Newsletter of the Indian Academy of Sciences

Inside...2005 Annual Meeting ........................ 1

2006 Elections ................................... 3

Raman Professor ............................... 5

Special issues .................................... 5

Public Lectures .................................. 8

Discussion Meetings .......................... 9

Refresher Courses ........................... 10

Lecture Workshops .......................... 12

Obituaries ......................................... 14

No. 43 March 2006

The seventy-first Annual Meeting of the Academy was held at BharathidasanUniversity, Tiruchirapalli from November 11 to 13, 2005. A good numberof Fellows – about 120 – and an unusually large number of teacher invitees,many from educational institutions in and around Tiruchirappalli, were present.

2005 Annual Meeting

chemistry”. He surveyed a large number of currently activeresearch areas, including perovskite oxides, colossalmagnetoresistance in manganites, cuprates and their phasediagram, and some theoretical approaches to thesephenomena. As he expressed it, ‘chemical realities andincreasing ability to make and probe things lead to un-expected new worlds’. The older familiar pictures fail inthese new realms, and theorists need to puzzle over newmaterials and new phenomena. The talk succeeded admirablyin bridging physics and chemistry in selected areas.

The opening lecture by the President of the Academy, TV Ramakrishnan, wason “Transition metal oxides: Quantum many-body physics meets solid state

Large audience at the meeting

A special half day Symposium on ‘Physics and Chemistry of Materials’ underthe overall convenership of CNR Rao covered unusually large ground, much

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EDITORN. Mukunda

Published byIndian Academy of SciencesBangalore 560 080, IndiaPhone: (080) 2361 2546, 2361 4592email: office@ias.ernet.in

This newsletter is available on theAcademy website at : www.ias.ac.in/patrika/

To receive a regular copy of theNewsletter, please write to theExecutive Secretary of the Academy(madhavan@ias.ernet.in)

Forthcoming Events –200617th Mid-Year Meeting, Bangalore(14–15 July 2006)

72nd Annual Meeting, Devi AhilyaVishwavidyalaya, Indore(10–12 November 2006)

Refresher CoursesPhylogenetic biologyUniversity of Mysore (10–23 July 2006)

Tensors and their applications inengineering sciencesIISc, Bangalore (1–15 Nov. 2006)

Advanced topics in chemistryLady Doak College, Madurai (Nov. 2006)

Experimental physics course for KeralateachersKerala University, Trivandrum (June 2006)

Lecture WorkshopsExcitements in computational physicaland bio-sciencesIIIT, Hyderabad (12-17 June 2006)

High energy physics, condensedmatter physics and astronomy andastrophysicsMumbai University (October 2006)

of it inaugurated in his own work over the decades. The fivespeakers, all of them close collaborators of the convener, spokeabout manganites, oxide materials, nanomaterials, and open-framework structures. This symposium was capped by a publiclecture titled ‘Science for our future: Personal reflections ondoing science in India’ to a very large audience, at the beautifuland spacious BHEL auditorium, wherein Rao recalled his life-long experiences and challenges, and the impact his work hashad at the international level.

The second Symposium of the meeting on ‘Genomic Landscapeand Structure of the People of India’ was put together by ParthaP Majumder. This fascinating story of the movements of humanpopulations over a few tens of thousands of years, starting inAfrica and passing through India to other parts of the world,showed how DNA and chromosome studies at the microscopiclevel can shed light on questions till recently examined mainlyby archaeological and anthropological methods. In his openingpresentation, Majumder described how female and malepopulation movements are susceptible to separate study andone can reconstruct the entire process of peopling of India.Other speakers covered human prehistory, cultures andmigrations in India from the archaeological viewpoint; genomicapproaches in general and studies of haploid chromosomes inparticular; and what such studies have to say about our pastand what remains to be done. Readers of Patrika are invited tohave a look at a very fine account of these research efforts inan article by Majumder and D Balasubramanian in the January2006 issue of Resonance.

The second public lecture by V Shanta of the Cancer Institute,Chennai was given to another large audience at the

M S Ahluwalia

New Auditorium of Bishop HeberCollege, on the topic ‘Cancercauses and prevention’. Thespeaker, recently honoured by theMagsaysay Award, gave a veryinformative and lucid presentationbringing home the magnitude ofthe burden of cancer in India,including the continuing annualincrease in incidence of various

Q & A Session during CNR Rao’s lecture

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types. Many cancers can be traced to lifestylesand the environment in the widest sense. By thesame token, many of them are preventable, bysuch measures as reducing exposure to cancer–causing factors and changes in personal habits andhygiene.

The first special lecture on ‘Volcanic poisoningand mass extinctions’ by KV Subbarao dealt withevents on the Indian subcontinent over 60 millionyears ago, the Deccan volcanic episode whichcaused global mass extinctions. The disappearanceof dinosaurs may be due to this or, alternatively,to a meteorite impact. Apart from different technicalaspects and impressive pictures of the ‘canyons’ inthe Western Ghats, the speaker also spoke about theimpact of research in India in this field, on a globalscale.

RK Shyamasundar’s special lecture on ‘Computerscience: Scientific and engineering fascinations andchallenges’ dealt with a subject of great currentintellectual as well as technological interest. Theemphasis was rightly on the basic concepts whichhave evolved slowly compared with applications.Ideas such as computability, robustness, universality,Turing machines and artificial intelligence have

2006 ELECTIONSFellows:

considerable subtlety and arenot so easily grasped evenby scientists in other fields.The speaker succeeded inconveying the essence ofthese ideas to a diverseaudience.

Lectures by recently electedFellows and Associates

Banerjee, SoumitroIndian Institute of Technology, KharagpurAreas of interest: Nonlinear dynamics, andelectrical engineering

Basak, AmitIndian Institute of Technology, KharagpurDNA-interacting agents, asymmetricsynthesis, and enzymology

Basu, JoyotiBose Institute, KolkataMolecular microbiology with specialreference to mycobacteria, understandinghost-pathogen interactions, andmembrane biology

Bhat, B. V. RajaramaIndian Statistical Institute, BangaloreQuantum probability, operator algebras andoperator theory

Bhat, G. S.Indian Institute of Science, BangaloreTropical convection, boundary layer andfield studies

Bhattacharya, SamareshJadavpur University, KolkataInorganic chemistry, coordinationchemistry, and organometallic chemistry

Bose, ArupIndian Statistical Institute, KolkataProbability and statistics

Chakravarty, CharusitaIndian Institute of Technology, New DelhiChemical physics, and theoretical andcomputational chemistry

Deb, KalyanmoyIndian Institute of Technology, KanpurOptimization and design, geneticalgorithms, and multiobjectiveoptimisation

Dev, Bhupendra N.Institute of Physics, BhubaneswarSurface & nanoscale physics, X-rayphysics, and ion-solid interactions

covered a wide range from ‘Portal hypertensive blee-ding’ by SK Sarin to ‘Image mining’ by SubhasisChaudhuri, and from ‘Supercooled liquids’ by ShankarDas to ‘Human papillomavirus’ by MR Pillai.

Thanks to the untiring efforts of the local hosts, inparticular M. Lakshmanan and M. Palaniandavar andvolunteers from the university and the severaleducational institutions in the town, the arrangementsfor all aspects of the meeting were excellent.

