IN CONVERSATION Dr Somak Raychaudhury, Director, IUCAA Shubhobroto Ghosh

Dr Somak Raychaudhury is Director of IUCAA (Inter University Centre for Astronomy and ), Pune. He is known for his work on stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes. His significant contributions include those in the fields of gravitational lensing, galaxy dynamics and large-scale motions in the Universe, including the Great Attractor. He remains affiliated to the Astrophysics and Space Research Group, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, where he used to be the director of the Wast Hills Observatory from 2003 to 2012. He was also a staff member at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, working for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. He has published over 80 research papers in peer- reviewed scientific journals. In addition, he leads a substantial outreach programme involving school students, teachers and the general public. He was one of the key people to start the Indian Astronomy Olympiad and selected and coached the Indian Olympiad team to top results at the International Astronomy Olympiad in 1999 and 2000. His outreach activities include numerous programmes on radio, television and collaboration with performing artists.

Shubhobroto Ghosh: Please tell us a little bit about your the following year I visited the Raman Institute in Bangalore journey with astronomy and astrophysics, especially how you during a trip organised by JBNSTS (Jagadish Bose National got interested in these subjects? Science Talent Search) of its scholars, where I met the late V. Somak Raychaudhury: I was interested in the sky from very Radhakrishnan (C.V. Raman’s son and one of India’s most early on since my mother used to show me the constellations famous astronomers) and his colleague G. Srinivasan – they and tell me stories about the sky. I grew up in where worked on pulsars and were my first mentors. the skies are light-polluted but I often used to go to visit my mother’s parents in Midnapore where the sky was exquisite. Shubhobroto Ghosh: Tell us a little bit about the kind of My mother practised astrology and I never believed in it a work done by IUCAA (Inter University Centre for Astronomy bit – this set up a lot of debates and made me read a lot and Astrophysics)? about Astronomy. Some of the earliest books I read were by Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, Structure of the Universe, Somak Raychaudhury: IUCAA has one hundred practising for example. Then I watched Carl Sagan’s Cosmos at the astronomers including students and young researchers and American Library (USIS) in Kolkata – most episodes shown supports another 500 astronomers at all levels at Indian as they first arrived, projected from VHS. This must have universities, working in all areas of the subject. It was created been early 1981, and I was a first-year student at Presidency by the UGC (University Grants Commission) to help the College, where I was being taught Physics by the famous subject grow for research and teaching in universities at a cosmologist Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri. Cosmos changed my time when the subject was not really taught in universities and life completely. The perspective of observationally studying just after Cosmos created a huge interest in India. Aptly, the the Universe, the music by Vangelis, the historical episode person who introduced Cosmos on Indian TV (Jayant Vishnu that talked about Tycho and Kepler, the prospect of life on Narlikar) was chosen as the first Director. Now it connects other planets, and Carl Sagan looking up at the “billions and research in Indian Universities to international facilities. We billions” of stars were awe-inspiring. The chance came when are also (partially) in charge of India’s participation in a lot

18 | Science Reporter | September 2020 of international projects – leading roles in LIGO-India (Laser his books and got interested, which enabled us to take up Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and TMT scientific careers without actively defying our parents. (Thirty Meter Telescope) and important role in SKA-India

(Square Kilometer Array). Shubhobroto Ghosh: Some episodes of the first ‘Cosmos’ were shot in India, including the one on the cosmic dance of Shubhobroto Ghosh: What is the importance of astronomy Nataraja. What did you think about the Indian references in and astrophysics in science and technology? the first ‘Cosmos?’ Somak Raychaudhury: This is a hard question to answer – Somak Raychaudhury: The Indian settings worked very well one can write a book on it. It is one of the most fundamental in the various episodes, and it was also a time when a lot of sciences and addresses some of the biggest and most the world was getting interested in India, and so it attracted, fundamental questions. Many sciences have come from for example, the boomer generation in the USA. The Pongal astronomical questions. Physics as we know it now comes ceremony in the segment on calendar and festivals, the from Newton trying to figure out why Halley’s Comet comes discussion on time in the Hindu religions, gorgeous shots back. Much of mathematics was created to understand celestial of south Indian temples. The segment on Nataraja appealed motions. Now Astrophysics pushes technology to its limits. to people who had read Fritjof Capra’s book, ‘The Tao Of The digital camera, lasers, CT scans, radio communications Physics’ and must have contributed to India donating the and telephony, a lot of these have started from astrophysical Nataraja statue to CERN (Conseil européen pour la recherche challenges. nucléaire) later. Above all, the question of Hindu provided an interesting context to the discussion of the Big

Bang, and this must have attracted Narlikar to it since he Shubhobroto Ghosh: What kind of work is IUCAA doing to has been a proponent of infinite-time e.g. the popularize astronomy and astrophysics? steady-state. Somak Raychaudhury: We have an immense outreach programme for school students and school teachers. Apart Shubhobroto Ghosh: Today there is a visible conflict between from public events all through the year (which are broadcast science and religion. However, Carl Sagan stated that there to the world on YouTube), we have programmes to enrich could be an alliance between science and spirituality and even science teaching for teachers all over India. Specifically, we had a dialogue with the Dalai Lama on this subject. What do work with 300 schools in urban and rural Maharashtra, and you think of the relationship between science and religion? we lead the EPO (Education and Public Outreach) projects connected with the mega initiatives like LIGO, TMP, SKA. Somak Raychaudhury: I see no conflict – they address different questions. Father Lemaitre, the Jesuit priest who Again, more on scipop.iucaa.in was the discoverer of the Big Bang theory, and various frontline scientists have written eloquently on the subject. I Shubhobroto Ghosh: How did you find the first ‘Cosmos’ in participated in a dialogue with the Dalai Lama in Delhi in 1980 and the Indian broadcast as presented by Jayant Vishnu 2015 and learnt a lot. Science cannot provide answers to a lot Narlikar in 1985? of questions to do with perception and consciousness, and of the purpose of the universe. It is also true that religion does Somak Raychaudhury: I saw Cosmos at the USIS Calcutta not and cannot answer to the how and what of things, which when it first came out. I did not watch it on Doordarshan – is the domain of science. I think it was most apt that the we did not have a TV at home, and I was studying at Oxford original ‘Cosmos’ discussed some of this. when Doordarshan showed it. I saw it again and again on British TV, possessed VHS/DVDs of it and heard Carl Sagan’s lectures live. I was one of those fans who followed Shubhobroto Ghosh: What would you like to say to the him around like fans of rock stars. producers of ‘Cosmos’ season 3? Somak Raychaudhury: Good luck. Carl Sagan’s act of the Shubhobroto Ghosh: What do you think has been the impact heady mix of history, fable, aesthetics and science is a hard of Carl Sagan on science and scientific thinking? one to follow. On the other hand, astronomy is such a fast- moving field that there are many stories to tell. I hope they Somak Raychaudhury: Epic. Sagan was the first true do it well. superstar of science outreach and still remains at the top. In my opinion, no individual has achieved the kind of impact Sagan had on the public. Whether he affected scientific thinking I Shubhobroto Ghosh is a former journalist with the Telegraph cannot say, but he did bring a lot of the top scientists of newspaper whose work has also been published in The my generation into science just by getting them interested. Statesman, New York Times, The Hindu, Montreal Serai, The parents of these students also watched the series or read BBC, Sanctuary Asia, Saevus and Nature India online.

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