IIT Gandhinagar to launch a seminar series on Indian scientists to honour the father figures of modern Indian science
Gandhinagar: Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) is launching a seminar series on Indian scientists, with an aim to honour the contributions of these often half-forgotten pioneers of modern Indian science. Each seminar in the series will be of one day, with a mix of speakers from outside and within IITGN. The first edition of this bi-annual event will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2019, from 10 AM to 5 PM.
The late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century witnessed a great renaissance of modern scientific thinking in India. The father figures of modern Indian Science from this era contributed significantly to contemporary scientific advances. Simultaneously, they also motivated and led the national movement to create scientific institutions in India. In this first edition of the seminar series, eminent scholars will deliver four lectures on the lives and works of Satyendranath Bose, Meghnad Saha, G.N. Ramachandran, and Prafulla Chandra Roy. The talks will cover a few technical aspects as well as deal with the historical and social contexts in which those pioneers worked, so as to appeal to the faculty and students across a wide range of disciplines.
Prof Sreerup Raychaudhuri from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, will speak on “Bose: A Forgotten Hero”. Prof Ajit Kembhavi from Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, will deliver a lecture on “Meghnad Saha and his Ionisation Equation”. Prof Sharmistha Majumdar from IIT Gandhinagar will speak on “G.N. Ramachandran: the Madras contribution to protein shapes and structures”. Prof Michel Danino, IIT Gandhinagar, will focus on “Prafulla Chandra Ray and Berthelot, Two Chemists and Historians of Science”.
The seminar series is being coordinated by IITGN faculty Prof Sudipta Sarkar and Prof Michel Danino. Students and Faculty members from all the institutions can also participate in this seminar through a free but mandatory online registration through the following event page: http://events.iitgn.ac.in/indianscientistsseries/