The Web Turns 20

13 March 2009 (Friday) marked the 20th Web helps retrieve documents, view even across multiple networks with anniversary of the World Wide Web. In images, animation and video, listen to multiple standards. March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, then a sound files, speak and hear voice, and ARPANET itself expired in 1989. little-known computer scientist, wrote view programmes that run on practically However, as the 1970s and 1980s a proposal entitled “Information any software in the world provided our advanced, with availability of more Management: A Proposal”. He was then computer has the hardware and software powerful computers, it became fairly working as a consultant at CERN to do these things. easy to link the computers to the (European Organisation for Nuclear How did it all begin? Let us first growing network of networks. Since the Research - now called the European briefly consider the development of the software (network protocol) called TCP/ Laboratory for Particle Physics), near Internet that paved the way for the Web. IP was public domain, and the basic Geneva. Mike Sendall, his supervisor, It was in 1960s that Pentagon, technology was decentralised, it was described it as “vague, but exciting”, headquarters of the United States difficult to stop people from barging in, but, later gave it the go ahead, although Department of Defence, embarked linking up somewhere or the other. This it took a good year or two to get off the upon an ambitious project through its is what came to be known as the ground. It was this proposal that paved agency ARPA (Advanced Research “Internet”. The nodes in the growing the way for the World Wide Web and Project Agency) to develop a network network of networks were divided up the consequent information explosion of computers in which one computer into basic varieties, say, gov, mil, edu, we are familiar with today. could communicate with another. The com, org and net. Such abbreviations Indeed, it is difficult to think of nodes of the network were to be high- are a standard feature of the TCP/IP life without access to Internet! Be it speed computers which were in real protocols. The use of TCP/IP standards access to or sharing of data files and need of good networking for the is now global. documents, e-mail, banking, chat, news, national research projects and other What was the situation prior to job hunting, product info, shopping on development programmes. By December 1989? The Internet only provided the net, entertainment, contests, rail or 1969, an infant network came into being screens full of text, usually only in one air tickets, downloading software or with just four nodes, called ARPANET. font and font size. Surely, it was good games, matrimonial alliance and so on The four computers could transfer data for exchanging information, and even - the list is growing! The Internet is the on dedicated high-speed transmission for accessing information such as the transport vehicle for the information lines. They could even be programmed library catalogues. But, it was visually stored in files or documents of another remotely from other nodes. Scientists very boring. Graphical User Interfaces computer. It would, however, be a and researchers could share one (GUI) added a bit of colour and layout misstatement when one says, “I found another’s computer facilities over long giving it a slightly better look. In the the information on the Internet!” In fact, distance. In 1971, there were 15 nodes mid-eighties, personal computers were what one means is that the document in ARPANET, and in 1972 there were just beginning to adopt Windows was found through or using the Internet 37. TCP or Transmission Control interfaces. One of the significant on one of the computers linked to the Protocol converted messages into predecessors of the Web was the Xanadu Internet. The Internet itself does not streams of packets at the source, and project, which worked on the concept contain any information. Rather, it is then reassembled them back into of hypertext, or the machine-readable the World Wide Web (WWW or the messages at the destination. IP or text that is organised so that related Web, as it is popularly known today) that Internet Protocol handled the items of information are connected. incorporates all of the Internet services addressing; seeing to it that the packets Clicking on a hyperlink (a word from a mentioned above, and much more. The are routed across multiple nodes and Contd. on page...25

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43 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 Âryabhata The Greatest Astronomer of Ancient India Subodh Mahanti E-mail: [email protected]

“The importance of Âryabhata lies in the fact that he probably was in the vanguard of the new astronomical movement which resulted in the recasting of this branch of knowledge about fifth century AD. Piecemeal efforts might have started earlier, as is evident from Varâhâmihira’s account of five siddhantas, and before and about the time when Âryabhata flourished there were certainly astronomers of repute who were variously engaged in reforming astronomy, but little is known about their contributions as their works have not survived. As matters stand, the AryabhatÎya is the earliest astronomical text bearing the name of an individual of the scientific period of Indian astronomy.” - S. N. Sen in “A Concise History of Science in India”, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 1989

“The names of several astronomers who preceded Âryabhata, or who were his contemporaries, are known, but nothing has been preserved from their writings except a few brief fragments. The Aryabhatiya, therefore, is of the greatest importance in the history of Indian mathematics and astronomy.” - Walter Eugene Clark, who brought out a definitive translation of Aryabhatiya into English (quoted from Henry Scolberg’s The Biographical Dictionary of Greater India).

“Like all ancient astronomy, that of India was restricted owing to ignorance of the telescope; but methods of observation were perfected which allowed very accurate measurement, and calculations were aided by decimal system of numerals. We know of no remains of observatories of the Hindu period, but those of the 17th and 18th centuries, at Jaipur, Delhi and elsewhere, with their wonderfully accurate instruments constructed on an enormous scale to minimize error, may well have had their ancient counterparts.” - A. L. Basham in The Wonder that was India, London, 1954

ncient Indians had shown great pro in India must have taken place much ground of astronomical knowledge we Aficiency in astronomy since Vedic earlier than it is usually supposed. It may enter the period of Âryabhata.” times. Âryabhata described his astro- Âryabhata was the first Indian as- nomical ideas in his celebrated treatise. tronomer to propose the rotation of Earth Aryabhatiya (also called Aryabhatiyam). to explain the daily westward motion of This work laid the foundation of the stars in the sky. He stated that ris- Âryabhata Siddhantic School of As- ing and setting of the Sun, the Moon and tronomy. Âryabhata is one of the most other heavenly bodies are due to the rela- important figures in the history of India’s tive motion caused by the Earth’s rota- astronomy. Commenting on the status tion about its axis once a day. He intro- of Indian astronomy at the time of duced many new concepts such as an Âryabhata, M. L. Sharma of alphabetical system of expressing num- Sampuranand Sanskrit University, bers, rules for extraction of squares and Varanasi, wrote: “…at the time of cube roots, construction of trigonomet- Âryabhata, Indian astronomy had ric sine tables and eccentric-epicentric reached that state of development where models of planetary motion. He worked it possessed all mathematical, astro- out the value of pi (π) as 3.1416 for the nomical and instrumental knowledge first time in India, which is correct to the which was ideal for the higher study of Âryabhata first four decimal places. He knew that astronomy. To reach that state of devel- the value given by him was ‘asanna’; that opment a lot of time was needed. So be said that Indian astronomy was fac- is, approximate. This is because pi is

the beginning of Siddhanta astronomy ing problem also at that time. In this back- irrational or incommensurate. He also History of Science

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 42 believed that eclipses were caused by of scholars is not correct. In these works, published a paper on Âryabhata in the the shadows of the Moon and the Earth Âryabhata is often referred to as Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, in 1865. and not by Rahu-Ketu as it was believed. âœmaka that is one who comes from A revised Sanskrit version of Âryabhatiya Âryabhata was aware of the spherical Âúmaka region located in southern In- was published by J. H. C. Kern in Leiden, shape of the Earth. dia, possibly in modern-day Kerala, and Holland, in 1874. A French translation Almost nothing is known of his life. his works Âúmaka sphutatantra. Another was published in 1879. A definitive En- His name is sometimes spelled as fact which supports the view that glish translation of this work was pre- “Âryabhatta”. It may be noted that there Âryabhata came from Kerala is that most pared by Walter Eugene Clark, a San- is another astronomer of the name of of the commentaries of Âryabhatiya and skrit professor of the Harvard University Âryabhata who lived in tenth and it was published by the century AD To distinguish the Chicago University Press in two, they are called Âryabhata 1930. It may also be noted I and Âryabhata II (c. 950). that Âryabhatiya was trans- Âryabhata II was basically a lated into Latin in the 13th cen- compiler and he was an adher- tury by an Italian mathemati- ent to orthodox views. Arabic cian. scholars referred to Âryabhata According to Clark, as arjabhar or ajabhar. Abu Âryabhatiya is “the earliest Raihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad preserved Indian mathemati- Al-Biruni (973-1048) [usually cal and astronomical text referred to simply as Al-Biruni] bearing the name of an indi- wrote: “They (Alfazari and vidual author, the earliest In- Y’kub) apparently did not un- dian text to deal specifically derstand him and imagined that with mathematics, and the Âryabhata means a ‘thou- earliest preserved astronomi- sandth part’”. Al-Biruni, a math- cal text…of Indian astronomy.” ematician and astronomer of There were many other works some repute came to India in on astronomy written before the eleventh century. He trav- Âryabhata, but we do not elled to India during 1017 and know the names of their au- 1030 as a political hostage thors. with Mahmud of Ghazni (971- Âryabhatiya is written in 030), the first sultan of the verse couplets. It is a small Ghaznavi dynasty in Afghani- work containing about 121 stan, in course of the latter’s slokas or stanzas. It is divided invasion of India. into four sections called Earlier scholars thought padas, viz., Gîtikâpâda, that Âryabhata was either born Ganitapâda, Kâlakriyâpadâ in Kusumpura, a suburb of and Golanâda. Pataliputra (modern Patna) or Aryabhatta's statue at Central Kund - IUCAA campus The Gitikapâda is the taught there. Some scholars shortest of the four sections. identified Kusumpura with Pataliputra. works based on it have come largely from It has 13 stanzas including the verses Âryabhata himself in one of the verses of southern India, especially from Kerala. meant for dedication and conclusion. Out the Ganitapada stated: “he (Âryabhata) Further, majority of the astronomers be- of the 13 stanzas 10 are in Gitika metre sets forth in his work the science which longing to the Âryabhata School come and that is why it is known as is held in high esteem at Kusumpura.” from South India. Dashagitika. “One who knows these However, recent studies on the works of Âryabhata wrote Âryabhatiya at the verses, one who knows the movements Bhasakara, the greatest exponent of age of 23 (499). This was lost and a re- of planets and naksatras, goes much Âryabhata’s system of astronomy and vised version was written later. Bhau Daji beyond them and attains the Absolute other medieval commentators of (1822-1874), a famous physician and an Brahman.” says the author. In this sec-