Cultural Programme as part of the Annual Meeting

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Honorary Fellows

Michael L. KleinUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, USA

Rajasekharan, RamIndian Institute of Science, BangaloreBiological sciences, lipid metabolism, andplant biotechnology

Ramakrishna, B. S.Christian Medical College & Hospital, VelloreGastroenterology/medicine, transportphysiology, and cell biology

Ramakrishnan, S.Indian Institute of Science, BangalorePolymer synthesis, polymer folding andassembly, and hyperbranched polymers

Raychaudhuri, AmitavaHarish-Chandra Research Institute,AllahabadParticle physics

Sengupta, SurajitSN Bose National Centre for BasicSciences, KolkataCondensed matter physics, statisticalmechanics, and materials science

Sonti, Ramesh V.Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology,HyderabadPlant-microbe interactions, plant genetics,and bacterial genetics

Thelma, B. K.University of Delhi, New DelhiHuman genetics, pharmacogenetics, andmedical genomics

Trivedi, Sandip P.Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,MumbaiString theory, particle physics, and quantumfield theory

Visweswariah, Sandhya S.Indian Institute of Science, BangaloreCell biology, protein structure and function,and biochemistry

Ghosh, Swarna KantiTata Institute of Fundamental Research, MumbaiInfrared astronomy, interstellar medium, andastronomical instrumentation

Guru Row, T. N.Indian Institute of Science, BangaloreChemical crystallography, intermolecularinteractions, and polymorphism and drug design

Hasan, GaitiNational Centre for Biological Sciences,BangaloreInositol trisphosphate, and calcium signallingin neuronal physiology

Jayaraman, A.Physical Research Laboratory, AhmedabadAtmospheric science, aerosols, and radiativetransfer

Khurana, Jitendra P.University of Delhi South Campus, New DelhiPhotoperception and signal transduction inplants, structural and functional genomics,and plant hormone action

Kundu, Gopal ChandraNational Centre for Cell Science, PuneSignal transduction, cancer biology, andregulation of gene expression

Majumder, Hemanta K.Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, KolkataBiochemistry, molecular biology, andparasitology

Mandal, ChitraIndian Institute of Chemical Biology, KolkataGlycobiology, immunobiology, andglycoimmunology

Mandal, NibirJadavpur University, KolkataStructural geology, and tectonics

Puri, SanjayJawaharlal Nehru University, New DelhiStatistical physics, condensed matterphysics, and nonlinear dynamics

Ranajit ChakrabortyUniversity of CincinnatiOhio, USA

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RAMAN PROFESSORProf. Anne McLaren is aPrincipal Research Associateof The Wellcome Trust andCancer Research Institute atthe University of Cambridge inUK as well as a Member of theEuropean Molecular BiologyOrganization (EMBO). Shevisited India as the twenty-third Raman Professor of the

Academy during the period November – December 2005.McLaren is a distinguished mammalian geneticist, anauthority on early mammalian development and has mademajor contributions to our understanding of mammaliandevelopment, especially its genetic and epigeneticunderpinnings. Her research has ranged widely overdevelopmental biology, reproductive biology, and geneticsincluding molecular genetics, using the laboratory mouseas a model. She was the head of the MRC Unit onmammalian development for over 25 years and receivedsome of the world’s highest scientific honours. She hasbeen an adviser to the UK Government on policiesconcerning human embryo technology and stem biology.During her visit to India she was based at the IndianInstitute of Science and visited and lectured at Bangaloreand Hyderabad.

AsteroseismologyGuest Editor: Ram Sagar and S SeethaJournal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, Vol. 26, Nos. 2/3, June/September 2005, pp. 117–357

Stars have been observed for ages. It is only recentlythat we have been able to study the interiors of thestars. Stars oscillate, exhibiting pulsations – differentstars pulsating in different ways – and the study of theinteriors of stars by studying these pulsations is termed‘Asteroseismology’ similar to the seismology of Earthwhere the Earth’s interior is understood by studying theoscillations during an earthquake.

There are several stars which exhibit pulsations: theclassical Cepheids, the Sun, rapidly oscillating Apstars, delta-Scuti variables, beta-Cep stars, white dwarfvariables, sub-dwarf B stars, etc. For some stars, theobservations and theoretical interpretations havebeen going hand in hand, whereas for some, theoreticalexplanations of observed frequencies are currentlynot possible, and in some others observationsindicate a lack of oscillations where they are theoreti-cally predicted. An international workshop on

asteroseismology was organized by the AryabhattaResearch Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES)at Nainital in December 2004. The workshop held tocoincide with the golden jubilee of the Institute wasprimarily to discuss the current maturity in the field andunderstand as many types of stellar oscillators aspossible.

This special issue comprises a collection of refereedand accepted papers based on the presentations at theworkshop.

Chemical reactivityGuest Editor: PK ChattarajJournal of Chemical Sciences, Vol. 117, No. 5,September 2005, pp. 359–616

Considering the importance of chemical reactivity andits strong foundations within a conceptual densityfunctional theory (DFT) framework this special volumewas brought out. Leading experts in this field fromacross the globe contributed papers on diverse aspectsof reactivity theory.

These papers cover the whole gamut of topics withina DFT parlance encompassing different systems suchas clay-type inorganic materials, boron porphyrincomplexes, zeolites and hypervalent silicon compounds,as well as various concepts such as electronlocalization function, molecular quantum similarity,condensed atomic indices, Coulomb holes, reactantresolution, higher order energy derivatives, excitationenergy, charge sensitivity, reaction force, electronpropagators, separability and N-representability. Thereare also contributions which deal with intramolecularhydrogen shifts, cycloaddition reactions, interactionsamong toxins and biosystems, and electronegativityequalization. Two papers by Ralph G Pearson andRobert G Parr give a personal account of the evolutionof the hardness concept. Parr in his article sets outfourteen problems in DFT.

Nanoscience and technologyGuest Editors: AK Sood, KN Ganesh, CS Sundar andAK RaychaudhuriPramana, Vol. 65, No. 4, October 2005, pp. 547–748

SPECIAL ISSUES

The dawn of 21st century ismarked by the birth of a newscience Nanoscience and theemanating Nanotechnology.Nanostructures are intermediatein size between molecular andmesoscopic structures (lengthscale up to ~100 nm). As aresult, they are uniquely suitedfor detailed atomic-level engi-neering. Viewed as molecules,they are so large that they provide access to realmsof quantum behaviour that are not otherwise accessible;

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viewed as materials, they are so small that they exhibitcharacteristics that are not observed in larger structures.They combine small size and complex organizationalpatterns with the potential for very high packing densitiesand strong lateral interactions. Individual nanostructuresinvolve clusters, quantum dots, nanoparticles, nanowiresand nanotubes; collections of nanostructures involvearrays, assemblies and superlattices.

The uniqueness of the physics, chemistry, structuralresponse and dynamics of the nanostructures constitutesthe essential motivation for studying nanomaterials. Theirelectronic and magnetic characteristics are oftendominated by quantum behaviour. They are emergingas key components in information technology deviceswith unprecedented functions. Many clear applicationsfor nanotools and nanostructures are already evidentand are targets of several emerging technologydevelopment programmes. Successful applications ofnanoscience and nanotechnology require a fundamentalunderstanding of properties of isolated individualnanostructures and ensembles, design and constructionof nanoscale building blocks, interconnections to achievenew functions, bio-inspired fabrication of functionalnanosystems and physics of molecular electronics.

Some of the nanotechnology products comprise of high-density information storage devices, new protectivecoatings for corrosion/erosion resistance, thin layersfor optical filtering and thermal barriers, nanostructuredpolymers and catalysts, highly porous, sponge-likematerials and aerogels for catalysis and energyapplications, sensors for detecting pico and femtomolesof substances, self-assembled systems and lithographsetc. Development of tools and techniques forcharacterizing nanostructures is also a challenging area.Nanoscience and nanotechnology thus uniquely combinethe concepts of engineering physics, materialschemistry and biology into making functional devicesof unimaginable versatility for a variety of health,societal, and environmental applications.

Keeping in pace with the global nanotechnologycompetition, the Department of Science andTechnology, New Delhi launched a national programme‘Nanoscience and technology initiative’ to focus on theoverall research and development in this area and createadvanced facilities encompassing universities, nationallaboratories and industry so that India can become asignificant global player in this area and help bring theproducts of technology to the benefit of people.

This special volume which appeared in two issues ofPramana presents peer-reviewed contributions in thearea of Nanoscience by various researchers supportedby the programme during the past two years andpresented at the First National Conference onNanoscience and Technology held at NCL, Pune duringMarch 2005.

Exploration and utilization of the MoonGuest Editor: N BhandariJournal of Earth System Science, Vol. 114, No.6,December 2005, pp. 573–822

An International Conferenceon Exploration and Utilizationof the Moon (ICEUM-6),sixth in the series, was heldduring November 2004 atUdaipur, Rajasthan under theaegis of the InternationalLunar Exploration WorkingGroup (ILEWG). Thisconference was organized ata time of renewed interestin the exploration of the Moon and a large number oflunar missions were being planned. This new era startedwith the SMART-1 mission of European Space Agency(ESA) which attained a lunar orbit on 15 November2004, just before the conference, exhibiting the successof the ion propulsion system. This mission is expectedto be followed by Lunar-A and SELENE by Japan,Chandrayaan-1 by India, Chang’E by China and theLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) by USA duringthe next few years. There will thus be a continuouspresence on the Moon till the end of this decade, andpossibly a permanent presence during the next decade,offering excellent opportunities for internationalcollaboration. The ILEWG endeavours to optimize thescientific and technical outcome of these variousmissions by facilitating international collaboration andby debating priorities, problems and strategies.

