The Architects of India's Space Dream - Vikram A. Sarabhai

In 1943, Vikram A. Sarabhai, who was then hardly 23, went to the Himalayas in Kashmir to study cosmic rays at high altitude. He was so thrilled that he decided to set up a laboratory to study cosmic rays.

On his return from the United Kingdom with a Ph.D., he founded the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, an institution devoted to the study of cosmic rays and other space. In 1955, he set up a branch of the laboratory at Gulmarg in Kashmir. He also set up other branches in Trivandrum and Kodaikanal.

Sarabhai was born on August 12, 1919, and his wife was similar to Bhabha's. He, too, belonged to a wealthy family. Had he wished, he could have become an industrialist, but his basic interest was in mathematics and physics? The purpose of the Physical Research Laboratory that he founded was similar to Bhabha's creation, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. It provides the technology and scientists needed for the country's space programmes, just as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research provides these for its nuclear programme.

In fact, Sarabhai ushered in the space age in the country by expanding the Indian Space Research Organization. The credit for much of what India achieved in space technology must go to him, though he did not live to see many of the fruits of his labour. Among the projects he planned was the one under which India's first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched in 1975. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975-76, which sought to bring education to five million people in 2,400 Indian villages, also owes much to Sarabhai.

Aryabhata SatelliteAlthough Sarabhai was busy with space programmes, he did not forget his first love-the study of cosmic rays. His basic interest was to find out how the rays vary with time and the implications of this phenomenon. Cosmic rays are a stream of energy particles reaching the earth from outer space. On their way to the earth they are influenced by the sun, the atmosphere and magnetism. Events taking place in space among the planets also affect these rays. At an early age Sarabhai realized that the study of cosmic rays would help in understanding terrestrial magnetism and the atmosphere, the nature of the sun and outer space. Most of his research was confined to this aspect of the rays.

In one respect Sarabhai went a step ahead of Bhabha. He built a variety of institutions-one devoted to modernization of the textile industry, another to development of management skills and yet another to popularizing science, apart from the Physical Research Laboratory and the Indian Space Research Institute.

Like Bhabha he died at an early age, when he was only 52. He received many honours and awards for his services to science and society. The International Astronomical Union named after him a crater on the moon in the Sea of Serenity.

The Architect of India's Space Dream - C.V. Raman

Born: Thiruchinapalli, India; November 7, 1888

Died: Bangalore, India; November 21, 1970

Nobel Prize: 1930 Physics, for his discovery of the "Raman" effect

Biography:

Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, popularly known as C.V. Raman, was born in Thiruchinapalli, in Tamil Nadu, India on November 7, 1888. He was the second of children of Chandrasekhar Iyer and Parvathi Ammal. His father was a professor of mathematics. At an early age, Raman moved to the city of Visakhapatnam, in the present day state of Andhra Pradesh, where his father accepted a position at the Mrs. A.V.N. College. Raman's academic brilliance was established at a very young age. At eleven, he finished his secondary school education and entered Mrs. A.V.N. College and two years later moved to the prestigious Presidency College in Madras (present name, Chennai). When he was fifteen, he finished at the head of the class to receive B.A. with honors in Physics and English. During that time students who did well academically were typically sent abroad (England) for further studies. Because of Raman's poor health he was not allowed to go abroad and he continued his studies at the Presidency college.In 1907, barely seventeen, Raman again graduated at the top of his class and received his M.A. with honors. In the same year he married Lokasundari.

At the time of Raman's graduation, there were few opportunities for scientists in India. This forced Raman to accept a position with the Indian Civil Services as an Assistant Accountant General in Calcutta. While there, he was able to sustain his interest in science by working, in his spare time, in the laboratories of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. He studied the physics of stringed instruments and Indian drums.

In 1917, with his scientific standing established in India, Raman was offered the position of Sir Taraknath Palit Professorship of Physics at Calcutta university, where he stayed for the next fifteen years. During his tenure there, he received world wide recognition for his work in optics and scattering of light. He was elected to the Royal Society of London in 1924 and the British made him a knight of the British Empire in 1929. The following year he was honored with the prestigious Hughes medal from the Royal Society. In 1930, for the first time in its history, an Indian scholar, educated entirely in India has received the highest honor in science, the Nobel Prize in Physics.

In 1934, Raman became the director of the newly established Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore, where two years later he continued as a professor of physics. In 1947, he was appointed as the first National Professor by the new government of Independent India. He retired from the Indian Institute in 1948 and a year later he established the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, served as its director and remained active there until his death on November 21, 1970, at the age of eighty two. Raman was honored with the highest award, the "Bharat Ratna"(Jewel of India), by the Government of India.

