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Tathagat Avtar Tulsi cleared his class X examination in 1996 at the age of nine, B.Sc. in 1997 at ten, and M.Sc. in 1999 in Physics with a first class at twelve from Patna University. In Decemb.er 2000, before he turned fourteen, he qualified for the lectureship by clearing the National Eligibility Test conducted by CSIR / UGC. He was a member of a team of young scientists / research scholars which visited Germany last June for an interaction with Physics Nobel Laureates. According to some media reports, it appeared that he was forced to memorise a lot of Physics jargon without knowing their significance. When he returned from his sojourn in Germany, the tag of fake was attached to him by the media.Tathagat has a burning desire - fuelled by his father - to be the youngest Nobel Laureate. His father claims that Tathagat has been a result of his sustained and painstaking experiments - governed by his private science of unproven assumptions! In any case, there is no doubt that Tathagat's academic achievements are truly remarkable. He may not have been a prodigy he is made out to be, but, he is apparently gifted with intelligence rarely matched by children of his age. A parallel but lesser known case is that of Akrit Pran Jaswal, reported in the newspapers recently. His father, an economist who wanted to study medicine himself, made a decision for Akrit. Akrit was taken to a house in Himachal Pradesh, where he could concentrate on medicine. At seven years of age, he wants to study both neurology and oncology, and find cures for all types of cancer. But, whether it is Tathagat or Akrit, one thing is clear: pushy parents parading their children as prodigies are primarily fulfilling their own needs, and that whatever the potential of the child, he / she is performing on command, as some psychiatrists opine. As a matter of fact, there have been exceptionally gifted children in the limelight over the years, all tauted as. child prodigies. Take the example of Mousumi Biswas of Purulia, West Bengal, who holds the record for clearing the class X examination at the age of eight years and seven months, or eleven year old Aarti Jajjoo who cleared the class XII examination conducted by the Rajasthan State Board. Or, remember the four year old Ajay Puri who has already mastered several computer software programmes? What is common with most of these children? They have someone marketing them, often their own parents, taking advantage of people's fascination with things not commonly seen or heard. In most cases, however, it is the parent's choice which is thrust upon these gifted children, with no consideration to their special needs. Under the circumstances, not only the brittle sensitivity of a child gets hurt, but, the child may not even be able to achieve his / her true potential. One psychiatrist points out that if a child is isolated, the child will do as he / she is taught. If the child sees the same thing every moment of his / her life, the child will retain only that. It is hence imperative that parents are careful to always provide their child with a choice. However, it is a fact that some of the greatest minds in science like Thomas Alva Edison and Albert Einstein had a highly unexceptional childhood. Indeed, they had to toil hard to attain their goals. At the same time, acknowledged child prodigies like Mozart and Beethoven continued to hold forth. It is also true that a large number of child prodigies begin to fade out as they grow and turn into adults. By then, other "ordinary" children catch up with them and then the realisation that you are no better than the rest may prove to be devastating. We do hope that Tathagat and Akrit do not have to face a similar situation. Let these bright children not fade into oblivion. Finally, let us have a look at our own children. Don't we push our children, sometimes even beyond their capacities - just the way Tathagat or Akrit are being pushed? Our goal may not be a Nobel for the child. It could be to make it to a professional course like engineering or medicine! How often do we allow a choice to our children? Aren't we doing harm than any good to them by trying to determine their lives? At eight or nine, a child must have a childhood. Later, a child must have adolescence. During the process of growth, one must pass through all the stages in a normal way. It is imperative that we refrain from stressing one dimension of personality and overlooking others consciously avoiding any hype or hoopla to get publicity. A child is emotionally unprepared to manage the limelight that falls on him / her. There is a danger a child may start identifying himself / herself from the headlines in the newspapers - and before we realise, a push may turn into a shove! Let us refrain from trying to determine the lives of our children. |
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A Jewel in the
Crown of the Indian Science
Dr. Subodh Mahanti
Gopalasamudram Narayana Ramachandran (or simply GNR to those
who knew him well) is one of those few scientists who have made
India proud by their research. He had many lucrative assignments
for doing research in the advanced western countries but like
his mentor, C.V. Raman, he decided to work in India against all
odds. He was one of the most brilliant Indian scientists of the
20th century. He made several important discoveries in molecular
biophysics, especially in the study of protein structure. The
discovery of triple helical structure of collagen was a
fundamental advance in the understanding of peptide structure.