The main themes of the Udaipur Conference en-compassed all scientific aspects of the Moon —robotics, engineering, space flight dynamics, navigationand control, lunar exploration programmes of variousInternational Space Agencies (ESA, ISRO, Russia,NASA, JAXA and China), first results from ESA’s SMART-1 mission, programmes of future lunar exploration (Lunar-A, SELENE, Chandrayaan-1 and Chang’E missions anddevelopment for lunar bases) and next generationscience and technology missions to the Moon. Aprogramme, specifically for young lunar explorers, andreviews and results from previous missions such asClementine and Lunar Prospector were also included.

In addition, round table discussions on sciencequestions and priorities, international collaboration andMoon–Mars roadmap and technology and resourceutilization were held. The conference issued a jointdeclaration known as the Udaipur Declaration.

The present volume contains 29 papers accepted aftera review process. These papers include topics such as

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origin and early evolution of the Moon, orbital dynamics,science on the Moon, results of Clementine mission,new missions to the Moon, e.g. Lunar-A, SELENE,Chandrayaan-1, Chang’E, and Telerobotic explorationsof the Moon.

International Vortex WorkshopGuest Editors: SK Malik, AK Grover and SN BhatiaPramana, Vol. 66, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 1–312

The idea of this special issueon vortex state studiesoriginated when the TenthInternational Vortex Workshop(IVW-10) was being plannedto be held at TIFR, Mumbaiduring January 2005. Normallyno formal proceedings ofsuch workshops were beingbrought out but it was feltthat it would benefit the

scientific community if articles on contemporary subjectin the area of vortex physics are published. There wasenthusiastic response to this idea resulting in theemergence of this issue which hopefully is timely anduseful to the scientific community at large, speciallythe young researchers.

The vortex state refers to the mixed phase ofsuperconductors, where the magnetic field permeatesand microscopically sub-divides the specimen into normalcylindrical regions surrounded by circulating supercurrentsin the form of vortices. A superconductor in a magneticfield can sustain large current density without dissipationof heat only if the vortices do not move around and/orstart flowing. Though the vortex state studies havebeen on for a long time, the discovery of hightemperature superconductivity gave a fresh impetus tothis field. This discovery in metallic copper oxide systemsin 1987 raised the hope that these materials wouldtransform the electrical power and the microelectronicsindustry. However, insurmountable difficulties in devisinginnovative ways to prevent the movement of vortices atboiling point of liquid nitrogen in the high temperaturesuperconductors slowed down their development fornovel applications.

The discovery of high temperature superconductivity gavean opportunity to a large section of the community ofcondensed matter physicists, statistical physicists,material scientists and engineers to study the vortex statein a variety of materials. The appearance of a verycomprehensive and timely article in Reviews ofModern Physics in 1994 further attracted the attentionof researchers in this area of physics, culminatingin the holding of Workshops on Vortex Dynamics. Thenumber of researchers working in this area has

steadily increased as gauged by the number ofprospective participants in such workshops. The Nobelprize in Physics for the year 2003 was awarded to AAAbrikosov, who pioneered the idea of vortex state insuperconductors.

This special issue presents twenty six articles on avariety of areas in vortex research. It includes a reviewon experimental results in vortices in dilute Bose –Einstein condensates which is a new topic added tothe deliberations of the tenth vortex workshop.

Metal oxides and related materialsGuest Editors: S Natarajan and TN Guru RowJournal of Chemical Sciences, Vol. 118, No. 1,January 2006 pp. 1–154

This special issue contains a collection of articlescontributed by participants of an international conferenceon “Recent development in metal oxides and relatedmaterials” held in Bangalore during January 2006, jointlyorganized by the Solid State and Structural ChemistryUnit of IISc and the JNCASR. It contains sixteen articleson a variety of topics in chemical sciences which lie atthe forefront of current international activity. The topicsinclude: carbon nanotubes, fluorescence resonanceenergy transfer, nanoparticle synthesis, magnetictransport properties of rare earth manganates, lead-acidbattery, density matrix renormalization group theory, ionicconduction, electronic homogeneity of ordered doubleperovskities, synthesis by molten salt method, layeredhydroxides and its fictionalization, low–dimensionalphenylarsonates, polyoxovanadates, layered vanadiumphosphates and bismuth tungstates. The editors believethat the diversity and range of topics would make thisvolume useful to many practitioners of chemical sciences.

Vindhyan geologyGuest Editors: JS Ray and C ChakrabortyJournal of Earth System Science, Vol. 115, No. 1,February 2006 pp. 1–184

Several significant events inearth history occurred duringthe Proterozoic Era affectingthe lithosphere, atmosphereand the biosphere. Coveringalmost two billion years ofgeologic time, the ProterozoicEra witnessed the formationof stable continents, anoxygenated atmosphere,evolution of multicellular life

and extensive glaciations. India has been an integralpart of the supercontinents prior to Gondwanaland, andhosts several Proterozoic sedimentary successions thatcontain information on ancient depositional environmentsand processes. The Vindhyan supergroup of central and

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Soap bubbles and crystalsJean Taylor(New York University, USA)19 October 2005, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore

PUBLIC LECTURES

western India is one such major sedimentarysuccession. With a rock record that embraces much ofgeological time and space, the Vindhyans have beenextensively studied over the last few decades. However,it is particularly the last few years that have seen asurge of research on these rocks, in part because ofa couple of contentious fossil discoveries with profoundimplications.

It was therefore felt that a comprehensive volumeincluding the recent advances in Vindhyan geologywould be valuable in bringing about a betterunderstanding of the development of this greatsuccession and the global implications of variousdiscoveries. This special issue contains eleven peer-reviewed research papers that cover many aspects ofthe Vindhyans. The main goals of this multidisciplinaryresearch volume are to: (a) evaluate and synthesizethe large quantity of data available from earlierstudies; (b) present new data, ideas and methods toresolve the outstanding issues; and (c) identify thefuture areas for research.

The papers in this volume deal with the stratigraphyand sedimentology of the Vindhyan rocks on thepaleobiology, on the new stable isotope data from thecarbonate formations in the Son valley, the results ofa seismic reflection study in the Vindhyans of Rajasthan,a review of the recent geochronology of the Vindhyansequences and the petrological and geochemicalaspects of kimberlitic rocks that intrude the Vindhyansupergroup.

The arrow of timeJoel L Lebowitz(The State University of New Jersey, USA)17 November 2005, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

In the world about us the past is distinctly different fromthe future. Milk spills but doesn’t unspill; eggs splatterbut do not unsplatter; waves break but do not unbreak;we always grow older, never younger. These processesall move in one direction in time – they are called “time-irreversible” and define the arrow of time. It is thereforevery surprising that the relevant fundamental laws ofnature make no such distinction between the past andthe future. This leads to a great puzzle – if the laws ofnature permit all processes to be run backwards in time,why don’t we observe them doing so? Why does a videoof an egg splattering run backwards look ridiculous? Putanother way: how can time-reversible motions of atomsand molecules, the microscopic components of materialsystems, give rise to the observed time-irreversiblebehaviour of our everyday world? The resolution of thisapparent paradox was the subject of this talk.