History of Science Âryabhata, reveal that earlier held belief Indologist based on his serious studies tion the basic definitions and important

41 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 astronomical parameters and tables are serts that the Earth is the centre of the of astronomy described by Âryabhata. given. It also explains the rules of a unique universe and it revolves around its axis. Brahmagupta himself followed the method of writing numbers in Sanskrit In fact, Âryabhata was the first Indian as- ardharatrika system. alphabet. tronomer to consider the rotation of the Âryabhata was severely criticised The Ganitapâda deals exclusively Earth for explaining the apparent daily by several of his contemporaries and with mathematics. It has 33 stanzas. The motions of the fixed stars. But his idea astronomers who followed him. Thus topics covered in this section include did not find support among his contem- Brahmagupta commenting on varga (squares), ghana (cubes), poraries or later astronomers. It was not Âryabhata wrote: “Since Âryabhata vargamula (square-roots), ghanamula unexpected, as in those days the pre- knows nothing of mathematics, celes- (cube-roots), area of a triangle and vol- vailing belief was that the Earth was not tial sphere or time, I have not mentioned ume of a prism, area of a circle and vol- only at the centre of the universe but it separately his demerits.” Further as S. ume of a sphere, area of a was fixed. N. Sen writes: “Brahmagupta attacked visamacaturasa (quadrilateral), circum- The system of astronomy taught in Âryabhata for dividing the yuga into four ference of a circle, bahu (the base of a Âryabhatiya is usually referred to as the equal parts, for upholding the rotatory right-angled triangle), and koti (the up- audayika system because the day be- motion of the Earth, for believing in the right of the right-angled triangle), karna ginning is reckoned from the mean sun- eclipses being caused by the shadows (hypotenuse of the right-angled tri- of the Moon and the Earth and not angle), trairasika (rule of three), in accordance with the traditional vyasta (reverse rule of three) and Rahu-Ketu theory.” Al-Biruni was kuttakara-ganita (the theory of apparently not convinced with pulveriser). Brahmagupta’s views on The remaining two sections, Âryabhata. Thus he writes “He Kâlakriyâpâda and Golapada deal (Brahmagupta) is rude enough to with astronomical principles and compare Âryabhata to a worm methods of computations in very which, eating the wood, by chance condensed form. The section describes certain characters in it, Kâlakriyapada, which means without understanding them and reckoning of time, has 25 stan- without intending to draw them. In zas. It includes topic like division such offensive terms he attacks of time and the circle, definitions Âryabhata and maltreats him…” Al- of solar year, lunar month, civil Biruni not only noticed undue criti- day, sidereal day, intercalary cism of Âryabhata but he also ac- months, omitted lunar days, plan- knowledged the merit of his ideas. etary orders and movements, the Brahmagupta was an important eccentric-epicyclic models, use of astronomer in his own right. It may these models for the calculations Varahamihira be noted that Brahmagupta’s atti- of the true planetary positions tude towards Âryabhata changed from the Earth and other related topics. rise (udaya) at Sri Lanka, a place situ- with time. The abovementioned highly The Golapâda is the longest sec- ated close to the Earth’s equator. critical remarks were written by him in tion and it is for this section Âryabhata Âryabhata was also the originator of an- Brahmasphuta-siddhanta, composed at is most famous. Gola means sphere. It other system of astronomy called the age of 30. However, his has 50 stanzas. In this section ardharatrika in which the day beginning Khandakhadyaka, composed at the age Âryabhata explains the methods of rep- is reckoned from the mean midnight of 67 was primarily based on Âryabhata’s resenting planetary motions in a celes- (ardharatri) at Lanka (Sri Lanka). ardharatrika system. It may be noted that tial sphere. He also defines such terms Varahamihira wrote: “Âryabhata main- Brahmagupta’s works were translated like prime vertical, meridian, horizon, hour tains that the beginning of the day is to into Arabic by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim circle, equator, parallax, and ecliptic. He be reckoned from midnight at Lanka; and al-Fazari (died 796 or 800) and Ya’qub discusses the pata (ascending nodes) the same teacher again says that the ibn Tariq (died 796) as Sindhind (a trans- of the planets and the shadow of the day begins from sunrise at Lanka.” lation of Brahmasphuta-Sidhanta) and the Earth movement on the path of the Sun Brahmagupta in his Brahmasphuta- Arakand (a translation of

(arka-apanamandala). Âryabhata as- siddhanta talks about these two systems Khadakhadyaka). History of Science

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 40 Commenting on the contributions ence in India, it consisted of eight 2. Scolberg, Henry, The Biographical of Âryabhata, the noted Indian astro- chapters dealing with following topics: Dictionary of Greater India, New physicist J. V. Narlikar writes: Delhi: Promilla & Co., Publishers, “Âryabhata gives a table of the trigo- 1. Mean longitude of planets and inde- 1998. terminate analysis. nometric sine functions, calling them 3. Narlikar, Jayant V., The Scientific 2. Longitude correction. jya in Sanskrit. The table gives the sines Edge: The Indian Scientist from 3. Time, place and direction, spherical of angles at intervals of 3°45'. The sine Vedic to Modern Times, New Delhi: trigonometry, latitudes and lunar tables are needed to work out the geo- Penguin Books India (P) Ltd., 2003. metrical measurements of positions of eclipses. 4. Basham, A. L., The Wonder that Was stars and planets on the celestial 4. True longitudes of planets. 5. Solar and lunar eclipses. India, New Delhi: Picador India, 2004. sphere. Thus we see that Âryabhata 6. Rising, setting and conjunction of (first published in London in 1954 by was conversant with the notions of planets. Sidgwick & Jackson). spherical trigonometry. Moreover, at the 7. Astronomical constants. 5. Al-Biruni’s India (edited with introduc- conceptual level, his awareness of the 8. Tithi and miscellaneous examples. tion and notes by Oeyamuddin spherical shape of Earth and its spin Ahmed), New Delhi: National Book around an axis reflect how advanced Bhâskara introduced many new Trust, India 1995. This is an abridged he was with respect to his contempo- methods of his own. While Âryabhata edition of Edward’ C. Sachan’s En- raries. For example, he argues in one postulated rules for indeterminate analy- glish translation of Al-Biruni’s verse of the Âryabhatiya that although sis, it was Bhâskara who elaborated it Tarikhu’s Hind. the stars appear to go westwards, they and its application to astronomy. 6. Rao, S Balachandra, Indian As- are in fact fixed and we are observing Bhâskara prepared an abridged version tronomy: An Introduction, Hyderabad: them from the moving platform of the of his main work known as Universities Press (India) Ltd., 2000. spinning Earth.” Laghubhaskariya. It may be noted that 7. Sharma, M.L., “Aryabhata’s Contri- The names of Pandurangasvami, another astronomer named Bhâskara and bution to Indian Astronomy”, Indian Latadeva, Prabhakara and Nihsanku to distinguish them they are called Journal of History of Astronomy, are cited as direct disciples of Bhâskara I and Bhâskara II. The latter Vol.12, No.2, pp.90-99, 1977. Âryabhata. However, it was Bhâskara was born around 1114 and his major work I (c. 600), who contributed greatly in was Siddhânta-siromani, which was di- 8. Sharma, M.L., “Indian Astronomy at the Time of Aryabhata”, Indian Jour- propagating Âryabhata’s work. vided into four chapters, viz., Lilavati (on nal of History of Astronomy, Vol.12, “Aryabhata’s cryptic and aphoristic arithmetic), the Bijaganita (on algebra), No.2, pp.100-105, 1977. style would have made it extremely Ganitadhyay and the Goladhayaya (the difficult to understand his text, but for last two on astronomy). 9. Behari, Ram, “Aryabhata as a Math- The works and teachings of the detailed exposition of the system ematician”, Indian Journal of History Âryabhata exerted strong influence on by Bhaskara (c. 600)”, writes S. of Astronomy, Vol.12, No.2, pp.90- later generations of astronomers in In- Balachandra Rao. Bhâskâra did it by 99, 1977. dia. A long line of his followers propa- his excellent commentaries and his gated his views through their excellent own independent work. He was a con- (The article is a popular presenta- commentaries. tion of the important points on the life temporary of Brahmagupta. Bhâskara The first Indian-built satellite and work of Âryabhata available in the was a native of either western India or launched by a rocket of erstwhile Soviet existing literature. The idea is to inspire South India (possibly Kerala). He was Union in April 1975 was named after the younger generation of know more associated with both these regions. So Âryabhata. about Âryabhata. The author has given it might be that he was a native of ei- the sources consulted for writing this ar- ther of these two regions and migrated References ticle. However, the sources on the to the other. His major work, the 1. Bose, D. M., S. N. Sen and B. V. Internet are numerous and so they have Mahâbhâskariya, was an elaborate ex- Subbarayappa (Eds.), A Concise His- not been individually listed. The author position of the three astronomical chap- tory of Science in India, New Delhi, is grateful to all those authors whose ters of Âryabhatiya. As S. N. Sen has Indian National Science Academy, works have contributed to writing this described in A Concise History of Sci- 1989. article). History of Science

