4.7.2015:
C.N.R. Rao: Prolific Indian scientist with over 1600 published papers - works out to one paper per 2 weeks of his research career! Early research in molecular physics and structural chemistry? Started publishing papers right from his masters degree days or earlier. Says Michael Faraday is the greatest scientist in his opinion and would have been awarded multiple Nobel prizes had he been in the 20th century. Took interest in Linus Pauling's work on chemical bonds at a time when these concepts were not known in India. Inspired by C.V.Raman's enthusiasm. C.V.Raman, sometime in 1960s, got to notice some research work of C.N.R.Rao and wrote him a letter caling him to join his research academy. Talk unusually a lot about his papers appearing in several top journals and science magazines, his work being recognized abroad and receiving many awards. Attributes the large number of papers to the large number of PhD students he guides. Says scientists peak after their 50s/60s and feels the quality, complexity and importance of his research work has been steadily increasing and has grown exponentially since his 70s!! Dr. Gauhar says "so ability to work as a team in research is an important aspect for being a successful scientist", but Dr. Rao seems to suggest that more than team work, individual creativity is important (contrast with the views of some of the scientists interviewed earlier in this programme series!!!!). Mentions his work on some oxide material and its importance to the then new and highly exciting field superconductors being brought to his attention by some western scientist.
11.7.2015:
Dr. Anita Rani: Scientist at ICAR-DSR. Mentions Gregor Mendel as her role model since her school days as he used mathematical models and arrived at the concept of genes more than a century before DNA was discovered. Research work on soya beans - took 10-12 years to deelop a new genotype. Working to achieve 2 major goals - make soya bean more amenable for consumption by Indians (remove anti-nutritional and poor taste/odour factors that make non-fermented soya difficult for consumption) and imporve the oxidational stability of soya bean oil. Says though soya bean has high oil content, converting it to edible oil is a costly manufacturing process. Soya bean oil gets oxidised easily even at room temperature making it unsafe for cosumption without complex processing. Developing genotypes that are more resitant to oxidation will improve effective oil yield by over 20%. Says getting farmers to be more receptive to using these new genotypes is a difficult task but is crucial to getting the benefit of the research. Message: Enjoy being involved in experiment and research - the joy of research comes from involvement whether or not awards are given for the research. Background: Father had meagre education due to being forced to migrate after communal riots but could read and write, and after reading about Dr.Hargobind khorana in a newspaper, wanted his daughter to do research in biology or a related area. Was exteremely supportive and when Dr.Anitha's initial research work wasn't giving successful results, he would ask if she needed money for procuring anything for research work that would help her achieve success in that experiment. Husband too a researcher in agriculture science. Funny anecdote about him - when in 6th grade, teacher starts teaching about sulphuric & hydrochloric acid - he gets up and asks about omega-3 fatty acid and teacher is unable to answer; on returning home, he complains that his teacher doesn't know enough chemistry.
18.7.2015:
Dr. Chitra Sarkar: Neuropathologist at AIIMS. Internationally renowned due to her prolific research publication work. Approximately one paper per month of her career. Attributes it to her not being able to travel often to international conferences, thereby incentivizing her to make her work known through journal papers. Two types of papers - lab research papers and case studies. Maintains a smiling face throughout the interview even when talking about serious diseases that make even Dr. GR look sober. Mentions studies done on brain lesions and the like, childhood brain diseases, neuroonco/genetic studies. Took to pathology on insistence of her family as they didn't want her to become a gynaecologist (which was her original goal) at AIIMS (because that would mean almost no personal time). Neuropathology was very nascent when she started in 1980s - her mentors advised her to focus on neuropathology as it offered scope for lot more new discoveries. Mentions that surgical advances, high-precision instruments and microscopes for surgery have made brain surgery lot more successful than it was a few decades back.
25.7.2015:
Prof. Dinesh Mohan: prof emeritus at IIT-Delhi - expert on traffic safety; pioneering work in airbag effectiveness.
Graduation in aerospace engg. at Univ of Delaware. Due to involvement in anti-war movement, decided to move away from aeronautical work. PhD in bioengineering <from Univ of Michigan?>.
Came back to India in 1979 after having spent around 13 yrs in US. Says he never had planned to settle in US.
Dr. Gauhar says Prof. Dinesh Mohan's was once viewed as controversial figure as he was the key person behind the policy in Delhi to make helmets mandatory for riders. His emphasis on use of helmets was against the old view by doctors that helmets add to stress on neck and didn't have major benefit.
Dr. GR mentions that Dr. DM was already a famous person at IIT when GR was just graduating from IIT.
Talks about BRT in Delhi and says the failure there was not due to oppn. by masses but by vested interests.
Feels quality of roads reflects the quality of democracy. BRT allots separate lanes for public transport.
Opines that corruption in the society cannot be an excuse for intellectuals not taking any efforts to bring changes. Even IIT may have not-so-good people, but if there'll definitelt be 10 good ppl and if there are 10 such institutions in a city, the 100 good ppl can get together to take some action. GR says "so 1 Dr. CNR Rao is not sufficient for India)".
Eureka moment: Done on small work. No eureka moment. But feels hapy that small things like his team identifying that firework injuries were more due to substandard fireworks rather than use of rockets, and the campaign on use of water as first-aid for firework injuries, helped save many people.
Message for youth? Sarcastically funny but true reply..
"Message for bureaucrats and politicians if any of them are watching". More IITs and IIMs is not a complete solution. Recruit scientists and researchers in public sector institutions like railways etc. Without jobs in public sector, the large number of researchers that will come with more IITs will not be able to contribute enough to the society unless they get to put their expertise to use in public sector.
Another message - Push hard. Learn from older generation. If reseachers in his generation and older ones like Prof. Yash Pal were able to achieve things at a time when India was poorer, the younger generation of academicians can do a lot more now in if they take effort.
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