A shock wave cosmologyBlake Temple(University of California, USA)23 January 2006, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

In this talk the speaker discussed a model of cosmologythat refines the standard model of cosmology (based onthe Friedmann universe) by the incorporation of a shockwave. The model explores the possibility that theexplosion of the Big Bang that caused the outward motionof the galaxies, was an explosion of finite total mass,instead of the infinite mass explosion inherent in thestandard model. In the shock wave model, which is basedon the author’s recent joint work with J. Smoller, theexplosion of the Big Bang generates an outgoing,spherical, entropy satisfying shock wave that emergesfrom the centre of the explosion at the instant of the BigBang, (something like the blast wave of a nuclearexplosion), and the expanding galaxies correspond to theregion inside the wave. One of the main consequencesof this model is that when the shock wave is far enoughout to be consistent with astronomical observations,(beyond one Hubble length – the distance light can travelsince the Big Bang explosion), the whole explosion beginsinside a (time reversed) Black Hole – a White Hole inwhich everything is exploding outward instead ofcollapsing inward. In the shock wave model, the universeeventually emerges from the Black Hole, and from thenon expands like the famous Oppenheimer – Snydersolution – a finite ball of matter expanding into emptyspace. We are inside the explosion, but to an observer inthe far field beyond the shock wave, the end stage of theexplosion would look like a giant supernova. It also followsfrom our model that information about the shock wave

Creating a mathematicalmodel for soap bubbleclusters required thedevelopment of a newsubject, Geometric MeasureTheory. It was only in 1976that the “rules for bubbles”observed a century beforewere actually proved. Theinternal structure of metals,

ceramics, and other materials is related to soapbubble clusters, but has many more features. Currentresearch involves shrinking, slipping, sliding, androtating crystals.

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DISCUSSION MEETINGS

propagates inward from the shock wave, into a largeshadow region of uniform expansion at the centre of theexplosion – and to an observer (like us) on the inside ofthis shadow region, everything looks exactly like theFriedmann universe up until the time when the shockwave comes into view from the farthest field ofobservations. That is, in the shadow region, up until thetime when the shock wave comes into view, everythinglooks the same as in the standard model. Other interestingconsequences of the shock wave model include theunexpected emergence of the correct equation of stateat the Big Bang, the breaking of the time symmetry bythe entropy condition, and interesting mathematicalconsequences of the reversal of space and time insidethe Black Hole. In this talk the speaker gave anintroduction to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, andthen discussed this shock wave cosmology within thiscontext. The talk began and ended with a computervisualization of our model due to Zeke Vogler.

Brighter than a million suns: theFERMI @Elettra projectCarlo Rizzuto(University of Genova and Ellettra Laboratory, Trieste)1 February 2006, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

The FERMI@Elettra international project is developinga light source, using Einstein’s equivalence betweenmass and energy, to produce light flashes billions of timesmore brilliant than any present technique, spanning overall colours, and with a time structure allowing to film thebehaviour of materials down to atomic levels.

The light will be generated by a “free electron laser”, basedon electrons travelling near the speed of light, sheddingpart of their mass-energy in a coherent way, whenstimulated by magnetic forces. The continuousimprovement in the capability of studying, understandingand designing new materials has allowed the developmentof new products, from metallic bearings or catalysers tomicrochips and medical drugs, and has been a maincomponent of the knowledge fuelling the most impressiveand durable industrial and economic growth of the lastcenturies.

The study and modification of materials, down to theindividual atoms, requires the use of “probes” either tocapture the information on how the various qualities arise,or to manipulate them. One of the most powerful probesis the light, “reading” the inside of materials or “writing”lithographies.

The development of FERMI will allow to explore andmodify materials, with a time and space resolution thatcould not be thought of until recently and is expected toopen entirely new frontiers.

Reflections on the legacy ofHarish-ChandraRobert P. Langlands(Institute for Advanced Study, USA)20 March 2006, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

This lecture was an attempt to understand Harish-Chandra’s place in the mathematical firmament. Harish-Chandra made outstanding contributions to harmonicanalysis on reductive groups. His research centredaround the study of semi-simple Lie groups andLie algebras and he created a theory which hadimplications for many domains from geometry tonumber theory. Harish-Chandra was a Fellow of theAcademy and died in 1983 when he was sixty.

Instructional Workshop onOperator Theory and OperatorAlgebrasIndian Statistical Institute/Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore12–17 December 2005

The workshop consisted of a short course on Lie groupsand representation theory (by A Sitaram). H Upmeierpresented a survey of Toeplitz operator algebras onbounded symmetric domains. There were a variety oflectures on topics from Banach space geometry, modeltheory, operator algebras, Hopf algebras and harmonicanalysis. An interesting lecture by M Putinar on relationsbetween positivity and decompositions of polynomialsas sums of squares was also held. This workshoppreceded an international conference on “Operator theoryand operator algebras” which was held from December19 to 22, 2005.

Intracellular calcium signallingOrange County, Coorg30 November – 4 December 2005

This international meeting held at Orange County wasattended by participants from six countries, with a majorityfrom India. The meeting was timed to coincide with recentrapid advances in the area of calcium signalling triggeredby emerging post-genomic technologies. A Rao (Harvard)presented her work on the use of RNAi screeningtechnologies to discover novel components of the cellularcalcium signalling circuit. R Lewis (Stanford) spoke onthe function of one such component STIM, in sensingand regulating intracellular calcium. K Rao (ICGEB, NewDelhi) discussed the link between calcium and cell death

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signals in the immune system followed by D Clapham(Harvard) who discussed the function of a novel calciumchannel (Catsper) in regulating cell motility. Mike Berridge(Cambridge) and Ole Petersen (Liverpool) providedhistorical perspectives on the development of the fieldand their visions for its future in the light of recentdevelopments. There were other talks on the functionof calcium in physiological systems such as vision by(KW-Yau, Johns Hopkins and RC Hardie, Cambridge),insect flight (Gaiti Hasan, NCBS, Bangalore), olfactionby K Stortkuhl (Germany), A Fiala (Germany) andV Rodrigues (TIFR, Mumbai) and animal development(N Spitzer, UCSD; K Mikoshiba, Japan; A Millar, HongKong; T Schwarz , Harvard). Lectures on novel functionalaspects of several molecules that are central to calciumsignalling were delivered by CW Taylor (Cambridge),R Dolmetsch (Stanford), T Shuttleworth (Rochester),A Galione (Oxford), R Padinjat (Cambridge) and C Montell(John Hopkins). There were excellent contributions fromyounger scientists drawn from the participants. Inconclusion the meeting drew together a number ofemerging threads on the molecules that mediate theeffects of calcium in cellular physiology.

REFRESHERCOURSES

Theoretical PhysicsSB College, ChanganasserySeptember 19 – 30, 2005

No. of participants: 28

Course Director: S Chaturvedi (Univ. of Hyderabad)Course Co-ordinator: C A Xavier (St. Berchmans College,Changanacherry)

Resource persons: N Mukunda (IISc, Bangalore);S Chaturvedi (Univ. of Hyderabad); R Simon andR Jagannathan (Inst. of Math. Sci., Chennai) andV Balakrishnan (IIT, Madras)

Theoretical physics is one of the toughest areas inphysics, which is often ignored by students as well as

teachers. A better understanding of the subject providesequal importance to both theory and experiment. Equippingthe teaching community with all the aspects of theoreticalphysics is, therefore, very important in physics education.This course was organized keeping this in mind.

The topics of the course included: tensor analysis andrelativity, group theory and applications, nonlineardynamics, and integral transforms. The programmeconsisted of three 90 min lectures in the morning followedby two tutorial sessions in the afternoon. There were alsocommon lectures of a more general nature. Theparticipants were given course materials and books ontheoretical physics.

The teacher participants represented institutions fromAlappuzha, Kolkata, Changanacherry, Chennai, Delhi,Kochi, Kollam, Mumbai, Parumala, Perambalur, Puttur,Sivakasi, Solapur, and Trichy,

Probability, stochastic processesand applicationsCochin University of Science and Technology,KochiSeptember 26 – October 7, 2005

No. of participants: 38

Course Director: M K Ghosh (Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore)

Course Co-ordinator: A Krishnamoorthy (CUSAT, Kochi)

Resource persons: B Rajeev and S Ramasubramanian(ISI, Bangalore); B Krishnakumar (Anna University,Chennai); RP Pakshirajan (Bangalore); MK Ghosh andSrikanth K Iyer (IISc, Bangalore); A Krishnamoorthy andMN Narayanan Namboodiri (CUSAT, Kochi).

The schedule of the course included one lecture of90 min duration with four sessions each day. The lecturetopics covered probability measure on metric spaces,stochastic models, stochastic calculus, deterministic andstochastic control, queueing theory, Toeplitz and quasi –Toeplitz matrices, probability theory, and stochasticdifferential equations.