39 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 Why Study Astronomy?

am an astronomer and astrophysicist them with vital clues on directions and Iby profession and I thought that I can thus helped in navigation. Thus they use this opportunity to share with you learnt to ‘read the sky’ as a practical the thrill and excitement of working in solution to their navigational problems. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar this field, to show how new unexpected E-mail: [email protected] challenges come in the way and how they are met. Also, to those who are not in From Kepler to the modern another circle, and so on…It depended this field and who wonder what the use times on the skill of the geometer and the of star gazing and trying to understand However, let us move on to more recent required accuracy of the model vis-à- cosmic phenomena could be, I would times and consider the motions of vis observations as to how far this like to convey how an apparently planets. The Greeks used the word process would go! These circles came esoteric field like this one can bring ‘planet’ in the sense of its meaning: to be known as epicycles and the theory benefits, not only to the scientist but wanderer; because they did not, or could the epicyclic theory. also to society at large. not, see a prima-facie pattern in their In short, to understand the Indeed, astronomy began as a motions. Guided as they were by the somewhat arbitrary motions of planets science as much through human natural philosophy of Aristotle, they was a challenge to the Greek astronomers fascination about the Cosmos as through tried to fit the heavenly bodies into a two thousand years ago and they tried the realisation that observing the sky can pattern of circular motions. For, to meet it through the intricate bring in knowledge that is useful to Aristotle believed that all natural motions geometric constructions of epicycles. In society. For, the stars and constellations are circular; and any departure from the terminology of the modern change their position in the sky as time circular path indicates that there is a theoretical physicist, their theory had passes, and by observing these patterns disturbing agency. This latter type of epicycles as parameters and to achieve one can make calendars. The observed motion he termed violent motion. the desired accuracy the number of changes in the position of the Sun and Now star trajectories across the parameters had to be increased. the Moon were thus used to tell how sky fell into neat circular arcs from East The Greek obsession with circles, the time progressed. And it was observed to West. This was consistent with looked at this way, was conditioned by that these changes were cyclical, with Aristotle’s natural motions. The planets, the wrong Aristotelian belief in circular the period of what became known as one however, did not show such simplicity. motion. It was further complicated by year. Relative to stars, their paths were the geocentric theory that supposed that To the agriculturist, it was twisted, sometimes reversing, sometimes the Earth is fixed in space and that all important to know how the seasons going up or down, relative to the path planets and the Sun move around it. progressively change through the year, of the Sun, say. The planets therefore Nicolaus Copernicus got rid of the latter so that the different stages of sowing, were wanderers. but retained the former. That is, growing and harvesting crop could be It is probably because of this although he assumed that the Earth, carried out at the right time. Even today extraordinary nature of planetary tracks along with other planets goes round a the nakshatras guide the farmer in such that belief grew that the planets fixed Sun, he still retained the epicycles. operations. possessed extraordinary powers, which This made his geometrical constructions To the Indian society, of course, they wielded on the mortals on Earth. somewhat simpler but still not elegant; astronomy provided information on The age-old belief in astrology may be the epicycles were a reminder that this determining the so-called ‘auspicious’ understood this way. I will return to was a wrong way of looking at reality. times for performing the various rituals, this aspect later. This is where we appreciate the as these times were linked to the To their credit, the Aristotelians contributions of Johannes Kepler. He positions of heavenly bodies in the sky. did not content themselves with this was keen to work on planetary In fact considerable progress of belief and sought to fit the wayward trajectories to look for an underlying mathematics in the early times is linked planetary trajectories into the circular simplicity of their construction. He was to the rituals like yajnas. Astronomy pattern. Thus grew the concept of aware that this required detailed made its own contributions to these epicycles. Instead of a single circle, the observational studies and such events. planet, so it was argued, moved on a observations had been carried out by the Finally, sailors on the high seas circle whose centre moved on another Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. So he realised that stars in the sky provided circle, whose centre moved on still enrolled with Tycho as an assistant. Astronomy

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 38 Tycho himself was convinced that the question ‘Why do the planets move around experiment by Henry Cavendish heliocentric theory of Copernicus was the Sun in this way?’ measured the strength of the wrong and hoped that his own data It required the genius of Isaac gravitational force in the laboratory, the would disprove it. He was in need of Newton to answer this question. We confidence in the validity of the an assistant and was glad to enrol read the story of how Newton discovered Newtonian law grew solely because of Kepler as one. the law of gravitation when an apple fell astronomical data. Working with Tycho was not, on him while sitting in his orchard at Having said this we now come to however, a pleasant experience what Woolsthorpe Manor during his anni the recent years of space technology. with his whimsicality and demeaning mirabilis, 1664-1666. Could the fall of That we can launch satellites around the behaviour towards his assistant. But an apple inspire an inverse square law? Earth or can send spacecrafts to the Kepler stuck to it, as Tycho’s data was The story, if true, may go so far as Moon and the planets like Mars, a veritable goldmine. As luck would suggesting that it led Newton to think Mercury or Jupiter, all in highly precise have it, Tycho died not long after Kepler of a force of attraction between the trajectories is because of the validity of joined him and on his deathbed Earth and the apple. But nothing more. Newton’s law. So the benefits we enjoy enjoined his assistant to do his best to Even the most sensitive instruments of today from space technology be it disprove Copernicus. today’s technology cannot tell us that the remote sensing of Earth resources, or After Tycho’s death, while his fall of an apple implies the inverse square sending a fax or an e-mail message or relatives were arguing over his law of attraction. For this quantitative watching the World Cup live on TV, all possessions, Kepler quietly took hold deduction, Newton needed more owe their existence to the law of of the valuable data and spent the next detailed data and those were available gravitation; and the law of gravitation two decades carefully analysing it. And to him in Kepler’s work. itself owes its genesis to the data from out of these efforts emerged the three Today a mathematics astronomy. laws of planetary motion that are now undergraduate can deduce the inverse This brings me to the point I wish named after him. In a sense Tycho kept square law of gravitation from the three to underscore in this article, that his promise to Tycho: he proved Keplerian laws. For Newton it was the astronomy may appear esoteric and Copernicus wrong; but not in the sense work of a genius, as he used the calculus remote from everyday life, but its that Tycho had intended. Kepler newly invented by himself for this work. pursuit leads to addition to human verified that the heliocentric theory was Later he demonstrated the converse - that storehouse of knowledge that brings correct, although the Copernican given the law of gravitation and the laws benefits to human societies. epicyclic approach was wrong. of motion, the Keplerian laws follow. Kepler’s first law of motion sets Thus by the end of the seventeenth The source of solar energy out this clearly. It tells us that a planet century, the riddle of how the planets goes round the Sun in an elliptical move and why they so move had been I now turn to another example, to the trajectory. The Sun is at the focus of fully understood. Far from being age-old problem of what keeps the Sun the ellipse. Thus the series of epicycles wanderers moving at their own will, the shining. This question has been a major represented an approximation to the planets were inert masses forced to challenge to astrophysicists whose job reality of an ellipse. Kepler’s second move in well-defined trajectories by the it is to understand the behaviour of law describes how a planet moves along Sun’s force of attraction. If there was celestial bodies in terms of the laws of its path: the line joining it to the Sun any justification for believing that physics we know. Although the problem sweeps out equal areas in equal planets wield any influence on us has now been solved, it is interesting to intervals of time. And his third law humans, that disappeared by this take a look at its history. relates the period of the planet demonstration. Yet such is the human In the last century, two completing one orbit to the size of the mind, that many still believe in that distinguished physicists, Lord Kelvin in orbit. myth today, three centuries later! Britain and Baron von Helmholtz in I have gone into these details Let me move on to the next step Germany offered a solution to the because the emergence of these simple in the evolution of thought. Newtonian problem. They argued that the source looking rules demonstrates the result law of gravitation was inspired by of solar energy lies in its vast of Kepler’s persistent efforts. Out of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and gravitational energy reservoir. In a the noise he had picked up the real received further confirmation through gravity dam, water falling from a great signal which all his predecessors had more astronomical observations, like height can run electric turbines and missed. He had discovered the pattern Halley’s Comet, the discovery of planet thereby transfer its gravitational energy of planetary motion. More importantly, Neptune, the motions of binary stars, to electric one. In the same way, Kelvin the stage was now set for asking the and so on. Although the famous and Helmholtz demonstrated that as a Astronomy