"The Ramachandran phi-psi plot" or simply the "Ramachandran
Plot" has become a standard description of protein structures in
text books. When Ramachandran was doing research in biophysics
in India the subject was just taking shape in the advanced
countries and undoubtedly he was a pioneer in this field. He
started two centres of molecular biophysics, first at the
University of Madras, Chennai and second at the Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore. Both the centres became internationally
recognised centres for research in biophysics. He inspired a
large number of young people to take up science, who made
significant contribution in various aspects of biophysics. He
had a deep interest in philosophy and in classical Indian and
western music. He interpreted the philosophical ideas of Syaad
Nyaan, 'the doctrine of may be', an age-old system in Jain
philosophy, in mathematical form which he called 'Boolean Vector
Matrix Formulation'. Besides being an accomplished great
scientist he was a very good speaker. He could easily present
highly complicated concepts in simple words which could be
understood even by high school students. These days we hardly
find such a scientist particularly in India. By any standards he
was a superb teacher. He wrote poems on science, religion,
philosophy and the Upanishads. He made exemplary donations to
charitable institutions. Ramachandran was born on October 8,1922 in Ernakulam near
Cochin in Kerala. Ramachandran was the eldest son of G.R.
Narayana lyer and Lakshmi Ammal. At the time of his birth,
Cochin was ruled by a Maharajah, who had full autonomy under the
British Government. The Maharajah of Cochin was an enlightened
ruler, under whose aegis educational and cultural institutes
thrived. For higher education Cochin had a college known as the
Maharajah's College . His father was a well-known professor
of mathematics and he retired as the Principal of Maharajah's
College. To quote Ramachandran on his father : "Because of his
ability and thoroughness he became the most senior and respected
member of the department and retired as the Principal. He had a
very sharp mind in mathematics and he used to teach me
mathematics. I had been exposed to most of the theories in
analytical geometry even before I went to college. When I was in
high school, he would bring books on mathematics from the
library and give me some challenging theorem to prove every day.
He would write equations and ask me to solve them. He was a
wizard in mathematics". So no wonder that Ramachandran would
develop a deep interest in mathematics since his childhood. We
are told that as a school student he used to get a perfect score
of 100 on all his mathematics examinations. After the
Intermediate Examination, in which he stood first in the entire
Madras State, Ramachandran joined the St. Joseph's College in
Trichy in 1939. Here he enrolled himself in the BSc (Honours)
degree in physics. Among the teachers in St. Joseph's College
who stimulated Ramachandran's interest in physics were P.E.
Subramaniam and a Jesuit priest, Father Rajam. Ramachandran
stood first among all the physics honours students in the entire
Madras Presidency. Ramachandran's father, Narayana Iyer, wanted his son to take up the Indian Civil Service Examination. However, Narayana Iyer failed to persuade his son in doing so. He then sent Ramachandran to Delhi to take the Indian Railway Engineering Service Examination. But even this was not liked by Ramachandran. It is said that he deliberately performed poorly in the entrance examination to ensure that he was not selected. After this digression Ramachandran joined the Electrical Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for his MSc degree. However, soon he realised that his interests lay in physics and so he decided to switch over to it. It is very likely that his decision might have been influenced by the fact that at that time the legendary Prof. C.V. Raman was the Director of the Institute as well as the Head of the Department of Physics. Knowing Ramachandran's interest, Prof. Raman requested the head of the Electrical Engineering Department to allow Ramachandran to join the Physics Department. However, when the request was persistently refused, Raman told the Head of the Electrical Engineering Department: "I am admitting Ramachandran into my department as he is a bit too bright to be in yours..." And in this way Ramachandran not only came to the physics department but he eventually became the most distinguished of Raman's students. Ramachandran was deeply influenced by C.V. Raman. The other two scientists who influenced Ramachandran were William Lawrence Bragg (1890-1978) and Linus Carl Pauling (1901-). To know a little about how he started his research career in the Indian Institute of Science and what he thought about Raman, we quote Ramachandran : "Raman knew that I understood principles of optics. He gave me a very important problem. This problem has been treated earlier by Raleigh- Jeans. Raman gave me Raleigh's paper and a book pertaining to this problem. In one day I was able to write the equation to the problem and work out the solutions. I was horrified to see the solution containing several hyperbolic sines and cosines. I had seen it before and I went to the library and found this volume with several formulas and equations. I was very pleased to find completely corresponding equations and solutions in that book. I wrote a very rigorous proof and showed it to Raman. He was so pleased. He said we should publish the results, this was within one week of my joining