Each participant received a copy of the books by BOksendal, by SM Doss and by KL Chung and FaridAitsahlia.

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The teachers were from Assam,Bhagalpur, Bodinayakanur, Burdwan,Chennai, Cheyyar, Chittoor, Coimba-tore, Guwahati, Kannur, Kochi,Kolenchery, Kollam, Kottayam,Madurai, Palakkad, Pattambi,Rajampet, Tiruchirappalli and Thiru-vananthapuram.

Foundation course inphysics and

(Bangalore University) PV Joseph (Kochi); BH Subbaraya,V Jayaraman and G Viswanathan (ISRO, Bangalore).

The teacher participants were from Allahabad, Anjar,Bangalore, Chennapatna, Chikballapur, Ernakulam,Guwahati, Hoshiarpur, Jhansi, Jharkhand, Kakinada,Kanchipuram, Kannur, Karaikudi, Malout, Mangalore, NewDelhi, Pudukottai, Pune, Rewa, Srinagar, T.Kallikulam,Tirunelveli, Tumkur.

Extracts from the report

As teaching of atmospheric physics is not widespread inthe country, the philosophy of this course was to introduceimportant phenomena in the atmosphere and to give anoverview of quantitative aspects of dynamics andthermodynamics that provide physical understanding andpredictive capability of these phenomena. Observingtechniques, diagnosis of global observations anddevelopment of three-dimensional global models forweather and climate predictions were discussed. Recentdevelopment in this field was also highlighted as speciallectures.

In his inaugural talk J Srinivasan highlighted therecent and exciting developments in atmosphericsciences. The course began with some basics such ascomposition of the atmosphere, atmospheric generalcirculation, horizontal and vertical structure of wind andtemperature by Goswami followed by atmosphericthermodynamics by GS Bhat and atmospheric radiationby J Srinivasan. With this background PV Joseph andP Siddheswar introduced the synoptic systems, monsoondepression, equation of motion and continuity equation.M Venkatachalappa spoke on atmospheric waves andR Nanjundiah introduced complexities of developingthree-dimensional general circulation models for predictionof weather andclimate and highlighted the challenges indeveloping more accurate models for prediction of weatherand climate. Satheesh discussed aerosols, clouds andprecipitation. Special topics on Indian monsoon and itsvariability by S Gadgil, El Nino and Southern oscillation(ENSO), global warming, tropical cyclone (TC) andthunderstorms were also discussed in order to provide aflavour of interesting physical processes involved in some

chemistry of the earthUniversity of Allahabad, AllahabadNovember 7 – 27, 2005

No. of participants: 13

Course Director: A K Gupta (University of Allahabad)

Resource persons: AK Gupta, VK Gaur (C-MMACS,Bangalore); S DasGupta and Nibir Mandal (Jadavpur);Pinaki Majumdar (HCRI, Allahabad).

This course for young faculty and researchers in the fieldof Earth Sciences was aimed at sharpening theconceptual foundations of young earth scientists towardscreating capabilities for understanding and analysingplanetary systems and processes generally relating tothe earth in particular, in a quantitative manner. It wasthus designed to focus on the most basic aspects ofphysico-chemical principles and their numericalapplication in calculating the thermodynamic conditionsof critical earth processes such as lithospheric stretchingleading to development of sedimentary basins, physicsand chemistry of melts, amongst other topics. This coursefocussed on the following three topics and their numericalapplications to earth science problems: (a) continuummechanics, (b) thermodynamics, and (c) physico-chemico mineralogy.

The course consisted of two lectures every day followedby two tutorials, both of 75 minutes. Two theory andpractical classes were also conducted on each day.

The teacher participants were drawn from Ahmedabad,Allahabad, Bangalore, Dehra Dun, Kolkata andTiruchirappalli.

Physics of the AtmosphereIndian Institute of Science, BangaloreNovember 14–25, 2005

No. of participants: 38

Course Director: BN Goswami (IISc, Bangalore)

Resource persons: R Narasimha (JNCASR, Bangalore);J Srinivasan, BN Goswami, Sulochana Gadgil, GS Bhat,R Nanjundiah, SK Satheesh (all of CAOS, Bangalore);D Sengupta, M Venkatachalappa and P Siddheswar

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of the important and challenging weather and climaticphenomena.

The afternoon sessions were devoted to demonstrationsand laboratory work. Some fluid dynamics moviesillustrating some basic fluid dynamics processes (e.g.drag, vorticity etc) were shown to the participants. Anintroduction to principle involved in remote sensingtechniques was given by Satheesh who alsodemonstrated the working of the automatic weatherstation and various radiometers and instruments usedfor measurement of aerosol. Bhat demonstrated howdensity stratification could lead to certain oscillations inthe atmosphere and ocean. A visit to ISRO Satellite Centreto understand various steps of satellite integration wasalso arranged.

Quantitative aspect of the atmospheric sciences wasemphasized throughout the course. In order to carryforward quantitative aspect of the training during thecourse the participants were given a book entitled‘Meteorology – Understanding the Atmosphere’ by StevenA Ackerman and John A Knox. The book covers a widerange of topics covered during the course. It is envisagedthat the teacher participants will involve students in theirrespective places to maintain regular record of theseimportant climatic variables. This is expected to not onlyprovide good records of climatic data over a number ofplaces but also enthuse some young students to get intothis field.

Five special lectures on ‘Origin and evolution of theatmosphere’ by BH Subbaraya; Indian satelliteprogramme for climate studies by V Jayaraman;atmospheric radars by G Viswanathan; ENSO andseasonal prediction by Jerome Vialard and ‘palaeoclimatereconstruction’ by GB Pant were arranged.

The participants expressed the hope that the courseprovided them the confidence and excitement to teachintroductory atmospheric science course being offeredin many institutions.

Applied Stochastic ProcessesIndian Statistical Institute, New DelhiDecember 5 – 17, 2005

No. of participants: 20

Course Directors: S Ramasubramanian andRL Karandikar

Resource persons: RL Karandikar and Abhay Bhatt(ISI, New Delhi); Siva Athreya and S Ramasubramanian(ISI, Bangalore); Anish Sarkar and Rahul Roy (ISI, NewDelhi)

The teacher participants represented institutions fromBangalore, Baroda, Bhimavaram, Burdwan, Chirala,

LECTUREWORKSHOPS

Chemistry for society –Reactions to realitySri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning,Prasanthinilayam24–26, September 2005

Participants: 108 students and teachers fromSri Sathya Sai Institute

Speakers: V Chandrasekhar (IIT, Kanpur); SS Rajanand P Ramamurthy (Univ. of Madras); S Rengaraj(Hongkong); Surendra Kulkarni (GE Advanced Materials);A Venkateshwarlu (Reddy’s Research Foundation);HB Singh (IIT, Mumbai) G Mugesh and A SriKrishna(IISc, Bangalore); R Venkateswarlu (Andhra University);G Manickam (Biocon, Bangalore); S Sri Hari (KakatiyaUniversity); KV Srinivasan (NCL, Pune); D Basavaiah(Univ. of Hyderabad).

Topics covered included: Stannoxames andphosphonates, crystallography and drug design, scaleup of reactions, organochalcogen chemistry, thyroidhormone synthesis, anti-thyroid drugs, development ofbioactive lignans, etc

Molecular endocrinology andgamete biologyDaulat Ram College, Delhi3 – 4 October 2005

Participants: 59 students and teachers from theDaulat Ram and other colleges

Speakers: K Muralidhar, Umesh Rai and Rita Singh(all of Delhi University); Satish Gupta (NII, New Delhi).

Cochin, Dehra Dun, Gangtok, Gorakhpur, Kolkata,Narasaropet, Ongole, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram,Vettavalam, Vidisha, Vijayawada.

The aim of the refresher course was to introduce to theparticipants some aspects of probability theory andstochastic processes applicable in some disciplineswithout bringing in heavy mathematical machinery. Thesewere illustrated via some simulations. A conscious effortwas made to have participants from diverse backgrounds,consequently the mathematical background assumedwas minimal. After explaining the basic concepts ofprobability theory, the lectures quickly went on to covertopics such as Markov chains, Martingales, branchingprocesses and Poisson processes. Monte Carlo methodswith reference to Markov chain Monte Carlo were alsocovered and illustrated.