37 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 massive ball of matter like the Sun the identity of a nucleus is threatened. Here we have another example, slowly shrinks, it releases gravitational In particular, it may be possible for two where astronomy has shown the way to energy which can be converted to light smaller nuclei to combine into a bigger basic science. I should mention that energy. one. This process is known as nuclear the fusion that operates in the Sun is On the face of it the calculation fusion. the same thermonuclear process that was impressive, as it showed that the Eddington believed that nuclear operates in a hydrogen bomb, a process Sun could draw on this energy for about fusion would operate in the core of a that was tested at Pokhran on 11 May twenty million years if it were to keep star and, in particular, the process would 1998 by our scientists. The only shining at its present rate. However, result in the formation of the nucleus of difference is that the process operates the idea did not work! For, by the turn helium from the fusion of hydrogen. in the Sun in a controlled fashion, of the century, it was becoming clear This possibility had earlier been whereas it does so in an explosive that the Earth and the Solar System was suggested by J. Perrin. When four nuclei fashion in a bomb. considerably older than twenty million of hydrogen combine to form one This brings me to the last question years. Today we know that the age of nucleus of helium, some mass is lost. in the present context. Can we carry the Solar System may be close to five Using the law of conservation of matter out this process in a controlled fashion billion years. Thus the gravity reservoir and energy via the celebrated Einstein on Earth? That the process can operate of the Sun is not adequate for keeping equation E = Mc2, Eddington argued that in a controlled fashion in the Sun has it shining for so long. the mass loss would be compensated by been demonstrated over the last five In the third decade of twentieth energy which is what the star radiates. billion years or so. The challenge now century, the problem of solar energy was There was one snag, however. The lies in repeating on Earth what has been tackled anew by the Cambridge science of nuclear physics was in a very demonstrated in an astronomical setting. astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington. primitive state in the 1920s. The atomic It is easy for the Sun to do this Eddington had set up equations physicists felt that Eddington’s ideas will because of its strong gravity. In a describing the internal structure of a star not work. For, the hydrogen nuclei are terrestrial experiment the controlling like the Sun. These equations visualised positively charged and any two of them agency cannot be gravity (which is very the Sun as a ball of hot plasma, (that is, would repel each other. Unless the weak on Earth). The present attempts a system of atoms of gas from which nuclei are hurtled towards each other revolve round containing hot plasma the outer electrons have been stripped very fast they would not fuse together. under a magnetic force. If the process off and kept as a separate entity) which Now, in a hot gas the nuclei do move succeeds, it may provide cheap ways of was held in equilibrium under the very fast. But, according to the atomic generating energy: for the fuel in the opposing forces of its own gravity and physicists, at the temperatures of the form of heavy water would be available pressures of gas and radiation. They order of ten million degrees or more that from the seas around us. also showed how to describe the passage Eddington was talking about, the speeds of radiation from deep interior to the of these nuclei would not be high enough Relationship to fundamental outer layers of the star, eventually for the fusion process to work. escaping as starlight. physics Eddington was, however, confident The examples cited so far also Using these equations Eddington that he was right. In his book The demonstrate an important fact; namely was able to estimate the march of Internal Constitution of the Stars, he the contributions astronomy makes to pressure, density and temperature of the wrote: gas from the outer layers all the way fundamental physics. The law of towards the centre. All these rise rapidly ……We do not argue with the gravitation and controlled as we proceed inwards. For example, a critic who urges that the stars are not thermonuclear fusion came to physics star like the Sun may have an outer hot enough for this process. We tell him via astronomy. Indeed the universe is a surface temperature of 5,500 degrees, to go and find a hotter place… grand laboratory for science, with dimensions far exceeding that of any but its central temperature could well A decade later Eddington was terrestrial laboratory. The laws of science exceed ten million degrees! proved right. By mid-1930s, the science that were first discovered and tested on Now, normally the nucleus of an of nuclear physics had advanced to a Earth also receive a more severe testing atom is a tightly bound entity. In a stage where scientists had become better in the cosmic laboratory. A few typical chemical reaction the nucleus is acquainted with the force of nuclear examples will suffice by way of not affected. However, at energies binding. In 1939, Hans Bethe used the demonstration: considerably in excess of chemical ides of nuclear fusion of hydrogen to energies, at energies of particles in a gas helium to generate realistic models of • The cosmic radio sources emit 60

of ten million degrees temperature, even the Sun and stars. energies of the order of 10 ergs or Astronomy

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 36 more, that is about a hundred billion We have already seen that the reached a stage where their theory could billion billion billion times the temperature of a gas is indicative of its not be tested experimentally. And in energy released in a one-megaton H- dynamical activity. The higher the science, a theory that cannot be tested bomb. temperature, the higher is the energy of is no more than a speculation. • The rapidly pulsating radio sources the typical particle of the gas. In the very It was against this background that called pulsars send signals with such early stages after the big bang, therefore, the big bang cosmology offered a way regularity over periods as short as a the particle energies were extremely out to the particle theorists. As we just few milliseconds that they more than high. This circumstance excited the saw, in the early epochs the typical match in stability and accuracy the high-energy particle physicists into using constituent particles of the universe best man-made atomic clocks. the very early universe as a testing space were indeed highly energetic and so for their theories of unification. • The highest-energy cosmic rays could serve as the targets for testing the showering the Earth contain I should state that the goal of GUT predictions. Of course, for particles with energies a billion unification of all basic interactions was reaching the desired energies the epochs times that produced in the most first conceived by Albert Einstein who would have to be very early. How early? advanced accelerator on Earth. tried to look for a unified field theory of Calculations suggest that barely a billion- gravitational and electromagnetic billion-billion-billionth part of a second • Neutron stars contain matter with interaction. His goal was to seek a had elapsed for the universe to have a density as high as a million billion description wherein the apparently particles of the requisite energy! In times the density of water, far separate phenomena of gravity and other words, the particle theorists have exceeding any density of a electricity and magnetism are seen as in the universe itself a high-energy macroscopic form of terrestrial different manifestations of the same particle accelerator, which for a fleeting matter. basic law of nature. His efforts were moment produced particles of high • The large-scale structure of the inconclusive and failed to excite the enough energy for testing their theories. universe as revealed through the best community of theoretical physicists. The advent of particle theorists telescopes of today extends out to Wrote Wolfgang Pauli: Let no man put into cosmology was also welcomed by distances which a light ray would together that God has put asunder. the supporters of the big bang theory, take ten billion years to traverse. However, fashions change in as it provided ‘physics’ to discuss the For a comparison, light takes only science as they change in the world of behaviour of matter and radiation in the a second and a quarter to come here dress designers! A few decades later early epochs. For, cosmologists also have from the Moon. physicists began to search for a unified an agenda which includes a theory that Several more such examples can framework that included not only the explains the formation of large scale be given. What do they indicate? That two phenomena Einstein was seeking to structure in the universe from the ‘seeds’ the physicist is looking to astronomy to unite but also the other basic planted in the early epochs. The hope provide confirmation that the laws of interactions ( the so-called strong and is that particle theories will tell us what physics discovered here and now are or weak interactions) that operate in the those seeds could have been. were applicable there and then. microworld of atomic nuclei and Sheldon Glashow has expressed A very daring extrapolation of this subatomic particles. A partial success this cosmology-particle physics idea appears in the studies of the very in this direction was achieved when interaction through the mythical snake early universe. As per the popular belief Abdus Salam and Stephen Weinberg (which also reminds us of our Shesha ( which I myself don’t subscribe to!), the produced a successful theory unifying Naga) swallowing its own tail. The head universe originated in a hot big bang, the electromagnetic theory with the weak of the snake has the whole universe and which took place some ten billion years interaction; successful, because its the tail the smallest particles; the act of ago. If we go right to the big bang predictions were verified in the powerful swallowing symbolises a synthesis of the instant, it supposedly lies beyond the particle accelerator at CERN, near largest and the smallest. scope of physics; because it describes a Geneva. Perhaps a note of caution needs situation when physical quantities like However, the next rung on the to be interjected in all this excitement density, temperature, etc., were infinite, unification step-ladder is far steeper. For of understanding both the largest and when all mathematical operations broke the so-called Grand Unified Theory (GUT the smallest in a joint effort. What we down. However, the physicist’s clock in brief), the currently accepted have here are two speculations, one from begins to tick immediately after this standard model requires energies a particle physics, viz., a GUT, the other singular epoch. For example, as time thousand billion times what are from cosmology, the Big Bang. Two elapses the universe cools down and its achievable in the present accelerators. speculations may not make up certainty; temperature drops. By 1980, the particle physicists had at best they may be fitted into a self- Astronomy