Raman. That was a very useful result, which I used twenty years later in studying crystal perfection and the difference between mosaic and perfect crystals." "Raman recommended me for a scholarship of 60 rupees a month. But the administrators of the Institute said that I had to have a master's degree. Raman said, 'Don't worry about it, I will give you a fellowship of 130 rupees a month, you get an associateship degree from the Institute.' There were no courses to take, only research. The degree awarded was called A.I.I.Sc. I was in charge of setting up an X-ray diffraction unit, it was a demountable X-ray tube." "In the Institute I used to give lectures on crystallography, starting with symmetry. I studied crystallography all by myself. I studied a book on group theory, and it became very useful throughout, particularly in my work on logic. There were very few books on group theory and this book was by Herman Weyl. That changed my whole attitude to science" . "Raman had great respect for students who were better than him in mathematics. He gave me another problem to study the scattering of light by small particles, 3 or 4 times the wavelength of the radiation used." "Raman had ten to fifteen students working under him. He was a virtuoso, and each student was working on a different problem. Raman tried to bring famous scientists from abroad and he even tried to get a faculty position for Max Born, who was a visiting professor in his department. He wanted Erwin Schrodingerto come to India. This was a time when many scientists were leaving Germany. At that time Raman was the Director of the Institute, but after the first three years, the administrators of the Institute told him: 'We don't want you'. " Ramachandran obtained his MSc degree in 1944 from the Madras University. In those days the Indian Institute of Science was not a degree granting institution. Students working there had to submit their theses for a degree from one of the other universities of India. Ramachandran's thesis for his MSc degree contained the result of the theoretical and experimental investigation that he carried out on the propagation of light through optically heterogeneous media. The external examiner of his thesis was Prof. K.S. Krishnan, who was then professor of physics at the University of Allahabad. After obtaining his master degree Ramachandran continued his research work for a doctoral degree under the supervision of Prof. Raman. His doctoral research involved photo-elasticity and thermo-optic behavior of different solids such as diamond, fused quartz, fluorspar and zinc blende. Research publications resulting from his doctoral work contained some of the earliest applications of X- ray diffractions to the study of variation in perfection of crystals. He also coined the term 'topograph' for such pictures. It should be emphasised that the research paper published carried his name as the single author and did not include Raman's name. These days hardly any research scholar, particularly in India, will be allowed to do the same. Ramachandran obtained his Doctor of Science (DSc) degree in 1947 and decided to go to Cambridge in England to work in the Cavendish Laboratory, where Sir William Lawrence Bragg was the Director. Ramachandran succeeded in getting a prestigious scholarship for higher studies in England provided by the Royal Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition. As he had already studied X-ray diffraction for his doctoral work in the Indian Institute of Science he easily became a part of the Cavendish group of crystallographers. However, he could not get the opportunity to work directly under Lawrence Bragg. He was assigned to work with Dr. W. A. Wooster. In Cambridge, Ramachandran decided to work again for a doctoral degree. While explaining why he chose to work for a second doctoral degree in Cambridge, Ramachandran said : "In 1947 I went to Cambridge, England, to work in the Cavendish Laboratory with Dr. Wooster. Dr. Taylor was the head of the crystallography group. I did not attach myself to any College in Cambridge and I was in Fritzwilliam House. I did not like to wear those gowns like the ones the undergraduates were expected to do. I decided to work for a doctoral degree because then there would be something to show for my work; simply getting a few publications does not impress authorities in India. My decision may have definitely helped me in getting my first job in Madras..." Ramachandran considered his stay in Cambridge quite fruitful. He said : "Going and staying for two years in Cambridge did a lot of good things for my research. I attended Dirac's tourse on Principles of Quantum Mechanics...Most students, in Dirac's class were undergraduates who weresecond-or-third year physics majors. He used matrices and tensors a lot. Later I used the same symbols in my mathematical treatment of logic. Whatever I tried to design for my experiments could not easily be implemented because there was no suitable engineering programme in Cambridge University." In Cambridge he also met Linus Pauling for the first time. This was a great moment for young Ramachandran, at the time he was 25 years old. For Ramachandran, Pauling was a great hero, who had just discovered the alpha helical structure of polypetides. Moreover Ramachandran's vision of chemistry was shaped by reading Pauling's books and articles. Ramachandran admired Pauling throughout his life. He even dedicated a poem to Pauling. Ramachandran wrote a number of poems on scientific concepts. We quote below two stanzas from the poem that he dedicated to Pauling.
