science outside the four walls, taking them to the rural interior . Some of them were animated working exhibits mounted on buses which used to travel all over the country. 20 - 25 buses at a time continuously moving through the country according to organised programme. Some of them were activity oriented. For example the science demonstration lecture , teachers training programme for development of low cost teaching aids which can again be used for science teaching, community development programme using science and technology for rural development etc were developed.