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INDIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BANGALORE
ANNUAL REPORANNUAL REPORANNUAL REPORANNUAL REPORANNUAL REPORTTTTT
2009–2010
ADDRESS
Indian Academy of SciencesC.V. Raman AvenuePost Box No. 8005Sadashivanagar P.O.Bangalore 560 080
Telephone 80-2361 2546, 80-2361 1034(EPABX)
Fax 91-80-2361 6094
Email [email protected]
Website www.ias.ac.in
CONTENTS
1. Introduction 4
2. Council 4
3. Fellowship 5
4. Associates 8
5. Publications 8
6. Discussion Meetings 16
7. Raman Professor 18
8. Public Lectures 19
9. Platinum Jubilee Programmes 20
10. Science Education Programmes 33
11. Building – Academy Guest House 48
12. Academy Finances 48
13. Acknowledgements 49
14. Tables 49
15. Annexures 52
16. Statement of Accounts 65
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1 INTRODUCTION
The Academy was founded in 1934 by Sir C.V. Raman withthe main objective of promoting the progress and upholdingthe cause of science (both pure and applied). It wasregistered as a Society under the Societies Registration Acton 24 April 1934.
The Academy commenced functioning with 65 Fellows andthe formal inauguration took place on 31 July 1934 at theIndian Institute of Science, Bangalore. On the afternoon ofthat day its first general meeting of Fellows was held duringwhich Sir C.V. Raman was elected its President and the draftconstitution of the Academy was approved and adopted.The first issue of the Academy Proceedings was publishedin July 1934.
The present report covering the period from April 2009 toMarch 2010 represents the seventy-sixth year of theAcademy.
2 COUNCIL
There were two statutory meetings of the Council on 4 Julyand 11–12 December 2009.
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25. Kohli, Ravinder Kumar26. Kotha, Sambasivarao27. Kumar, Anurag28. Kumar, Lalit29. Lele, Ashish K30. Maiti, Kalobaran31. Mallick, Birendra Nath32. Mondal, Naba Kumar33. Moorthy, J N34. Mukhopadhyay, Amitabha35. Nagaraj, D S36. Narayan, K S37. Navalgund, R R38. Pal, Amlan Jyoti39. Pati, S K40. Patra, Amit Kumar41. Ramaiah, D42. Ramamritham, Krithi43. Ramamurti, V44. Ramamurty, Upadrasta45. Rangarajan, G46. Rao, T S S R K47. Ravi, V48. Saha-Dasgupta, Tanusri49. Sami, Mohammad50. Sankaranarayanan, Rajan51. Sane, S S52. Sarin, Apurva53. Satheesh, S K54. Sharma, S K55. Shivashankar, G V56. Sinha, Sudeshna57. Sowdhamini, R58. Subramanian, Kandaswamy59. Yadav, J S
3 FELLOWSHIP
3.1 2010 Elections
A total of 573 nominations received forfellowship in different disciplines wereconsidered by the eight Sectional Committeesand subsequently by the Council. Followingpostal balloting, 59 new Fellows were elected,the fellowship being effective from 1 January2010. A list of their names follows, whileAnnexure 1 gives their particulars.
Fellows1. Arankalle, Vidya A2. Awasthi, Shally3. Bag, A K4. Bhargava, Purnima5. Bhatt, Subhash J6. Biswas, Gautam7. Chakraborti, Pradip K8. Chattoo, Bharat B9. Chattopadhyay, Nitin
10. Choudhury, Debajyoti11. Das, Amitava12. Das, Samar Kumar13. Dasgupta, Indranil14. Dighe, Rajan15. Dutta-Gupta, Aparna16. Galande, Sanjeev17. Ganguli, Ashok Kumar18. Ghosh, Balaram19. Ghosh, P K20. Govindarajan, Rama21. Haider, S A22. Indrayan, A23. Khanduja, S K24. Khurana, Paramjit
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3.2 In memoriam
The Academy regrets to place on record the death of the following 15 Fellows and 2 HonoraryFellows during the period up to March 2010. Annexure 2 gives additional information aboutthem.
Fellows
1. Anand Kumar, T C2. Anantharaman, T R
3. Bhargava, B N 4. Biswas, S 5. Bose, M K
6. Chandrashekaran, M K 7. Grewal, R S 8. Kilpady, S 9. Nair, K G10. Nasipuri, D
Fellows Honorary Fellows
1 April 2009 927 51Elected (Dec. 2009) 59 -Deceased (2009 – 2010) 15 2
1 April 2010 971 49
3.3 Strength of the Fellowship
11. Nigam, S D12. Ramachandra Rao, P13. Sriramachari, S S14. Vaidya, P C15. Viswanathan, K S
Honorary Fellows1. Ginzburg, V L2. Liepmann, H W
3.4 Fellowship and nomination analysis
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
PHYSICS
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
MATHEMATICS
Average age of Fellows at the time of elections during the past 6 years (2005–2010)
494849 52
494850
58
494744
47
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Average age of Fellows at the time of elections during the past 6 years (2005–2010)
Fellowship and nomination analysis (contd.)
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
ENGINEERING
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
ANIMAL SCIENCES
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
GENERAL BIOLOGY
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
CHEMISTRY
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
MEDICINE
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
PLANT SCIENCES
48 4948
46
48
52
52
56
514849
57
51
57
4950
5553
54 5754
44
5250
45
505051
47
56
46
53
50
464545
49 51
49494946
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4 ASSOCIATES
Fifty-six nominations were received and thefollowing 27 were selected as Associates in2009 (see also Annexure 3).
1. Ananth, Sudarshan2. Banerjee, Rahul3. Bhavesh, Neel Sarovar4. Biswas, K5. Chand, Hum6. Chandran, L. Sunil7. Chauhan, Santosh8. Dabeer, Onkar J9. Dewangan, Pawan
10. Ghosh, Suhrit11. Gogate, Parag R12. Krishnapur, Manjunath13. Mahapatra, Santanu14. Maji, Pradipta15. Malik, Sudip16. Mandal, Sumantra17. Mukhopadhyay, Samrat18. Nagendran, S19. Patil, Satish Amrutrao20. Pradeep Singh, N D21. Roy, Debdas22. Saha, Binoy K23. Saxena, Manoj24. Singh, Sanjay25. Thilagar, P26. Venugopal, Santhanam27. Viswanath, S
5 PUBLICATIONS
5.1 Report on publication arrangement with Springer
The agreement with Springer for co-publication of the 10 journals of the Academycame to an end in December 2009. A freshagreement for the 5-year period 2010 – 2014,basically along the same lines as the earlierone, was signed by the Academy and Springerin July 2009. The new draft agreementprepared with legal assistance ensures asbefore, the interests of the Academy such asownership, copyright, editorial operations,acceptance and rejection of papers, printinghard copies for domestic circulation, etc. Thereach and visibility of each journal and thenumber of downloads from each journal haveimproved significantly during the period2007–09. We hope these trends will continue.Fellows and other scientists should considercontributing a significant share of theirresearch papers to the Academy journals sincetheir visibility worldwide has muchimproved.
5.2 Journals
The following 11 journals continue to bepublished by the Academy:
1. Bulletin of Materials Science2. Current Science3. Journal of Astrophysics and
Astronomy4. Journal of Biosciences5. Journal of Chemical Sciences (formerly
Proceedings Chemical Sciences)6. Journal of Earth System Science
(formerly Proceedings Earth andPlanetary Sciences)
7. Journal of Genetics
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8. Pramana – Journal of Physics9. Proceedings – Mathematical Sciences
10. Resonance – Journal of ScienceEducation
11. Sadhana – Engineering Sciences
The number of pages published with journal-wise information on papers submitted forpublication and circulation figures of journalsfor the calendar year 2009 are given in Tables1–3 (see pages 49–50) respectively.
5.3 Special issues of journals
Many special issues of topical importancewere published as part of the regular issuesof some of the journals. A description of thesefollows:
Emerging and re-emerging infections inIndia
Guest Editors:C C Kartha andU C Chaturvedi
Journal ofBiosciences, Vol. 33,No. 4, November2008, pp. 423–628
C o m m u n i c a b l ediseases account fornearly 45% of adult
disease burden and deaths in Southeast Asiadespite the epidemiological transition to anincreasing burden of chronic non-communicable diseases and notwithstandingthe developments in medical science andtechnology. Thus, they are of great concern.
What is more disturbing is that in recent times,the pattern and profile of infectious diseaseshave undergone a sea change in India andother Southeast Asian countries. Re-emerginginfections contribute substantially to
morbidity and mortality from infectiouscauses. While tuberculosis, hepatitis, malariaand HIV/AIDS continue to dominate thedisease incidence rates, we in India inaddition have to cope with the re-emergenceof influenza, plague, malaria, dengue,leptospirosis and chikungunya. Also, we areconfronted by novel viral infections such asSARS and multi drug-resistant/extensivelydrug resistant tuberculosis. These diseasesadversely impact families, workforceproductivity and economic development.They also present a formidable challenge tothe already resource-limited health systems,and call for an approach based on preventionand health promotion.
This special issue is an attempt to discuss theburden of selected communicable diseases inIndia and analyse the causes for the changingpattern of these infections in this country. Thecauses include genetic mutations in theinfectious agent, ecological factors and factorsthat promote the transmission of infections.Other reasons may be poor surveillance,inadequate understanding of the dynamics ofthe spread of infections, insufficient use ofavailable tools for infection control andinappropriate policy response to epidemics.
The articles in this issue cover a widespectrum of bacterial, viral and parasiticinfections and delineate the challenges fortheir prevention and control. The authors areexperts in their domains and share theiropinions on strategies that might holdpromise for prediction and control ofepidemics, and deliberate on measures forappropriate health system reforms.
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Current trends in physics
Guest Editors:Mustansir Barmaand D D Sarma
Pramana, Vol. 73,No. 1, July 2009,pp. 1–214
In 1974, the Russianphysicist VitalyGinzburg wrote a
book entitled Key problems of physics andastrophysics in which he presented a selectionof important and challenging problems alongwith speculations on what the future holds.The selection had a broad range, was highlypersonalized, and was aimed at the generalscientist, for whom it made very interestingreading.
Thirty odd years later as part of the PlatinumJubilee Year of the Academy, the Academydecided to commission articles from fellowphysicists, which would constitute part of aspecial volume ‘Current trends in science’ beingbrought out on this occasion. The five articlesincluded in this volume are briefly explainedhere. Although necessarily different in scopeand style from Ginzburg’s book, there aresome similarities: the choice of topics issubjective and the contributions conveyimportant and challenging problems – bothsolved and unsolved – to the interestedscientist.
Sunil Mukhi and Probir Roy tracedevelopments in theoretical high energyphysics, which they call the ‘cutting edge ofthe human scientific endeavour’, from thestandard model and its inadequacies, to stringtheory. G Baskaran focusses on variations onthe theme of resonating valence bond (RVB)behaviour to explain both high-temperaturesuperconductivity and anomalous behaviour
in the normal phase in a variety of correlatedsystems. G Ravindra Kumar sheds light onlight and its interaction with matter. Technicalbreakthroughs such as chirping allow ultra-high fields to be created in pulses, resultingin completely new behaviour when theyinteract with hot, dense matter. R Pandit, PPerlekar and S Sankar Ray focus onturbulence, ‘the last great unsolved problemof classical physics’. An overview of thestatistical description of fluid turbulence ispresented, including 2-d turbulence, thepassive scalar problem and the effect ofpolymer additives. R Nityananda deals withgravitational dynamics on the galactic scale.Gravity leads to counter-intuitive effects, andnormal statistical mechanical notions do notapply. Issues addressed include the Antonovinstability, and the multiplicity of possiblestable solutions in collisionless stellarsystems.
Microelectromechanical systems
Guest Editors:Rudra Pratap andK N Bhat
Sadhana, Vol. 34,No. 4, August2009, pp. 529–688
As a field, microelectromechanicalsystems (MEMS)
has matured over the last two decades withseveral scientific journals dedicated to it.These journals have brought out theinterdisciplinary nature of research that thefield demands. In the beginning, most paperswere process-centric where realization of anMEMS device or structure using conventionalCMOS processes or their variants was thecentre of excitement. Slowly, it gave way to
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development of new materials, newprocesses, finer structures and new devices.Once the fabrication processes got establishedand commercial MEMS foundries came intoexistence, the focus shifted to MEMS designand system development. After the launch ofa few commercially successful MEMS devices,the research focus shifted to exploration ofvast areas of applications. Application areashave started creating their own segments ofMEMS research and it has now becomecommon to see international conferencesdedicate sessions to bio-MEMS, opticalMEMS, inertial MEMS, RF MEMS, and thelike. As more researchers join the fray, theoverlapping research areas benefit both fromintense vertical investigations and cross-fertilization of ideas and methods fromneighbouring areas. The intensity of researchhas grown, facilities to carry out sophisticatedtests and fabrication have mushroomed andthe desire to make myriad MEMS sensors andactuators has intensified. Still, at the currentrate of development there is plenty of roomat the bottom.
In India, MEMS research has paralleled thedevelopments elsewhere over the last twodecades, lagging behind only marginally dueto infrastructural constraints. Some nationalinitiatives, notably, the National Programmeon Smart Systems (NPMASS), have providedtremendous impetus to MEMS research.Starting from hardly two small MEMSresearch groups in the country in the earlynineties to tens of research groups inuniversities and national laboratories today,and establishment of MEMS foundries likeSemiconductor Laboratories, Chandigarh,Central Electronics Engineering ResearchInstitute, Pilani, and Bharat ElectronicsLimited, Bangalore, MEMS research in Indiahas started flourishing. The number of papers
presented by Indian researchers in nationaland international conferences in this area hasincreased ty two orders of magnitude. Theseare truly exciting developments.
In 2007, the International Union of MaterialsResearch Societies (IUMRS) organized theTenth International Conference on AdvancedMaterials (ICAM 2007) in Bangalore. Thisconference included a theme symposium onMEMS that spanned three days with paperpresentations covering various aspects ofMEMS technology. Of the papers presentedat the symposium, fifteen were selected afterdue process of reviewing. These fifteen papersattempt to present a cross-section of MEMSresearch spanning work on novel MEMSmaterials, process technologies, devices,applications, design and simulation,fabrication and testing, and even systemintegration.
Non-hermitian hamiltonians in quantumphysics
Guest Editors:Sudhir R Jain andZafar Ahmed
Pramana, Vol. 73,Nos 2/3, August/September 2009,pp. 215–626
The thirteenthconference in the
series, ‘Non-hermitian hamiltonians inquantum physics’, was held at BARC andTIFR, Mumbai in January 2009. It was also thefirst Homi Bhabha Centenary Conference for2009. About 160 participants attended theconference which consisted of 4 review talks,3 keynote talks, 20 plenary talks, 26specialized talks, and 13 poster presentations.
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About ten years ago, a possible generalizationof quantum mechanics, which incorporatesnon-hermitian hamiltonians was proposed byBender and Boettcher. This led to a large flurryof research on PT-symmetric quantummechanics and quantum field theory. Thephysical systems that violate parity and time-reversal symmetry belong to this class – theyinclude two-dimensional statisticalmechanics, certain models in quantumchromodynamics, nuclei with PT-symmetricshapes, and so on. Broadly, the themesaddressed during the conference were: PT-symmetry and pseudohermiticity, openquantum systems, non-equilibrium statisticalmechanics, random matrix and field-theoreticmodels, and quantum computation.