Bibliography:

General:

Chamberland, Dennis, "Nobel Prize", edited by , pages 373-380
Mehra, Jagdish, "Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman", in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillespie, New York, Charles Scribner and Sons
Blaniped, Williams A., "Pioneer Scientists in Pre-Independent India", Physics Today, 39: page 36 (May, 1986)
Jayaraman, Aiyasami and Ramdas, Anant Krishna, "Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman", Physics Today, 56: p56-64 (August, 1988)
Weber, Robert L, "Pioneers of Science: Nobel Prize winners in Physics:, eidted by Lenihan, J.M.A., Bristol, Adam Higler, 1980

Physics:

"Dynamical Theory of the Motion of Bowed Strings", Bulletin, Indian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1914
"On the molecular scattering of light in water and the colour of the sea", Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1922
"A new type of Secondary Radiation", Nature, 1928
"A new radiation", Indian Journal of Physics, 1928
Aspects of Science, 1948
The New Physics: Talks on Aspects of Science, 1951
Lectures on Physical Optics, 1959

Architects of India's Space Dream - Homi Bhabha

Homi Bhabha – A Profile

These days, young people dream of going abroad even before they have completed their studies, often for settling there permanently. Nearly sixty years ago, a young man made the journey in the reverse direction. After spending thirteen years in Cambridge, at that time the Mecca of Physics, Homi Bhabha, then aged twenty nine, came back to India not only to settle down permanently but to change her destiny as well.


Homi Jehangir Bhabha was born on 30 October, 1909 in Mumbai (then Bombay). The house he was born in was later destined to be the cradle of India’s Nuclear Energy Programme! Young Homi was educated at the Cathedral and John Connon High School. Absolutely brilliant in studies, he became a minor celebrity. Homi was a voracious reader and his father’s wonderful collection helped him to greatly broaden his outlook. In addition, he was also keenly interested in art as well as music (particularly western).


After passing the Senior Cambridge Examination and studying for a couple of years in the Royal Institute of Science, Mumbai, Bhabha went to Cambridge for higher studies. His father wanted Homi to specialise in mechanical engineering so that he could, on return, enter the corporate world of the Tata group of industries and rise to a high position there. But things did not work out that way. Bhabha found that right then, physics was going through a major revolution, a good bit of the action being in Cambridge itself. So he wrote to his father:


I seriously say to you that business or job as an engineer is notthe thing for me. It is totally foreign to my nature and radicallyopposed to my temperament and opinions. Physics is my line... I am burning with a desire to do physics. I will and mustdo it sometime. It is my only ambition.



The father was understanding and allowed Homi to study for the Mathematical Tripos, after completing the Mechanical Tripos. In 1932, Bhabha won the Rouse Ball Travelling Fellowship which enabled him to work with Pauli in Zurich and Fermi in Rome. Later, the Isaac Newton Studentship allowed him to spend some time in Niels Bohr’s Institute in Copenhagen. In between, Bhabha completed his PhD thesis under the supervision of R H Fowler, who was also the supervisor for S Chandrasekhar.
In Cambridge, Bhabha discovered what is now referred to as Bhabha scattering, a phenomenon whose existence has been confirmed experimentally. In addition, he developed, in collaboration with Walter Heitler, a theory for cosmic-ray showers, known as the cascade theory. Both these contributions made Bhabha quite well known in physics circles.


In early 1939, Bhabha came back to India for what was supposed to be a brief holiday. Meanwhile, the second World War broke out, and the holiday turned into a permanent stay. War severely disrupted the scientific scene in Europe, and it was clear that Bhabha would have to look for a job in India. Thanks to his reputation, he received a few offers from some Universities but in the end, he joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Here, with a small grant from the Sir Dorab Tata Trust, he started working on cosmic rays.


In the Bangalore period, Bhabha concentrated mainly on theory and discovered what is known as the Bhabha equation. Apart from this, he briefly collaborated with Harish-Chandra, later to win fame as a mathematician. Bhabha also tried his hand with experiments, building Geiger-counter telescopes and flying them in air force planes, to study cosmic ray behaviour at high altitudes.


By 1944 it became clear that the war, at least in Europe, was drawing to a close. Bhabha was in two minds about what he should do. Should he go back to the West, which offered so many opportunities, or should he stay? He wrote to his friend J R D Tata seeking his advice, adding that he was ready to continue in India as “it is one’s duty to stay in one’s own country and build up schools comparable in other lands.” J R D encouraged Bhabha to approach the Sir Dorab Tata Trust. Bhabha promptly did so, and in March 1944 he wrote to the Trust seeking grants and promising to build up in the course of time a School of Physics comparable with the best anywhere.


