University of Mumbai www.mu.ac.in Re-accrededited “A” Grade by NAAC www.isc102.in 102nd INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, 2015 3 JANUARY 2015 ISC BULLETIN ISC DAY 1 Prime minister narendra modi deCLares isC- 2015 OPEN AT UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI THE FIVE DAY SESSION BEGAN WITH NOBEL LAUReateS AND DIGNItaRIES GRACING THE OCCASION make our society cleaner also develop sustainable year of the Science Congress. rime Minister Shri NarendraModi, P infrastructure for the future. Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of has called for efforts to make sure that science, Speaking about the universities in India, Maharashtra, took to stage with thunderous applause technology and innovation reach the poorest, the the PM said that the universities must be freed added “When we look back at history, we see that remotest and the most vulnerable person in our from cumbersome procedures and must prescribe to whenever we have let go off science, we have either country at the 102nd Session of the Indian Science highest research standards by including peer reviews. seen a halt or destruction of our societies. I believe that Congress. It was hosted in University of Mumbai, He also requested the rich pool of scientists to teach any development’s core element is the contribution Vidyanagari Campus on 3rd January 2015. The focal and guide University PhD students. of science”. He also revealed that 8,000 crore rupees theme of the Session is “Science and Technology School education in the field of science were spent in the last five years for relief work for for Human Development”. Since its inception in the and technology needs to become more creative and the farmers who were affected by natural calamities. year 1914, The Indian Science Congress has seen a interesting. Digital communication should become He wanted the assembled delegates to come up with significant growth in attracting more delegates every as much as a basic right in schools where he revealed solutions for local level disaster management and year. This year it was attended by 16,000 delegates, that ‘Science and Technology’ would be the theme of malnourishment and ways to develop sustainable this signifies the gradual growth since its first year this year’s Republic Day celebrations. agriculture. when it was attended only by 108 delegates. The ISC President, Dr. S.B.Nimse said He also applauded technology for helping Every year the Congress in inaugurated by the “Scientific research converts wealth into knowledge save the lives of thousands from cyclone Hudhud Prime Minister, following the tradition, this year it and innovation through knowledge leads to money and the scientists at ISRO for their successful first was inaugurated by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra and this cycle is to be kept in mind when dealing attempt to Mars through Mangalyaan. He praised Modi. The PM felicitated the Nobel Laureates and with Science and Technology”. He also said that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru for placing science at the heat Equivalent with a gold medal. innovative practices should replace current secured of national security. He began his speech by giving homage to Padmashri policies and that chemical industry is an area where The Session was attended by Dr.Randy Schekman, Vasant Gowarikar, eminent researcher famous for we can lead. Women development is an objective of Dr. Robin Warren, Ada E Yonath, Dr. Paul Nurse, his contribution to space, population and weather ISC. Prof. Muhammad Yunus, S.R.S Vardhan, Prof. research. He also said “To me, the arms of science, In addition, Dr. Harshvardhan, Union Minister Subhash Khot, Prof. Manjul Bhargava, Prof. Madhu technology and innovation must reach the poorest, for Science and Technology said “Serving mother Sudan. remotest and the most vulnerable person. Whenever earth through science should be our motto”. He The ISC session was declared open by the the world shut its doors on us, our scientists responded emphasized on the prohibition of using scientific Prime Minister with his thoughtful lines “Revive the with the zeal of a national mission”. Furthermore, he knowledge for destructive purposes referring to the romance of science. Allow the scientists to imagine, reminded that we need to find our own solutions to First World War which coincides with the inception think and dream”. GROUP PHOTOGRAPH WITH ISCA 3 JANUARY 2015 ISC BULLETIN MARS MISSION COMES LIVE at ISC Mumbai - An inspiring talk and an interactive session on the journey towards the launch of Mangalyaan and a way forward towards future technologies was dealt at a 45 minute long session on the Mars Mission. It made the entire Mars Mission to come live for the audience. Dr. Nimse chaired the session at the Indian Science Congress. Dr. K Radhakrishnan talked about the initial period of Mangalyaan and how it was designed and its latest updates. Koppillil Radhakrishnan presided over the session. He has been the chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) from 2009 to 2014. He is also the chairman of the Board of