Upload
vuthuan
View
214
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
.
CSIR labs for more collaboration, to act as force multipliers
Directors of two Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs said institutions under India's
premier national R&D organization are committed to work together instead of remaining in "academic silos".
"The way that we have worked in the past is that each laboratory is led by a director and each laboratory
kept its individuality but if you look at the past, where we have had major successes is when two or three labs
worked together…this way the 38 CSIR labs are force multipliers," CSIR's Central Glass And Ceramic
Research Institute (CGCRI) Director K Muraleedharan said.
He compared the spruced up working style to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "If you
look at ISRO, ISRO units work together. Chandrayan is the project of the whole organisation, not one lab,"
Muraleedharan said during the inauguration of the CSIR Platinum Jubilee Mega Science Exhibition at the CSIR
-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology's TRUE campus in Salt Lake City.
As an example, Muraleedharan cited a lithium ion
battery manufacturing project in Chennai which is a
collaboration of several CSIR labs, including CGCRI.
"My lab has contributed towards the ceramic
separator component of the battery. We realise that if we
work together, we can achieve much more than what each
person can do.
The manufacturing is at a prototype level and the
final product cost will be cheaper by half of the price of
the imported product," he said.
According to CSIR-IICB Director Samit
Chattopadhyay, the focus is on working with industry on a
"war footing."
"We are trying to find ways how our chemists and
biologists can work on a war footing with industry to
come up with 10 products in the next two to three years," he said. Chattopadhyay said each lab has zeroed-in on
10 problems to be taken up over the next two years and will work on them under "mission mode programme" to
deliver products in short timelines.
courtesy: IANS
October, 2017
.
2
Indian American Science Whiz Kids among 2017 Broadcom MASTERS Finalists The Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science & the Public Sept. 20 announced the 2017 Broadcom
MASTERS competition finalists, which included at least seven Indian American and South Asian American
middle school students. A total of 30 kids were chosen as finalists, which were selected by a panel of
distinguished scientists and engineers from among the Top 300 MASTERS and 2,499 applicants representing 49
states and 4 U.S. territories, and 1 military base abroad, in the seventh year of the science, technology,
engineering and math competition. The finalists include 15 boys and 15 girls from 17 states representing 30
schools. “I’m thrilled to see that for the second year in a row we have an equal number of male and female
Broadcom MASTERS competitors,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science & the
Public and publisher of Science News. “I am proud that the Society for Science & the Public, along with the
Broadcom Foundation, is able to inspire and support such extraordinary young people.” Added Paula Golden,
president of the Broadcom Foundation, "These talented young scientists, mathematicians and engineers, whose
projects range from computer science and mechanical engineering to microbiology and sustainability, are part of
the generation that will solve the grand challenges we face today.”
Among the Indian American students selected as finalists include Meghna
Behari, Mithra Karamchedu, Arjun Moorthy, Sanjay Seshan, Aryansh Shrivastava,
Annika Viswesh and Pujita Tangirala.
Behari, an eighth grader at Marshall Middle School in Wexford, Penn., was
chosen for her project, “Aquabot: An Integrated Modular Platform for Testing and
Monitoring Surface Water Quality.” Karamchedu, a seventh grader at Stoller
Middle School in Portland, Ore., was selected as a finalist for his project, "Remote
Sensing the Ablation or Accumulation of a Glacier By Using Fractal Analysis on
Glacier Images." Moorthy, an eighth grader at BASIS Scottsdale school in Scottsdale, Ariz., was selected as a
finalist for the project, "Can Technology Be Used To Modify Behavior and Reduce Rates of Melanoma."