Linus Pauling
Is a name to conjure with,
In Cambridge, Ramachandran worked in three projects - instrumentation, electronics and the development of a mathematical theory to study diffuse X-ray diffraction, and use it in determining the elastic constants of crystals. After finishing his doctoral work in Cambridge he returned to India in June of 1949. He was appointed as Assistant Professor of Physics, in the Department of Physics of the Indian Institute of Science. He was made in charge of the X-ray Diffraction Laboratory that he was instrumental in building as a student. Earlier in the same department he had worked for his DSc degree under the supervision of Prof. C.V. Raman. But this time Raman was not there. He had left the Institute of Science and had started his own institute, Raman Research Institute. The Department of Physics was then headed by Prof. R.S. Krishnan. Ramachandran could attract some very bright young men such C. Radhakrishnan, Gopinath Kartha and Y.T. Thatachary to his research group. The X-ray Diffraction Laboratory set up by Ramachandran grew over the years to home one of the strongest research groups in the physics department. After about two years in the Indian Institute of Science he shifted to Madras University, one of the three universities that were first set up in India. The other two were Calcutta University and Bombay University. At that time Dr. A. Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar was the Vice Chancellor of the Madras University. It was Mudaliar, who being influenced by the legendary. Prof. C.V. Raman, planned to establish post- graduate department in experimental physics at the University of Madras. He requested Prof. Raman to head this newly established department and he offered him financial and administrative autonomy for the development of the proposed department. Raman expressed his inability to head the department; but at the same time he recommended the name of Ramachandran. And this is how Ramachandran joined the Madras University in October of 1952 as the first professor and head of the Department of Physics. At the time, Ramachandran was just 30 years old. The Department of Physics was started with two faculty members, Ramachandran in experimental physics and Alladi Ramakrishnan in theoretical physics. Ramakrishnan was the first to join the department in April, 1952 and in that way he was the founding member of the department. The department was first located in a single room of the main building of the University on the Marina beach in Madras. Ramachandran's laboratory was also located in the Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering Technology Complex in Guindy, a suburb of Madras. Ramachandran's research work carried out at the Madras University brought an unprecedented level of recognition to the University. He organised two international conference in 1963 and 1968 and he was successful in bringing some of the most famous scientists in molecular biology and biophysics to Madras viz. Linus Pauling, Severe Ochoa, Mauris Wilkins, Paul Flory and others. After the retirement of Mudaliar as Vice Chancellor of the Madras University, it became extremely difficult for Ramachandran to carry out his research work. Mudaliar was succeeded bySundaravadivelu, who was the Director of Public Education in the State Education Department. It has been reported that Sundaravadivelu had no appreciation for Ramachandran's seminal research contribution and instead of supporting Ramachandran's efforts he created obstacles wherever he could. And so finally Ramachandran resigned from the Madras University in 1970 and came back to the Indian Institute of Science where he had earlier studied and worked for two years after coming back from Cambridge. At the time Professor Satish Dhawan, a well-known space scientist, was the Director of the institute. Ramachandran was