Prophetically, he also declared that when the time came, the School would provide the experts needed for exploiting nuclear energy, and that India would not have to look for such experts overseas.


Events now moved rapidly. With a small grant of less than Rs 1 lakh per year (of which the Tata Trust’s contribution was Rs 45,000/-) Bhabha founded the TIFR on June 1, 1945. It started functioning first in Bangalore but by December, Bhabha had TIFR shifted to Mumbai, locating it in the very house he was born in!


In the beginning TIFR concentrated exclusively on cosmic rays and mathematics, but as bright young people came forward to join it, it rapidly expanded in size as well as scope. Meanwhile the country became independent, and Bhabha, on account of his closeness to Nehru, was given the task of steering the country’s nuclear energy programme. Bhabha’s enthusiasm was infectious, and it was like a breath of fresh air in a country notorious for its negative and bureaucratic thinking (which, alas, persists). Both TIFR and the Indian Atomic Energy Programme blossomed in a few short years to proportions unimaginable and beyond all expectations.


Bhabha was a thorough-bred theoretical physicist, deeply influenced by Dirac. Yet, when it came to matters of technology, he was second to none. He also laid the seeds for our very successful space programme, which later Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan nursed with loving care. After the Chinese attack on India in 1962, Bhabha realised our backwardness in electronics and worked hard to prepare a masterplan to help the country leapfrog in this vital area. Unfortunately, he died before the report he had prepared (called the Bhabha Committee Report) could be submitted. Later, like all reports, this one too collected dust, and we never made the big jump in electronics we could have.


Bhabha was riding high, all the time reaching new pinnacles, but death came suddenly. In January 1966, Bhabha was on his way to Vienna to attend a meeting. As his Air India plane descended to land

in Geneva, it crashed into Mont Blanc. All the passengers including Bhabha perished. His body was never found. For the nation, it was an irreparable loss.
Bhabha was not merely a gifted scientist, and an able technocrat; he was much more. He was an artist, and a connoisseur of all the good things in life – art, music, literature, architecture, landscaping, gardening, ... Many hailed him as a modern Leonardo while JRD referred to him as an authentic genius. He represented the best in both science as well as culture, often regarded as unbridgeable. Expressing the sorrow of the nation, Indira Gandhi said of him:


He was a scientist of great originality. He was an artist endowed with unusualsensitivity. His interest in music was as serious as it was deep. The flower beds,the landscaping, the architecture of buildings in Trombay, all bear witness toHomi Bhabha’s perception of colour, form and design. India will long cherishHomi Bhabha’s memory, for he was deeply involved in her destiny and in theprocess of changing the texture and quality of her society.


Way back in 1928, Bhabha told his father: “Who says we can’t do science in India?” Not only did he convincingly demonstrate later that he could, but, more important, he made it possible for hundreds if not thousands of others also to do likewise.
G Venkataraman.

----Vice-Chancellor Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Anantapur, India

Not Really?????

Failure is in accepting not trying,
Death is forgetting not passing,
Interest is appreciation not time,
Power isn’t taking but giving,
Love is the end not the means,
Friendship is taking not asking,
Grace is a feeling not action,
Strength is protecting not destroying,
Knowledge is wealth not burden,
Trauma is waiting not the result,
Beauty is all thought not felt,
Faith is believing yet not merely following,
God is now and not tomorrow,
Idleness is lonely not joy.
Growth is grasping not just reaching,
Fear is apathy not action,
Future is gift not a test.
Poison is presuming not just consuming,
Fashion is set not without any,
Stopping is looking back not halting,
Journey is start not destination,
Blogging is views not posting.

Best Among the Rest

The best of minds may not be slated on the first bench,
just like the best criminals are not found in a cornered prison,
the best of musicians might be busking under a dirty bridge,
the best of writers may have a weak pen,
the best director could be well walking around with a handycam,
the best of hope may fall in a beggar's bowl
the best of footballer may not have a boot to spare,
the best of sages may be in the deepest cave,
the best of all singers may be hiding in his bathroom,
the best of teacher could be the one using the least of rod and more of eyes,
the best of trancriber might be sleeping while the audio loads on,
the best of lawyer may not have swindled many,
the best of driver may not have driven downhill,
the best of GOD may not have seen Earth at all,
the best of artist may not even know his masterpiece,
the best of love may not have touched you yet,
the best of confusion may be created out of calm,
the best of friend may not be in the crowd,
the best of words may be waiting for silence to occur,
the best of food may not conquer your hunger,
the best of nectar might not have been in those bosom,
the best of engineers may not be a foreign stickler,
the best of Indians might have not taken birth in India,
the best of doctor might be drinking well water,
the best of snaps might have never seen the studio's darkness,
the best of questions may not require the best of answers,

the best of best may not be best anymore, any less!