Pittsburgh, Penn.-based Dorseyville Middle School eighth grader Seshan was selected as a national finalist for
his project, "Keeping Our Heads Above Water: Early Detection of Stress in Buried Water Pipes." Shrivastava, a
seventh grade student at Fremont, Calif.-based William Hopkins Junior High School, was selected for his
project, "A Microcontroller Based, Programmable, Elderly Healthcare Activity Monitoring System with
Intelligent Data Analytics for Early Emergency Detection and Alerts." Viswesh, a seventh grade student at
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Stratford School-Sunnyvale Raynor Middle School, was chosen for the project, "Oculus
Patch Assistant: A Novel Method to Simplify and Improve the Effectiveness of Amblyopia Treatment by Using
a Smart Sensor, a Smartphone Application, and Predictive Machine Learning Algorithms." And Tangirala, a
seventh grader from San Jose, Calif.-based Challenger School-Strawberry Park, was selected as a finalist for her
project, "A Green, Low-Cost Adsorbent for the Removal of Dye from Aqueous Solutions." Broadcom
MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars), a program founded and
produced by the Society for Science & the Public, seeks to inspire young scientists, engineers and innovators
who will solve the grand challenges of the future. Winners will be announced Oct. 24 in Washington, D.C.,
following a competition that will test the finalists’ abilities in STEM, critical thinking, communication, creativity
and collaboration. courtesy: http://www.indiawest.com
.
3
10 Mathematical inventions in ancient India that changed the world
By Ayush Mathematics is the science that deals with the logic of shape, quantity, and arrangement. Math is all around us,
in everything we do. It is the building block for everything in our daily lives, including mobile devices,
architecture (ancient and modern), art, money, engineering, and even sports. It represents It represents a high
level of abstraction attained by the human mind. In India, mathematics has its roots in the Vedic literature which
is nearly 4000 years old. Between 1000 B.C. and 1000 A.D. various treatises on mathematics were authored by
Indian mathematicians in which were set forth for the first time, the concept of zero, the techniques of algebra
and algorithm, square root and cube root. There are various examples
of mathematics from ancient India that are applied even today.
1. Zero
If it weren’t for Indian mathematician-astronomer Aryabhatta, there
wouldn’t have been a number zero. Though people have always
understood the concept of nothing or having nothing, the concept of
zero is relatively new; it fully developed in India around the fifth
century A.D. Before then, mathematicians struggled to perform the simplest arithmetic calculations. Today, zero
- both as a symbol (or numeral) and a concept meaning the absence of any quantity - allows us to perform
calculus, do complicated equations, and to have invented computers. ‘The zero is widely seen as one of the
greatest innovations in human history, is the cornerstone of modern mathematics and physics, plus the spin-off
technology,’ said Peter Gobets, secretary of the ZerOrigIndia Foundation, or the Zero Project.
2. Algebra
As much as the students hate it today, India has had big contributions in the field of Algebra in the ancient times.
In ancient India, conventional mathematics termed Ganitam was known before the development of algebra. This
is borne out by the name Bijaganitam, which was given to the algebraic form of computation. Bijaganitam
means ‘the other mathematics’ (Bija means another or second and Ganitam means mathematics). In India,
around the 5th century A.D., a system of mathematics that made astronomical calculations easy was developed.
In those times its application was limited to astronomy as its pioneers were Astronomers. As astronomical
calculations are complex and involve many variables that go into the derivation of unknown quantities. Algebra
is a short-hand method of calculation and by this feature, it scores over conventional arithmetic.
3. Trigonometry
Though Trigonometry goes back to the Greek period, the character of
the subject started to resemble modern form only after the time of
Aryabhata. From here it went to Europe through the Arabs and went
into several modifications to reach its present form. In ancient times
Trigonometry was considered a part of astronomy. Three functions
.
4
were introduced: jya, kojya and ukramajya. The first one is r sina where r is the radius of the circle and sina is
the angle subtended at the center. The second one is r cosa and the third one is r (1 - cosa). By taking the
radius of the circle to be 1, we get the modern trigonometric functions. Various relationships between the sine of
an arc and its integral and fractional multiples were used to construct sine tables for different arcs lying between
0 and 90°.
