INDIA and SCIENCE
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INDIA and SCIENCE Samuel Paul David HiLASE Center, Institute of Physics of The Czech Academy of Sciences [email protected] 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 India Czech Republic Population 1.39 billion (~36,000 births 10.58 million (~140 births per per day) – 131 times population day) Population density 422 people/km2 – > 3 times 134 people/km2 Total Area 3,287,260 km2 - ~42 times 78,870 km2 Delhi Prague Population ~30 million ~1.3 million Population density ~29,200 people/km2 4600 people/km2 80% Hindus 10.3% Catholics 13% Muslims 0.5% Protestant 2.3% Christians 0.4% Hussites 1.9% Sikhs 9.4% Other beliefs 0.8% Buddhists 0.4% Jains Total = 20.6% Total = 98.4% 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 India’s Scientific Contributions – Brief list • 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 – Arabic numerals • Originally called as Hindu-Arabic numerals !! • World’s first university – Takshashilla Univerisy during 700 BC •Chess – Chaturanga invented in India in 6th century •Shampoo – From Hindi “Champo” •Ayurveda – Ancient medicinal treatment 2100 years ago ! • Fibonacci pattern numbers used in India by Virahanka during 700 AD • Meghnad Saha – Saha’s equation essential to study spectra from stars • Har Gobind Khorana – First person to synthesize an artificial gene in a living cell • Mysorean rockets – First iron cased rocket. British copied later •Concept of atom, cotton cultivation, sugar production, Indigo ink and so on………………. 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Notable Indian Scientists – Ancient and recent Aryabhatta - Fifth century mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and a physicist. - At the age of 23, he wrote Aryabhattiya, summary of Mathematics at that time. • Introduced the concept of zero • Calculated the distance between Earth and Moon • Calculated Earth’s circumference with less than 1% error (1500 years ago !!!) (Eratosthenes, Greek astronomer calculated the same with 15% error during 3rd century BC) • His work was translated and adapted by Persian and Arabic mathematicians caturadhikaṃ śatamaṣṭaguṇaṃ dvāṣaṣṭistathā sahasrāṇām ayutadvayaviṣkambhasyāsanno vṛttapariṇāhaḥ. "Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000. By this rule the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 20,000 can be approached." ((4 + 100) × 8 + 62000)/20000 = 62832/20000 = 3.1416, India’s first satellite was named after him 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Notable scientists of 19th/20th century Jagdish Chandra Bose (J. C. Bose) - Devised radio wave receivers using crystals - Refused to patent his devise; Wanted his device for common people - First person to use semiconductors as radio wave detector - Often compared to Tesla in India, but neglected globally !! • Marconi and Bose in Royal Society London during Bose lectures. Bose openly demonstrated his device. • Interestingly, Marconi used Bose’s invention as the critical component of for his wireless telegraphy. • Marconi and Braun won the Nobel prize for Radio but never mentioned Bose in their Nobel lectures. • Marconi applied for a patent for a device invented by Bose !! IEEE recognized J.C. Bose as the father of radio science in 1997. 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Jagdish Chandra Bose (J. C. Bose) Crescograph Crescograph - A device to measure growth in plants 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Satyendra Nath Bose (S. N. Bose) - Student of J.C. Bose - Bosons were named after him by Paul Dirac - Bose laid the foundation of quantum statistics based on his lecture in the class - Bose-Einstein statistics was individually proposed by Bose! • Bose wrote a paper on derivation of Planck’s radiation law by counting states with identical particles, independent of classical Physics • Paper was not accepted for publication, but he sent the paper directly to Einstein. • Einstein translated to German and published in German journal in Bose name • Bose got the opportunity to work with de Broglie, Marie Curie and Einstein. Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) – A new phase of matter and a dense collection of bosons – Named after him No PhD, but recommended by Einstein – Became professor in India Seven Nobel prizes have been awarded on concepts of boson Higgs Boson particle – Why no one talks and BEC; but Bose never received a Nobel prize about Bose ?? 