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Topics of lectures: Mechanism of hormone action,regulation of hormone biosynthesis and secretion,differential gene expression, germ cell apoptosis,hormonal influence on the immune system, molecularmechanisms in reproductive processes, molecularaspects of fertilization, biology of gametes, and gameteantigen based immuno-contraception.

Modern biology: ‘Facets andprospects’M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara10 – 11 October 2005

Participants: 220 students and faculty fromuniversities and colleges

Speakers: V Rodrigues (TIFR, Mumbai); RK Rao(Tennessee); Utpal Nath and Annapoorni Rangarajan(IISc, Bangalore); Santha Ramakrishnan (JubilantBiosystems, Bangalore); BB Chattoo (MS Univ. ofBaroda); Sorab Dalal (Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai);Sunita M DeSouza (Astra Zeneca, Bangalore); VishwasSarangadhar (Reliance, Mumbai); Subita Srimal (MehtaPartners, Bangalore).

Topics of lectures: Little fly, genetic control of organshape in plants, cancer stem cells, peptidoglycansynthesis, pre-clinical and clinical studies, etc

Frontiers in biotechnologyCMS College, Kottayam14 – 15 October 2005

Participants : 172 students and faculty from CMSand other colleges

Speakers: K Veluthambi and R Usha (MKU, Madurai);Y Annamma Varghese (Rubber Institute, Kottayam);Imran Siddiqi (CCMB, Hyderabad) and JosephP Varghese (CMS College, Kottayam).

Topics covered: Genetic engineering of rice, genomicsand proteomics of plant viruses, molecular markers andplant genetic resources, meiotic chromosome organi-zation in plants, and DNA based molecular markers.

Einstein’s legacySt. Pious College, Hyderabad28 – 29 October 2005

Participants: 177 students and faculty fromuniversities and colleges

Speakers: N Mukunda (IISc, Bangalore);R Jagannadhan and R Simon (IMSc, Chennai) andV Balakrishnan (IIT, Chennai).

Topics covered: Space, time and matter, Einsteinand quantum mechanics, Einstein and brownianmotion, and Bose-Einstein condensation.

Experimental physicsMaharani Lakshmi Ammanni College, Bangalore4 – 5 November 2005

Over the past five years, Academy organized sevenRefresher Courses on Experimental Physics at variousplaces in the country which were each attended by 20 to25 postgraduate teachers. These consisted of lecturesand seminars on various aspects of experimental physicsand on several electronic kits developed for this purpose.The lectures were followed by the teachers carrying outa number of experiments mainly at the M.Sc level,assembling the kits and using the kits to do experiments.The kits related to: a constant current supply, atemperature controller, a capacitance measurementcircuit, a signal generator and audio amplifier, an on-linedata collection kit, a furnace and a lock-in-amplifier. Thekits, excepting the on-line data collection kit, cost notmore than Rs 2500/= each and are sufficient in theirtechnical specifications for student experiments. Theyare thus cost effective and easily serviceable.

Using these kits a variety of experiments at the M.Sclevel were conducted; for example: (a) the constantcurrent source could be used for (i) measuring temperaturecoefficient of resistance of copper (ii) temperaturecoefficient of resistivity of a semiconductor anddetermination of energy band gap (iii) Stefan-Boltzmannconstant and emissivity of a surface (iv) measurementof specific heat of copper (v) measurement of theelectrical and thermal conductivity of copper to determineits Lorentz number and (vi) thermal diffusivity of brass;

(b) the capacitance measurement circuit could be usedfor comparison of capacitances, measurement ofdielectric constant of a liquid, and measurement of thedipole moment of an organic molecule

(c) the signal generator-cum-audio-amplifier could be usedfor measurement of self-inductance, study of series andparallel resonant circuits, measurement of relaxation timeconstant of a serial light bulb, and demonstration ofrotating magnetic field. Along with a bridge balancedetector the signal generator can be used to study varioustypes of AC bridges;

(d) the lock-in-amplifier could be used for measurementof mutual inductance and measurement of smallresistance by AC technique;

(e) the IGCAR kit, namely on-line data collection kit, hasbeen used for acquiring online data on atleast sixexperiments and for study of a ferroelectric phasetransition. Many other experiments were designed anddeveloped based on these kits; additional kits are underdevelopment.

Over the two-week period at each Refresher Course, eachone of the teachers was provided with four knocked-downkits for assembly, testing and operation. The teacherswere guided in gaining hands-on-experience by the

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resource persons from Goa University and scientists ofIGCAR, Kalpakkam. Starting from rudimentary stepslike proper soldering, the teachers were led through theexercise and the programme has worked well to thesatisfaction of the participant teachers.

Enthused by the positive response from the nearly 100participant teachers so far, this two-day demonstrationworkshop was organized where all the kits andexperiments were demonstrated before the nominatedteachers with a view to bring these kits and newexperiments to the attention of a wider audience.

The morning sessions were devoted to lectures on thedetails of the kits by KR Priolkar, Efrem D’Sa, Sadique(all from Goa University), J Jay Pandian (IGCAR) andR Srinivasan. Jay Pandian’s lecture touched on severalaspects of modern experimental support systems thatcould be configured using currently available PCs andassociated software; he dealt at length on embeddedsystems and virtual experiments. The afternoonsessions were devoted to demonstration of the kits andrelated physics experiments to groups of teachers. Byrotation, all the groups were shown all the kits andexperiments. The teachers were provided with a detailedmanual on the kits and experiments before the Workshop.

A feed back revealed that the teachers were greatlybenefited by the Workshop. Some expressed the viewthat, although the kits and other aspects covered in theworkshop were useful, there may be stumbling blocksin changing existing curricula and introducing suchapproaches at many colleges and universities due tovarious reasons. They suggested that the Academymight take up the matter at higher levels in theuniversities and UGC to make the programme moreeffective.

Following the workshop, the Academy supported a two-day workshop on New Trends in Teaching Physics,sponsored by the Indian Association for PhysicsTeachers, and held at the VVS College for Women atBangalore.

Modern chemistry and biologyAurora’s Degree College, Hyderabad28 – 29 November 2005

Participants: students from colleges in Hyderabad

Speakers: TP Radhakrishnan, Abhani Bhuyan,MV Rajasekharan and M Periasamy (all of Univ. ofHyderabad); V Nagaraja (IISc, Bangalore); JagadishMittur (Monsanto, Bangalore); Nasreen Z Ehtesham(NIN, Hyderabad) and Viji Draviam (Massachusetts).

Topics covered: Nano-materials, perspectives incoordination chemistry, GM feed, agriculturalbiotechnology, endonuclease and topoisomerase andchromosome segregation.

Fundamental and advancedaspects in spectroscopySt. Joseph’s College, Irinjalakuda14 – 15 February 2006

Participants: 110 post-graduate students and teachersfrom universities and colleges in Kerala.

Speakers: E Arunan, BJ Cherayil, PK Das,S Ramakrishnan, KL Sebastian and S Umapathy (all ofIISc, Bangalore).

Topics covered: Electronic, vibrational, rotational andNMR spectroscopy.

Frontiers of physicsSt. Philomena’s College, Mysore17–18 February 2006

Participants: 200 students and teachers fromcolleges in Mysore.

Speakers: C Sivaram (IIA, Bangalore); GI Menon(IMSc, Chennai); Sreekanth (RRI, Bangalore);V Balakrishnan (IIT, Chennai); P Balaram, AM Umarjiand S Ramasesha (IISc, Bangalore).

Topics of lectures: Universe, machines at the molecularscale, quantum computation, non-equilibrium phenomena,experiments at low temperatures, and organic electronicmaterials.