given the responsibility of starting a new department of molecular biophysics. The department which was formally started in1971 grew into a major centre of structural biology. To grasp exactly what Ramachandran did, one should have a certain background in physics and chemistry. Here we do not intend to go into detail about his research work. Explaining why he was attracted to biomolecular conformation he wrote : "I should perhaps explain why I was attracted to this fascinating subject. This is not merely a personal history, but it has relevance to the reason why researchers in the field of biomolecues turned in the way they did from about the beginning of the 50's. Even in the first year of my pre-doctoral studies in the early 40's with Raman, I was attracted by two books on his shelf, namely "Nature of the Chemical Bond" by Linus Pauling and "Natural and Synthetic High Polymers" by Kurt Meyer. These left a profound impression on me, although at that time I was working mostly on optics and diffraction theory under Prof. Raman. I took crystal chemistry as an extracurricular subject of study and as part of this, crystal structures came in serious consideration. Even at that time, I used to wonder why so few of the materials that formed the building blocks of living systems were fully explored by crystalfographic techniques. No doubt, the structures of silk and of cellulose and related materials were reasonably well established, by studies starting right from the 1920s, and finally confirmed by the work of Meyer and his co-workers. Similarly the pioneering studies made by Astbury on Keratin, myosin, etc., had clarified the fact that there exist two types of structures in the fibrous proteins, namely the alpha and beta types." Ramachandran worked in a number of fields in physics,
chemistry and biology. He contributed more than 250 publications
and several reviews in well-known international journals. His
first major research contribution was the discovery of the
triple helical structure of collagen. Ramachandran was drawn to
collagen by
J.D. Bernal's remarks that structural proposals for collagen
were unsatisfactory. Bernal made these remarks in a casual
conversation during his visit to Madras in 1952. Triple helical
structure of collagen was first published in 1955. Ramachandran
co-authored this paper with Gopinath Kartha. Their concept of
coiled-coil structure proved to be a fundamental advance in the
understanding of polypeptide structure. Coiled-Coil structure
means each of its three polypeptide chains are arranged in the
form of a helix, and then the three chains together form a
second helix. However, his structure was criticised by none
other than
Francis H.C. Crick, who alongwith James D. Watson, unraveled
the helical structure ofD.N.A, the double helix. Crick and
Alexander Rich wrote in the November 1955 issue ofNature: "Very
recently Ramachandran and Kartha have made an important
contribution by proposing a coiled-coil structure of collagen.
We believe this idea to be basically correct but the actual
structure suggested by them to be wrong." Their structure
consists of three polypeptide chains each having approximately
three-fold screw axis. In addition the chains slowly wind around
each other to form a coiled-coil, thus reproducing the observed
non-integer screw axis. The major helix is right-handed, the
minor one left-handed. Each chain is held to its neighbors by
two sets of systematic hydrogen bonds. The allowed sequence of
residues is -G-R-P-G-R-P- etc., were G implies glycine only, R
implies any residue, but usually proline or Hydroxyproline . We
believe this structure to be wrong for two reasons :
Twenty-seven students completed their Master of Science (MS) or
doctorate (PhD) theses under the supervision of Ramachandran.
Many of these students have made significant contributions in
the field of biophysics.