The two special issues of Pramana contain theoriginal results announced at the conference,in addition to two mini-reviews frompedagogical talks presented a day before theconference started.
Theoretical chemistry and electrochemistry
Guest Editors: M VSangaranarayananand K L Sebastian
Journal of ChemicalSciences, Vol. 121,No. 5, September2009, pp. 559 – 950
This special issuecontains papers on
theoretical chemistry and electrochemistry.These papers have been contributed byfriends and former collaborators of S KRangarajan who passed away in April 2008.SKR has contributed very significantly tothese areas and thereby promoted the growthof these disciplines in India. The contributions
of SKR extended over a period of more than50 years, during which he worked at theCentral Electrochemical Research Institute,Karaikudi, the National AerospaceLaboratories, Bangalore, the Indian Instituteof Science, Bangalore and the Institute ofMathematical Sciences, Chennai.
SKR made significant contributions to(i) theory of Faradaic rectification; (ii) effect ofdiffuse double layer on electrode kinetics; (iii)accelerated Tafel plots for measuring rates ofcorrosion; (iv) estimation of the activitycoefficients for mixed electrolytes, beyond theDebye-Huckel theory and (v) novel identitiesfor a class of special functions of mathematicalphysics. As a Homi Bhabha Fellow at NALduring 1970–75, Rangarajan embarked upondeveloping a systems analysis approach to allclasses of electrochemical experiments(transient and steady state) with diverse inputfunctions (linear and non-linear potentialperturbations of diverse genre). This formalismencompasses almost all the individualexperimental behaviour arising fromchronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry,cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy,etc., for various electron transfer processes,coupled with mass transfer effects. In addition,he developed a comprehensive theory ofelectrical double layer employing statisticalmechanical models and functional analysis,which occupies a central place in interfacialelectrochemistry.
The papers presented in this issue cover a broadspectrum of topics in theoretical chemistry suchas electronic structure calculations, quantumdynamics, magnetic properties, solvationdynamics and molecular dynamics. Inelectrochemistry, a variety of topics likeelectrochemical nanostructures, photoelectro-chemistry, electron transfer, capacitors, etc., are
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discussed. It is hoped that this issue of Journalof Chemical Sciences will be a fitting tribute tothe scientific genius of SKR.
Phenotypic and developmental plasticity
Guest Editors:V Nanjundiah andStuart A Newman
Journal ofBiosciences, Vol. 34,No. 4, October2009, pp. 493 – 646
One of the mostexciting areas of
research in contemporary biology concernsthe attempt to understand the basis ofvariation in traits exhibited by cells, groupsof cells and individual organisms. Untilrecently, it was taken for granted that the onlysignificant source of variation for evolution,and by implication for all of biology, wasgenetic variation. Because it was assumed thatnon-genetic variation was of no relevance forevolutionary change, this attitude persistedin spite of the longstanding evidence for theexistence of variation due to environmentalcauses or alternative developmentalpathways. It is becoming increasingly clearthat such a viewpoint is no longer tenable.Indeed, what is referred to as the plasticity ofthe phenotype – multiplicity of biologicalform and function against a constant geneticbackground – is coming to occupy centrestage with regard to a large number of majorissues in biology.
The existence of plasticity in the developmentand expression of phenotype hasramifications for evolutionary theory, causinga rethinking of some of the premises of thecurrently prevailing neo-Darwinian synthesis.
Theoretical understanding of the genotype-phenotype relationship, the potential ofdevelopmental mechanisms to generate novelphenotypes, and notions of robustness andevolvability of development, increasinglyinvoke plasticity as a fundamental propertyof living systems. Although plasticity has alonger history in the behavioural sciences, itis gaining new ground in this field as well, inconsiderations of development and evolutionof behaviour.
Based on both the increasing interest inplasticity and the new experimental andtheoretical approaches to it, a meeting on“Phenotypic and developmental plasticity”was held at Thiruvananthapuram, inDecember 2007. This special issue containsarticles based on most of the presentationsmade at the meeting as well as one on a similartheme solicited afterward.
India’s fossil biota: Current perspectives andemerging approaches
Guest Editors:Sunil Bajpai andAshok Sahni
Journal ofBiosciences, Vol. 34,No. 5, November2009, pp. 647–823
In recent years,research in palaeon-
tology, or the science of fossils, has seen oneof the most challenging and exciting phasesin its history. The spectrum of scientific issuesand themes being addressed using fossils istruly remarkable, encompassing as it doessuch diverse perspectives as the dating andcorrelation of rock formations, origin,evolution and extinction of biota,
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palaeogeography, palaeoclimates, form andfunction, and many others. More recentapproaches involve integration of the fossildata with molecular phylogenetics,evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and biomechanics. Also remarkable isthe range of temporal and spatial resolutionmade possible by the fossil data, with studiesranging from individual organisms to largertaxonomic assemblages; dental and bonemicrostructure to whole organisms; empiricalto theoretical; local to global and qualitativeto quantitative.
This year is celebrated as the bicentennial birthof Charles Darwin and also the birth of anidea that has changed the way we look at life,its diversity and its evolving dynamism. Oneof the pillars that has steadfastly supportedthe idea of evolution is the fossil record. Itprovides a dimension so crucial indocumenting evolution, the dimension oftime. Time does not merely afford informationon when lineages diverged but also providesinsight into rates of processes, gradual or byfits and starts. In addition there is a spatialdimension of how life spread across the globeand how extinctions result in bioticreorganization tuned to the new worldaround them.
The Indian subcontinent has a unique fossilhistory. This is because the Indian landmass,joined as it was to the assembly of southerncontinents called Gondwanaland, broke freefrom its moorings with Madagascar about 90million years ago and drifted rapidlynorthwards as an isolated, island subcontinent.Later, around 50 million years ago (mya) itcrashed into Asia and literally pushed up thegreat Himalayan Range. The Indian fossilrecord has immensely contributed to a betterunderstanding of some of the fundamental
aspects of biotic evolution that basicallyunderscore the role of major geodynamicevents in the earth’s history during the courseof biotic evolution. This special issue coversglimpses of the Indian fossil record from avariety of perspectives, with some of thearticles emphasizing the growing integrationof palaeontology with biogeography,molecular phylogenetics and biomechanics.
Genetics of eye diseases
Guest Editors:Chitra Kannabiranand Kunal Ray
Journal of Genetics,Vol. 88, No. 4,December 2009,pp. 393 – 527
This issue features awide array of articles
relating to genetic as well as molecular andcellular aspects of eye diseases. The eye itselfis a microcosm in terms of structure,organization and function and hence, thetheme of ‘eye disease’ is necessarily verydiverse. It includes diseases that affect a widerange of tissues that together perform thefunction of vision – from the highlyspecialized, multiple types of neurons thatconstitute the retina which is the lightsensitive layer, the pigmented cells of thechoroid, the supporting vasculature, to thetransparent refractive structures of lens andcornea – varied yet complementary in theirroles. The field of ophthalmic geneticsencompasses this diversity not only in thelocation and manifestation of different eyediseases but also in the spectrum of geneticcausation. While the field has beenpredominantly concerned with rare
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Mendelian or single gene disorders in thepast, the current decade has seen aburgeoning of the genetics of the morecommon complex eye diseases. This trendreflects that of human genetics as a whole.Technological advances over the late 20thcentury have made it feasible to dissectgenetic components of varying magnitudesthat make up the etiology of complex diseases.Questions relating to the role of genes in theetiology of common complex diseases are asyet largely unanswered and the currentchallenges facing ophthalmic genetics are inunderstanding of the nature of geneticvariations as well as their role in causation ofcomplex eye diseases such as adult-onsetglaucoma, age-related macular degenerationand age-related cataract. On the other hand,the tools that have been established andcurrently available for studying Mendeliandisorders have resulted in the identificationof a large number of genes underlying variousforms of the inherited ocular disorders suchas corneal dystrophy, congenital cataract,retinal degeneration and congenital andjuvenile glaucoma. The rapid growth inidentification of genes in this group of eyediseases is illustrated very clearly in the caseof retinal degenerations, which are a largegroup of very heterogeneous diseases of theretina, for which the number of mapped and/or identified genes grew from none to almost200 spanning most of the last three decades.
Since the goal of all gene identificationendeavours is ultimately to understand thepathogenesis of the disease, a major taskaccompanying gene discovery is functionalgenomics. This involves investigation offunctions and interactions of the proteinsinvolved and the consequences of mutationat the biochemical and subcellular levels. This
is a continuous effort as more genes areidentified for ocular diseases.
In this issue, the theme of genetics of eyediseases is covered by articles that review thegenetics of several disorders and alsohighlight areas of current interest in molecularpathogenesis and therapy in relation to eyediseases.
2nd International Symposium on MaterialsChemistry ISMC-2008
Guest Editors:D Das and V K Jain
Journal of ChemicalSciences, Vol. 122,No. 1, January 2010,pp. 5 – 89
The special issue ofthis journal is basedon the lectures
delivered at the 2nd International Symposiumon Materials Chemistry (ISMC- 2008) held inDecember 2008 at the Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre, Mumbai.
There is an ever-increasing demand foradvanced materials necessitating research anddevelopment activities in materials chemistry.The ISMC-2008 covered various aspects ofmaterials chemistry with an emphasis onareas such as nuclear materials, nanomaterials, functional materials,superconductivity, materials for catalysis andchemical sensors. The ISMC-2008 wasregarded as highly successful by internationalpeers and reviewers. The wide range of topicscovered in this special issue reflects the trendsemerging in materials chemistry.
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6 DISCUSSION MEETINGS
1. Science dimensions of water policy in IndiaNational Inst. of Advanced Studies, Bangalore,10 August 2009
A document entitled ‘Framework for India'swater policy’ dealing with depleting waterresources in India and measures to addressthe problem, prepared by Prof. T NNarasimhan and Prof. V K Gaur, waspresented to the Academy. On behalf of theAcademy, Prof. T V Ramakrishnan receivedthe document on 21 August 2009.
This document is the outcome of a one-daydiscussion meeting on the topic held onAugust 10, 2009 at the National Institute ofAdvanced Studies, Bangalore, and was co-sponsored with the Academy.
The report reviews extant water policydocuments produced by the PlanningCommission and analytically considersIndia's water budget, showing that the totalutilizable resource available in the country,which is annually replenished, subject toclimatic variability, is around 650 cubickilometres against current consumption of~634 cu. km. This is a little higher than 16% ofIndia's total water availability of ~ 4,000 cu.km. and comparable to the 15% being plannedby California which has somewhat similarphysiographic and climatic diversity as India.
The report emphasizes that critical to anational water policy are three elements: thehydrological cycle which is the dictatingnatural phenomenon; India’s waterendowments which is a reality that demandsadaptation; and science–society interface, thehuman challenge. A detailed, integrated
treatment of these elements to constitute awater policy, can be seen in a report thatappears on the website of the NationalInstitute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore(http://www.nias.res.in/R4-09.pdf).
Considering that water is vital for thesustenance of all life, the report underlinesthe imperatives of managing it wisely,informed by water science and human valueswhich persuaded the Roman law givers in the6th century to declare this resource asessentially belonging to the people, held intrust by the government. The report arguesfor the creation of a constitutional mandateto safeguard this precious resource and itsequitable use as being adopted the world overby constitutional democracies.
2. Molecular evolutionOrange County, Coorg,29 November – 2 December 2009
3. Brain storm session on video analysis and sensorsOrange County, Coorg,3 – 6 December 2009
4. Phase transformation and micro structural evolution at different length scaleIndian Institute of Science, Bangalore,21 – 24 February 2010
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Titles of lectures
(1) High kinetic energy photoemission inbasic and applied research
(2) Electronic structure of alkali dopedtungsten oxides, AxWO3
(3) Mn-doped ZnS nanocrystals: a uniquetesting ground for high temperaturedilute magnetism
(4) Ba3Fe1-xRu2+xO9: A magnetic study on aseries of hexagonal ruthenates
(5) Neutron reflectivity study of a two-dimensional heterogeneous magneticphase
(6) Antiferromagnetism at simple oxidesurfaces probed by magnetic spectro-microscopies
Indo-Swedish 3rd meeting, Orange County, Coorg
Speakers1) Olof C Karis2) Satyabrata Raj3) Somnath Jana4) Srimanta Middey5) Milan K Sanyal6) Krishna K Menon7) John W Freeland8) Ronny Knut9) Subham Mazumder
10) Anil K Puri11) Pralay K Santra12) Anirban Chakraborty13) Sumanta Mukherjee14) Debraj Choudhury15) Per Nordblad16) Sugata Ray17) Matthias Hudl18) Biplab Sanyal19) Abhijit Hazarika20) D D Sarma
5. Indo-Swedish 3rd meeting – special programme (STINT) (supported by Swedish Govt.)Orange County, Coorg, 25 – 27 February 2010
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(7) Manipulating orbital symmetry andcovalency in ultrathin complex oxidesuperlattices
(8) Variation of exchange interactions andmagnetism with uniaxiality in MnAs thinfilms
(9) Magnetic and transport studies on thequasi one dimensional spin-chain oxidesSr3MPtO6 (M = Cu, NI)
(10) Cationic disorder and magneticglassiness in La2-xSrxCuRuO6 (0≤x≤1)compounds
(11) Unraveling the internal structure ofcomplex nanocrystals: Spectroscopybeyond microscopy
(12) Metal-insulator transition in sodiumtungsten bronze
(13) Drying mediated assembly of colloidalsilica particles
(14) From disappearance and appearance offerroelectricity in some transition metaloxides
(15) Disorder, competing interaction andglassy magnetisation behaviour
(16) LaSrVMoO6: the story of a proposed half-metallic antiferromagnet
(17) High-pressure Raman study of LiCu2O2
multiferroic cuprate
(18) Tuning the properties of graphene bydefects
(19) Scanning tunneling microscopy: beyondimaging
(20) New candidates for orbital ordering-p band oxides
7 RAMAN PROFESSOR
Marc Fontecave, Professeur au College de France, Chaire DeChimie Des Processus Biologiques, Membre de 1' Academie desSciences, Cedex, the Academy’s twenty-sixth Raman Professor,was in India in April 2009 for three weeks to take up the Chair.He visited IIT, Chennai and IICT, Hyderabad and delivered anAcademy public lecture on Hydrogen: Water, sun and catalystson 22 April 2009 in Bangalore.
He was in India for three weeks in October-November 2009 tocomplete his assignment. He also visited and delivered lecturesat Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and attended the Academy’s PlatinumJubilee Meeting in November 2009.
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8 ACADEMY PUBLIC LECTURES
Cold atoms: Strongly correlated bosons
Gianni Blatter, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
10 February 2010, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore
The phenomenaof condensation,superfluidity, andsuperconductivity,as well as the morespeculative super-solid state are amongthe most fascinating
topics of cold matter physics, be it in atomicor condensed form. The speaker reviewedthese phenomena and their interrelation andproceeded with a discussion of the youngestmember in the family, the atomic Bose gaspushed into the strong correlation regimewith the help of an optical lattice. The speakerdiscussed the phase diagram of the system,its excitations, and their relation to weaklyinteracting bosons, making use of varioustheoretical approaches. Emphasis was givento the relation to superfluids in condensedmatter. The lecture was concluded with a shortdiscussion of a non-equilibrium system, thestrongly correlated polariton gas.