OBITUARIESThamarapu VedantaDesikachary (elected 1957)an eminent phycologist ofIndia and a legend in algalresearch passed away on5 November 2005 atMelbourne, Australia.Desikachary was born inTirupati into a family oferudite scholars. He waseducated at the Hindu HighSchool, Tirupati and at the

Presidency College, Madras. He obtained his BSc. inbotany with a first class in 1940 and then joined theUniversity Botany Laboratory at Madras to work underMOP Iyengar, the doyen of algology in India. He obtainedhis MSc. Degree in 1944 and his Ph.D. in 1951 workingon morphology and taxonomy of blue green algae. Heserved as demonstrator in Andhra University, asassistant professor at Pachaiyappa’s College, Madras(1945–1947) and then as junior lecturer, University ofMadras (1947–48). Subsequent to his doctorate, he waslecturer at the Saugar University (1951–1957). He rejoined

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the University of Madras in 1957 from where he also gota second doctorate (DSc) in 1968. He became a professorat the University in 1964, a post he held till 1975. Heplayed a major role in making Madras one of the centresof Indian phycology and he himself became one of theleaders in phycology in India. He guided the research ofover twenty doctoral students, several of whom occupyimportant positions in India and abroad.

Desikachary published a large number of research papersin diverse groups of algae, and edited many books, co-published volumes on Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta andthe monumental “Atlas of Indian diatoms” in five volumeswith his colleagues. Desikachary also took up a largeamount of unpublished material, left behind by Iyengarand published these as a series, entitled “Contributionsto our knowledge of South Indian Algae”.

Desikachary keenly nurtured and built the phycologicaltradition left behind by Iyengar. He established a culturecollection of algae at the University of Madras. He wasthe first Indian algologist to undertake electronmicroscopic studies of diatom frustules and highlight theimplications in taxonomy. He was also the first to initiateuse of numerical methods in the taxonomy of blue greenalgae. His interests in diatoms included study of bothliving and fossil diatoms. He also made significantcontributions (with Sundaralingam) towards elucidationof phylogeny and interrelationships in the Charophytes.His critical studies include the morphology and lifehistories of red algae (on the Nemalionales withBalakrishnan) and on the Coralline red algae (withGanesan). He established genera for commemoratingIyengar and other illustrious figures in phycology:Iyengariella (Cyanophyceae); Iyengariomonas;Pacenfussiomonas, Schilleriomonas and Mantoniella(Chlorophyceae, Prasinophyceae) and Rossiella(Bacillariophyceae). He strongly put forth Iyengar’shypothesis on the origin and evolution of the filamentoushabit and postulated that the development ofparenchymatous thalli in many algae is the modificationof the palmelloid habit. The observations that in the ‘truly’parenchymatous tissues, plasmodesmata betweenadjacent (and genetically related) cells get dissociatedprior to cell division leading to vegetative and sexualreproduction and prior to meiosis, led him (along withBGL Swamy) to postulate that isolation and insulationare key processes in the vital phenomena of sexualreproduction and reduction division in living systems asalso the survival of genetically altered cells, such aszygotes meiocytes, in situ mutants, etc. He organizedthe international symposium on taxonomy and biologyof blue green algae in 1970 and taxonomy of algae in1974 at the University of Madras, thus bringing about aninteraction between leading phycologists from abroad withyounger Indian phycologists.

Desikachary spent a year at the University of California,Berkeley, in 1953-1954 with GF Papenfuss doing

research on the red algae, followed it up by attending theInternational Botanical Congress and work at theCryptogamic Museum, Paris, and two months of researchon diatoms at the British Museum of Natural History inLondon. He also undertook a tour of research and fieldcollection of the marine algae of Indonesia, New Zealandand Australia. He chaired the symposium on thetaxonomy of blue green algae at the International BotanicalCongress at Edinburgh in 1964.

Desikachary was elected a Fellow of Indian NationalScience Academy in 1966 and a Foundation Fellow ofPhycological Society of India. He was also the ChiefEditor of its Journal PHYKOS until 1973. He was also onthe editorial boards of several other journals. TheUniversity of Madras awarded him the CV Raman Medalin 1959. He was also elected a member of the InternationalNomenclatural Committee on Algae till 1980. Inappreciation of his services to the cause of Indian botany,especially morphology and taxonomy of algae, he wasawarded the V.Puri gold medal of the Indian BotanicalSociety in December 1980. He was associated with theMadras Science Foundation for several years. He wasalso honoured by the American Phycological Associationfor his lifetime contribution at the InternationalPhycological Congress, Durban. He leaves behind hiswife Chellammal and two sons.

Jaysukhlal RanchoddasMerchant (elected 1964)was born in Bombay on 14June 1922. He did his B.Sc(Hons) in 1944 and his M.Scand Ph.D in organicchemistry in 1946 and 1949respectively, all from theUniversity of Bombay. AtZurich he completed hisD.Sc in organic chemistryworking at the Swiss Federal

Institute of Technology with Leopold Ruzickaand V. Prelog, both Nobel Laureates. He joined CSIR asa senior fellow at NCL, Pune in 1953. From 1954 to 1957he was associate professor of organic chemistry at theInstitute of Science in Bombay and then became a fullprofessor at the same institute until 1980. After his formalretirement from Institute of Science, he joined the DGRuparel College (Mumbai), the SNDT Women’s University(Mumbai) and the Royal Institute of Chemistry (London)as visiting professor.

Merchant published over 200 research papers in organicchemistry of natural products as well as synthetic organicchemistry especially heterocyclic components. He workedon Indian medicinal plants; isolation and structureelucidation of alkaloids from Alangi Lamarki; isolation ofconstituents of indigenous plants which were reportedas having anti-tumour activity; synthetic work oncyanoethylation of hydroxy and amino compounds;

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synthesis of xanthones acridines; studied action of thionyland sulphonyl chlorides and flavonones; studied reactionsof hexachloropropenes on organic compounds; etc. Hemade valuable contributions to the chemistry ofheterocyclic compounds such as benzopyrones,pyrrolidines and indoles. He contributed to the elucidationof the structures of alkaloids like calycotomine and theErythrina group of alkaloids. He synthesized severalcompounds with a possible pharmacological activity andcarried out a chemical investigation of different Indianmedicinal plants.

He passed away in Mumbai on 8 February 2004 but hisdeath was communicated to the Academy only inDecember 2005. He remained a bachelor.

Samarendra Nath Sarkar(elected 1978) was born on22 April 1920 in Kolkata.After his schooling fromScottish Church School inKolkata, he joined thePresidency College inKolkata for his B.Sc (Hons)in 1941 obtaining a firstclass second rank of theUniversity. He did even better with a first class first rankin his M.Sc (geology) in 1943. His thesis on Spangogranitic complex and its metamorphic aureole in SouthScotland fetched him a Ph.D in 1948 from the Universityof Edinburgh where he was the Government of Indiaoverseas fellow. He began his scientific career as aprospecting geologist in 1944 at private companies inHyderabad for 2 years and then joined the GeologicalSurvey of India in 1949. In 1952 he joined IIT, Kharagpuras a lecturer (1952-56) and became an assistantprofessor (1956–61). He then moved to the Indian Schoolof Mines in Dhanbad in 1961 as a professor and head ofthe Department of Applied Geology. He was the Institute’sDirector from 1969 to 1972 but continued to work at theinstitute until 1980 and subsequently as a principalscientific officer.

Sarkar investigated the stratigraphy, structure,petromineralogy, and geochronology of the precambriansof (a) Bhandara-Drug-Balaghat Districts of over 6000sq.km area covering Sausar, Sakoli-dongargarh belts (900Ma-2500Ma old rock samples); (b) Singhbhum-Keonjhar,Sundergarh region covering 10,000 sq.km (900–3800 Maold rocks); (c) Crystalline nappe zone in Garhwal andKumaon Himalayas, Nainital, Ranikhet–Almora–Baijnath–Lansdowne and (d) structural control of copper oredeposits, isotope geology, fluid inclusions, trend surface

analysis, electron microprobe work, and isotope studiesfor genesis. As a result of his findings, many text bookson stratigraphy had to be revised. His studies on thestructures and geochronology of precambrians of MadhyaPradesh and Singhbhum regions as well as parts of theKumaon Himalaya revealed for the first time the detailedchronology of sedimentary tectonic and igneous eventsin those difficult regions. His own determination of K-Arages of Precambrian rocks along with age data obtainedin collaboration with Soviet geochronologists threw muchnew light on the correlation and geological history of theIndian Precambrian.