Millions mark UN hand-washing day

Millions of children around the world are marking the United Nations' first Global Handwashing Day.

In India, cricket star Sachin Tendulkar will be leading the campaign that will see children across South Asia simultaneously washing their hands.

The UN says it wants to get over the message that this simple routine is one of the most effective ways of preventing killer diseases.

Nearly half the world's population do not have access to adequate sanitation.

'Critical times'

More than 120 million children in 70 countries across five continents are expected to participate in the campaign.

From Kabul to Karachi and from Delhi to Dhaka, millions of children will take part in the campaign and pledge to embrace more hygienic practices by the simple act of washing their hands.

India has recruited one of the country's biggest sporting icons, cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, to be the face of the campaign.

Washing hands will be the topic of Afghan television and radio talk shows and Pakistani newscasts.

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Therese Dooley of Unicef explains how to wash your hands properly

Nepal's new Maoist government is sending out mobile text messages. In Bhutan, special animated videos have been made with Bhutanese characters.

"The message we are really trying to get out is the importance of correctly washing your hands with soap and water at the critical times," Unicef's senior Sanitation and Hygiene programme adviser, Therese Dooley, said.

"And those critical times are before you cook or prepare food, before you eat and after using the toilet and after cleaning a baby."

The UN says washing hands with water alone is not enough "because you fail to wash off the germs".

"We are recommending hand-washing with soap," Ms Dooley said.

Unicef says using soap to wash hands, particularly after contact with excreta, can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40% and respiratory infections by 30%.

Diarrhoea and respiratory infections are the main cause for child deaths in India.

Nearly half the population of South Asia has no access to toilets, whilst in sub-Saharan Africa this figure is as low as 28%.

With such poor sanitation standards, it is little surprise that children in the region are susceptible to diarrhoea, hepatitis and pneumonia - often leading to their deaths, the UN says.

The UN is celebrating 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation

Source: BBC

Numbers do the talking for Ganguly

With Ganguly recently coming clean on the reason for his early retirement, Cricinfo looks at the numbers that defines Ganguly's career and let them do the talking for ganguly. Enjoy.

The Most Deadly Animals in the World

This is a list of the 10 most deadly animals found on land and in water. While some may seem innocuous - especially number 1, they lead to millions of deaths every year. From least, to worst, the list:


10. Poison Dart Frog
The backs of the poison dart frog ooze a slimy neurotoxin that is meant to keep predators away. Each frog produces enough of the toxin to kill 10 humans, though, strangely, in captivity, the frogs do not secrete this poison. The frogs are brilliantly coloured and live mainly in Central and South America. [Wikipedia Article]


9. Cape Buffalo
Cape buffalos weigh 1.5 tons and, when faced by danger, attack head on with razor sharp horns. They stand up to 1.7 metres high and 2.8 metres long. Humans are virtually its only predator and even lions will avoid crossing their path. Every year the Cape Buffalo is known to maul and kill multiple humans; some believe that it kills more humans in Africa every year than any other creature. [Wikipedia Article]


8. Polar Bear
These massive creatures, native to the Arctic, regularly eat elephant seals and could cut off a human head with one swipe of its paw. The Polar Bear is the most carnivorous of all the Bears and will eat walruses, whales, rheindeer, and even other polar beers. [Wikipeida Article]


7. Elephant
African Elephants, with their sharp tusks, are not as friendly as many believe. They kill over 500 people per year (either by stomping or impaling). The African Elephant generally weighs in at 16 tons. [Wikipedia Article]


6. Saltwater Crocodile
This is the largest of all living reptiles and is found mainly in Northern Australia and Southeast Asia. A healthy adult is typically 4.8 - 7 metres (15.75ft - 21ft) long, weighing up to 1.6 tons. There have been reports of larger. This creature is capable of killing and eating animals up tot he size of a water buffalo. In its most deadly attack (called the Death Roll) the crocodile grabs an animal or human with its mouth and begins to roll. A 1ton stallion is known to have been killed by this method in under 1 minute. In the water, the crocodile can move as fast as a dolphin. [Wikipedia Article]


5. African Lion
The African Lion can reach up to half a ton. Lions are thought to kill up to 70 humans per year in Tanzania. These large animals are eclipsed in size only slightly by the tiger. [Wikipedia Article]