Time, Einstein and the coolest stuff in theuniverse
William D Phillips, National Institute ofStandards and Technology, Maryland, USA
23 January 2010, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore
At the beginningof the 20thcentury, Einsteinchanged the waywe think aboutNature. At thebeginning ofthe 21st century,Einstein’s thin-king is shapingone of the key
scientific and technological wonders ofcontemporary life; atomic clocks, the besttimekeepers ever made. Such super-accurateclocks are essential to industry, commerce,and science; they are the heart of the globalpositioning system which guides cars,airplanes, and hikers to their destinations.Today, atomic clocks are still being improved,using atoms cooled to incredibly lowtemperatures. Atomic gases reach tem-peratures less than a billionth of a degreeabove absolute zero, without freezing. Suchatoms are at the heart of primary clocksaccurate to better than a second in 80 millionyears as well as both using and testing someof Einstein’s strongest predictions.
This lecture included experimentaldemonstrations and down-to-earth expla-nations about some of today’s most excitingscience.
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9 PLATINUM JUBILEE PROGRAMMES
Founded in 1934, the Academy celebrated itsPlatinum Jubilee year in 2009. A shortinaugural function was held on 1st January,2009 at the Indian Institute of Science duringwhich the traditional lamp was lit by thePresident and six former Presidents. Theactivities for the Platinum year included(a) holding three platinum jubilee scientificmeetings in Hyderabad, Bangalore andMumbai (b) platinum jubilee specialpublications (c) platinum jubilee speciallectures by distinguished scientists from Indiaand abroad at institutions around the country.
Platinum Jubilee Scientific Meetings
In 2009, the Platinum Jubilee Year of theAcademy, three meetings by way ofcelebration were organized: The usualMid-Year Meeting was at Hyderabad,July 2–4; the Annual Meeting at Bangalore,November 12–14; and one more at Mumbaiduring December 3–5, as part of the HomiBhabha Centenary celebrations. These threemeetings are designated as Platinum JubileeMeetings I, II, and III.
Platinum Jubilee Meeting – I
The first meeting in July 2009 at Hyderabadwas co-hosted by the Indian Institute ofChemical Technology and the Centre forCellular and Molecular Biology. Theattendance by Fellows, Associates and invitedteachers was encouraging. Many of thelectures were extremely informative.
In his welcome address, Academy PresidentD Balasubramanian dwelt on the scale andvarious efforts to mitigate the problems ofimpaired vision, both worldwide and in India.The eye being an isolated organ of the body,its diseases are in a sense easy to treat.Even gene-basedmethods are inprinciple available,as injected genesdo not migrate toother parts of thebody. There areabout 40 millionblind in the world(8 million of themin India). Of them47% or 18 million
D Balasubramanian
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suffer from cataract which is easy to handle;while 12% are glaucoma or increased ocularpressure cases. There are 15,000ophthalmologists in India, and an importanttarget is to reduce the incidence of eyediseases by a factor of two by 2020. The L VPrasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad has overthe years built up a very carefully though-outrural eye care model, now operatingthroughout Andhra Pradesh. This is apyramidal scheme, with small-sized rural carecentres tackling simpler problems locally,while more complicated cases are referred tosuccessively more sophisticated centres. Sucha model has been shown to work very well,and should be copied by other states in thecountry.
Lalji Singh’sspecial lecture on‘Genetic diversityin Indian popu-lations and itsimplications inhealth and disease’was remarkablyi l l u m i n a t i n gin many ways.Research by his
group attempts to shed new light on the historyof the human race. Anatomically modernhumans arose in Africa about 160,000 yearsago. Periods of drought some 135,000 yearsto 70,000 years ago in and around present-day Malawi led to a major exodus from Africato other parts of the globe some 65,000 to70,000 years ago. One of these streams tookthe Southern route passing through India andthen onwards to the Andamans and Australia.(In comparison, the populations of theNicobar islands came much more recently,about 12,000 to 18,000 years back, from China
and the Malay peninsula). The geneticdiversity of the Indian population far exceedsthat of Europe as well as China, being madeup of about 4600 culturally andanthropologically distinct groups. There are‘social’ limits to gene flow. As a consequence,genetic analyses of disease patterns can yieldinformation on history of migration. As a rule,Indians are more prone to heart-relateddiseases than any other group anywhere. Aparticular single-gene defect leads to heartfailure with no prior warning by about 50; twosuch defects limit life span to 2 to 5 years.More generally, many diseases we face are‘our own’, and western drugs are not suitedto our population. All in all, so much learntso far, so much left to learn!
The Symposium on ‘Darwin and evolution’was remarkable for the range of topicscovered. Conceived, organized andintroduced by Vidyanand Nanjundiah, it hadpresentations on planetary scale events,origins and development of south Asianlanguages, genetic perspectives on thepeopling of India (we are identified by ourmolecules!), cultural evolution as seen inIndian temples over the centuries, and theimpact of Darwinism on the study of history.All of these led to animated discussions, andthe symposium as a whole was a mostappropriate celebration of the Darwinbicentennial year.
The first PublicLecture by NarendraLuther on the ‘Historyand heritage of twincities’ – Hyderabadand Secunderabad –was a beautifullyillustrated presen-tation covering four
Lalji Singh
Narendra Luther
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centuries of their existence. It recalled to mindthe lecture on Delhi at the November 2008meeting of the Academy. Many images hadan arresting quality – the strange shapes ofrocks in the region (some of them beingdestroyed as the cities expand), the 14thcentury Golconda fort of the Kakatiyas, theoldest and largest tree of the country withinthe fort, among others. Other ‘treasures’ of thecities and regions that caught one’s attentionare the story of Bhagmati, the Kohinoordiamond found in 1656, the periodphotographs by Raja Deen Dayal, the workof Ronald Ross in 1897, and the Salar Jungmuseum which is the largest single-person artcollection in the world. The quality of thelecture did justice to the quality of theavailable material.
The meetingincluded a speciallecture by SurendraPrasad on VDSLtechnology and asecond PublicLecture byW Selvamurthyentitled ‘Lifesciences in serviceof soldiers’.
Prasad’s talk was on the challenging task ofproviding high speed bandwidths to ‘everhungrier’ users of new technologies – the VeryHigh Speed Digital Subscriber Line (or theVDSL). Twenty four newly elected Fellowsand Associates presented their research work.The three-day programme concluded with abrief symposium on ‘Ethnoarchaeology: rockart in peninsular India’.
Platinum Jubilee meeting – II
The highlight of the celebrations was thePlatinum Jubilee Meeting held at Bangaloreduring 12 – 14 November 2009, all sessionsbeing arranged at the spacious NationalScience Seminar Complex of the IISc (J N TataAuditorium). The inaugural session was adignified and ceremonial affair. PastPresidents who were able to come for themeeting spoke briefly and were speciallyhonoured.
Two special Platinum Jubilee publicationswere released. Messages from several scienceacademies across the globe, and fromAcademy Presidents unable to be present,were read out.
The Presidential address titled ‘Stem cellbiology and an example of its use in visionscience’ was the third in a set of such
Surendra Prasad
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addresses devoted to vision – its scientificaspects, treatment strategies for various typesof impairments, and models for effective andaffordable eye care for our population. Thefocus was on increasing prevalence ofpresbyopia among the older generations, andmyopia among school children.
Possible new approaches for correctingrefractive problems in the lens, and the muchmore challenging demands of repairingretinal damage, were described.
The President’s address was followed by aPlatinum Jubilee Special Lecture byC.N.R. Rao on ‘Emerging India as a greatcentre of science’. The enormouscontributions of C.V.Raman, Founder ofthe Academy, andS Ramaseshan, a pastPresident, both to theAcademy and topublication of scien-tific journals wererecalled. The generalimpression that despite better financialsupport, the quality as well as quantity ofscience in India have not improvedsignificantly was mentioned. The speaker
urged the Academy to do all it could toimprove the health of science in India.
The meeting included two public lectures –the first by Nandan Nilekani on India’sambitious ‘Unique Identification Project’, andthe second by Mark Tully on ‘The need forbalance in an unbalanced world’. Nilekaniemphasized that the main aims of this project
of unprecedentedmagnitude are –enabling largenumbers of people toeasily prove theiridentities and therebyobtain various socialservices and benefitsthat are legitimately
due to them. The many important features ofthe whole project, ideas under discussion,decisions yet to be made, were presented withremarkable clarity and precision. As thespeaker said, “we will be the first country toimplement a biometric-based unique IDsystem for its residents on such a large scale”.
Mark Tully brought out some central featuresof Indic religions which contrast with othersin important ways. The former accept the‘uncertainty of certainty’ – as against
C N R Rao
Nandan Nilekani
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e n l i g h t e n m e n trationalism, thecertainties of thesemitic faiths,and the morecontemporary beliefin the existence ofs c i e n c e - b a s e danswers to allquestions. He
concluded with an appeal for balance in alldiscussions and debates on matters oftechnology, science and individual faiths.
The three Symposia covered ‘Climate change:An Indian perspective’, ‘Navigation andcommunication – What we can learn frominsects’, and ‘Raman spectroscopy’. Each ofthese included many presentations ofuniformly high quality, and presented all theimportant facets of each topic incomplementary ways.
In addition to these special components of theprogramme, a number of lectures by recentlyelected Fellows and Associates – 14 in all –were given. The attendance was also veryencouraging, as some 200 Fellows andAssociates and about 50 teacher invitees werepresent.
On this historic occasion in the life of theAcademy, a series of artistically designedpanels displaying texts and photographs fromthe Archives were created and set up at thevenue of the meeting.
Platinum Jubilee meeting – III
The third meeting scheduled for the PlatinumJubilee year was held during December 3 – 52009 at the Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch (TIFR), Mumbai. The Academy wasa co-sponsor – along with INSA, NASI, DAEand the Royal Society, London – of the‘Bhabha Centenary Symposium: Science andTechnology at the Frontiers’. The event as awhole was most tastefully organized, onehighlight being a slide show titled ‘HomiBhabha: In memoriam’ created with artisticelegance and using the archives of the TIFR.Among the many excellent talks given inmemory of and to honour Homi Bhabha,some should be particularly mentioned.Those with a historical flavour were by C. N.Yang on ‘From the vector potential toconnections on a fiber bundle’; M. S.Narasimhan on ‘Mathematics in TIFR’; M. G.K. Menon on ‘Turning points in Homi’s life’;Obaid Siddiqi on ‘The beginnings of biologyat TIFR – Dr. Bhabha’s style of growingscience’; and Arnold Wolfendale on ‘Cosmicrays and evolution’. Among the technicaltalks, both W. M. Rainforth and Knut Urbanspoke about microscopy and the aftermath ofFeynman’s 1959 lecture ‘There’s plenty ofroom at the bottom’; R. S. Raghavan coveredrecent developments in neutrino physics;C. N. R. Rao on ‘Graphene and beyond’; andCarlo Rubbia on the non-baryonic dark matterproblem.
The Symposium as a whole was a magnificenttribute to the amazing vision and talents ofHomi Bhabha. These were particularly wellcaptured by the remarks of the AcademyPresident, Prof. D. Balasubramanian in theAcademy Session on the second day when heplaced Bhabha within the pantheon ofsupremely gifted individuals the country
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produced in thelate 19th ande a r l y - t o - m i d20th centuries, inmany areasof creativeendeavour.
The Academytogether withTIFR brought
out a special publication titled Homi JehangirBhabha: Collected Scientific Papers which wasreleased at the Bhabha Centenary Symposium.
Platinum Jubilee special publication
Two Platinum JubileePublications – a two-volume Directory ofFellows (past andpresent) and avolume “CurrentTrends in Science” –were published.
The Academy invitedseveral of its dis-tinguished Fellows from different areas ofspecialization to put together expert reviews onchosen themes, giving a snapshot of the stateof science. The 42 articles in this special issuetitled “Current Trends in Science” cover
seven majorareas, all of themwritten andedited with care.
Platinum Jubilee Lectures
1. MICHAEL BALTER (ContributingCorrespondent, Science Adjunct Professorof Journalism, Boston University)
What made humans modern? A look at humanevolution through the eyes of a science journalist
(a) 4 April 2009, India International Centre,New Delhi
(b) 6 April 2009, Indian Institute ofChemical Technology, Hyderabad
(c) 7 April 2009, B M Birla Science Centre,Hyderabad
(d) 8 April 2009, IITM, Chennai
Summary: Humans are capable of incrediblecreativity. We make art, music, and literature,and our everyday language is colourful andinnovative. As one researcher put it, we arethe ‘symbolic species.’ What are the roots ofthis symbolism, and why and how did weevolve these abilities? We cannot find theanswer by simply looking for the earliestworks of art, such as cave paintings, becausewe cannot be sure that even earlier examplesof symbolic behaviour have been lost overtime; and since language does not fossilize,we cannot know how long ago our ability totalk to each other evolved. Instead we mustlook for ‘proxy’ indications in thearchaeological record, such as the ability tomake sophisticated tools and the use ofcoloured pigments. This search leads us tohominid species that predate Homo sapiens,and raises important questions about how andwhy such abilities helped us to survive overthe ages.
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2. MARC FONTECAVE (College de France,Paris) Raman Professor, Indian Academy ofSciences
Hydrogen: water, sun and catalysts
22 April 2009, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore
Summary: One of the grand challenges oftwenty-first century chemistry is to convertabundant energy-poor molecules to energy-rich molecules using sunlight as the energysource. Hydrogen from water is such a solarfuel. However its production and usecurrently depend on noble metals such asplatinum which is expensive and notabundant enough. Viable renewable energysystems will require new catalysts made fromearth-abundant materials, cheap and robust.The lecture described bioinspired strategy,aiming at reproducing hydrogenase activesites, which leads to remarkable cobalt-basedand nickel-based (photo) catalysts forhydrogen production.
3. MADHAV GADGIL (Agharkar ResearchInstitute, Pune)
Major transitions in evolution
(a) 5 June 2009, Manipur University, Imphal
Summary: Life, a manifestation of replicatingentities with heredity and variation, hasflourished on planet earth over the last 3.8billion years. It has expanded and diversified,occupying an ever greater range of habitatsand utilizing newer and newer forms ofresources. This has involved the evolution ofever more complex organisms, animalsocieties and biotic communities. Thisprogressive elaboration of complex forms hasbeen accomplished through a diversificationof simpler entities, their aggregation and
incorporation into higher level entities. Thishas entailed ever more sophisticatedcooperative interactions, supported by avariety of group cementing forces: geneticsimilarity, central control, and synergy. Sinceevery replicating entity has a tendency ofproducing more copies of itself, this resultsin a variety of conflicts at many levels, leadingto manifestations such as the proliferation ofjunk DNA, parent–offspring conflict, andsuppression of one human language byanother.
(b) 29 October 2009, UGC Academic StaffCollege, Mizoram University, Aizawl
(c) 4 November 2009, West Bengal StateUniversity, Barasat
Summary: For the last 3.8 billion years, lifehas flourished on planet earth, expanding anddiversifying. It has led to the evolution of evermore complex organisms, and animalsocieties, along with evolution of new formsof replicating entities, memes and artefacts.Its culmination in the present day informationand communication technology, has broughtus to the threshold of another majortransition, that of human societies with globalaccess to entire stock of human knowledge.