Management, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology. He has also served as the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). The session was followed by Dr. Pramod Kale. He has worked for the Indian Space Research Programme in various leadership roles. He also received the 2006 Aryabhatta award for his lifetime contribution to the promotion of astronomy in India. He has received many other awards including Padma Bhushan award for his contribution to Science and Engineering. They also gave information about new technologies launched in the month of December which will help the human space flight launch of Chandrayan – 2 and about “Aditya” which is the study of Moon and Sun. They further spoke about ISRO’s plan to start research work in the University. The session was very reciprocal with a lot of questions from the students which were The session gave a brief view about all the answered by both the scientists. They spoke about the challenges they faced in the process of technologies used and the future project of ISRO Mars Mission. They spoke about the unusual “slingshot” method that was used for Mangalyaan’s and how in the future travelling to moon will be interplanetary journey which began when it blasted off on November 5th last year. AN OVERVIEW OF CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES The second plenary session of the deep understanding of physical, chemical 102nd Indian Science Congress 2015 was and biological properties of the materials in chaired by Prof. M Barma, director, Tata nanometer scale is very important. Institute of Fundamental Research. Among Thus, though a lot has been invested the two International Academies’ Speakers, for ‘Nanoscience and Technology’ research, it Mr.Chunli Bai provided an insight on the still has a long way to go inorderto improve the rapid development of nanotechnology and overall competitiveness of nanotechnology Nanoscience in China. On the other hand enterprise.The second speaker for the plenary Mr. Alexander Gliko spoke on the role of was Mr. Alexander Gliko, Director of Institute academics in developmental science and of Physics of the earth of Russian Academy natural disasters. of Sciences (RAS), gave a brief introduction Mr. Chunli Bai, President of of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its Chinese academy of Sciences (CAS) was role in coordination of fundamental research. the first speaker of the plenary session for Gliko briefly spoke about Seismic network International Academies. In the course of of Geophysical Service (RAS), Geophysical the session he gave a general overview on observations, Tsunami warning system and Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research compared the main shocks and aftershocks in China. The session included a brief positioning for areas affected by earthquakes. touch on Chinese Academy of Sciences, an He explained each of these concepts by overview of Nanotechnology in China and providing suitable references and images. some recent progress in fundamental and Gliko finally spoke of his study application research. on physico-chemical processes related to According to Bai, Nanotechnology seismic activity, special electromagnetic has developed into various disciplinary and microseismic observations in the fault fields and has come into many aspects of zones, detailed study of microstructure and modern life. China has invested a lot on composition of exposed paleo-rupture zones the ‘Nanoscience and Technology’ research. and development of advanced techniques for These projects have greatly improved the determining of crustal deformation. research ability and achievements in China This session ended with an interaction both in fundamental and application research. between the students and the International Prof. Chunli believes that in the future, a Academies’ Speakers. 2 ISC BULLETIN 3 JANUARY 2015 MANJUL BHARGAVA SUBHASH KHOT S. R. S. WARDHAN MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING Talks about mathematical expressions Ramanujan. Another star speaker was Dr. and put light on the Game Theory and from ancient times to present day along S.R.S Vardhan who spoke about Entropy and Economics along with Nash and Market with mathematical examples which made Probability. Dr. Vardhan related entropy to Equilibrium. understanding the complexities of numbers mathematics, physics and communications. The last speaker was Dr. Madhu convenient for the audiences to grasp made They simplified the equations in laymen Sudan who spoke on ‘Reliable Meaningful the Mathematics and Computation session of terms so that everyone understands it. Communication’. He drew the audience’s Indian Science Congress a success. The session followed by Prof. Subhash attention to the need of reliable communication Nobel Laureate Prof. Manjul Bhargava spoke Khot, he added on the ‘Frontiers in Theoretical and also discussed the importance of about recent advances in number theory Computer Science”. His presentation focused coding and encoding in the process of and he also discussed various important on the computation problems and solutions communication.