35 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 consistent scenario. Nor is the scenario Meteorites are bodies orbiting actually hitting the Earth is not a repeatable experiment. For, as we saw, within the Solar System, being negligible. A better estimate can only the universe passes through the GUT- relatively small bits that did not form be made when the comet is sighted phase only very fleetingly and the same into a (much bigger) unit like a planet. again in 22nd century. conditions are not repeated later. Thus Some of them can come close enough In the 1970s I had written a the standard scientific criterion of testing to Earth to be attracted by its gravity. science fiction story in which a comet a theory through repeatable experiments In that case, they ‘fall’ on Earth. Smaller like this was headed for a collision with is not met. bits of a few centimetres or less are Earth. How did the scientists avert the Nevertheless this example usually burnt out by friction as they catastrophe? The solution used in the demonstrates how astronomy is proving pass through the atmosphere. They are story involved sending an unmanned indispensable to physicists. mistakenly called ‘shooting stars’ or spacecraft to rendezvous with the ‘falling stars’. Some do land on Earth and comet; with the provision that close to if noticed and collected, they end up the comet it would carry out a nuclear Protection from collisions as museum pieces and useful tools for explosion generating shock waves that I next come down to a more down to geophysicists. Meteorites have been would divert the comet from its Earth issue which has recently shown extremely useful in dating and original path. The same solution is now how astronomy may become relevant to estimating the age of the Solar System, proposed for saving the Earth from an our very survival on this planet. as well as for getting information on impending impact by a comet or a We are aware of the history of its chemical abundances. meteorite, or, what is now considered Jurassic age when huge beasts like However, larger meteorites can be more of a threat, an asteroid. dinosaurs used to dominate this planet. devastating in their impact. For Asteroids form a swarm of bodies What happened to them? What example, the meteorite whose impact moving generally in a belt between catastrophe took place that wiped them caused the ‘hole’ at Lonar was about Mars and Jupiter. It is believed that entirely from the face of the Earth? 60 metres in diameter, weighing about these represent a ‘failed planet’, that is, Speculations are many. But one twenty million tons. The impact caused a planet that did not form! These a hole that today has a diameter of possibility that is taken very seriously bodies are thus smaller than a planet around 1,830 metres and a depth of is that the Earth may have been hit by like the Earth, ranging in sizes from 150 metres. The energy released in the an extra-terrestrial body of appreciable several hundred metres to around 10 process was equivalent to that coming mass and the impact caused a huge kilometres, although a few of them are from a 6-megaton H-bomb. For a larger, even up to 1,000 km in size. turmoil wiping out all, or at least most comparison, the atom bomb dropped These bodies generally lie beyond life forms from Earth. What could such on Hiroshima was of 13 kiloton Mars, although a few of them may a body be? capacity, about two percent of the occasionally come close to the Earth, Judged by the crowded streets in a strength of the impact on Lonar. We thus raising the spectre of an impact. metropolis, the space in which the Earth will take the Hiroshima case as a unit It is estimated that the number of moves is remarkably empty. The chance of energy released. asteroids of up to 1-km size may be of a collision is very very small. But it There are bigger entities than between 1,000-2,000, while the is not zero. Let us see a few examples. such meteorites going around in the number of 100-metre size objects may The surface of the Moon is pock- Solar System. In July 1994 Comet be as large as 1,00,000. Although the marked with craters, showing evidence Shoemaker Levy had impacted on impact of a smaller object is less severe, that outside bodies have hit it on several Jupiter. The event was witnessed by the chance of its taking place is much occasions. The Earth has also such telescopes on Earth. On the huge planet larger. craters; only many of them are filled with the impact of a comet had, of course a How severe is the impact? The water and appear as lakes. Some impact transient and relatively mild effect. But Lonar example gives some indication. craters are confused with volcanic ones. what if a comet strikes the Earth? However, suppose a 10-km size object Two examples of craters believed to have Indeed, such a possibility was raised hits the Earth, what will be the energy arisen from impacts are the Meteor in 1992 in connection with Comet released? The answer is a staggering Crater in Arizona, USA and the Lonar Swift Tuttle. This comet passed by in ‘One billion Hiroshima’s. Not only will Crater Lake in the Buldhana district of 1992. At the time it was predicted the area hit by the object devastated, Maharashtra in India. As the name of that in its next visit on 14 August the overall changes in the Earth’s the first one suggests, the impacting 2126, it will come very close to Earth. atmosphere will be such as to make life body in both cases was a huge Although it cannot be definitely elsewhere on the planet impossible to meteorite. calculated, the probability of its sustain. Astronomy

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 34 Keeping such possibilities in view, interstellar communication astronomers in the USA have initiated possible. This is the natural a Spacewatch programme, in which a frequency of neutral hydrogen, the Letters to the Editor dedicated 1.8-metre telescope is looking most prevalent element in the for all asteroids of such appreciable sizes Galaxy, and one likely to be best A magazine of excellence in our neighbourhood. With their known to extraterrestrials. Being a regular reader of DREAM 2047, I find something missing when I do not receive trajectories charted out we can predict • Advances in space technology may it in time. The editorial in your March 2009 if any of them will come dangerously close make it possible in future to set up on ‘Preserving Astronomical Heritage’ was to Earth in the future, and take preventive a huge antenna in space for fantastic. Information about Hipparchus of action as needed. interstellar communication. Rhodes was interesting. Jayant V Narlikar’s This example again tells us that sky- I have not mentioned the usage of article on Scientific Temper, in contrast with gazing is not a mere idle activity; it can space-ships, most popular with science traditional outlook of our society, was very contribute to human survival. fiction writers, for the simple reason that informative. ‘Green Revolution in Bioscience’ the distances in the Galaxy are so vast by Biman Basu informs us about the field. Are we alone in the universe? that use of space technology currently The article on tobacco smoking by Dr. Yatish available to us makes it an impractical Agarwal was quite interesting. As a whole, My last example in the list of challenges proposition. Their speed is so slow that and benefits points to the future, to every issue of DREAM 2047 leaves an using our present space ships to travel everlasting effect on the minds of its readers. perhaps the most exciting discovery in the to the nearest star Proxima Centauri is annals of human history. Who knows, but B.J. Trivedi, T.G.T. (E), worse than the case of an ant going from J.N.V. Orai, Disstt-Jalaun (UP) the present century may bring a positive Chennai to Delhi! answer to the frequently asked question: Are we alone in the universe? Experts agree that the best way of Scientific temper looking for extraterrestrials is through The article on the scientific temper by J V If it does, a major contribution to radio signals using wavelengths like that Narlikar in DREAM 2047 (March 2009) is the quest will have come from astronomy. of neutral hydrogen. These waves are less thought provoking. We are celebrating In fact it is an inter-disciplinary issue attenuated and are likely to be recognised Galileo by observing 2009 as International but by and large it is the recent by the recipients who should have gone Year of Astronomy. It is the time for the UGC developments in astronomy that through an evolutionary development to correct its mistakes in connection with attracted scientists of several disciplines which makes them with the sciences as astrology. towards it. We may briefly mention the we know them. Indeed they may, Dr. P.Nallasamy, following highlights: hopefully, be far more advanced than us, Puducherry • The large-scale structure of the which will make it exciting for our [email protected] universe shows that our location on scientists. Perhaps they can receive ready a planet around a star is very answers to their present puzzles and Impressive editorial ordinary and there can be a large thereby make sudden leaps of progress! I chanced to go through the January 2009 number of similar habitats available However, patience is needed; for issue of DREAM 2047 at my friend’s for hosting life. if we send a query to an extraterrestrial place. The articles and the editorial are • Millimetre-wave astronomy has located at a modest distance of, say, ten impressive and very informative indeed. revealed several giant molecular light-years, our signal will take ten years Kudos to the entire editorial team! In the clouds containing chemical to reach them and their reply another article ‘Broken Symmetries’ by Biman molecules of considerable ten years, making it a twenty-year gap Basu there is a statement on p.28 which complexity, including the kind of between question and answer. Still the reads “...the ‘strange’ quark that would organic molecules we are made of. effort would be worth it! bind with an anti-up or an anti-down anti quark to form K-mesons”. Actually, it is • The evidence of fossilised life in the I hope that I have succeeded in a the strange anti-quark (and not strange tiny Alan Hill Meteorite from modest way in convincing you why it is quark) that binds with an up or a down Mars, although still very tentative, so exciting and worthwhile to work in quark to form K-mesons. I wish all the has raised the question whether life the science of astronomy. exists or existed on our best to DREAM 2047 in the New Year and the International Astronomy Year neighbouring planet. Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar is an 2009. • The techniques of communication eminent theoretical astrophysicist and winner Dr. U.P. Tyagi, using the 21-centimetre wave band of the Kalinga Prize for science populariza- tion. He is a former Director of Inter- 8725, C-8, Vasant Kunj, have reached the level of University Centre for Astronomy and New Delhi-110070 sophistication which makes Astrophysics, Pune Astronomy