4. RICHARD J ROBERTS Nobel Laureate,New England Biolabs, Beverly, USA
Genomics of restriction and modification
19 June 2009, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore
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5. MICHAEL WITZEL (Wales Professor ofSanskrit, Department of Sanskrit and IndianStudies, Harvard University, Cambridge,USA)
(a) Origin and development of language in southAsia: Phylogeny vs. epigenetics
9 July 2009, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi
Summary: This presentation began with abrief overview of opinions about the originof human language and the controversialquestion of Neanderthal speech. Quicklymoving from the language of the ‘African eve’to the specific ones of the subcontinent, a briefoverview was given of the prehistoric andcurrent south Asian language families as wellas their development over the past c. 5000years. The equivalents of phylogeny andepigenetics in linguistics were then dealt with,that is, the successful (Darwinian style)phylogenetic reconstruction of languagefamilies (as ‘trees’), which is interfered by theseparate wave-like spread of certain featuresacross linguistic boundaries, even acrosslanguage families. A combination of bothfeatures lead to the emergence of the currentsouth Asian linguistic area (sprachbund). Thisdevelopment made the structure of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian or Mund similar to eachother but it could not eliminate most of theirindividual characteristics.
(b) The languages and cultures revealed by theRig Veda: Immigration, localization andconvergence
10 July 2009, India International Centre,New Delhi
Summary: The outdated 19th century theoryof an ‘Aryan invasion’ dominated politicaldiscussion for the past twenty or thirty years.The scholarly facts tell a different story. The
linguistic data clearly indicate the derivationof Rigvedic Sanskrit from Indo-Iranian andIndo-European (and not an ultimate Indianorigin). The same applies to the poetics, ritual,mythology and most of the religion of the RigVeda. However, the ‘lower,’ more popularlevels of myth and religion are clearly local,as are many words related to village life,agriculture and entertainment. Such wordshave a non- Indo-European structure and goback neither to Dravidian nor Munda butmostly to a prefixing language, similar toAustro-Asiatic, that must have been spokenin the northern Indus plains and in Haryanabut that was not recorded in Indus documentsof any substantial length. Interaction betweenthe mainly pastoral Indo-Aryans and the localpopulation of the Greater Panjab, remnantsof the Harappan civilization, resulted in acertain amount of convergence visible inlinguistic categories, leading to the ‘southAsian linguistic area.’ These changes involvelanguages from the Pamirs to Sri Lanka butthey could not erase the inherent nature ofthe languages involved. Similar convergentfeatures can be seen in the development ofVedic myth and ritual. While most of thedeities and rituals are of Indo-Iranian (or evenIndo-European age), a number of possibleslight adjustments to local pre-Vedic, that is,post-Indus, religion and ritual may bediscerned. The emerging scenario issupported by some features of post-Indus(late Harappan) archaeology, notably inGandhara, and by some aspects of humangenetics, especially the newly discussedautosomal data. Recent discoveries of a largeHarappan graveyard in Haryana may shedfurther light on the matter.
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6. B G VERGHESE (Visiting Professor,Centre for Policy Research, Delhi)
Managing India’s diversities
11 August 2009, Central Food TechnologicalResearch Institute, Mysore
Summary: India is the most diverse countryin the world and the most stratified over timeand space. The social dynamics of the countryis bringing ever newer elements, hithertosubmerged and oppressed, into the‘mainstream’. This mistakenly suggestsgrowing fragmentation and negative identitypolitics. In fact, this upwelling from below isconverting ‘Bharat’ into ‘India’ and has vastlystrengthened the roots of democracy. How wemanage this delicate and difficult transitionwill determine the future.
7. RAMASWAMY R IYER (ResearchProfessor, Centrefor PolicyResearch, NewDelhi)
Water policy andscience
11 August 2009,Raman ResearchInstitute,Bangalore
Summary: Before we consider what kind ofscientific grounding good water policy needs,we must first have a proper understandingof the complexities of water, and be clearabout what we mean by the term ‘science’.The lecture began by trying to bring clarity tothese matters and deconstruct some currentformulations. It then proceeded to identifycertain water policy questions which wouldbenefit from scientific knowledge.
8. MAX BENNETT (Director, BMRI, HeadNeurobiologyResearch Centre,University ofSydney, Australia)
Glial cell purinergicsynapses in chronicpain, spreadingcortical depression andthe BOLD effect in
non-invasive brain imaging
12 August 2009, Raman Research Institute,Bangalore
Summary: Chronic neuropathic pain isassociated with a spreading inflammatorywave in the spinal cord from the site of initialsynaptic transmission of the pain stimulus inthe cord, thus recruiting wide areas ofneuronal activity not implicated in the initialevent.
Migraine pain is preceded by a wave ofspreading depression of cortical neuralactivity, which extends from one end of thecortex to the other. Much information aboutthe sites in the brain that function in orderfor one to experience pain is obtained throughnon-invasive brain imaging, which is thoughtto provide a measure of local neuronal activitythrough propagation of a wave that engagesand modulates local blood oxygen leveldevelopment (BOLD). It is shown that thewaves in these different phenomena can bequantitatively accounted for by thetransmission of calcium waves between glialcells, placing this mechanism at the centre ofour interests in detecting the cellular signs ofpain and its amelioration.
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9. T N NARASIMHAN (Department ofMaterials Science and Engineering,University of California at Berkeley)
Water: Emerging challenge for India’s brightest
25 August 2009, Indian Institute ofTechnology, Chennai
Summary: India’s water resources are finite,and there are good reasons to believe thatIndia may already be at the threshold of over-utilizing its available resources. India does nothave a coherent national water policy, andwater use is unregulated, even as industrialand urban development proceed at a feverishpitch. Without bringing order and disciplineinto water management, India’s economicexpectations will be seriously jeopardized.Sustainable management of India’s waterresources requires knowledge of delicatelyinterlinked earth systems, complicated byhuman attitudes and aspirations. Wisemanagement of India’s water resources offersenormous technical and human challenges.For civilized human survival on a finite,interconnected earth, technology must adaptto the nature of earth systems. Such anadaptation will have a chance of success onlyif India’s brightest takes the earth as seriouslyas it takes physical and biological sciences.The talk provided a glimpse into the scientificand human dimensions of India’s waterresources situation.
10. MEERA KOSAMBI (Former Professor& Director, Research Centre for Women’sStudies, SNDT Women’s University,Mumbai)
Dr Anandibai Joshi: The achievement andiconization of India’s first woman doctor
15 September 2009, Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology, Hyderabad
Summary: Anandibai Joshi graduated fromthe Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvaniain the USA in March 1886 to become India’sfirst woman doctor. Unfortunately she diedthe following year in India at the age of barely22. But she has been iconized in various ‘attimes contradictory’ ways in two biographies(one American and one Marathi) and abiographical novel (Marathi, later translatedinto English) This lecture contextualizedAnandibai within India’s social reformmovement, analysed her biographies, andalso explored her feminism and nationalism.
11. WALTER KÖHN (Department ofPhysics, University of California, SantaBarbara, USA).
A world predominantly powered by solar andwind energy
23 October 2009, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore.
Summary: It is widely recognized that thefossil fuels, oil and natural gas, whichcurrently provide almost 60% of the world’senergy consumption, will be largelyexhausted in a few decades. At the same time,world population will have increased by anestimated 30 to 40 per cent by mid-century.To avoid a catastrophic energy shortage bymid-century, these fuels must be replaced byecologically acceptable and sustainablealternatives. Solar and wind power appear tobe the most promising candidates. Although,at the present time they constitute only ~ 2per cent of the global energy consumption,their production has recently been rising bya spectacular 30 to 40% per year, or a factor of15 per decade and 225 in 20 years. Thisarithmetic suggests that the entire deficitstemming from the impending exhaustion of
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oil and gas might be compensated in about10 to 20 years by continuing aggressivecommitment to solar and wind energy. Thelecture examined this speculation. It providesuseful guidelines for the second half of thecentury and beyond. At the same time, thereis a very serious energy deficit during the oneto two decades of transition from the present(oil-gas)-era to the (sol-wind)-era, which willrequire additional measures.
12. JÉRÔME LAVE (Centre de RecherchesPétrographiques etGéochimiques,Nancy, France).
Mountain building:life and death ofmountain range
5 November 2009,Indian Institute ofScience, Bangalore.
Summary: How do mountain ranges growand decay? How long do their topographieslast? What sets the elevation of the high peaksof the Himalayas and of the other mountainson Earth? How do large orogenic plateaus likethe Tibetan plateau form, and why some otherranges are much narrower? If the emergenceof the plate tectonics theory in the 60s haspermitted explanation of the primary engineor internal forces that contribute to buildingtopographies, the progressive recognition inthe 90s of the role of erosion in the evolutionof the mountain ranges has revolutionized thetectonics and geomorphology fields. Theerosion not only creates relief with deepvalleys and sharp peaks, it also contributesduring the active phase of mountain buildingto stabilize the topography toward a dynamicequilibrium through several negative
feedback loops or coupling between internaland external processes. This coupling arisesbecause erosion depends on topographywhile denudation influences tectonicprocesses by modifying the Earth’s surfacethrough mass redistribution i.e., by changingthe stress state in the orogenic wedge, whichin turn induces an internal (or tectonic)response to try to restore the initial wedgegeometry. The evolution of a mountain range,its mean and maximum elevation, as well asits width or its eventual shape asymmetry, areall dictated by this subtle balance or imbalancebetween mass addition from tectonicprocesses and mass removal from erosion. Asa consequence, the characteristics of anymountain range not only reflect the tectonicconvergence rates across the collision zoneand the thermal state of the deforming crust,but also the climate intensity, the precipitationdistribution, the type of rock exposed at thesurface. For twenty years, major advances incharacterising the physics of erosionprocesses, in measuring denudation rates andin numerical modelling have brought newquantitative understanding on how mountainranges evolve modulated by the feedbacksbetween tectonics, climate and erosion. Thesemost recent views, putting a particularemphasis on the Himalaya-Tibet collisionzone, were presented.
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13. RÜDIGER WEHNER (University ofZurich, Switzerland).
Desert ant navigation:mini brains – megatasks – smart solutions
10 November 2009,Indian Institute ofScience, Bangalore.
Summary: How does a 0.1 mg brain housedin a 10 mg insect solve complex computationaltasks, which we humans would be able toaccomplish only with GPS devices? In tryingto answer this question the talk focussed onthe extraordinary navigational skills ofvisually guided desert ants, Cataglyphis.What does the compass and the odometer thatthe ant employs look like? Is the spatialinformation provided by the ant’s pathintegrator and landmark guidance routineintegrated into a cognitive map? Amultidisciplinary approach combiningbehavioural and neurophysiological studieswith computer simulations and roboticsimplementations is used to tackle suchquestions. The result is that Cataglyphis usesa number of dedicated neural systems thatdeal with particular aspects of the animal’soverall navigational task. One of thesenavigational toolkits is the path integrator bywhich the ant is continually informed aboutits current position relative to the startingpoint of its journey. In addition to pathintegration, Cataglyphis employs variousmechanisms of landmark guidance such assnapshot matching and visual routefollowing. Finally, however, these variouskinds of information acquired by the path-integration and landmark– memory routinesare not knitted together in a static metric map,but are flexibly used in context-dependentways. To employ procedural rather than
positional knowledge of its environment – toknow what to do when encountering a givensignpost rather than where this signpost iswithin a survey map – is the insect’s way ofgetting around in its visual world.
14. DANIEL L HARTL (Higgins Professorof Biology, Department of Organismic andEvolutionary Biology, Harvard University,Cambridge, USA)
(a) Microorganisms, genomes, and the history offood
3 December 2009, Rani BahadurAuditorium, University of Mysore,Manasagangotri, Mysore.
Summary: An overview of major innovationsin the history of food, including cooking,social rituals, domestication, selectivebreeding, trading, global exchange,agribusiness, and genetic modification waspresented. Microorganisms have long beenessential in the production of andpreservation of foods, and the focus is on thespecial role of budding yeast Saccharomycescerevisiae in producing ethyl alcohol, whosemind-altering, analgesic, disinfectant, andpreservative properties made it the mostwidespread drug and medicine of antiquity.
(b) Natural history of the malaria parasite andits genome
7 December 2009, DST Auditorium,University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad.
Summary: Malaria is endemic in tropicalregions of many countries with a populationat risk of 3.3 billion. A history of the diseasefrom its origin in primate ancestors throughits earliest recorded presence in humans tothe present was presented. High levels ofgenetic variation allow the malaria parasite
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to overcome drugs and escape vaccines.Results with next-generation DNAsequencing and genotyping technologiesdemonstrate the potential to discover drugresistance before it spreads.
15. H EUGENE STANLEY (Departments ofPhysics and Chemistry, Boston University,Boston, USA).
(a) Liquid water, the most complex liquid
17 December 2009,Tata Institute ofFundamentalResearch,Mumbai.
Summary: Thestrange propertiesof water, the mostcomplex liquid
were discussed. Recent progress inunderstanding some of its anomalousproperties has been achieved by combininginformation from recent experiments andsimulations on water in bulk, nanoconfined,and biological environments. The unusualbehaviour of water in biologicalenvironments, and whether liquid water canexist in two different phases; and the usefulanalogies between water and other liquids,such as silicon, silica, and carbon, as well asmetallic glasses were also discussed.
(b) Economic fluctuations and statistical physics:quantifying extremely rare and much less rareevents
18 December 2009, Indian Institute ofScience, Bangalore.
Summary: Recent analysis of truly hugequantities of empirical data suggests thatclassic economic theories fail not only for afew outliers, but that there occur similaroutliers of every possible size. If one analyzesa small data set, then outliers appear to occuras rare events. However, when we analyzeorders of magnitude more data, we findorders of magnitude more outliers – soignoring them is not a responsible option. Wefind that the statistical properties of theseoutliers are identical to the statisticalproperties of everyday fluctuations,suggesting the existence of a singleunderlying mechanism for fluctuations of anysize.
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10 SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMME
10.2 Participation of teachers in Academy meetings
The Academy has a database of teachers fromcolleges and universities all over the countrybased on recommendations received fromFellows of the Academy. A few of theseteachers are invited to the Academy mid-yearand annual meetings every year to give theman opportunity to attend scientific lecturesand to meet and interact with Fellows. About70 teachers attended the Academy meetingsin Hyderabad and Bangalore. Over the pastdecade, about 900 teachers have attendedAcademy meetings.
10.3 Refresher courses for teachers
This important all-India programme isdesigned to help motivated teachers improvetheir background knowledge and teachingskills. The course is normally for two weeksand teachers selected from all over the countryundergo a rigorous course of lectures,discussions and tutorial sessions. During thelast eleven years refresher courses on a varietyof topics have been organized throughout thecountry. The following refresher courses wereheld during the year.
Besides the publication of the scienceeducation monthly Resonance, four mainactivities continue to be carried out under thisprogramme towards attempts to improve thestate of science education and teaching in thecountry. These are (a) summer fellowships(b) participation of teachers in meetings(c) refresher courses for teachers (d) lectureworkshops for students/teachers.
Both the Indian National Science Academy,New Delhi and the National Academy ofSciences, India, Allahabad, have joined thisAcademy since April 2007 in running theseprogrammes. Two representatives each fromINSA and NASI are permanent invitees to theAcademy Science Education Panel, and theseprogrammes are planned in a coordinatedmanner. The expenses for all these activitiesare equally shared by the three Academies.
10.1 Summer fellowships
This has become an important component ofthe science education programmes of theAcademy. Summer Fellowships are awardedto bright students and motivated teachers towork with Fellows of the Academy onresearch-oriented projects. Started on arelatively small scale in 1995, the programmehas grown in size both in terms of the numberof applications received and the number offellowships awarded. This programmeconducted by the Academy has an all-Indiacharacter in that the selected summer fellowswork in institutions across the country.During 2009, summer fellowships wereoffered to 111 teachers and 822 students fromall over the country and they were guided byFellows of all the three Academies.