4. Decimal System and Quadratic Formula
In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 CE
to 1600 CE), important contributions were made by
scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Mahāvīra,
Bhaskara II, Madhava of Sangamagrama and
Nilakantha Somayaji. The decimal number system in
worldwide use today was first recorded in Indian
mathematics. It was in 7th century CE when Brahmagupta found the first general formula for solving quadratic
equations. The decimal system (or the Hindu number system), which was a precursor of the Arabic numeric sys-
tem, was developed in India between the 1st and 6th centuries CE.
5. Fibonacci Numbers
The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers
where a number is found by adding up the two
numbers before it. Starting with 0 and 1, the
sequence goes 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and
so forth. It was first described by Virahanka,
Gopala, and Hemachandra as an outgrowth of earlier writings by Pingala.
6. Length
Rulers are believed to have been used by the Indus Valley Civilization prior to 1500 BCE. Made of ivory, the
rulers found during excavation, reveal the amazing accuracy of decimal subdivisions on it. The people of the
ndus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time. They were among the first to
develop a system of uniform weights and measures. A comparison of available objects indicates large scale
variation across the Indus territories. Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal
in Gujarat, was approximately 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age.
7. Weights
The history of measurement systems in India begins in early Indus Valley Civilization with the earliest surviving
samples dated to the 5th millennium BCE. Since early times the adoption of standard weights and measures has
reflected in the country’s architectural, folk, and metallurgical artifacts. A complex system of weights and
measures was adopted by the Maurya empire (322–185 BCE), which also formulated regulations for the usage
of this system. Later, the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) used standard measures to determine land holdings and
.
5
collect the land tax as a part of Mughal land reforms. A total of 558 weights were excavated from Mohenjodaro,
Harappa, and Chanhu-Daro, not including defective weights. They did not find statistically significant
differences between weights that were excavated from five different layers, each measuring about 1.5 m in
depth. This was evidence that strong control existed for at least a 500-year period. The 13.7-g weight seems to
be one of the units used in the Indus valley. The notation was based
on the binary and decimal systems. 83% of the weights which were
excavated from the above three cities were cubic, and 68% were
made of chert.
8. Geometry
Indian mathematicians had their contribution even in the area of Geometry. There was an area of mathematical
applications called Rekha Ganita (Line Computation). The Sulva Sutras, which literally mean ‘Rule of Chord’
give geometrical methods of constructing altars and temples. The temple layouts were called Mandalas. Some of
the important works in this field are by Apastamba, Baudhayana, Hiranyakesin, Manava, Varaha, and Vadhula.
9. Infinite Series
Kerala mathematicians produced rules for second order interpolation to calculate intermediate sine values. The
Kerala mathematician Madhava may have discovered the sine and cosine series about three hundred years before
Newton. In this sense, we may consider Madhava to have been the founder of mathematical analysis. Madhava
(circa 1340 - 1425 A.D.) was the first to take decisive
step from the finite procedures of ancient Indian
mathematics to treat their limit-passage to infinity. His
contributions include infinite-series expansions of
circular and trigonometric functions and finite-series
approximations. His power series for p and for sine and
cosine functions is referred to by later writers.
10. Binary Code
Binary numbers form the basis for the operation of computers. Binary numbers were discovered in the west by
German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz in 1695. However, new evidence proves that binary numbers were
used in India prior to 2nd century A.D., more than 1500 years before their discovery in the west. The source of
this discovery is a text of music by Pingala named ‘Chhandahshastra’ meaning science of meters. This text falls
under the category of ‘Sutra’ or aphorismic statements. Detailed
discussions of these short but profound statements are found in later
commentaries. ‘Chhandahshastra’ can be conservatively dated to 2nd
century A.D. The main commentaries on ‘Chhandahshastra’ are
‘Vrittaratnakara’ by Kedara in probably 8th century, ‘Tatparyatika’
by Trivikrama in the 12th century and ‘Mritasanjivani’ by Halayudha
in the 13th century. courtesy: https://detechter.com
.