33 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 having a heart attack and rush to an Fuzzy Scare emergency room. Others, though overtaken by fear, try to ignore it. But the story is much the same. Each of Panic Disorder them just had a panic attack. Call it panic disorder, if you like. Once dismissed as ‘nerves’ or How does one kill fear, I wonder? How stress, a panic attack is now recognised do you shoot a spectre through the as a potentially disabling but treatable Dr. Yatish Agarwal heart, slash off its spectral head, take it condition. Typically, the attack lasts e-mail: [email protected] by its spectral throat? from a few seconds to several hours. Joseph Conrad Lord Jim Most attacks, however, peak within ten as your body readies itself for a life- minutes and exit within 20 or 30 threatening situation. Many of the panic attack can catch you off guard. minutes, leaving its sufferer sometimes same reactions occur in a panic attack. AA wave of fear, for no apparent reason, with a vague sense of exhaustion. They No obvious stressor is present but overwhelms you. Some two per cent of men may come back any time and the something triggers the body’s alarm and women suffer from this disorder, which unpredictability regarding their system. The fear of the attack is often recurs at its own will and terrorises the reappearance perturbs the victim with so overwhelming that it begins to affect sufferer. You may choose to keep silent and persistent anxiety. Life is laden with the quality of life and leads to suffer, or seek out one of the several fear and one simply does not know what curtailment of activity. treatment options. Simple medications to to do. Some people feel so inundated People with panic disorder may reduce anxiety can arrest the symptoms with fear that they stop stepping out of also run into other difficulties. They appear within one or two days, but a special brand their homes. to have an increased risk of alcoholism of psychotherapy and relaxation techniques The disorder is fairly common. and drug dependence. Some studies hold out the possibility of eliminating the It affects about two per cent people indicate they may also have a higher risk illness altogether. during their lives and twice as many of depression and suicide. women as men. The attacks typically begin in young adulthood—late teens and early twenties—and can recur throughout life. While some people experience panic attacks frequently, almost daily or every week, others suffer the attack less often. The condition tends to run in families; possibly heredity plays a role. If somebody has a diagnosed panic disorder, up to 18 per cent of his or her first-degree blood relatives may also suffer similarly. Studies done on identical twins also corroborate the genetic factor. If the disorder affects one of a pair of identical twins, the It can happen any time. Your inner second twin runs a high risk of being self presses the panic button for no rhyme similarly affected. But this kind of risk or reason. All of a sudden, an attack of does not affect non-identical twins. terror and apprehension overwhelms you. Your heart begins to race, your face The hoax alarm Was it a Panic Attack? flushes, and you have trouble breathing. A panic attack clearly represents the You feel dizzy, queasy, out of control— activation of the body’s natural alarm Take a simple test some people even feel they are going crazy system, or the primitive fight-or-flight Do you think that you were hit by a panic or are about to die. response to danger. For example, if an attack? Did you press the fear button? Did Every year, millions of people across angry bull came after you, your body you feel your body and mind went berserk the world go through an experience like would react instinctively. Your for a few moments? If yes, take this test this. Many, fearing the worst, think they’re heartbeat and breathing would speed up to know if you did have a panic attack. Mediscape

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 32 Classically, a panic attack is a some environmental events that sudden, unexpected and overwhelming evoke stress and anxiety. The feeling of terror and apprehension, in constellation of such stimuli could which you find yourself overtaken by be an outcome of the past some strange symptoms. These experiences or a psychological symptoms develop abruptly and peak conflict. These particular conflicts within 10 minutes. Tick the symptoms arise from suppressed painful you remember had hit you: thoughts, impulses, or desires, either from the past or present. 1. You found your heart racing, Sometimes no cause may be present pounding or throbbing with at all, and the body just seems to palpitations. react to stress. As such, the panic 2. You were suddenly short of breath response is seen as an attempt to or felt as if you were being mobilise inner resources and ward smothered. off danger to the self. Some psychologists also believe that an 3. You felt dizzy, unsteady, light early childhood experience of headed, or faint. separation from important people, such to deficient concentration and loss of 4. You began to tremble or shake. as parents, increases the risk of panic memory. disorder. Antidepressant medications are 5. You found sweat suddenly pouring another good option. They eliminate all over you. Treatment panic symptoms and provide relief in 6. You had a feeling of choking. Effective treatment for panic disorder 80 to 90 per cent cases. The tricyclic is available. Most people are able to antidepressants, amitryptline and 7. You experienced sudden chest clomipramine work well, but must be pain or discomfort. overcome the disorder with the help of medication, specialised psychotherapy, taken for at least four to six weeks. 8. You had a nauseous feeling or or a combination of both. The first step They also may cause side effects such tummy distress. is to block the attacks with the help of as a dry mouth, constipation, blurring 9. You felt a sudden numbness or medication. There are several options, of vision, dizziness and drowsiness. The tingling sensation. selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including paroxetine and 10. You felt hot flashes or chills all fluvoxamine, usually have fewer side over your body. effects and are quite effective. The 11. You had a feeling of unreality or biggest difficulty, however, with any being detached from the self. medication is the high rate of relapse once a person stops using the 12. You had a fear of going crazy or medication. doing something uncontrolled. Psychotherapy, particularly 13. You experienced sudden fear that cognitive-behavioural therapy, helps you would die. control panic attacks. Under this The result method, therapists help people reconstruct the physical symptoms of If you tick off four or more of the the panic attack and teach them to think above, you have a problem. Seek help. rationally about the situation. Most people feel better with just eight to ten What causes panic disorder? sessions. The current thinking regarding the but the anxiolytics (anxiety reducing Physical relaxation techniques, origin of panic disorders is that they medicines), particularly alprazolam such as deep breathing, yoga, and result from the interplay of multiple make a good choice. Taken in high muscle relaxation also ease the stress biological and psychological factors. doses, the medication benefits quickly, and prove useful in developing a sound The main contributory factor may be and provides relief within a day or two. coping mechanism to control the panic some genetic vulnerability, leading to It has few physical side effects, but it attacks. a biological illness. Over time, panic can be highly addictive and can impair attacks may also get associated with mental ability in the long run, leading Mediscape

31 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 Recent Developments in Science and Technology Biman Basu ISRO discovers bacteria in Email: [email protected] Fundamental Research (TIFR). The the stratosphere payload consisted of a cryosampler The stratosphere is the third major astrophysicist Fred Hoyle; the second containing 16 evacuated and sterilised layer of Earth’s atmosphere, just above as Bacillus isronensis, recognising the stainless steel probes. After collecting air the troposphere, and ranges in height contribution of ISRO in the balloon samples from different heights ranging between about 10 km and 50 km. The experiments which led to its discovery; from 20 km to 41 km, the stainless steel probes were brought down by parachute and safely retrieved. The samples were then analysed by scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad as well as the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune. In all, 12 bacterial and six fungal species were detected, nine of which showed greater than 98% similarity with reported known species on Earth. According to ISRO sources, while the present study does not conclusively establish the extra-terrestrial origin of microorganisms, it does provide positive encouragement to continue the work in our quest to explore the origin of life.

Liquid water on Mars Soon after NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander touched down on the Red Planet in May The ISRO balloon launch from the National Balloon Facility in Hyderabad. last year, it sent back images of what temperature here rises with altitude – and the third as Bacillus aryabhata, after looked like water ice (Dream2047 July from about -100°C at the bottom to - India’s celebrated ancient astronomer 2008). In February 2009, NASA scientists 3°C at the top. The heating is caused Aryabhata and also the first satellite of announced that the Phoenix may have by an ozone layer that absorbs solar ISRO. found liquid water also. This astonishing ultraviolet radiation, heating the upper The balloon experiment was a claim is based on a series of black and layers of the stratosphere. With very multi-institutional effort, with Jayant white images, which appear to show high intensity of ultraviolet radiation Narlikar from the Inter-University droplets of water hanging off the lander’s from the Sun, the upper layers of the Centre for Astronomy and legs in the shade. According to the stratosphere constitute a hostile place Astrophysics, Pune as Principal scientists, the water droplets were for living organisms. But recently, three Investigator and veteran scientists U.R. probably splashed from the Martian species of bacteria unknown on Earth Rao from ISRO and P.M. Bhargava surface during Phoenix’s rocket-assisted have been found in stratospheric air in from Anveshna as mentors. landing. The interesting fact is that the a unique balloon experiment conducted The experiment was conducted water droplets appear to be growing, by Indian Space Research Organisation using a 7.5-lakh-cubic-metre balloon merging, and dripping on the lander’s (ISRO). The three newly discovered carrying a 459-kg scientific payload leg over the course of a Martian month. species have been found to be highly immersed in 38 kg of liquid neon at - But how can liquid water exist on resistant to ultraviolet radiation. One 246°C, which was flown from the Mars where the temperature ranges of the new species has been named National Balloon Facility in Hyderabad, between -20 and -80°C even in the

Janibacter hoylei, after the distinguished operated by the Tata Institute of summer? The scientists have found an New Horizons