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1. Motivational bridge course in physics
Gogate–Jogalekar College, Ratnagiri,23 March 2009 – 11 April 2009
No. of participants: About 67 students andteachers from Gogate–Jogalekar College, Ratnagiriand nearby colleges; Course Director:S Ananthakrishnan (Pune University); Course Co-ordinators: G V Kelkar (President, IAPT,Maharashtra), S A Deo, K V Sukhatankar (Gogate– Jogalekar College, Ratnagiri), A W Joshi, AnjaliKshirsagar (Pune University); Resource Persons:J V Narlikar and Mangala Narlikar (IUCAA,Pune), R Nityananda (NCRA, Pune), ArvindKumar and Shirish Pathare (Homi Bhabha Centre,Mumbai), S H Patel (IIT, Mumbai), SureshChandra (SRTM University, Nanded), M V Jakale(Shivaji University, Kolhapur), Atul Mody(Vivekananda College, Mumbai), A D Gangal(University of Pune), Mahesh Shetty (WilsonCollege, Mumbai); Local Speakers: RajashreeThakur, A W Joshi, Anjali Khirsagar, Satish Nayak,K V Sukhthankar, B D Sutar, S S Sahasrabudhe.
The state of higher education in science,particularly in physics and mathematics at theundergraduates level is of concern and addressedin many fora. The IAPT (Maharashtra and Goaregions) initiated a summer school in Thane forundergraduates in physics to excite and motivatethem. Based on the positive feedback received, thepresent programme entitled ‘Motivational bridge
course in mathematical method and laboratoryexperiment course in mathematical method andlaboratory experiment and practices’ wasproposed. This was essentially meant for first andsecond year BSc students in small cities and townsin rural areas of Maharashtra and Goa regions.The first of these was thus organized at Ratnagiriin Maharashtra.
The objectives of the course were to(a) understand the intricacies of mathematics; (b)understand the relationship between physics andmathematics; (c) be able to translate physics intomathematics and vice versa; (d) understand andappreciate physics better (e) appreciate better andclean laboratory practices; (f) plan and design anexperiment; (g) think of simple, innovative, open-ended experiments; (h) become good graduates;(i) remove fear of physics and math amongstudents; (j) face competitive exams of differentkinds; (k) face interviews.
The academic programme included the followingtopics: symmetries in physics; complex algebra;calculus; thermodynamics and kinetic theory;matrix algebra; probability and statistics; ordinarydifferential equations; orthogonal co-ordinatesystems; vector algebra; vector calculus;calculations in special relativity.
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The Refresher Course in Experimental Physicswas initiated in 2001, with the specific objectiveof developing simple but effective experiments atlow cost with the aim of improving the laboratoryprogrammes in colleges and universities acrossIndia, and to impart training in doing advancedexperiments in Physics. Over the years, newexperiments have been added and improvementsto first circuits have been made. The RefresherCourse in Experimental Physics, has been wellaccepted in various universities across India, andmany universities have introduced theseexperiments in their curriculum.
2. Experimental physics – XIV
Alagappa University, Karaikudi,7 – 22 May 2009
No. of participants: About 30 students andteachers from Alagappa University and nearbycolleges; Course Director: R Srinivasan(Bangalore); Course Co-ordinator: C Sanjeeviraja(Alagappa University); Resource Persons:R Srinivasan (Bangalore), S M Sadique (Goa),K R S Priolkar, Efrem D’Sa (Goa University),S B Gudennavar (Christ University).
3. Animal tissue culture
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of IT & Biotechnology,Pune, 11 – 23 May 2009
No. of participants: 21 teachers; Course Director:Sudha Gangal (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of IT &Biotechnology, Pune); Course Co-ordinator:Alpana Moghe (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of IT &Biotechnology, Pune); Resource Persons:Prabhakar Ranjekar, Sudha Gangal, AlpanaMoghe, Snehil Jaiswal, Prachi (Rajiv GandhiInstitute of IT & Biotechnology, Pune).
Rajiv Gandhi Institute is a young institute,teaching ATC at UG as well as PG level and has afairly good laboratory set-up. Considering theneed to spread technology to needy colleges inthe country, it was decided to organize theRefresher Course.
The programme generally consisted of a lecturein the morning followed by practicals. Theparticipants were divided into 2 batches of 10each. While one batch did the sterile work in thehoods, the other did the nonsterile work accordingto a prescribed schedule with small variationsdepending on the availability of cell culture.
Topics of lectures: Overview of ATC; hybridomatechnique for development of monoclonalantibodies; physicochemical properties of mediasuch as pH, temperature, gaseous phaserequirements of cells; maintenance of cell culture;cryopreservation; cytotoxicity; upscaling;characterization of cells grown in culture;cytogenetic abnormalities shown by cells;importance of mutagenesis assays using tissueculture systems; stem cell biology; how viruses canbe grown in simple explant cultures without
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sophisticated equipment; development of aculture system to observe growth of chick embryo;use of tissue culture systems for studies to replaceanimals; use of cell culture from a variety of wildanimals.
The practical sessions were devoted to thefollowing: Feeding of cell cultures; preparation ofsynthetic medium used in ATC and its sterilizationby filtration; subculturing of cells and countingof viable cells; staining of cells with giemsa;primary cultures of chick embryo fibroblasts;sterility test medium; virus titration assay;chromosome preparations; growth curve analysis;cytotoxicity assays; tracheal organ culture; shell-less chick embryo cultures; practicaldemonstration for separation of human peripheralblood lymphocytes on Fico-Hypaque gradient,collection of lymphocytes from the gradient andculturing.
Visits were arranged to the Serum Institute, whichis involved in production of vaccines for manyviral diseases, as well as to the Interactive ResearchSchool for Health Affairs (IRSHA). A one-dayexcursion within Pune was also organized. Theparticipants were also given two books:1. Principles and practice of animal tissue culture,Universities Press, Hyderabad. 2. In vitrocultivation of animal cells, Elsevier.
4. Experimental physics – XV
Mangalore University, Mangalore,1 – 16 June 2009)
No. of participants: 33 teachers from variouscolleges in Mangalore; Course Director:R Srinivasan (Bangalore); Course Co-ordinator:
Manjunatha Pattabi (Mangalore University);Resource Persons: R Srinivasan (Bangalore),K R S Priolkar, S M Sadique (Goa University),Efrem D’Sa (Carmel College, Goa), Gnana Prakash(Mysore University).
As has been the practice with the ExperimentalPhysics Refresher Courses organized of late, thiscourse was restricted to participants from collegesaffiliated to Mangalore University where physicsis taught at the undergraduate level. Twentyninecolleges were represented at the Course. RSrinivasan, the Course Director, outlined the spiritof the course and explained how many of theexperiments carried out at the undergraduate andpostgraduate levels with outdated equipment canbe performed with better precision, betteraccuracy and less difficulty. Lectures werefollowed by laboratory experiments using kitsdeveloped for the Academy at the initiative of RSrinivasan. These kits were gifted by the Academyto the Mangalore University for conducting thiscourse.
5. Experimental chemistry
University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad,15 – 29 June 2009
No. of participants: 20 University/College teachersfrom across India; Course Director: AnunaySamanta (University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad);Resource Persons: K C Kumara Swamy,P Raghavaiah, D Basavaiah, R Nagarajan,L Guruprasad, S Pal, P K Panda, D B Ramachary,R Sridhar, M Durga Prasad, S Mahapatra,K Muralidharan, T Jana, V Baskar, M J Swamy,T P Radhakrishnan, A Nangia, M V Rajasekharan(University of Hyderabad).
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This course was formulated with a view tostrengthen the experimental chemistryprogrammes at the undergraduate andpostgraduate levels in the country. The courseinvolved experiments covering all major branchesof chemistry. Preparation, purification andcharacterization of organic compounds;preparation of cis- and trans-bis (glycinato) copper(II) and tris (thiourea) copper (I) complex;exploitation of computers for understandingchemical problems; synthesis of polystyrene byemulsion polymerization. The experiments weredesigned such that the chemicals and minorequipment used in the course were inexpensiveand amenable for easy implementation at thecollege/university level. The course comprised 13laboratory experiments; 13 lectures and 1demonstration experiment. The laboratoryexperiment can be broadly categorized as follows:3 in organic chemistry, 4 in inorganic chemistry, 3in physical chemistry, 2 in materials chemistry and1 in computational chemistry. Each day startedwith a lecture by a resource person giving a briefoutline of his research activities followed bydetailed instructions for the laboratory experimentscheduled for the day. Each participant wasprovided a laboratory experiment scheduled forthe day. They were also provided a laboratory coat,a pair of safety goggles and a book on experimentalchemistry (General chemistry experiments by Anil JElias, Universities Press, 2002).
6. Experimental Physics – XVI
Osmania University, Hyderabad,26 June – 11 July 2009
No. of participants: 20; Course Director:R Srinivasan (Bangalore); Course Co-ordinator:
P Kistaiah (Osmania University, Hyderabad);Resource Persons: N Satyavati,M Nagabhushanam, G Prasad, R Sayanna,M V Ramana Reddy, M Laxmipathi Rao, P VenuGopal Reddy and K Narasimha Reddy (OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad).
Seventeen lectures on how to performexperiments, the theory behind the experiment,the calculations and final conclusions and 3 speciallectures were given. Feedback was collected fromall participants at the end of the course.
7. Experimental Physics – XVII
Carmel College for Women, Nuvem, Goa,26 October – 9 November 2009
No. of participants: 31; Course Director:R Srinivasan (Bangalore); Course Co-ordinator:Efrem D’Sa (Carmel College, Nuvem, Goa);Resource Persons: K R S Priolkar (Goa University,Goa); S M Sadique, Manohar Naik (Goa), EfremD’Sa (Carmel College, Nuvem, Goa)
In this refresher course, two new experimentswere introduced for the first time, namely Young’smodulus by vibrating cantilever and B-H curvewhich were performed in a totally simple and easymethod. The participants performed a total of 16experiments along with necessary calculations.Four special lectures were delivered. An eveningtalk on “Rivers Mandovi and Zuari” was alsodelivered by Satish Shetye (NIO, Goa).
An experimental kit on behalf of the threeacademies was presented to the Principal of thehost College.
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8. Experimental Physics – XVIII
University of Calicut, Calicut,23 November – 8 December 2009
No. of participants: 29; Course Director:R Srinivasan (Bangalore); Course Co-ordinator:Antony Joseph (University of Calicut, Calicut);Resource Persons: Antony Joseph,P P Pradyumnan, M M Musthafa, C D Ravikumar(University of Calicut, Calicut), R Srinivasan.
In his key note address, Prof. Srinivasan explainedthe purpose and plan of the course.
Seventeen laboratory sessions were conductedduring which the participants carried out 15experiments. There were 3 discussion sessions inwhich R Srinivasan answered the questions fromthe participants and explained the salient aspectsto be taken care of in designing some of theexperiments. In addition to this, three speciallectures were delivered by the faculty of thedepartment.
9. Theoretical PhysicsBishop Moore College, Mavelikara,7 – 19 December 2009
No. of participants: 49; Course Director:M Lakshmanan (Bharathidasan University,Tiruchirapalli); Course Co-ordinator: ThomasKuruvilla (Bishop Moore College, Mavelikara);Resource Persons: S Chaturvedi (University ofHyderabad, Hyderabad), A V Gopala Rao,K S Mallesh (University of Mysore, Mysore),R Jagannathan, R Simon (Institute of MathematicalSciences, Chennai), N Mukunda (IISc, Bangalore),M Lakshmanan (Bharathidasan University,Tiruchirapalli).
During the course M Lakshmanan gave anoverview of classical mechanics and its variousformulations. He explained the effect ofnonlinearities on dynamical systems andexplained how to study the nonlinear problems.The models like logistic map and nonlinearoscillators were discussed in depth and heexplained the sensitive dependence on initialconditions. He also explained how the linearsystems can give rise to solitary waves and solitonsand discussed the basic theory of solitons.
P M Mathewsgave a series oflectures on howc l a s s i c a lm e c h a n i c s ,e s p e c i a l l yr o t a t i o ndynamics, can beapplied to theearth dynamics
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and how various geographical phenomena andobservational data can be explained systematicallythrough careful theoretical analysis.
R Jagannathan discussed how linear partialdifferential equations can be variable separatedand solved. The situations under which ordinarydifferential equations can be obtained were alsodiscussed. He also explained how homogenousdifferential equations with nonhomogenousboundary conditions can be transformed tononhomogenous differential equations withhomogenous boundary conditions. The solutionof nonhomogenous differential equations usingGreen’s function was also explained withexamples.
Simon discussed quantum entanglement in twolevel systems, building the logic of analysis fromfundamental postulates of quantum mechanics.He explained how teleportation is not violatingthe uncertainty principle. He also discussed thepolarization optics taking two orthogonallypolarized states as qubits and its significance toquantum computation.
A V Gopala Rao of Mysore University lectured onrelativistic electrodynamics. He gave a series oflectures on the Minkowski space and relativisticparticle mechanics. He clearly explained the basicfeatures of relativity theory and its variousconsequences. He also concluded the tutorialsessions.
S Chaturvedi gave a series of 8 lectures onstatistical mechanics and thermodynamics. Inaddition he conducted tutorial sessions also.Chaturvedi explained very lucidly the basicprinciples underlying the development ofstatistical mechanics, the methodologies involvedand the consequences thereof. He cleared manyof the doubts on the fundamentals for both theteachers and students.
N Mukunda delivered several illuminatinglectures on vector spaces, tensors and grouptheory. He explained lucidly the various symmetrygroups and their significance with the teachers. KS Mallesh gave an elaborate account of quantummechanical perturbation theory, with particularreference to time dependent systems. Books on
Mathematical methods by Arfken and quantumcomputation by Nielsen, were distributed to allthe participants. One of the following sets of bookswere distributed to the MSc student participantsviz. Feynman Lecture Series; University Physicsby Zemansky Sears; Vignettes in Physics series byG Venkataraman.
10. Experimental physics – XIX
Karnatak University, Dharwad,4 – 20 January 2010
No. of participants: 22; Course Director:R Srinivasan (Bangalore); Course Co-ordinator:N Sankeshwar (Karnatak University, Dharwad);Resource Persons: R Srinivasan (Bangalore),L R Naik, S Y Amargolkar, A H Sidarai,G H Malimath (Karnatak University, Dharwad).
This course was planned with the purpose ofexposing teachers to some aspects of experimentalPhysics, mainly experiments on solid state physicsand electronics and to help motivate teachers toimprove their background knowledge andteaching skills. S K Saidapur in his inauguraladdress said the excitement involved in the studyof physics should be made known to studentsthrough experiments. The teachers were advisedto be aware of recent aspects of ExperimentalPhysics and to update their knowledge. Theexperiments were carried out by the participantsin groups of two and performed in solid statephysics and electronics. The participants wereprovided with a manual for all the experiments.Three special lectures were delivered by thefaculty of the department. The general opinion ofthe participants was that the Refresher Course wasquite useful in providing hands-on-training in the
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laboratory and they expressed interest in the low-cost instruments for laboratory use. The followingexperiments were covered in the course:Calibration of secondary thermometers;temperature coefficient of resistance of copper;load regulation of the constant current source;temperature variation of capacitance of a ceramiccapacitor, verification of Curie-Weiss Law; Stefan’sconstant of radiation; high resistance by leakagemethod; thermal and electrical conductivity ofcopper and thermal conductivity of poorconductor; thermal diffusivity of brass; ACexperiments; passive filters; AC bridges; dielectricconstant of Benzene and dipole moment ofacetone; comparison of capacitances; thermalrelaxation of a light bulb; principle of phasesensitive detection and the calibration of a lock inamplifier; measurement of mutual inductance andsmall resistance with a lock in amplifier; B-H curveusing an integrator; flexural vibrations of a steelbar and young modulus.
