5.9.2015:
Dr. Prabhat Ranjan: Physicist - plasma
physics, nuclear fusion technology and superconductivity for nuclear
fusion. Executive director at TIFAC. Moved from Saha institute to
Ahmedabad. PhD at the University of California. Says 2 of his classmates
at IIT Kharagpur too did PhD in the US but only he returned to work in
India as he wanted to serve his country. Said to his friends that even
if one gets to do less research in India, serving the country gives
pride. Says he enjoys research work and does not focus on publishing
papers merely to add to one's publication list. Says Indian scientist
must be given opportunities to do more focused and targeted research and
should not be evaluated by the number of papers they have published.
TIFAC prepared Vision 2035 which is a set of 12 documents. GRaza asks
for difference between Visions 2035 & 2020.
When he
was asked by govt to look at what needs to be done to boost India's
exports, he was surprised to find India exports 80% of guar seeds in the
world but only 1% of the over 15000 patents on guar gum are from India.
India exports many raw materials and imports them at high price after
value add. With just a little additional investment in science and
technology, India can become improve its self-reliance and become an
exporter of value-added material.
Advice: whatever you do, do with passion and try to be the best.
12.9.2015:
Arjava Sharma:
Director of BAGR (Bureau of animal genome research). Significance of
livestock - India has a huge population of livestock that helps meet
needs of India's human population.
Says the introduction of
foreign breeds/varieties (both crops and livestock) was a wrong decision
somewhat driven by greedy motives. People did not realize that India
has the widest diversity of flora and fauna in the world.
India
also has rich natural resources for food production; unlike Europe where
producing crops for more than one season per year is difficult due to
climate, India can produce crops almost around the year. India must
preserve its indigenous varieties of cattle/livestock and his BAGR is
helping in this.
Advice: Says he is not old enough to give advice
:) ... but since asked, says something (don't recall what he said -
either be passionate or sincere or curious or work hard).
19.Sep.2015:
A.K.Ganguli:
Chemistry researcher. PhD from IISc under te guidance of Dr. C.N.R.
Rao. Important work in areas of superconductivity (materails for) and
nanotechnology. Initial research project during PhD was not related to
either of these but a few years into PhD, superconductivity became an
interesting area of research (due to Dr. Rao ??) and Dr. Ganguli got to
work on it. Later switched (prefers not to consider it a switch between
areas - still a research scientist working on chemistry, but for
different applications). Talks about nanotechnology being used for 2
different reasons - some applications solely because they benefit from
the small size of nanoparticles (some cosmetic products were the first
such practical application), and some other rely on the special physical
properties of naoparticles - at nanoscale, quantum physics laws apply,
rather than classical physics. Self-cleaning clothes a novel application
and is a reality - video of a t-shirt that does not get stained when
some dye is poured on it is shown. Also shown is a video of a hand taken
behing a lens/glass and the hand not being visible through the glass -
"invisible" behind the lens.. the wall behind the lens is what is seen.
Tells this is a reality and uses negative (refractivei?) index materials
developed using nanotechnology. "Apparent" invisibility achieved
because such materials bend the light around them and make the thing
they would have otherwise hidden become visible in their front too.
Feels
India does not invest enough in science research - must iincease its
allotment to atleast 3% or 4% or GDP which is possible. Says India
cannot and does not need to invest in all research/applications of
nanotechnology, but should invest in atleast some where it has the
capacity and will benefit from it too - mainly pharmaceutical and health
applications where India has the capability. Examples like
nanotechnology for improved drug delivery, self-cleaning material in
hospitals (blankets, curtains) and door handles with special nanotech
coating that will not allow microbes to stick onto them.
Dr. Raza
asks the standard question - what is the answer to people who say India
does not need to invest in research, must instead buy technology from
others and use them. Dr. Ganguli says countries that tried it have
realized that it does not work in long-term. Japan, S.Korea which
initially took that path of late have begun to focus a lot on research
too due to problems with relying on technology from others. Taiwan is
still technology-only and has no footholding on research.
Advice:
Do what interests u the most - do not take to science if you're not
interested in it. Have some pastime for relaxation - says he regularly
played cricket/games during his stint at IIT. Says for success, one
needs a good, supportive family too - cannot focus if family is chaotic
or unsupportive.
27.9.2015:
A.S.Kiran Kumar:
ISRO chief. Simple and soft-spoken. Born in Hassan where his father was
a well-known advocate; taught him that any work should be respected -
dignity of labour. Mentions his curiosity in science started with some
optical device (like prism??) demonstrated at school and his childhood
experiments with light shining through the roof and passing it through
plastic sheets to make film-like projections on the floor. Studied
physics and joined ISRO. India got little help from developed countries
in its space programme due to which ISRO had to develop technologies of
its own and often play catch-up game (behind the latest advances by a
few years). Since he was from physics background, he was willing to take
up experimental, inter-disciplinary projects which engineers where
unwilling to work on as they were not sure of success and were averse to
experimentation. Such project involved working with mechanical
engineers, elecronics and physics. As they did not have access to latest
scientific/technological advances made in the West, ISRO scientists
worked for long hours studying whatever they came to know of new
advances and experimenting with those with no guidance from the original
developers. Simulation was a crucial factor in ensuring the success of
ISRO's projects. The conditions seen in lab could be very different from
the concitions in space, so simulating various possible conditions was
important. Special acknowledgement to Satish Dhawan who encouraged ISRO
scientists to be not afraid of failures, took bold decisions and would
take full responsibility for if any project failed, instead of letting
the junior scientists take the blame. ISRO made best use of its position
by taking up some innovations that existed only on paper/publications
and becoming the first in the world to implementing them for practical
use. Mentions these becoming useful for people at large, even across
countries - like some remote sensing technologies that even the West
hasn't implemented.
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