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 C. V. Raman First Asian and Indian to win Nobel Prize in Science Joined in Financial service but resigned the job later Became a professor of Physics and invited to England for a conference in 1921 During the journey, he thought why sea waters appear blue !! Came back to India and did an extensive work on scattering - Birth of Raman effect Raman also worked on acoustics, wave-optics, magneto-optics, X-ray spectroscopy 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 • Russians (Landsberg and Mandelstam) did the same work at the same time, but were not awarded the Nobel Prize • Raman sent the paper quickly than the Russians; timing all that mattered. • Raman had good contacts with western scientists including Bohr, a member of Nobel prize committee !! • German Physicist P. Pringsheim named for the first time “Raman effect”. Rutherford recommended him for Nobel Prize. • Raman asked Bohr to recommend him for Nobel Prize; but he did not know Discovery of Raman effect (Feb 28th) • Bohr already nominated him before receiving the letter. observed as National Science Day in India • 1930 Nobel Prize, Heisenberg and Schrodinger were nominated for 6 and 9 times. Raman nominated for 10 times "I'm not flattered by the honour [Fellowship to the Royal Society in 1924] done to me. This is a small achievement. If there is anything that I aspire for, it is the Nobel Prize. You will find that I get that in five years.“ – Raman before Nobel Prize ..When I sat in that crowded hall and I saw the sea of western faces surrounding me, I the only Indian, in my turban....it dawned on me I was really representing my people and my country…then I turned round and saw the British flag under which I had been sitting… I realized that my poor country,India did not even have a flag of her own…triggered off my complete breakdown” – Raman on receiving the Nobel Prize 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 “Sir, you have seen the Raman effect on alcohol; please do not try to see the alcohol effect on Raman” – During the party, Raman said :) 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – His uncle was C. V. Raman – Awarded Nobel Prize in 1983 for Chandrasekhar Limit Chandrasekhar Limit is now accepted to be approximately 1.4 times the mass of the sun; any white dwarf with less than this mass will stay a white dwarf forever, while a star that exceeds this mass is destined to end its life in that most violent of explosions: a supernova. 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 India in Space – Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Vikram Sarabhai, Father of Indian Space Program In the early days, rocket parts and satellite parts were carried in bicycles and bullock carts !! 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Chandrayaan – 1 – Mission to Moon - India became the sixth country to reach Moon - Using the probe sent by NASA, water locked in minerals in the moon was discovered - By releasing an impactor, released debris was analysed by the orbiting spacecraft’s instruments 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 https://www.space.com/35709-india-rocket-launches-record- First attempt success – 74 million USD – Cheaper 104-satellites.html than Gravity movie budget – 11% NASA cost – Fourth country 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 New York Times after India’s Mars mission Times of India after 104 satellites record 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Chandrayaan-2: India’s Orbiter-Lander-Rover Mission - Moon landing Attempted on September 6th, 2019 - Mission failed 2 kms above the lunar surface Future spaceflights • 2022: Gaganyaan – Human space flight to the moon • Shukrayaan – Mission to send probe to Venus • Mangalyaan 2 – Mars Orbiter Mission 2 ISRO in 1963 – 12 people ISRO in 2020 – >20,000 people 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 India and Nuclear Energy Initiated by Homi Bhabha – The Indian Oppenheimer Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) – India’s Los Alamo was built in 1954 Nehru called bomb “a symbol of evil” - nuclear programme only for peaceful purposes. After 1962, Indo-Sino war and after 1964 Chinese atomic bomb test, Bhabha pushed for nuclear bomb. Shastri, then Prime minister said “… our present policy is not to make an atom bomb and its right” Bhabha however convinced the PM; requested USA for cooperation, but US declined. Bhabha died and Shastri, the PM died. Ramanna replaced Bhabha and Indira Gandhi, daughter of Nehru became the PM 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 First nuclear test - 1974 • Code named as “Smiling Buddha” • After the successful test, Ramanna sent the message “The Buddha is Smiling” - Sixth country to become a nuclear state USA made several sanctions and several countries not happy !! 2nd International Researchers Meet Up – 08 July, 2020 Second nuclear test - 1998 • Fusion bomb – Code named “Operation Shakti” • After the successful test, PM Vajpayee declared India a full-fledged nuclear state Currently, India has 140 – 150 nuclear weapons and produced enough