5-Mar-2016:
Dr. Bhahwal Ali Shah: Chemistry/microbiology researcher at CSIR-IIIM (Indian Institute of Integrated Medicine). Hailed from a poor family in a remote village in J&K. Though his area was not too affected by terrorism, there was scare and people wouldn't venture out of home after 6 PM. Had to walk a long distance to school, study without electric light often. Was planning to take up English or geograhy for college studies but his father, despite not being well-educated, wanted him to take chemistry and Dr. Bhahwal abided as he had some interest in chemistry too. J&K has unique demographic statistics.Living in post-antibiotic area. Study on microbes is therefore even more important to develop new drugs. Microbes are difficult to cultivate though now new technology helps culture microorganisms. Says less than 1% of microbes have been studies. There is a booming interest in natural products. Many diseases of India are not prevalent in developed world and hence canot expect researcher labs of those countries to develop drugs for these. India must therefore spend on research despite being a developing country. Is confident that CSIR is the best place for research in India and for young scientists. Admits that funding cuts is a problem but not discuraged by it. Lot of scope for multi-disciplinary research. Best part of the work at CSIR is getting to work with bright minds. Attributes his prolific research publishing work (64 papers, 3 books and more in a short span, starting at 2008?) to his students.
Need to find ways to retain bright minds in India and to also attract bright minds from abroad. Has been to the US for a short period. When asked to compare, says quality of research in India is on par with that in US, but work culture is better abraod. With better exposure to research work abraod, young scientists here will be able to do better.
Youngs scientists should get more liberal funding. Says people in 30s and 40s have more energy and increase in funding for them will help a lot.
Message: Every child is born as an artist is a known saying. Similarly, it can be said that every child is born as a scientist. Don't stop questioning.
12-March-2016:
Prof. M. S. Narasimhan: Eminent Indian mathematician. Awarded Padma Bhushan in 1980. Graduated in math from Loyola college, Madras, and Ph.D from TIFR. Hails from an agrarian background; parents not into education, but managed agriculture, were fairly well-off and encourage him. Borrowed a few advanced maths books from Panchayat library and this helped him learn beyond what was taught in school. Used to draw math diagrams on wall of house because of which his parents bought him a blackboard! Says he was fascinated by maths as it gave more space for thinking than other subjects where memorizing was sufficient for school exams. Prof. Fr. Racine of Loyola college helped shape Prof. Narasimhan's math career. Joined TIFR in 1953 (when TIFR was still new and was not a well-know place) as suggested by Fr. Racine; Dr. Raza amazed that Racine was able to lead his student from a village to what would become one of the best research institutions. Prof. Narasimhan says that when he asked Racine what he should do if he didn't get admission, the latter said give up maths! No specialized graduation schools for maths then. TIFR was a truing point. Says he didn't have any particular problem in mind when he joined TIFR. Prof. K Chandrsekharan in TIFR was building a math group and guided Narasimhan besides many others. Praises political leaders of early independent India, especiallly Pandit Nehru understood the importance of math, stated that it is a "vehicle of scientific thought" and encouraged math research. Propounded "Narasimhan-Seshadri theorem". Was exposed to advanced maths at TIFR, and went to France to get exposure to modern maths research being done in the West (at that time, France, not US or UK, was considered the centre of best math research). TIFR owes a lot to French mathematicians. Laurent Shwartz was one of his mentors.View on Vedic maths: Nothing Vedic about "Vedic mathematics". Someone had picked up early works on mathematics and put them together them under that name. Maths is now far ahead of early contributions like the concept of zero.
Apart from Dr. Bhatnagar award, he cherishes most the King Faisal International Award for Science in 2008.
Very concerned about brain drain, which he feels is one of the biggest problems facing India. Says he is not against people going abroad, but "for God's sake, please come back" after exposure to modern research work. India now has . More dedicated institutions like TIFR needed; need larger fund allocation for science.
Message for younger generation: Don't waste talent for mathematics. Mathematicians can have a good satisfying career, so don't worry about becoming financially poor. Learn basic language of maths, look at problems from top to remove the noise and then approach problem from lower level in the right direction.
19-March-2016:
Dr. Javed Naim Agrewala: (Calm and composed) Chief Scientist, CSIR IMT, Chandigarh. His parents gave him independence to choose his career. During B.Sc studied zoology, biology and chemistry and it was following this (B.Sc at Agra Univ?) that he decided to pursue to research in chemistry, specifically organic chemistry and subsequently biochemistry. This decision was influenced by faculty that was especially outstanding in organic chemistry. His teachers inspired him to choose career in immunology. Studies on human leukocyte antigena shaped his career. Studies HLA association with leprosy. About leprosy he says "it infects body of the patient and the mind of other people". While asked if he wasn't scared while working on leprosy, says he was not too scared as leprosy is not communicable unless ne comes in contact with leprosy scars. Leprosy and TB are like cousins, he says. Wanted to develop newer vaccines for TB. Says BCG is a controversial vaccine as in India, as it has been found that surprisingly people not given BCG have a higher immunity against TB than those given BCG, quite different from what is seen in western countries. BCG's efficacy may therefore be population/ethnicity dependent. Started studying reasons for BCG's failures. T-cells play a cardinal role in protection against TB. Non-TB environmental bacteria commonly found in human body in India affect BCG's efficacy - phagocytic cells target these non-TB bacteria instead of TB bacteria??? Investment in research in India is negligible compared to that in US and any other countries. Indian scientists doing incredible job despite limited funds. Conferred SS.Bhatnagar award in 2005. Says his entire home city, Agra, rejoiced on hearing the news. "Happiness index is low among scientists (in India?)".When asked why he got his idea patented in the US, Dr. Naim says he has obtained an Indian patent too for that idea.
a) Increased funding needed.
b) Scientists should feel cared for, should feel enouraged.
c) Scientists make significant contributions to the country and students must be made to realize this so that more take up research in India.