11. Biotechnology and modern molecularbiology techniques
Manipal Life Sciences Centre, ManipalUniversity, Manipal, 11 – 23 January 2010
No. of participants: 21; Course Director:V Nagaraja (IISc, Bangalore); Course Co-ordinator: K. Satyamoorthy (Manipal Life SciencesCentre, Manipal University, Manipal); ResourcePersons: P N Rangarajan, V Nagaraja,K P Gopinathan, P Kondaiah, KumaravelSomasundaram (IISc, Bangalore), U V Shenoy,Girish Katta, M R Kumar (Kasturba MedicalCollege, Manipal), Indrani Karunasagar (Collegeof Fisheries, Mangalore), Ullas Kamath (Melaka
Manipal Medical College, Manipal), Kemparaj,K Satyamoorthy, P M Gopinath, A Muthusamy,T S Murali, Reena Reshma D’Souza, B S Satish Rao,Shyamaprasad Sajankila, Kamlesh Mumbrekar,K P Guruprasad, Bharath Prasad, M Rajashekar,Premalatha Shetty, Herman D’Souza, PadmalathaS Rai, T G Vasudevan, Roopa Nayak, K S Babitha,K K Mahato, Vidhu Sankar Babu, Saadi AbdulVahab, K Shama Prasada, Prashantha Hebbar,K Manoj Bhat (Manipal Life Sciences Centre,Manipal), Vishal G Warke (Mumbai).
The main aim of the course was to provide theparticipants the opportunity to sharpen their skillsand improve their basic knowledge and teachingskills. It was planned with the purpose of exposingthem to the modern techniques of biotechnologyand molecular biology. After a brief introductionto molecular biology and biotechnology, thefollowing lectures were delivered: ‘Why studyrestriction enzymes’; ‘Metagenomics: a fascinatingarea of microbiology’; ‘Genomics and ethics ofhuman cloning’; ‘Gene expression analysis’. ‘theapplications of laser biology and medicine’;‘Genetics and human diseases’ and ‘Introductionto stem cell and applications’; and various aspectsof PCR techniques were explained.
Demonstrations and hands-on experiments werealso conducted for the participants during thiscourse. They include genomic DNA; bacterialculture and plasmid isolation; chemicaltransformation and electroporation experiments;micronucleus assay; chromosomal aberrationassay; comet assay; H2AX assay; flow cytometry;cell-cycle analysis and immunephenotypingexperiments; dye exclusion assay; MTT assay;clonogenic assay or colony formation assay; LDHleakage assay; cell culture techniques; karyotypepreparation from peripheral blood; isolation andestimation of proteins; plant tissue culture.
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1. Advances in chemical sciencesMangalore University, Mangalagangothri,4 – 5 April 2009Convener: K L Sebastian (IISc, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: J Ishwara Bhat (MangaloreUniversity, Mangalagangothri); Speakers:K L Sebastian, S Sampath (Indian Institute ofScience, Bangalore), K G George Thomas,C H Suresh (NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram);Participants: About 111 students/teachers fromvarious colleges/institutions in Mangalore;Topics covered: Strange and (beautiful) world ofquantum mechanics; molecular devices andmotors; atom/molecule-up synthesis ofnanostructures; electrochemical energy systemsand electrochemical biosensors; introduction tonanomaterials; surface plasmon resonance inmetal nanoparticle; application of computationalchemistry; theoretical revisiting of (S)-prolinecatalysed intermolecular Aldol reaction.
2. The fundamental concepts of mobilecommunicationGauhati University, Guwahati,6 April and 18 May 2009
Convener: Abhijit Mitra (IIT, Guwahati); Speaker:Abhijit Mitra (IIT, Guwahati); Participants:150 students from the ECE Department ofGuwahati University; Topics covered:Introductory concepts of mobile communication.
3. Recent advances in spectroscopy: theory,instrumentation and applicationsKarnatak University, Dharwad,17 – 18 April 2009Convener: E Arunan (IISc, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: Jagdish Tonannavar, KarnatakUniversity, Dharwad; Speakers: E Arunan,S Umapathy (IISc, Bangalore); SanjayWategaonkar (TIFR, Mumbai), B P Singh,TapanKundu (IIT, Mumbai); Participants: 118 students/teachers from the university and colleges inDharwad; Topics covered: Why atoms/moleculesabsorb radiation; atomic physics & diatomicmolecules: basic spectroscopic instrumentationand experimental setup; femtosecondphotophysics; optical and molecular probe forsensors; molecular beam microwavespectroscopy; laser spectroscopy; spectroscopy ofmolecules and clusters.
10.4 Lecture workshops for students/teachers
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4. Frontier lectures in bio-organicchemistryBangalore University, Bangalore,28 – 29 May 2009Convener: S Chandrasekaran (IISc, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: V V Sureshbabu (BangaloreUniversity, Bangalore); Speakers: P Balaram,Santanu Bhattacharya, R Varadarajan,S Chandrasekaran, S Vijaya (IISc, Bangalore),K N Ganesh (IISER, Pune), Nitish Mahapatra,S Baskaran (IITM, Chennai); Participants: Over200 students/teachers from Bangalore Universityand colleges; Topics covered: Probing an enzymemechanism; DNA binding ligand design; designof protein-based molecular switches andimmunogens; 4-aminoproline-based collagenmimetics; synthetic studies on peptides;physiological anti-hypertensive peptides;development of new synthetic methods; molecularand biochemical studies of flaviviral replication.
5. Plant genetic resources: mappingutilization and conservationVIT University, Vellore, 23 – 25 July 2009Convener: R Uma Shaanker (UAS, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: R Siva, VIT University; Speakers:S Natesh (Dept. of Biotechnology, New Delhi),K N Ganeshaiah, R Uma Shaanker (UAS,Bangalore), K V Krishnamurthy (BharathidasanUniversity, Trichy), Vasudeva (Forestry College,Sirsi), G N Hariharan (MSSRF, Chennai), R Siva(VIT University, Vellore), P Nagarajan (TNAU,Coimbatore), G Ravikanth (ATREE, Bangalore),Amit Agarwal (Natural Remedies Pvt. Ltd.Bangalore); Participants: Around 175 students/teachers from institutions in Vellore; Topicscovered: Plant genetic resources of India; mappinglife; indigenous knowledge system and IPR;estimating plant diversity; prospecting plantgenetic resources; prospecting endophytic fungiand other lesser known taxa; molecular markersand its applications; molecular mapping of WBPHresistance gene in rice with AFLP; conservationof forest genetic resources in the Western ghats;plant genetic resources and industry.
6. Applications of nonlinear dynamics inengineering and technologyPSG College of Technology, Coimbatore,30 July – 1 August 2009
Convener: M Lakshmanan (BharathidasanUniversity, Coimbatore); Co-ordinator: R Amuda(PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore);Speakers: M Lakshmanan (BharathidasanUniversity, Tiruchirapalli), K Ganesan (VITUniversity, Vellore), Rama Mohan (CMMACS,Bangalore), G Ananthakrishna, GovindanRangarajan (IISc, Bangalore), Sudeshna Sinha(IMSc, Chennai), K Murali (Anna University,Chennai), R Shankaranarayanan (NationalInstitute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli), ArulLakshminarayanan (IIT, Chennai); Participants:150 participants from various institutions in andaround Coimbatore; Topics covered: Introductionto nonlinear dynamics; applications of transforms;brain machine interface; dynamics and rheologyof periodically modelling forced suspensions;modelling the realistic nonlinear systems;computing with chaos; chaos in electrical circuits;quantum computing; chaos: from pendulum tonucleus.
7. Emerging trends in catalysis andbiocatalysisSri Sathya Sai University, Prasanthi Nilayam,11 – 13 August 2009Convener: V Chandrasekhar (IIT, Kanpur);Co-ordinator: C Janardhana (Sri Sathya SaiUniversity, Prasanthi Nilayam); Speakers:V Chandrasekhar (IIT, Kanpur), Mukesh Doble(IIT, Chennai), T K Chandrashekar (NISER,Bhubaneswar), Somanath Mitra (New JerseyInstitute of Technology, Newark, NJ), DineshJagadeeshan ( JNCASR, Bangalore), PraveenVadlani (Kansas State University),V Lakshminarayanan (RRI, Bangalore), GovindRao, R Sai Sathish (CAST, University of Maryland,Baltimore), V Vijaylakshmi (NII, Hyderabad),Nanduri Srinivasan (Aurigene DiscoveryTechnologies Ltd), K B Ramachandran (IIT,Chennai), G Nageswara Rao, S Aswatha Narayana,K Naga Sai Visweswara (all of Sri Sathya SaiUniversity, Prasanthi Nilayam) Participants:Around 151 participants; Topics covered:Metathesis – a key reaction; receptors for cationand anions; enzymatic degradation of polycarbonates; dispersible nanometal carbonnanotube – hybrids with potential application inhomogeneous catalysis; methanation ofcarbonates; biofuels and platform chemicals from
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agricultural resources: biocatalysis and microbialfermentation; electrochemistry for the study ofbio-materials and electrocatalysis for energygeneration; real time bio-process sensors; high-resolution surface plasmon coupled resonantfilter: a low cost analytical tool with applicationsin bio-catalysis; medicine and environment;catalysis by molecules and nanoparticles; tissueengineering; discovery of a novel lipid loweringdrug; kinetics of hydrolysis of palm oil by lipase;expanded porphyrins: third order NLO materials;new methods for development of bioactive lignansbased on natural products; biosynthesis of silvernanoparticles.
8. Frontier topics in chemistryScott Christian College, Nagercoil,21 – 22 August 2009Convener: R Ramaraj (Madurai KamarajUniversity, Madurai); Co-ordinator: C ChitraThomas (Scott Christian College, Nagercoil);Speakers: Suresh Das, K R Gopidas, M P L Reddy(NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram), M Palaniandavar(Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli),S Rajagopal, K Pitchumani (Madurai KamarajUniversity, Madurai), S Natarajan (IISc,Bangalore), C Retna Raj (IIT, Kharagpur);Participants: 206 students/teachers in and aroundNagarcoil; Topics covered: Structure–functionrelationship in metallobiomolecules; cyclodextrinsare reaction nanovessels and smart sensors; co-ordination chemistry and ligand reaction in thesynthesis of new functional inorganic compounds;photoresponsive materials for imaging and energyharvesting applications; reaction of aromaticamines with Cu (II) in acetonitrile; lanthanide beta-diketonate complexes as emitting materials inorganic light emitting diodes; carbonnanostructures.
9. Integrated approach towardsunderstanding DarwinismNMKRV College for Women, Bangalore,4 – 5 September 2009Convener: K N Ganeshaiah (UAS, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: B S Nirmala Shankar (NMKRVCollege for Women, Bangalore); Speakers:M G Narasimhan (NIAS, Bangalore),V Nanjundiah, Dipankar Nandi (IISc, Bangalore),
K N Ganeshaiah (University of AgriculturalSciences, Bangalore), Shobini Rao (NIMHANS,Bangalore), Suhel Quader (NCBS, Bangalore);Participants : 270 students/teachers from variouscolleges in Bangalore; Topics covered : CharlesDarwin – a complete biologist; evolution of loveand hate in plants and animals; immune system:an evolutionary perspective; evolution of humanmind; evolution of evolutionary biology.
10. Statistics in ecology and environmentalstudiesBYK (Sinnar) College of Commerce, Nashik,5 – 6 September 2009Convener: A P Gore, Pune; Co-ordinator:M B Kulkarni (BYK Sinnar College of Commerce,Nashik); Speakers: Anil Gore, Sharad D Gore,S A Paranjpe, Rajendra L Deopurkar, PraveenSaptarshi (University of Pune), Shyam Ashtekar(Yeshwantrao Chavan University), MadhavGadgil (Agharkar Research Institute, Pune),Madhav Kulkarni, S N Kulkarni (B Y K College,Nashik), Leena Pathak (HPT Arts and RYK ScienceCollege, Nashik), Milind Watve (IISER, Pune);Participants: Around 174 students and teachersin and around Nashik; Topics covered: Whystatistics; status of public health in rural and urbanIndia; involving people in monitoring andmanaging India’s environment; gender bias andincidence of malaria; biofertilizers – ecofriendlybacteria; environmental laws; microbial diversity:the unexplored world; environmental sampling;principal component analysis in biology;mathematics for biologists; the bridge on the river‘why’; social contribution of forestry sector.
11. Frontiers in astronomy andcharacterization of new materialsCBKB Science College, Akkalkot,10 – 12 September 2009Conveners: P C Agrawal, (TIFR, Mumbai) andSulabha K Kulkarni, (IISER, Pune); Co-ordinator:K V Zipare (CBKB College, Akkalkot); Speakers:P C Agrawal, D Narasimha (TIFR, Mumbai),G S Shahane (Dayanand College, Solapur),Sulabha K Kulkarni (IISER, Pune), SudhaBhoraskar, V P Godbole (University of Pune);Participants: 205 students and faculty fromcolleges in Akkalkot, Solapur and Gulbarga
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Topics covered: An inventory of the Universe;solar activity; nano-magnetic materials for ferro-fluid application; constituents and condition ofstars; X-ray astronomy view of Universe;nanophase materials and nanotechnology;properties of materials; history of the Universe;ceramics.
12. Recent trends in mathematics and itsapplicationsBishop Cotton Women’s Christian College,Bangalore, 9 October 2009Convener: Mythily Ramaswamy (TIFR-CAM,Bangalore); Co-ordinator: G. Muniraj (BishopCotton Women’s Christian College, Bangalore);Speakers: Mythily Ramaswamy, C S Aravinda,Amit Apte (TIFR-CAM, Bangalore),M V Deshpande ( JNCASR, Bangalore);Participants: 150; Topics covered: Story ofoptimization; nonlinear differential equation;applications of differential equations; milestonesin the evolution of geometry from Euclid toPerelman.
13. Biotechnology for modern medicinePES College, Bangalore, 23 – 24 October 2009Convener: V. Nagaraja (IISc, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: S L Shantha (PES College,Bangalore); Speakers: G. Padmanaban, SaumitraDas, Arun Kumar, P N Rangarajan,P Kondaiah, Annapoorni Rangarajan, DipshikaChakravorty, Parag Sadhale, V Nagaraja (IISc,Bangalore), V Ravi, (NIMHANS, Bangalore);Participants: 250; Topics covered: Molecularmedicine; viral therapeutics; analysis of humangenetic disorders; traditional, modern andfuturistic vaccines; viral diagnostics and swine flu;biomarkers in diagnosis and prognosis of cancer;stem cells and cancer; strategies to counterbacterial infections; diagnosis and control offungal infections; strategies to counter resurgentTB.