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 30 complete human genome was published in 2003, with further analysis still being published. Neanderthals were the closest relatives of currently living humans. They lived in Europe and parts of Asia until they became extinct about 30,000 years ago. For more than a hundred years, palaeontologists and anthropologists have been striving to uncover their evolutionary relationship to modern humans, who emerged roughly 400,000 years ago. Now researchers have revealed a first draft of the complete Neanderthal genome, Liquid water droplets seem to form and move on the leg of the Phoenix Mars lander, as seen in a sequence of 3,000 million or so base images taken on days 8, 31, and 44 (left to right) of the craft’s mission. Scientists think the water pairs. Speaking at the annual meeting could stay liquid even in the frigid Martian surface because of its high concentration of perchlorates, of the American Association for the salts that acts like antifreeze. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech//University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute) Advancement of Science in Chicago on answer to this puzzle also, in the form of perchlorates are highly toxic and are 12 February, Svante Pääbo, head of the salts known as perchlorates. The known to be a hindrance to life as we project and director of genetics at the discovery of perchlorates in the Martian know it. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary soil was announced by the Phoenix team Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, in August 2008, but at that time not Neanderthal genome said that this first overview covers much attention was given to its role in unravelled keeping water liquid. Genome denotes the complete As any chemistry student knows, set of genes or genetic material dissolving salt in water reduces its freezing present in a cell or organism. point. According to NASA scientists, if Every organism, including perchlorate is dissolved in significant humans, has a genome that quantities, water could remain as a liquid contains all of the biological down to temperatures as low as -70°C. information needed to build and So it could be that the dissolved maintain a living example of that perchlorate salt is acting as an effective organism. That is why there is antifreeze to keep water liquid on Mars. worldwide interest in unravelling The most likely candidates are magnesium and sodium perchlorates, based on the the genomes of different abundance of magnesium and sodium organisms, the latest success ions that Phoenix has detected. being the unravelling of the According to Nilton Renno of Neanderthal genome. Michigan University and Phoenix team One of the biggest genome member, the lander’s thruster rockets projects till now was the Human would have melted the top millimetre of Genome Project (HGP), which ice in the Martian surface while landing was an international scientific and the resulting water droplets may have research project with a primary been splashed onto the lander’s leg. If the goal to identify the over 3,000 concentration of perchlorate in the soil was million base pairs and to map high enough, the water could have the approximately 20,000- remained in a liquid state during the 25,000 genes of the human Martian daytime. genome from both a physical However, the presence of liquid and functional standpoint. The Although the difference between the Neanderthal and water on Martian surface does in no way human genome is only 0.5 per cent, the robust skeleton project began in 1990 and a of a Neanderthal (left) is unmistakably different from that indicate the possibility of life on the Red working draft of the genome of a modern human (right). (Credit: G.J. Sawyer and Blaine Maley)

Mediscape Planet for the simple reason that was released in 2000. The

29 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 about 63 percent of the Neanderthal like footprints have been genome. Most of it derived from just discovered recently by a half gram of bone removed from Matthew Bennett of 38,000-year-old fossils excavated from Bournemouth University Vindija Cave in Croatia. in Poole, England, and his The new gene map, which is the colleagues at Ileret, Kenya, result of two and a half years’ effort, which is dated as 1.5 suggests that humans and Neanderthals million years old (Science, began to diverge genetically from a 27 February 2009). The common ancestor about 800,000 years footprints, excavated ago. The two populations co-existed between 2006 and 2008, but were genetically distinct by have been identified as 300,000 years ago. The Neanderthal being of an early Africa- genome reveals that the difference based Homo erectus, or between the genetic makeup of Homo ergaster as some Neanderthals and modern humans scientists call it. This was differ by only 0.5 per cent, while in the first hominid to have the case of chimpanzees, the difference had the same body is 1 per cent. Because Neanderthals proportions as our species, were our closest relative during our modern Homo sapiens. evolutionary journey, differences The rare footprints at between human and Neanderthal Ileret yielded valuable genetics could tell us what genes made information about soft us distinctly human. tissue form and structure Despite its draft quality, the not normally accessible in genome is already beginning to reveal fossilised bones, and are a few of our ancestors’ traits. For the oldest evidence of example, Neanderthals lacked the essentially modern human- 1.5-million-year-old footprint discovered at Ileret, Kenya reveals lactase gene, which allows adult like foot anatomy. They short toes and a forward oriented big toe typical of modern humans to digest milk. But the provide new clues to the humans. (Credit: M. Bennett/Bournemouth University) researchers confirmed that the ancient hominid did share with us the only gene known to be implicated in speech and language, FoxP2. So, Neanderthals may have had the capacity to articulate as we do. However, the new data do little to further the idea that humans and Neanderthals interbred – something that has been the subject of much debate, but for which most experts agree there is little evidence.

Oldest human-like footprints The earliest human ancestor to walk upright was Australopithecus afarensis, the oldest footprints of which, dating to 3.6 million years ago, had been discovered in 1978 by Mary Leakey at Laetoli, Tanzania. However, although the footprints indicated an upright posture, they showed a shallower arch and a more ape-like, divergent big toe Digital contour maps portray the shapes of footprints from Laetoli (left), Ileret (middle) – very different from the feet of and a British site inhabited by people around 3,000 years ago (right). (Credit: M. Bennett/Bournemouth University)

modern humans. The oldest human- New Horizons

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 28 evolution of upright stance and walking and France have come out with a layer that as a stabiliser for “waves” in in modern humans. hypothesis according to which the the desert – the thicker the boundary Measures of the size, spacing and topology of these desert landscapes is layer the larger the distance between depth of the Ileret footprints allowed governed by the thickness of the neighbouring giant dunes. the researchers to estimate the atmospheric layer above; a process Comparing dune separation from individuals’ heights, weights and stride similar to dunes forming on a river deserts around the world with the lengths, all of which fell within the bed. After carrying out field overlying thickness of the atmospheric range of modern humans. Digitized measurements and aerodynamic boundary layer, the researchers also images of the newly discovered calculations in the Algerian desert to could explain the range of mean spacing footprints show a big toe in line with model the interaction between the of dunes – from 300 m in coastal the other toes, anatomically similar to desert floor and the atmosphere they deserts to 3.5 km inland deserts. Also, modern human feet, an arrangement discovered that there exists a contrary to previous theories, the that contrasts with the angled, grasping correlation between the separation of researchers report that giant dunes do big toes of apes. Other humanlike dunes and the height of the overlying not grow in a steady manner but result features of the prints include a atmospheric boundary layer – the part from the non-linear interaction of small pronounced arch and short toes. of the atmosphere that interacts dunes. According to the scientists, spring-like directly with the Earth’s surface (Nature, arches and short toes observed in the 26 February 2009). Ileret footprints would have enabled According to the researchers, the endurance running, which was essential evenly spaced dunes along a river bed for the survival of the species as are in fact the result of rough bed Vigyan Prasar hunters/gatherers. topography. Inconsistencies in the river bed cause turbulence in the water; New Publication How sand dunes form leading to formation of surface waves, Sand dunes are prominent features of which in turn stabilise the water flow deserts that cover almost one-fifth of along the river bed. The result is a Earth’s land mass. Giant sand dunes can controlled repetition of “waves” in the

To Reach the Stars or Dig the Earth My Journey Through Doing Science in India by

Sand dunes are prominent features of deserts and cover almost one-fifth of Earth’s land G. Padmanabam Rs. 250/- gather into some of the most awe- river silt where the wavelength is inspiring patterns in nature and they directly proportional to the depth of the ISBN: 978-81-7480-157-9 river. Calculations reveal a similar To know more about the book please write to: constantly seem to be on the move. But Vigyan Prasar the mechanics of their formation has process taking place in desert A-50, Institutional Area, Sector-62, NOIDA 201 307 Phone: 91-120-240 4430/35 Fax: 91-120-240 4437 long remained a mystery. Now a group environments. Here, instead of a river Email: [email protected] Website: www.vigyanprasar.gov.in

Mediscape of physicists based in Algeria, the US surface, it is the atmospheric boundary

27 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 Sky Map for May 2009 North Moon - First Quarter Full Moon

2 and 31 May 9 May West East

Moon - Last Quarter New Moon

South 17 May 24 May

The sky map is prepared for viewers in Nagpur (21.090 N, 79.090 E). It includes constellations and bright stars. For viewers south of Nagpur, constellations of the southern sky will appear higher up in the sky , and those of the northern sky will appear nearer the northen horizon. Similarly, for viewer north of Nagpur, constellations of northern sky will appear higher up in the sky, and those of the southern sky will appear nearer the southern horizon. The map can be used at 10 PM on 1 May, at 9 PM on 15 May and at 8 PM on 31 May.