10
Last decade, over half of Shanti Swarup winners from three institutions, just seven women
amongst awardees
The awards, first constituted in 1958, are the country’s most coveted recognition for scientists and are given an-
nually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Over 50% of the 113 scientists who received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and
Technology between 2007 and 2017 have been from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research (TIFR), or one of the five oldest Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Of the 113, only
seven have been women scientists.
The awards, first constituted in 1958, are the country’s most coveted recognition for scientists and are
given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). They are awarded to scientists below
the age of 45 who have made “outstanding contributions to human knowledge and progress - fundamental and
applied” in the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine, physics and environmental
science. This year, 10 young scientists, including two working in the field of cancer, were selected for the awards.
An analysis by The Indian Express of the awards shows that 58 of the 113 winners over the last decade
have been from the IISc (25 winners), TIFR (16) and the five IITs (17) - a testament to the fact that these
institutions remain the leaders when it comes to nurturing research and attracting talent. There has been at least
one winner each year from IISc in the last decade, with as many as four in 2009 alone.
This year, there were two winners from IISc – Aloke Paul and Neelesh B Mehta. Paul’s work on materials
engineering and Mehta’s on next-generation wireless communication systems were awarded in the engineering
sciences category. The remaining 55 scientists
represented 32 institutions some of them CSIR
institutes, central universities or private research
facilities.
Among the IITs, scientists from IIT-
Kanpur were awarded seven times over the last
decade, followed by IIT-Madras (4), IIT-Delhi
(3), IIT-Kharagpur (2) and IIT-Bombay (1).
None of the other 18 IITs have ever made it to
the list. While scientists from TIFR-Mumbai
bagged 11 awards over the last decade, those
from TIFR-Pune and TIFR-Bengaluru won five awards.
CSIR, however, categorically states that only “science” is discussed when the advisory committee meets
to discuss nominations. “The advisory committees for each year’s award are constituted with the approval of the
Chairman of the governing body of CSIR. The committees consist of at least six experts, including at least one
former Bhatnagar awardee in the respective discipline,” states the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award website.
CSIR’s principal scientist Dr Inderpal Singh, who has been associated with the awards since 1999, said,
“Once we scrutinise each nomination, it is often peer-reviewed and then we seek comments from national and
international referees. The nominations are then circulated to members of the advisory committee.
There is a healthy discussion during meetings. There is no discussion on which institution the scientist works at
.
11
or who is his or her mentor. Only science is discussed.” Bharat Ratna recipient Professor C N R Rao, who
received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in 1969, and subsequently served on the committee that vetted
nominations said, “The selection of awardees over the years reveals that we have not searched for talent all over
India. I think the committee should be more careful and objective while choosing scientists.”
Only 16 women have won the award since its inception in 1958 and seven of those in the last decade. The
first award given to a woman scientist was in 1961, after which, over a span of 46 years, only nine women
received the award. Three women won in 2010: Subha Tole from TIFR-Mumbai in the biological sciences
category, Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay from the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata in the engineering science
category and Mitali Mukerji from the Delhi-based CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in the
medical science category.
President Ram Nath Kovind, who spoke at CSIR’s platinum jubilee celebrations on Tuesday, where the
2017 awardees were announced, also pointed to the “distressingly small” participation of women in science.
“Less than two of every 10 scientific researchers in Indian are women. Of those who join the Indian Institutes of
Technology each year, just about 10 per cent are women,” he said. Kovind had appealed to the scientific
community to take “accelerated steps” to promote participation of girl students and women in science and
technology. “These numbers are simply not acceptable” he said.
Courtesy: www.indianexpress.com
.
12
Asima Chatterjee: One of India’s First Woman Doctorates of Science!