Sarkar received numerous honours. These include theGovernment of India overseas fellowship to work atEdinburgh (1946–48), the Nuffield Foundation Fellowship(1966-67) to work in geochronology in the University ofCambridge, the National Mineral Award of Governmentof India (1969), the Golden Jubilee Distinguished ServiceAward of Indian School of Mines (1976) and the PN DuttaMemorial Medal of the Asiatic Society (1981). He waselected to the Indian National Science Academy (1974)and served in its council. He was India’s permanentrepresentative in the Subcommission for PrecambrianStratigraphy of IUGS since 1966.

Although Sarkar passed away quite some time ago on10 September 2004, the Academy was not aware of it.He leaves behind his wife Namita and two sons.

Antapur Venkoba Rao(elected 1984) was born on20 August 1927 atKavutalam in AndhraPradesh. He did his MBBSfrom the Madras MedicalCollege in 1949, MD ingeneral medicine from theUniversity of Madras in 1958and DPM from theUniversity of Mysore in 1961with a first class first rank.He obtained his Ph.D in psychiatry from University ofMadras in 1969 for his thesis on “a study of depressionprevalent in South India”. In addition he was also arecipient of a D.Sc degree from University of Madras in1978 for his study on depression and suicide behaviour.His professional career started in 1954 when he joinedas assistant professor first at the Madras Medical Collegeand later at the Madurai Medical College. In 1962 hebecame a full professor at the Madurai Medical Collegeand headed its Institute of Psychiatry. Between 1985and 1993, he was the officer-in-charge of the ICMR Centrefor Advanced Research on Health and Behaviour.

Venkoba Rao’s research interests spanned a wide areain psychiatry such as depressive illness, suicidology,

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biological psychiatry, psychophysiology, lithiumology,transcultural psychiatry, history of psychiatry,geropsychiatry and drug addiction. His studies coveredepidemiology, clinical profile; the course outcome andcultural influences on depression and its cure with lithiumtherapy; the nature of suicide behaviour, its causes andespecially suicide ‘counters’. He pioneered a suicideprevention centre and lithium and geropsychiatric clinicsin India. His study in biological psychiatry related tomelatonin in depressive disease, the low level ofmelatonin in depression and its persistence in remissionas a predictor of suicide behaviour and relapse. Hecontributed extensively in the area of transculturalpsychiatry and psychiatry of old age. He describedpsychiatric and organic diseases of the elderly againstsociocultured context. He studied the cases of agedpeople in rural areas at the primary health centre leveland evolved a model for a total health care for the ruralaged. He has the unique distinction of demonstratingtreponema pallida in the frontal lobes of these subjects.Venkoba Rao published over 200 research articles andmonographs and three books on depressive disease,psychiatry of old age in India and lithium.

He was a recipient of numerous awards some of whichare listed below: Sandoz Award (1972), MN Sen Award(1984), MK Sheshadri Award (1986), BV Roy Award(1981), International Research Scholar Award (1989) NNDe Award (1992) etc. He was elected to many Academiesand Societies icluding the Indian National ScienceAcademy (1989) and the National Academy of MedicalSciences.

He passed away on 25 October 2005 leaving behind hiswife Parvathi Devi, one son and a daughter.

The steady-state theory suggests that the universe isalways expanding but maintaining a constant averagedensity, matter being continuously created to form newstars and galaxies at the same rate that old ones becomeunobservable as a consequence of their increasingdistance and velocity of recession. A steady-stateuniverse has no beginning or end in time; and from anypoint within it, the average density and arrangement ofgalaxies is the same. Galaxies of all possible ages areintermingled. This hypothesis was first put forward in 1920by the cosmologist James Jeans.

After the war Bondi – then a fellow of Trinity College,Cambridge, working with Hoyle and Gold – developedthe theory further. In 1952 he published a seminal book,Cosmology, in which he set out the theory in full. Later,in 1959, with RA Lyttleton, he suggested that the outwardmovement of galaxies could be due to the action ofelectrical charges sufficient to cause their repulsion awayfrom one another.

During the 1950s the steady-state theory stimulated agreat deal of productive research in cosmology. However,it fell out of favour when it was discovered, from researchinto radio galaxies and quasars in the far universe, thatthe universe had been more dense, and hotter, in thepast. At the time it was consistent with practically allthat was known about the Universe, and during more thana decade of heated controversy, astronomers wereunable to decide which of the two theories was themore credible. In 1965, however, Penzias and RW Wilsondiscovered the universal background radiation predictedby George Gamow which could readily be accounted foras a consequence of the ‘big bang’. Since then, almostall the advances in our understanding of the universehave pointed firmly towards a ‘big bang’, of one kind oranother, as its origin.

Coming back to his career, after his education in Vienna,Bondi felt drawn to England and joined Trinity College in1937 with the help of Arthur Eddington. In 1940, shortlybefore the ‘Battle of Britain’ Bondi was interned on theIsle of Man and later in Canada. By 1945, Bondi wasback at Trinity on a research scholarship, and scientificpapers started flowing. He wrote not only on the steady-state theory, but also on fluid motion and electro-magnetism, the sun’s corona and geophysics. So wideranging were Bondi’s scientific interests that after he waselected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1959, he wasmade to work by the British government on a range ofprojects about which, he confessed, he knew very little.These included feasibility studies for the Thames Barrier,the Anglo-Australian telescope, rocket launchers,communications satellites, ecology, and energy policy.He continued to publish prolifically on subjects rangingfrom the origin of the universe to the exponential growthof algae on the Norfolk Broads.

Hermann Bondi (elected1997), a theoretical astro-physicist best known forhaving helped to developthe ‘steady state’ theory ofthe Universe was born on1 November 1919, the sonof a medical doctor, andwas brought up in Viennawhere he studied at the

Realgymnasium. Having acquired an early interest inmathematics, Bondi entered Cambridge Universitywhen his talent was soon recognized and he wasawarded an exhibition in his first year. While internedas an ‘enemy alien’ in 1940, he gained his BA. Hereturned to Cambridge in 1941, and soon afterwards,met Fred Hoyle, with whom he and Thomas Goldtheorized about cosmology, and in particular theorigin of the universe. They were not satisfied withthe then popular ‘big bang’ explanation for the originof the expanding universe, and in 1948 theyproposed the alternative ‘steady state’ theory.

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In 1967 Bondi became Director General of theEuropean Space Research Organization, and in1971, took over as the chief scientific adviser tothe Ministry of Defence where he was a staunchsupporter of Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent.In 1977, he became the Chief Scientific Adviser atthe Department of Energy and three years later wasmade the Chairman and Chief Executive of theNatural Environment Research Council, and a furtherthree years later in 1983 was elected Master ofChurchill College in Cambridge.

Bondi held visiting professorships at a number ofuniversities throughout the world and won manyinternational prizes and medals. In 1983 he becameonly the second British scientist to win the Einsteingold medal.

Bondi was a Raman Visiting Professor of the Academyand was in India between December 1995 andFebruary 1996. During a period of eight weeks, SirHermann Bondi and Lady Bondi had a busy schedulevisiting and lecturing at various scientific institutionsin Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum, Cochin, Goa, Pune

and Mumbai. The topics of his lectures ranged from“why is it dark at night?” to the theory of gravitation from“energy in the world” to “positive atheism”. He deliveredan Academy public lecture on “Science: its philosophyand spirit” and his Gandhi Memorial Lecture was on“Scientific temper”.

Bondi also visited Vijaywada to take part in the WorldAtheist Conference. Before returning to England hedonated the entire proceeds of the travel money theAcademy paid to him to a Gandhian Service organizationin Vijaywada known as “Arthik Samata Mandal” whichhelps over 150 villages in Andhra Pradesh throughintegrated socio-economic activities.

A humanist throughout his life, he claimed never tohave felt the need for religion. He was president of theBritish Humanist Association and of the Rationalist PressAssociation. Bondi was knighted in 1973.

He married Christine Stockman, whom he met whenshe was working as an astrophysics researchstudent with Fred Hoyle. They had two sons andthree daughters. Bondi died in Cambridge on 10September 2005.

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Contributions from Fellows to Patrika arewelcome – brief articles of general interest,news, views, interesting anecdotes, etc.

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House atThiruvanaikkaval inTiruchirappalli whereC. V. Raman was bornon 7 November 1888.

Pictures taken in front of the housewhen delegates of theAcademy Annual Meeting in Tiruchirappallivisited the house in November 2005.According to recent newspaper reports,this house was “demolished” by the presentowner of the house.

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