Tips to use sky Visibility of Planets (IST) Sky Event map: Rising Setting In the Zodiac Date IST Event (1) Choose a place away Mercury 05:56 19:03 Taurus from city lights/street Venus 03:14 15:30 Pisces 14 08:27 Moon at apogee lights. (2) Hold the sky- Mars 03:36 15:58 Pisces 17 13:22 Moon-Jupiter map overhead with North Jupiter 00:54 12:14 Capricorns 18 15:34 Mercury Inferior Conjunction in the direction of Polaris. Saturn 13:34 02:05 Leo 21 13:44 Moon-Venus (3) Use a pencil torch for Uranus* 02:29 14:25 Pisces 26 09:14 Moon at perigee reading the sky map. (4) Neptune* 00:56 12:18 Capricorns Try to identify constellation as shown in Time shown is subject to vary (± 1 hr) from place to place. Arvind C. Ranade the map one by one. *Not naked eye object E-mail : [email protected] Astronomy

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 26 Editorial (Contd. from page 43) technologies - HTML, HTTP and a web walks of life in 2000. In 2008 it was browser client software program to 1.6 billion. In India, there are 60 million hypertext file) would link the user to receive and interpret data and display Internet users today as compared to another location or file. It is interesting results. An important concept of his about 4 million in 2003. to note that it was to click on the proposal included the fact that the client How has the Web changed the way hyperlinks that the mouse was invented software program’s user interface would we do science? We are familiar with the by Douglas Engelbart. The mouse was be consistent across all types of computer benefits of journals being published online to later become a very important part platforms so that users could access and links to be made from one paper to of personal computers. The idea of information from many types of another. It has also permitted professional clicking on a word or a picture to take computers. scientists to recruit thousands of amateurs a user somewhere else was a basic Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues to help them in their research. In one such foundation of the Web. at CERN, such as Robert Cailliau came project, called GalaxyZoo, used this unpaid Next came URL (Uniform up with the first web browser in labour to classify 1 million images of Resource Locator), allowing one to find October 1990, which looked pretty galaxies into various types - spiral, elliptical one’s way around by naming a site. Yet similar to the ones used today. By 1991, and irregular. This project, intended to help another feature was the Hypertext browser and web server software was astronomers understand how galaxies Markup Language (html), the language available, and by 1992 a few preliminary evolve, proved to be so successful that a that allowed pages to display different sites existed. By the end of 1992, there new project now has been launched to fonts and sizes, pictures, colours and so were about 26 sites. May 1991 was the classify the brightest quarter of a million on. Before HTML, there was no such first time that the information-sharing of these galaxies in finer detail. There is standard. The GUIs we talked about system using HTML, HTTP, and a client also an ongoing project to scrutinise and earlier only belonged to different software program (WWW) was fully decipher scanned images of handwritten computers or different computer operational on the multiplatform notes about old plant cuttings stored in software. They could not be networked. computer network at the CERN British museums. This could allow the This was the situation that existed till laboratories in Switzerland. All of the tracking of changes in the distribution of 1989, when Tim Berners Lee brought documents coded with HTML elements species in response to, say, climate change. this all together and created the World were stored on one main computer at Scientists have thus been utilising the Web Wide Web (WWW or the Web). It may CERN called a “web server” because it to further their research. There are also not be an exaggeration to say that the “served-up” batches of cross-linked novel scientific applications of the web Web saved the Internet! Not only did it HTML documents. There was only one allowing social scientists to do things that change appearance of the Internet, it Web server located at CERN, but by the would have been impossible previously, say made it possible for pictures and sound end of 1992 there were over 50 Web in studying the phenomena like social to be displayed and exchanged. How did servers in the world, mainly used by networking. it all happen? thousands of scientists around the world What does Tim Berners-Lee think The Web was, in fact, invented to to swap, view and comment on their of the future of the Web? The next avatar deal with a specific problem. In the late research, regardless of the distance or of the Web would be one in which 1980s, CERN was planning one of the computer system. information is given well-defined meaning, most ambitious scientific projects ever, The Web, as we know, has found better enabling computers and people to the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. We uses far beyond linking of electronic work in cooperation. In the near future, may note that LHC was started, and then documents about particle physics in these developments will usher in significant shut down again because of a leak in its laboratories around the world. Cailliau new functionality as machines become cooling system, in September 2008. Tim still marvels at developments like much better able to process and understand Berners-Lee’s proposal aimed at keeping wikipedia that allow knowledge to be the data that they merely display at present. track of the huge data LHC would exchanged openly around the Web. A Another key future development is the generate, sharing it, and linking of search engine is very centralised, while web-to-mobile initiative, he says. The Web electronic documents in laboratories the Web is totally decentralised. From is one of the many different applications around the world. The first few lines of personal and social networks, industry which are run over the Internet. the proposal read: “Many of the to commerce, it has transformed the However, the achievement of Tim discussions of the future at CERN and business of doing science itself. This is Berners-Lee was to recognise the power the LHC era end with the question - why the number of WWW (Internet) and potential of the Internet. Indeed, ‘Yes, but how will we ever keep track of users that was only a few thousand in the Web is now the web of life! such a large project?’ This proposal 1992 - mostly scientists exchanging provides an answer to such questions”. information in different parts of the Vinay B. Kamble Editorial The proposal incorporated three world - swelled to 36 million from all

25 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 Vigyan Prasar Digital Library Register free to become member of Vigyan Prasar Digital Library. Members can download books, posters, science videos, audio CDs free of cost anytime by logging in Vigyan Prasar website: http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in

YOUR OPINION

Dream 2047 has been inviting your opinion on a specific topic every month. The reader sending the best comments will receive a popular science book published by VP. Selected comments received will also be published in Dream 2047. The comments should be limited to 400 words. This month's topic: Do you consider beliefs in astrology, palmistry, feng shui, etc., as obstacles to development of scientific temper?

Response should contain full name; postal address with pincode and email ID, if any; and should be accompanied by a recent passport size photograph. Response may be sent by email ([email protected]) or by post to the address given below. If sent by post, "Response: Dream 2047 May 2009" should be clearly written on the envolope. Vigyan Prasar A-50, Institutional Area, Sector-62, NOIDA 201 307 Phone: 91-120-240 4430/35 Fax: 91-120-240 4437 Email: [email protected] Website: www.vigyanprasar.gov.in

Winners of “Your Opinion” contest for January 2009.

Topic: India plans to send a manned mission to space in near future. How in your opinion will this mission benefit Indian science and technology? "Considering India's economic problems, slums and billon-plus population, 1. W. Yaiskul Singh widespread poverty, rampant illiteracy, and deep-rooted traditional beliefs, Senior physics teacher, communalism and irrationalism needs to be stamped out. Fallacious beliefs in Modern English H.S. School, irrational thought have to be eradicated. Cutting edge space research needs to be Aizawl -796001 (Mizoram) funded and pursued with more vigour. Wasteful expenditure and corruption needs E-mail: [email protected] to be rooted out from all section of the society". 24 "The mission is perfectly in tune with excellence demonstrated by ISRO that it goes to next 2. Faiyaz Nazar step with significant strides in space science and technology. The manned mission to space by C/o Rajjab Umar India will begin new era in India science and technology and promise to occupy a place in Qabrastan Gate, Mominpura, journey for exploring the universe. Every journey starts with small steps and it is hoped that Nagpur-440018 (Maharashtra) the endeavor would enable us to take giant leap forward in exploring the universe. This would help us to go from engineering science to big science". The winners will receive a copy of VP Publication Your Opinion Your

Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 24 VP News Development of Resource Material for Vishwa Mohan Tiwari said that science writers should keep in mind that the Science Writing Training Workshops ultimate aim of science should be betterment of humankind. Dr. Subodh igyan Prasar has been organising In his inaugural speech, the chief Mahanti, Scientist ‘F’, and Chairman, Vseminars/workshops for promoting guest, former chairman of Uttar Pradesh Rajbhasha Karysamiti, Vigyan Prasar science writing in Hindi as per the Public Service Commission Prof. briefly described the activities of Vigyan directives of Union Rajbhasha Krishna Bihari Pandey said that science Prasar with special emphasis on its Directorate. As part of this activity writers should keep in mind the welfare efforts in promoting science Vigyan Prasar jointly with Vigyan of the people. They should promote a communication in Hindi. Parishad Prayag, Allahabad organised constructive thinking and empower The workshop was divided in four technical sessions. The following experts presented papers : Dr. C.M. Nautiyal, Prof. Krishna Mishra, Dr. Pradeep Mukharjee, Sri Kali Shankar, Sri Hari Shankar Deiwedi, Dr. Puneet Kumar, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Mishra, Sri Subhash Lakheda, Sri Radhakant Anthwal, Sri Lalit ishore Pandey, Sri Harish Goyal, Shri Premchandra Srivastava, Sri Shananjay Chopra, Sri Vijay Chitouri, Sri Devvrat Diwadi. Shri Nimish Kapoor and Sri Kapil Tripathi, Scientist, VP coordinated the technical sessions. At the valedictory function, the Prof. Krishna Bihari Pandey inaugurating the workshop. Sitting (L to R) Prof. S.G. Misra, Prof. K. K. known litterateur Shri Prem Pal Sharma Bhutani, Dr. Subodh Mahanti and Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Vishwa Mohan Tiwari (Joint Secretary, Railway Board) was present as chief guest. Shri Sharma said our media need better scientific thinking and attitude and journalists must avoid rumours on science and health issues. He said science writers must fight superstitions and science popularisation is required among school children as well as masses. The chairman of the session, Prof. Shiv Gopal Misra said efforts would be made to train writers and journalists in science writing. On this occasion Dr. Subodh Mahanti said that workshop is a successful attempt on resource material development for science writing workshops, but these efforts need to be A section of the audience continued. He said principles need to be a workshop at Allahabad during 8-9 people to improve their quality of life. established for science writing and this is March 2009. The theme of the Prof. K. K. Bhutani, Vice President, a need of time to train our young writers workshop was development of resource Vigyan Parishad Prayag, presided over and journalist about the 5 Ws and 1 H of material for training young science the session on useful resource materials science writing.

VP News writers in Hindi. for science writer. Vice Marshal (Retd.)

23 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8