This serene bespectacled woman, a world-class scientist, once said, “I wish to
work as long as I live.” Asima’s maiden name was Mokerjee. She grew up in a middle-
class household in Calcutta and was the oldest of two children of Dr. Indra Narayan
Mookerjee and his wife, Kamala Devi. Her younger brother, Sarashi Ranjan
Mookerjee, also came to known as a noteworthy surgeon, and collaborated with
Asima in her research on medicinal plants. It was her father’s love for botany that piqued
Asima’s interest in their medicinal properties.
As a young girl, her parents never restricted Asima from pursuing education. She
completed her graduation with honors in chemistry from Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta in
1936. She moved on to received a master’s degree in organic chemistry in 1938 from the University of Calcutta.
She became the second woman after Janaki Ammal to be earn a Doctorate of Science by an Indian University, i.e
the University of Calcutta in 1944. She researched natural products chemistry and developed leading anti-
convulsive, anti-malarial, and chemotherapy drugs. One of her most successful anti-epileptic drug, ‘Ayush-56’
was developed from Marsilia minuta, while her anti-malarial drug was developed from Alstonia scholaris,
Swrrtia chirata, Picrorphiza kurroa and Ceasalpinna crista. She spent 40 long years researching a class of
compounds called alkaloids. Some of these alkaloids are efficiently used during chemotherapy to prevent the
multiplication of cells in cancer patients. These patented drugs have been widely marketed by several companies.
Asima also chemically analysed coumarins, which essentially came from the bael tree, a native species in
India. It was she who brought to light that the fruits and bark of this tree could treat a variety of gastrointestinal
disorders. In association with Mr. Anjan Palit, a well known personality in chemistry, she became the founding
head of the department of chemistry at Lady Brabourne College of the University of Calcutta. She joined the
University College of Science of the University of Calcutta, as reader in pure chemistry in 1954.
Her numerous achievements include being a Premchand Roychand Scholar of the University of Calcutta
and serving as the Khaira Professor of Chemistry, the most prestigious and coveted chairs of the University of
Calcutta. 1960 marked her election as the Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi. The
following year, she became the first female recipient of the country’s most prestigious science award, the annual
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. Even though the award was first introduced in 1958, but it wasn’t until 1960, that
the ‘chemical sciences’ category was introduced. Asima won the award for her contribution and achievements in
phytomedicine (the study of plant extracts for therapy). It took over 14 years for another woman to win the same
prize, and over 48 years for a woman to win it in the ‘chemical sciences’ category.
In 1972, Asima was appointed the Honorary Coordinator of the Special Assistance
Programme to intensify teaching and research in natural product chemistry,
sanctioned by the UGC, India. She was conferred the prestigious Padma Bhushan
in 1975. She also became the first lady scientist to be elected as the General
President of the Indian Science Congress Association . She was nominated by the
President of India as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from February 1982 to May
1990. She left for her heavenly abode on November 22, 2006. In her lifetime, she
published over 400 papers on Indian medicinal plants and their chemistry. Ashima may have gone, but her legacy
continues to live on. Courtesy: www.thebetterindia.com
Hello Kiddies, Here is
your Answer!!!
1. Mercury
2. Saturn
3. Venus
4. Jupiter
5. Saturn
.
13
"Science is one thing, wisdom is
another. Science is an edged tool,
with which men play like children,
and cut their own fingers .”
Sir Arthur Edington
Discover
VOLUME 03
ISSUE 07, OCT 2017
Compiled & Edited By
Prasanth Nair
Reshmy Krishnakumar
Science International Forum, Kuwait
facebook.com/sifkuwait
For subscription mail to [email protected]
Do You Know!!!
1. In terms of computing, what does ROM stand for?
2. Original Sony PlayStation use CDs/Cartridges to play games ?
3. What is the Earth’s primary source of energy?
4. Computer and Information Technology company, what does
IBM stand for ?
5. Along with whom did Bill Gates found Microsoft it?
You have time till next edition