14. Nano-materials and technology inchemistry and green chemistrySikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim23 – 25 October 2009Convener: Mihir K Chaudhuri (Tezpur University,Sikkim); Co-ordinator: Amlan Kumar Das (Sikkim
Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim);Speakers: Mihir Kanti Chaudhuri, Pritam Deb(Tezpur University, Sikkim), Sanjay Bhar(Jadavpur University, Kolkata), B C Ranu, S Ghosh(IACS, Kolkata), Ajay Jha, Sushobhan Choudhury,Sanjay Dahal, Sangeeta Jha (SMIT, Sikkim),Panchanan Pramanik (IIT, Kharagpur), ArunChattopadhyay, B K Patel (IIT, Guwahati),R K Sharma (Delhi University); Participants: 89;Topics covered: Imperatives of green chemistry –practices in teaching, research and industries;organic reactions in the perspective of greenchemistry; green chemistry in research andteaching; high performance polymeric nanocomposite and nano adhesive and its performanceunder space environments; palladium and coppernanoparticles as efficient, green and selectivecatalysts for organic reactions; nano-particles andtheir pharmaceutical applications; cookingnanomaterials for tomorrow; soft chemistry fornanomaterials; multifaceted opportunities innanoscale science and technology; greenchemistry with iodine, Cu and OATB; applicationof functionalized magnetic and opticalnanoparticle for diagnostics and separationmethodologies; carbohydrates as renewablefeedstocks; investigation on mechanical andelectrical properties of carbon nanotube and othernanostructured materials; green chemistryeducation; metal organic frameworks; greenchemistry experiments; nanomaterials-currentand future technological applications.
15. Capacity building for canopy scienceresearch in IndiaAshoka Trust for Research in Ecology and theEnvironment, Bangalore,31 October – 2 November 2009Convener: K N Ganeshaiah (UAS, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: M Soubadra Devy (ATREE,Bangalore); Speakers: Jan Wolf (Holland), RogerKitching (Australia), Margaret Lowman (USA),Jagdish Krishnaswamy (ATREE, Bangalore),Nathan Philips (Boston University), Tim Kovar(North-West Tree Climbing); Topics covered:Canopy science; epiphytes in the canopy; canopyarthropods; research design in canopy; eco-physiology studies; methods of safe access andworking in the canopy.
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16. The idea of evolutionIndian Institute of Science, Bangalore,24 November 2009Convener: V Nanjundiah (IISc, Bangalore);Co-ordinators: Najla Arshad, Subhash ChandraVerma (IISc, Bangalore); Speakers: V Nanjundiah,Rohini Balakrishnan, Renee Borges (IISc,Bangalore), Ashok Sahni (Panjab University,Chandigarh), K N Ganeshaiah (UAS, Bangalore),S G Kulkarni (University of Hyderabad,Hyderabad); Participants: 180; Topics covered:Where are we today?; Planet Earth: an oasis inspace; behaviour in plants: what would beDarwin’s response?; Darwin, mind and emotion;the descent of man; the texture of Darwiniantheory.
17. Planet-GJai Hind College, Mumbai, 24 – 25 November 2009Convener: Tarala D Nandedkar; Co-ordinator:Yasmina Dordi Avari; Speakers: L S Shashidhara(IISER, Pune), Roshan Colah (NIIH, Mumbai),P S Amare (TMH, Mumbai), Shubha Tole (TIFR,Mumbai), Nishigandha Naik (Mumbai), DeepakModi (NIRRH, Mumbai), Tarala D Nandedkar(NIRRH, Mumbai); Participants: 325; Topicscovered: Transgenic approaches to understandingbrain development; RNAi and its applications;recent advances in cytogenetics; antisense &cancer; overview of the proceedings & declarationof results of poster competition.
18. Contemporary issues in biologyUniversity of Mysore, Mysore,3 – 4 December 2009Convener: H A Ranganath (NAAC, Bangalore)and J Nagaraju (CDFD, Hyderabad);Co-ordinators: S R Ramesh and N B Ramachandra,(University of Mysore, Mysore); Speakers: DanielL Hartl (Harvard University, USA), J Nagaraju(CDFD, Hyderabad), Umesh Varshney, UshaVijayRaghavan, P N Rangarajan (IISc, Bangalore),R S Gupta (McMaster University, Canada), MewaSingh (University of Mysore), T Kundu (JNCASR,Bangalore); Participants: 450; Topics covered:Microorganisms, genomes and the history of food;sex matters; mechanism of protein synthesis inEubacteria; genome sequences and the outlinesof bacterial evolution; regulation of gene
expression in humans: implications in disease andtherapeutics; the making of a flowering stem:lessons from molecular genetic analysis offlowering in model plants; development ofrecombinant vaccines for hepatitis B and rabies –the IISc experience; discerning ecologicalprinciples from species diversity andspatiotemporal distribution.
19. Evolutionary biology: Darwin andbeyondSt. Aloysius College, Mangalore,17 – 20 December 2009Convener: V Nanjundiah, IISc, Bangalore;Co-ordinator: Monika Sadananda (St. AloysiusCollege, Mangalore); Speakers: V Nanjundiah,S Mahadevan, Ratna Ghosal, Mahua Ghara,Santosh Sathe, Subhash Verma, Jahnavi Joshi (IISc,Bangalore); Participants: 123; Topics covered:How we understand evolution; the origin ofvariations; spontaneous mutations and naturalselection; development and social behaviour incellular slime moulds; mutalism; proximate vsultimate principles underlying animal behaviour;phylogeny and character evolution; molecularbiology and evolution.
20. Recent advances in spectroscopy:theory, instrumentation and applicationsLady Doak College, Madurai,18 – 19 January 2010Convener: E Arunan (IISc, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: Geetha Sivasubramanian (LadyDoak College, Madurai); Speakers: K L Sebastian,E Arunan, S Umapathy (IISc, Bangalore),Mangalasunder K (IIT, Chennai), Anunay Samanta(University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad),S Wategaonkar (TIFR, Mumbai); Participants: 127;Topics covered: Quantum states; why moleculesabsorb/emit radiation; study of short-lived species:electronically excited molecules andphotochemical transient fundamentals;spectroscopy of molecules and clusters: neutrals;femtosecond spectroscopy; spectroscopy ofmolecules and clusters: ions; rotational vibrationalinteractions; wave packet formalism inspectroscopy; molecular beam microwavespectroscopy.
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21. Frontiers in biologySt Xavier’s College, Mumbai,18 – 19 January 2010Convener: Shobhona Sharma (TIFR, Mumbai);Co-ordinator: Sheela Donde (St Xavier’s College,Mumbai); Speakers: Shubha Tole, Vidita Vaidya(TIFR, Mumbai), Swati Patankar (IIT, Mumbai),Chaitanya Purandare (Pune), L S Shashidhara(IISER, Pune), Narendra Jawali (BARC, Mumbai),Rita Mulherkar (ACTREC, Mumbai); Participants:208; Topics covered: The blueprint for buildingthe brain; molecular markers and theirapplications in plant biology; regulation of geneexpression in P. falciparum; gene therapy: anemerging modality for treatment of cancer; stemcell therapy; the emotional brain: imprints of lifehistory; behavioural adaptation and evolution.
22. Structure, function and design ofbiomoleculesBharathiar University, Coimbatore ,28 – 29 January 2010Convener: D N Rao (IISc, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: N Sundara Baalaji (BharathiarUniversity, Coimbatore); Speakers: D N Rao,M R N Murthy (IISc, Bangalore), Jayant BUdgaonkar, M K Mathew (NCBS, Bangalore),S Krishnaswamy (MKU, Madurai), P Gautam(Anna University, Chennai), A Arockiasamy(ICGEB, New Delhi), Amitabha Chattopadhyay(CCMB, Hyderabad); Participants: 260; Topicscovered: Restriction enzymes as model systemsto study protein-DNA interactions; how doproteins unfold; form and function in a membraneprotein: voltage-driven transitions in a potassiumchannel; structure and assembly of sebania mosaicvirus; structural studies on enterobacterialmembrane proteins; molecular dynamicssimulation of lipases; crystal structure of a plasmidfertility inhibition factor and its implications inhorizontal gene transfer in bacteria; the world ofmembrane proteins.
23. Projections 2010: A workshop inmathematicsSt. Joseph’s College, Bangalore,5 – 6 February 2010Convener: Mythily Ramaswamy (TIFR-CAM,Bangalore); Co-ordinator: Renee D’Souza, (St.
Joseph’s College, Bangalore); Speakers: SeemaNanda, Mythily Ramaswamy, C S Aravinda (TIFR-CAM, Bangalore), Siva Athreya (ISI, Bangalore),Sujatha Ramdorai (TIFR, Mumbai); Participants:94; Topics covered: Mathematical biology; randomwalks; topology; groups and equations; geometry.
24. Current trends in animal biology andbiotechnologyS N Vanita Maha Vidyalaya, Hyderabad,8 – 9 February 2010Convener: A S Raghavendra, Aparna Dutta Gupta(University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad);Co-ordinator: G Y Bhargavi, S N Vanita (MahaVidyalaya, Hyderabad); Speakers:D Balasubramanian (LVPEI, Hyderabad),P Prakash Babu, Aparna Dutta Gupta (Universityof Hyderabad), Mahtab S Bamji (Hyderabad);P Judson, Shobanaditya (Osmania University,Hyderabad); Participants: 371; Topics covered:History of genetics – past and present; NobelPrizes-2009 diet, nutrition and health – challengesand opportunities; changing world of poisons;recent advances in stem cell research; moleculartargets for eco-friendly insect pest management.
25. Modern trends in chemistrySt. Joseph’s College, Irinjalakuda,24 – 25 February 2010Convener: K George Thomas (NIIST,Thiruvananthapuram); Co-ordinator: Rosabella KPuthur (St. Joseph’s College, Irinjalakuda);Speakers: Suresh Das, D Ramaiah (NIIST,Thiruvananthapuram), Kana M. Sureshan (IISER,Thiruvananthapuram), K L Sebastian, A GSamuelson (IISc, Bangalore); Participants: 138;Topics covered: Photoresponsive materials; designof functional systems for biomolecularrecognitions; reaction mechanisms inorganometallic chemistry; dynamical processes inchemical biology: is the boundary betweenchemistry and biology fading?
26. Frontiers in bioinorganic chemistryBharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 25 –27 February 2010Convener: M Palaniandavar (BharathidasanUniversity, Tiruchirappalli); Co-ordinator:C Sivasankar (Bharathidasan University,
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Tiruchirappalli); Speakers: M Palaniandavar(Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli);T K Chandrashekar (NISER, Bubaneswar);S Sarkar, R N Mukherjee (IIT, Kanpur); C P Rao(IIT, Mumbai); S Mazumdar (TIFR, Mumbai);B U Nair, V Subramanian (CLRI, Chennai); A Raja(Leiden University, The Netherlands);Participants: 175; Topics covered: Evolutionarybioinorganic chemistry; bioinorganic chemistry:an introduction; metalloproteases; metal-coordinated radicals; photodynamic therapy;modelling phosphate ester hydrolysis; molecularmodelling of bioinorganic system; nickelcontaining enzymes and conjugates ofcarbohydrates and calyx [4] arene.
27. Diffraction and scatteringUniversity of Mysore, Mysore,26 – 28 February 2010Convener: R Srinivasan (Bangalore); Co-ordinator:L Paramesh (University of Mysore, Mysore);Speakers: B A Dasannacharya (Mumbai),B V R Tata (IGCAR, Kalpakkam), M R N Murthy(IISc, Bangalore); Participants: 100; Topicscovered: Neutron diffraction and theirapplications from materials; light scattering frommaterials; X-ray diffraction and crystal structureprotein crystallography.
28. Research paradigms in communicationand data engineeringDr G R Damodaran College of Science,Coimbatore, 18 – 19 March 2010Convener: Ashok Jhunjhunwala (IIT, Madras);Co-ordinator: K Vanitha Sidambaranathan(Coimbatore); Speakers: M V Pitke (Mumbai),T Devi (Bharathiar University, Coimbatore),V S Patwardhan (Opsim Software, Pune),V Saravanan (Dr NGP Institute of Technology,Coimbatore), K Giridhar (IIT, Madras),D S Nagaraj (IMSc, Chennai), T Senthilkumar(Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore),V Thavavel (Karunya University, Coimbatore);Participants: 100; Topics covered: Next generationnetwork research issues; research issues in dataengineering; design and development of processsimulators; inclusive computing using datamining; wireless broadband networks;computational modeling; NS2-principles and
hands on training; data mining using matlab &polyanalyst and hands-on training.
29. Aspects of theoretical chemistry andspectroscopySree Neelakanta Govt. Sanskrit College,Pattambi, 25 – 26 March 2010Convener: K L Sebastian, IISc, Bangalore;Co-ordinator: M R Resmi (SNGS College,Pattambi); Speakers: E Arunan, K L Sebastian(IISc, Bangalore), K Mangala Sunder (IIT, Madras),Ayan Datta (IISER, Thiruvananthapuram);Participants: 134; Topics covered: Why domolecules absorb or emit radiation?; supersonicmolecular beam spectroscopy; theoretical aspectsof spectroscopy; the strange and beautiful worldof quantum mechanics; tunneling in organic andorganometallic reactions; molecular motors;understanding structures of cavities at thenanoscale: some applications.
30. Contemporary issues in chemistryVisveswarapura College of Science, Bangalore,26 – 27 March 2010Convener: H A Ranganath (NAAC, Bangalore);Co-ordinator: K G Srinivasamurthy(Visveswarapura College of Science, Bangalore);Speakers: G Padmanaban, E N Prabhakaran,K J Rao, S Chandrasekaran (IISc, Bangalore), HemaBalaram, Subi Jacob George, Tapas K Kundu,M Eswaramurthy ( JNCASR, Bangalore);Participants: 211; Topics covered: Chemistry-biology interface; peptides and small moleculesin nano-technological applications; proteinengineering; one dimensional nano tubes and theirapplications; green chemistry Copenhagen meeton climatic changes; supra molecular synthesis;chemical biology and nano technology approachto understand human gene expression –implications in disease and therapeutics; greenchemistry in catalysis.
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11 BUILDING – ACADEMY GUEST HOUSE AT JALAHALLI
The Academy has been facing difficulties inaccommodating teachers and studentsselected for Summer Research Fellowshipsassigned in Bangalore, for some years now.The 3-floor guest house facility, situated inJalahalli about 8 kms from the Academy office,is far from adequate to meet the requirements,especially since the numbers selected havebeen growing year after year. An additionalfloor comprising 12 rooms constructedrecently along with some changes made insome rooms on the ground floor will ease the
situation to some extent as it canaccommodate an additional 40 or so persons.
Keeping the future requirements in view, theAcademy has acquired a plot of landmeasuring about 10,000 sq.ft. adjacent to theexisting guest house building.
The assistance rendered by the Director andStaff of Raman Research Institute in preparingthe plan and construction of additional floorsand in acquiring the land is acknowledgedwith gratitude.