4. Great White Shark
This shark is an exceptionally large shark found in coastal waters in all major oceans. It can reach lengths of up to 6 metres and can weigh up to 5 tons. The Great White Shark is the worlds largest known predatory fish. It is the only surviving species of its genus. In general these creatures do not attack humans, and (while there have been some fatalities) the majority of attacks on humans are believed to be test bites - the Great White Shark are known to test bite other objects in order to determine what they are. More people are killed each year in the US by dogs than Great White Sharks in the last 100 years. [Wikipedia Article]


3. Box Jellyfish
Also known as the wasp jellyfish, this salad-bowl sized jellyfish can have up to 60 tentacles as long as 15 feet. Each tentacle has enough toxin to kill 50 humans. They are found in Australia, the Philippines, and many other tropical areas. Since 1884 at least 5,567 deaths have been attributed to these creatures. [Wikipedia Article]


2. Asian Cobra
While the Asian cobra does not have the deadliest venom, it does make the most of what it has, causing the largest chunk of the 50 thousand deaths by snakebite per year. An average cobra is about 1 metre in length. [Wikipedia Article]


1. The Mosquito
Due to malaria carrying parasites transferred by the mosquito, it is responsible for the deaths of more than two million people per year. In addition, Mosquitos are estimated to transfer diseases to more than 70 million people per year. Even in countries such as the UK, New Zealand, and Japan, where the more temperate climate has reduced mosquito bites to mostly an annoyance, they still cause some deaths every year. [Wikipedia Article]

Source: http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-most-deadly-animals/

The Deepest Living Creature

Amphipods; Members of the Crustacean family (lobsters, shrimp)

The specimen you see in the photo was dredged up with 129 others from the Challenger Deep. This little guy is only about 4.5 cm long, but in amphipod terms, that’s a world record. Amphipods are flea-like creatures that are one of the most plentiful species of living things in all the worlds’oceans. Many species of amphipods are from 1 to 10 mm long, with the largest specimens growing up to 30mm. Finding living creatures at the bottom of the ocean in the Challenger Deep was exciting for the scientists who discovered them. They were equally surprised by the sheer size of these world-record holding amphipods.

Source: http://www.extremescience.com/deepest-creature.htm

The Deepest Living Fish Ever Found

The world's record holder for deepest fish goes to the brotulid* family, about which scientists know almost nothing. These fish are benthopelagic, living at depths of 7000 meters or more. The world's deepest fish (Abyssobrotula galatheae) was found in the Puerto Rican Trench at a depth of 8,372 meters (that's over five miles down!).

Their eyes appear to be virtually nonexistent. Maybe it's because there is never enough light for the fish to see, so why bother with the eyes? After all, eyes in most organisms are designed for gathering light in the creature's visual field and transmitting it to the brain - giving it useful information about its environment. In a world where no sunlight ever penetrates there's probably little use for eyes.

The brotulids probably have other, highly developed senses to compensate for their lack of vision, which help them to find their way around in the dark depths. Maybe YOU could be the scientist who studies this species and unravels its mysteries.

Source: http://www.extremescience.com/DeepestFish.htm

Ganguly prepares for a final Encore

Ganguly, the most successful Indian captain today announced that the upcoming four test match series against the Australians will be his last series after which he will be calling it quits from international cricket. I hope that he doesn’t decide to call it off from all forms of the game, at least for the sake of many of the fans like me.

Ganguly, who was famously christened God on the offside by Dravid or his elegant offside strokes was a captain who changed the face of Indian cricket from one which was blamed for a lack of killer instinct and a desire to win, to one which was aggressive, some times in your face with players like Dhoni, Sehwag, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Irfan who all made their debut and flourished under ganguly.

He was tough when needed to be, and heralded a more united, committed and more importantly more competitive Indian Team that we all admire today. He was the one who initiated and made popular the term 'Team India' and gave us the Indian huddle which has been replicated by many other teams.

He made India a forced to be reckoned with in both India and abroad and took the monkey of the back of all Indian supporters who were sick of the term Lions in India and Lame Ducks overseas.

He made this possible by bringing together bunch of cricketers who were motivated, driven and considered winning and being competitive just as important as being fair and a good sport, which the earlier teams were sometimes blamed for.

He was a captain who was a guide, mentor, motivator who stood by the team and made them believe in themselves and would go out of the way for the team and player. Dada was one of the few captains who got under the skin of the other teams and had the knack of bringing the best out of his team sometimes it seemed at the expense of his own performance.

Dada we are sure to miss you. All the best for everything that you decided to do in the future. I hope to see you as a coach of Indian team one day. You'll make a very good coach or manager from what we know and have loved to see over the years!!