The criticism of unacceptably short interatomic contact in the proposed structure of collagen led Ramachandran to devise a general method for describing stereochemical criterion for polypeptide structure and proteins. Ramachandran and his colleagues, V. Sasisekharan and C.Ramakrishnan laid the foundations for the conformational analysis of polypeptide chains. They introduced a two dimensional map what is today known in biochemical literature as the "Ramachandran phi -psi diagram" or simply "Ramachandran plot", which provide a rational basis for describing all stereochemically possible structures of polypeptides. They reduced the 'structure space' of protein chains to two-dimensional with dihedral (torsion) angles serving as variables. This had a profound impact on stereo-chemistry and structural biology. Fourier transforms fascinated Ramachandran. He applied Fourier transforms for developing the theory of Image Reconstruction from shadowgraphs (such as X-Radiographs) using the Convolution Technique. In 1971 Ramachandran alongwith A.V. Lakshminarayana published a seminal research paper on three-dimensional image reconstruction. This marked the beginning of studies on tomographic methods. The idea was adopted for the development of Catscan equipment which has played an important role in the development of medical diagnosis and surgery. In 1976 Ramachandran turned his attention to Fundamental theory and Mathematical philosophy which led to the development of a new Boolean Algebra Vector Matrix Formulation. Ramachandran had received over a dozen of national and international awards. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1977. As a part of its Golden Jubilee Celebration, the Indian National Science Academy created five special research professorships and the first one, the Albert Einstein Professorship went to Ramachandran. Surprisingly Ramachandran was not given any Government's civil awards as given to many other scientists. The Central Leather Research Institute in Chennai has named the building housing its auditorium "Triple Helix' after the triple helical structure, of collagen discovered by Ramachandran and Gopinath Kartha in 1954. A write-up on Ramachandran may not be complete without mentioning about his mental make-up. It was an open secret that he used to receive psychiatric treatment. He used to believe that other people were trying to read his mind and disturb his thought process. However, this did not affect his productivity in scientific research. He was a very highly temperamental man. Nobody knew when he would flare up. But then he would not hesitate to apologise to the person whom he offended by his behavior. He was a great teacher, but his students were afraid of him. He would hardly come down to an equal level with either his colleagues or his students, which is necessary for frank academic discussion. He had to leave the departments which he himself established and that too under unpleasant circumstances. And after leaving the departments, he hardly kept any interaction with his former colleagues or students. For an outsider it would be difficult to say to what extent Ramachandran himself was responsible for all this. Making judgement on such issues is rather difficult. We may recall that Prof. C.V. Raman also left Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science at Calcutta, and theIndian Institute of Science under unpleasant circumstances. What is important to note is that none can undermine Ramachandran's scientific achievements, and that too which he accomplished against all odds. Ramachandran died on April 7, 2001. We would like to end this article by quoting few lines from the editorial tribute in Current Science by P. Balaram and R. Ramasheshan, both of whom had seen Ramachandran in action and who are themselves accomplished scientists: "Ramachandran was clearly a "Nobel Class" scientist, to borrow a phrase from Eugene Garfield. But his active career was all too brief by modem day standards. For the last twenty years Ramachandran was not really visible internationally, reminding us of one of the ironies of modern science; achievement alone is not enough, packaging and marketing play
an important role. In India, where administrative positions are
often considered a mark of scientific success Ramachandran was
essentially an 'outsider' to the establishment. We have yet to
learn that idiosyncratic personalities often make the most
original contribution to oil science. Ramachandran did alt his
work in India, following in the footsteps of his mentor, C.V.
Raman.... Like man; extraordinary gifted individuals,
Ramachandran often had an uneasy relationship with his
surroundings. It was not easy for him to come to terms with
mediocrity. Elevated to the formidable position of a head of the
department at 30, he grew to be isolated from his colleagues,
rarely establishing the easy academic relationships that make
science a pleasure. But even at the height of his career
Ramachandran most enjoyed scientific discussion; unfortunately
his surroundings could rarely rise to the levels he demanded...
In many ways, when the end came it was indeed time to go. But,
Ramachandran has left behind a rich scientific legacy. His
achievements will serve as a source of inspiration for
generations to come. Ramachandra
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India has
a rich heritage of astronomy. There are good many instaAces of
direct and Indirect descriptions of stars alJd planets in the Vedas,
Puranas, Buddhist and Jain scriptures and Samhitas. Particularly,
the Tantras, Karanas and Siddhantas deal with motion of celestial
objects and events on mathematical basis. The events dealt in are
rising and setting of Sun, Moon and Planets, the phases of moon,
solar and lunar eclipses, conjunction and transits of planets. But
the traditional Indian astronomers seem indifferent in keeping
records of particular events occuring during certain time. This may
be a reflection of the philosophy of detachment, developed in this
land.
"In places where, despite the absence of fire, there is still the
appearance of fire, Ketu's presence is recognised save for the
presence of glow worms, phosphoric lights, on graves, game,
crystals, marble places and the like". It will not also be out of place to mention here that the
Christian Missionary, Father Richard at Pondichery used a telescope
to discover a cornet in 1689 AD. Dr. P. C. Nayak was Deputy Director,
Path ani Samanta Planetarium Bhubaneswar. At present he teaches
physics at a government college in Orrisa. |
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Applying scientific research to
solve the problems of society is the goal of most of research
institute in India today. But there are very few which are able
to deliver the goods, bogged down as most of them are by
bureaucracy, red-tape and politics. There are still fewer which
are able to sustain themselves without Government support. One
such is the Shriram Institute for Industrial Research in Delhi
which is both independent and self-supporting. At an
international workshop organized by the UNIDO and international
Science Center, Italy, in 1994, it was even highlighted as a
model for developing countries. "All our scientists, "said its
dynamic Director, Dr. D.A. Dabholkar, proudly, "earn their
salaries through the sponsored research".
The Institute was founded in 1950
by the great visionary, lala Shriram, who envisioned the need
for such an institute after India gained independence and was
all set for industrialization. He knew that Indian industries
would face scientific and technological problems from time to
time whose solutions had to be sought in the country itself. His
vision has proved right as over the last 51 years, the institute
has 'not only solved the problems of industries but has also
produced a large number of commercially viable products and
processes, Today, ilis growing at the impressive rate of 20 per
cent every year !For a non-profit contract research institute,
Which does not accept graot from any source, this is highly
commendable.
The Institute has conducted research from various specialized fields of interest to industries, sUch as,polymers and plastics, biomaterials, oatural and syothetic fibres, industrial chemicals and waste management. It has also conducted reseafchin some fields which directly coocern a common man. To give some recent examples, the institute has developed pressUre sensitive patches for instant repair of topes and tyres of venicle. "A company is planning to manufacture these said the scientistincharge, Mehra,."We're .even planning to file an internati.onal patent for this technology", The technology to manufaGture loW cost napkins and diapers has also been developedat the institUte. Said the scientist incharge Dr.Amit his technology can even be adopted by the rural sector'.Like the "Lijjat Papad"., it can be prodUced byrul;alvvornen Mp marketed in rural areas at affordable prices" TO redUce the damage caused by rodents to.huge..toodstocks,the institute has developed a rodent repellent bitum.en jUte which can be used as a waterproof flooring for godowns as well as a packaging material. "Presently, we're also developing rodent-repellent telephone and electrical cables, "said the scientist incharge Dr. Pervez. During the scrapping the ships, considerable oils and paints are released alongwith steel. Whereas the steel is recycled back safely for steel production, the oils and paints cannot be as they contain the extremely harmful Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). A project is undertaken at the institute under Dr. Neeraj Gupta not only to assess PCBs in various oils but also to destroy them so that they (oils) could be recycle safely. Earlier, the institute had also developed booting material for master slave manipulator of the IGCAR nuclear reactor to Kalpakkam, hot melt pressure sensitive adhesives for surgical applications, synthetic skin for dinosaur models, waterbased adhesives for tyre retreading, superabsorbantpolymers, blood bags, etc.
Located adjacent to the green ridge of Delhi University campus, on what was once a quiet and isolated road, called University Road, the institute today consists of four major divisions, namely, Material Science Division, Analytical Science Division, Life Science Division and Quality Assurance Division. Besides, it also contains a Toxicology Laboratory. Analytical Science Division also provides calibration services, non-destructive testing, clinical testing and standardization. It also imparts training to analysts working in industries and helps the latter in setting up quality control laboratories.(Figure) Seminars, exhibitions and lectures on various specialized
subject of interest to industries are regularly organized by the
institute. Its most prestigious lecture is the 'Founder Memorial
Lecture' which is delivered by anoted scientist or technologist
every year. Noted scientists and technologists, namely S.
Chandrasekhar, D.S. Kothari, M.S. Swaminathan, C.K.N. Patel, Sam
Pitroda, etc. have delivered these lectures which were brought
out in a volume titled Indian Science Era of Stabilization on
the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebrated by the institute
last year. On this occasion, several other programmes were
organized at the institute and a book titled Reminiscences and
Perspectives was also brought out. The institute is also the first in the country to obtain
ISO-9001 certificate. Patent filing to protect the commercial
interests of sponsors is routinely done in the institute. In
fact, it is the first institute in the country to realize the
importance of intellectual property rights and has been filing
patents regularly since 1980. "Tlie techno-commercial nature of
our research should not give anyone the impression that our
scientists don't do basic research, " said Dr. Dabholkar, " In
fact, our scientists are encouraged to maintain baseline data
while doing any kind of research and report their worthwile
findings in research journals and Ph.D theses". During the last
five years, 55 scientists of the institue registered themselves
for Ph.D., of which 37 have already been honoured with the
degree. |
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Radha Gobinda was a dedicated
observer of the stars and planets in the sky. So accurate were
his observations that they had been widely acclaimed by the
western astronomers.
Radha Gobinda was born in a remote village, called Bagchar in Jessore, now in Bangladesh on July 16, 1878. He spent his early life in the same village. Gorachand and Padmamukhi were his parents. His academic career was brief and simple. What about a University degree, he could not even clear the then entrance examination. He tried thrice but failed. He made his last unsuccessful attempt at the age of 21. However, in his boyhood he became deeply interested in stars and planets after reading a book, Brahmanda Kee Prakanda (How vast is the Universe !) in Bengali, written by Akshoy Kumar Dutta. Thenceforth he used to observe the night sky with the help of a binocular. In the meantime, after his marriage he took a job at the collectorate office of Jessore, with a monthly salary of Rupees fifteen only.
Radha Govinda might have ended his career as a petty clerk,
but his acquaintance to Jagadananda Ray, a science teacher of
Shantiniketan (under Rabindranath Tagore), who primarily helped
Radha Gobinda in his observational studies of astronomy,
connected him to the Western astronomers. He also suggested that
Radha Gobinda should procure a
telescope. The astronomers of America and 6urope were the constant
source of inspiration for the painstaking workrnade by Radha
Gobinda, it is evident from the old records, One letter
addressed to him from Harvard College Observatory on January 17,
1920 states:
Few years back in reply to a letter from the author, the Director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) wrote: "Mr. Chandra submitted thousands of variable star observations. His report forms fill two huge folders in our permanent files. His observations are in the permanent records, also of each star he observed. He was a very valued member of the AAVSO". To help Radha Gobinda in his observations, Harvard Observatory presented him with a 6/1/4 inch telescope in the year 1926, which was sent to his native village directly from the United States. After a gap of two yeas, the Education Department of the France Government honoured him by conferring on him the title "Officer d 'Academic Republic Francaise". The title and a medal were forwarded to him by the Consulate General of France in Caicutta on August 1, 1928. In recognition of his scientific contributions, the British Astronomical Association, the Harvard College Observatory, American Meteor Society, American Museum of Natural History, Lyon Observatory of France and some others offered him their memberships. A letter from the Harvard to Radha Gobinda, which should be considered as good as a certificate is placed here.. The letter dated December 12, 1950, Harlow Shapely, Director of HarVard Observatory, wrote - 'The American Association of variable Star Observers, with headquarter at the Harvard observatory, is honoured to salute you as one of the important contributors from aborad". The other field in which Radha Gobinda made substantial contribution is the Calendar Reformation Movement on which he published a good number of valuable articles. He was closely associated with N.C. Lahiri, Meghnad Saha and other noted scientists who took interest in calendar reforms. But the details of the contribution is not widely known. Radha Govinda's comments on Rahu are reproduced. Radha Gobinda spent most of his life in a remote village of Jessore (Bangladesh). After independence he with his family migrated to India from erstwhile East Pakistan, But his astronomical observations were disturbed. In the later years of life, when he could no longer take observations, he handed over the telescope presented to him by Harvard College Observatory to the late M.K.V. Bappu, the then Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. It is still kept there as a tribute to his dedicated work. Radha Gobinda Chandra died on April 3, 1975 at the ripe old age of 97. His scientific articles, written in Bengali, are scattered in various journals and magazines. His valuable books on astronomy are still in manuscript form. No serious attempt has so far been made to explore the complete works of this dedicated Indian village astronomer, who won international acclaim. A man without any formal training, university degree or a modern equipped laboratory, Radha Gobinda had shown by his own life's example how work done patiently with perseverance and devotion would be rewarding. |