12 ACADEMY FINANCES
The accounts for the financial year 2009–10 were audited by a firm of chartered accountants.A summary of the income and expenditure for 2009–2010 is given below:
Income Plan/Non PlanRupees
(in lakhs)
Grant – DST 806.43
INSA/NASI 130.40
Subscriptions 101.32Others 13.46Deficit 0.01
1051.62
Expenditure Plan/Non PlanRupees
(in lakhs)
Journal printing(including Current Science) 186.08
Science education programmes 195.60Construction of additional floor 143.96
Salaries 169.12Annual/mid-year meetings 9.25
Postage 27.65Others (maintenance of building,equipment, special publications,
pension fund, modernization, etc.) 250.86Surplus 69.10
1051.62
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13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Academy’s publication activities arelargely due to the voluntary and unpaidservices of Editors, Members of EditorialBoards and the large number of reviewerswho examine and comment on manuscriptssent to them for opinion. Several Fellows alsocontributed their services to other Academy
TABLE 1Information about published papers in journals (January to December 2009)
Vol. no. No. of No. of Total no. of **issues papers pages in 2009
1. Bulletin of Materials Science 32 6 98 670 372
2. Current Science 96,97 24 824 3340* 22
3. J. Astrophys. Astron. 30 4 14 210 204
4. Journal of Biosciences 34 6 98 1027 202
5. Journal of Chemical Sciences 121 6 125 1122 460
6. Journal of Earth System Science 118 6 59 752 250
7. Journal of Genetics 88 3 67 546 10
8. Pramana 72,73 12 175 2196 412
9. Proceedings (Math. Sci.) 119 5 61 698 50
10. Resonance 14 12 103 1186 96
11. Sadhana – Engg. Sci. 34 6 60 1080 234
Total - - 1684 12827 164
* including briefer items such as news, correspondence, etc. ** As compared to last year’s figures
activities such as organizing annual meetingsand discussion meetings and conductingprogrammes on science education, etc. Thegenerous financial assistance by Departmentof Science and Technology has greatlycontributed to the success of the activitiesundertaken by the Academy.
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TABLE 2Information on papers submitted for publication (January to December 2009)
Accepted Rejected Pending Total **
1. Bulletin of Materials Science 134 122 364 620 139
2. Current Science 517 1647 172 2336* 101
3. J. Astrophys. Astron. 5 38 5 48 11
4. Journal of Biosciences 76 388 12 476 23
5. Journal of Chemical Sciences 69 374 21 464 76
6. Journal of Earth System Science 61 137 41 239 80
7. Journal of Genetics 72 187 12 271 2
8. Pramana 186 337 72 595 110
9. Proceedings (Math. Sci.) 34 195 39 268 58
10. Resonance 32 59 19 110 4
11. Sadhana – Engg. Sci. 20 163 66 249 25
Total 1206 3647 823 5676 567
* including briefer items such as news, correspondence, etc. ** As compared to last year’s figures
TABLE 3Circulation details of journals (January to December 2009)
Subscription Complimentary Fellows & Total **
India Foreign India Foreign
1. Bulletin of Materials Science 2197a 50 80 20 103 2450 270
2. Current Science 5351c 306d 153 55 91 5956 290
3. J. Astrophys. Astron. 1071 150 73 22 65 1381 192
4. Journal of Biosciences 2084 76 67 100 245 2572 196
5. Journal of Chemical Sciences 1661 50 85 65 150 2011 295
6. Journal of Earth System Science 1083 75 56 100 80 1394 217
7. Journal of Genetics 1533 50 52 33 163 1831 98
8. Pramana 1983 75 84 45 158 2345 306
9. Proceedings (Math. Sci.) 1650 75 90 66 86 1967 285
10. Resonance 5619b 50 188 7 – 5864 10
11. Sadhana – Engg. Sci. 1479 50 64 30 100 1723 303
a. Includes about 507 MRSI members in India and abroadb. includes about 2153 personal subscribersc. includes about 1573 personal subscribersd. includes about 271 complimentary copies sent to Third World Countries** As compared to last year’s figures
Associates
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Arankalle, Vidya ANational Institute of Virology,PuneSp: Virology, molecular biologyand vaccine; hepatitis viruses;emerging-re-emerging viruses.
Awasthi, ShallyChhatrapati Shahuji MaharajMedical University, LucknowSp: Paediatric pulmonology;infectious and parasitic diseases;clinical trials.
Bag, A KIndian Journal of History ofScience, Indian National ScienceAcademy, New DelhiSp: History of mathematics,astronomy and technology inIndia.
Bhargava, PurnimaCentre for Cellular and MolecularBiology, HyderabadSp: Biochemistry and molecularbiology; eukaryotic transcription;epigenetics and chromatin
Bhatt, S J
Sardar Patel University, VallabhVidyanagarSp: Banach and topologicalalgebra; operator algebras andapplication; harmonic analysis
Biswas, Gautam
Central Mechanical EngineeringResearch Institute, DurgapurSp: Enhancement of heat transfer;computational fluid dynamics;bubble growth in film boiling; freesurface flows; turbomachineryand turbulence
ANNEXURE 1 NEW FELLOWS (effective 1 January 2010)
Chakraborti, P K
Institute of Microbial Technology,ChandigarhSp: Biochemistry and molecularbiology; molecular microbiology;prokaryotic signal transduction
Chattoo, B B
M.S. University of Baroda, BarodaSp: Biotechnology, microbial andmolecular genetics; genomeanalysis; bioprocess development
Chattopadhyay, Nitin
Jadavpur University, KolkataSp: Photophysics andphotochemistry; time-resolvedspectroscopy; fluorosensing;photoacoustic spectroscopy
Choudhury, Debajyoti
University of Delhi, DelhiSp: High energy physics
Das, Amitava
Central Salt & Marine ChemicalsResearch Institute, BhavnagarSp: Supramolecular chemistry andassembly; molecular recognition;interfacial electron transfer
Das, S K
University of Hyderabad,HyderabadSp: Coordination chemistry;metal-oxide based clusterchemistry; inorganicsupramolecular chemistry
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Dasgupta, Indranil
University of Delhi South Campus,New DelhiSp: Molecular plant–virusinteractions; transgenic viralresistance in plants; genomeorganization in plant viruses
Dighe, R R
Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Molecular endocrinology;reproductive biology; biochemistry
Dutta-Gupta, Aparna
University of Hyderabad,HyderabadSp: Insect physiology andbiochemistry; invertebrateendocrinology and physiology;comparative physiology andendocrinology
Galande, Sanjeev
National Centre for Cell Science,PuneSp: Chromatin biology; generegulation; genomics andproteomics
Ganguli, A K
Indian Institute of Technology,New DelhiSp: Solid state and materialschemistry; nanomaterials;superconducting materials
Ghosh, Balaram
Institute of Genomics & IntegrativeBiology, DelhiSp: Immunology; genomics; generegulation
Ghosh, Pushpito K
Central Salt & Marine ChemicalsResearch Institute, BhavnagarSp: Redox processes; colloid andemulsion science; process research
Govindarajan, Rama
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research,BangaloreSp: Fluid mechanics
Haider, S A
Physical Research Laboratory,AhmedabadSp: Planetary atmospheres;ionosphere of Mars;magnetosphere of Mars
Indrayan, Abhaya
University College of MedicalSciences, DelhiSp: Biostatistics; medical statistics;medical research methodology
Khanduja, S K
Panjab University, ChandigarhSp: Algebra; valuation theory;algebraic number theory
Khurana, Paramjit
University of Delhi South Campus,New DelhiSp: Plant biotechnology;comparative plant genomics;molecular basis of plantdifferentiation and morphogenesis
Kohli, Ravinder Kumar
Panjab University, ChandigarhSp: Experimental ecology; weedscience; plantation forestry andurban forestry
Kotha, Sambasivarao
Indian Institute of Technology,MumbaiSp: New synthetic methods;unnatural amino acids; transitionmetals in organic synthesis
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Kumar, Anurag
Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Communication networks;stochastic modelling; analysis andoptimization of distributedsystems
Kumar, Lalit
All India Institute of MedicalSciences, New DelhiSp: Stem cell transplantation;multiple myeloma (haemato-oncology); gynaecologic oncology
Lele, Ashish K
National Chemical Laboratory,PuneSp: Polymer dynamics, rheologyand processing; rheology ofcomplex fluids; hydrogels andgelation processes
Maiti, Kalobaran
Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch, MumbaiSp: Correlated electron systems;magnetism andsuperconductivity; electronspectroscopy
Mallick, Birendra Nath
Jawaharlal Nehru University, NewDelhiSp: Neurobiology; physiology;sleep–wakefulness
Mondal, Naba Kumar
Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch, MumbaiSp: Experimental particle physics;accelerator based and non-accelerator based particle physicsand neutrino physics
Moorthy, J Narasimha
Indian Institute of Technology,KanpurSp: Organic photochemistry;supramolecular chemistry;organic synthesis
Mukhopadhyay, Amitabha A
National Institute of Immunology,New DelhiSp: Cell biology; host–pathogeninteractions; drug delivery
Nagaraj, D S
The Institute of MathematicalSciences, ChennaiSp: Mathematics; algebraicgeometry; vector bundles
Narayan, K S
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research,BangaloreSp: Organic/polymer electronics;device physics; soft matterphysics
Navalgund, R R
Space Applications Centre,AhmedabadSp: Remote sensing; spaceapplications; magnetic resonance
Pal, A J
Indian Association for theCultivation of Science, KolkataSp: Organic electronics; devicephysics; nanomaterials
Pati, S K
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research,BangaloreSp: Quantum magnetism;generalized charge transfer;quantum methods development
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Patra, A K
National Atmospheric ResearchLaboratory, GadankiSp: Ionospheric electrodynamicsand plasma instabilities; spaceweather, radar probing techniques
Ramaiah, D
National Institute forInterdisciplinary Science andTechnology, ThiruvananthapuramSp: Photobiology; biophysicalchemistry; organicphotochemistry
Ramamritham, K
Indian Institute of Technology,MumbaiSp: Databases; real-time systems;use of information andcommunication technologies forsocio-economic development
Ramamurti, V
ChennaiSp: Vibrations; stress analysis
Ramamurty, Upadrasta
Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Mechanical behaviour ofmaterials; advanced materials;nanotechnology
Rangarajan, G
Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Nonlinear dynamics andchaos; time series analysis; brainmachine interface
Rao, TSSRK
Indian Statistical Institute,BangaloreSp: Mathematics; functionalanalysis; geometry of Banachspaces
Ravi, V
NIMHANS, BangaloreSp: Neurovirology; viraldiagnostics; molecularepidemiology of viral infections
Saha-Dasgupta, Tanusri
S.N. Bose National Centre forBasic Sciences, KolkataSp: Condensed matter physics;computational materials science;electronic structure calculations
Sami, Mohammad
Jamia Millia Islamia, New DelhiSp: Cosmology, higherdimensional gravity; high energyphysics
Sane, S S
University of Mumbai, MumbaiSp: Finite geometries; designtheory; graph theory
Sankaranarayanan, R
Centre for Cellular and MolecularBiology, HyderabadSp: Structural biology; translationof the genetic code; enzymemechanisms
Sarin, Apurva
National Centre for BiologicalSciences, BangaloreSp: Immunology; cell biology;apoptosis
Satheesh, S K
Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore
Sp: Aerosols; radiation; climate
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Sharma, S K
All India Institute of MedicalSciences, New DelhiSp: Internal medicine; pulmonaryand critical care medicine; sleepmedicine
Shivashankar, G V
National Centre for BiologicalSciences, BangaloreSp: Biophysics; cell biology; geneexpression
Sinha, Sudeshna
Indian Institute of ScienceEducation and Research,ChandigarhSp: Nonlinear dynamics; chaos;complex systems
Sowdhamini, R
National Centre for BiologicalSciences, BangaloreSp: Structural bioinformatics;protein domain superfamilies;genome-wide survey andfunctional annotation of genes
Subramanian, KInter-University Centre forAstronomy and Astrophysics,PuneSp: Cosmic magnetic fields;structure formation; cosmology
Yadav, J SIndian Institute of ChemicalTechnology, HyderabadSp: Total synthesis of biologicallyactive natural products;agrochemicals and pheromones;development of newmethodologies for sustainablechemistry
ANNEXURE 2 DECEASED FELLOWS
Anand Kumar, T C(b. 18.01.1936, d. 26.01.2010)Elected: 1981Sp: Human reproduction
Anantharaman, T R(b. 25.11.1927, d. 18.06.2009)Elected: 1964Sp: Physical metallurgy, materialstechnology and India’s scientificheritage
Bhargava, B N(b. 25.12.1919, d. 03.08.2009)Elected: 1974Sp: Geophysics, geomagnetism,electronics
Biswas, S
(b. 01.07.1924, d. 16.11.2009)Elected: 1976Sp: Cosmic rays, solar & spacephysics, high energy astrophysics
Bose, M K(b. 01.09.1933, d. 01.10.2009)Elected: 1981Sp: Igneous petrology, mineralogy,geochemistry
Chandrashekaran, M K(b. 04.01.1937, d. 02.07.2009)Elected: 1983Sp: Chronobiology, animalbehaviour
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Grewal, R S(b. 03.12.1922, d. 13.04.2009)Elected: 1975Sp: Pharmacology
Kilpady, S(b. 13.11.1906, d. 22.12.2008)Elected: 1953Sp: Mineralogy,micropalaeontology
Nair, K G(b. 02.07.1931, d. 12.03.2010)Elected: 1981Sp: Clinical cardiology, cardiacbiochemistry & physiology,general medicine
Nasipuri, D(b. 01.04.1925, d. 28.12.2009)Elected: 1976Sp: Synthetic & mechanisticorganic chemistry,stereochemistry
Nigam, S D(b. 07.05.1924, d. 03.05.2009)Elected: 1975Sp: Applied mathematics
Ramachandra Rao, P(b. 21.03.1942, d. 10.01.2010)Elected: 1985Sp: Physical metallurgy, materialsscience, alloy development
Sriramachari, S S(b. 25.06.1925, d. 25.12.2009)Elected: 1967Sp: Nutritional, hepatic, osteo,neuro & toxicological pathology,human environmental bio-monitoring
Vaidya, P C(b. 23.03.1918, d. 12.03.2010)Elected: 1975Sp: General relativity, gravitation
Viswanathan, K S(b. 09.06.1929, d. 05.07.2009)Elected: 1956Sp: Solid state physics, plasma &space physics
Ginzburg, V L(b. 04.10.1916, d. 08.11.2009)Elected: 1977Sp: Theoretical physics, (superconductors and super fluids)
Liepmann, H W(b. 03.07.1914, d. 24.06.2009)Elected: 1985Sp: Laminar instability, transition,turbulence, aerodynamic noise,magneto fluid dynamics andrarefied gas flows
HONORARY FELLOWS DECEASED
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Ananth, SudarshanIndian Institute of ScienceEducation and Research, PuneSp: Particle physics; gravitationalphysics; quantum field theory
Banerjee, RahulNational Chemical Laboratory,PuneSp: Metal organic frameworks;crystal engineering; hydrogenstorage
Bhavesh, Neel SarovarInternational Centre for GeneticEngineering and Biotechnology,New DelhiSp: Structural biology; NMRspectroscopy; biophysicalchemistry
Biswas, KRamakrishna MissionVivekananda Univ, HowrahSp: Holomorphic dynamics;complex analysis; Riemannsurfaces
Chand, HumAryabhatta Research Institute ofObservational Sciences, NainitalSp: Extragalactic astronomy: activegalactic nuclei central engine &environments; quasar absorptionlines & cosmological variation offundamental constants
Chandran, L SunilIndian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Graph theory & graphalgorithms
Chauhan, SantoshUniv. of Texas, HoustonSp: Molecular biology;mycobacterium
ANNEXURE 3 NEW ASSOCIATES 2009
Dabeer, OnkarTata Institute of FundamentalResearch, MumbaiSp: Wireless communications;estimation theory
Dewangan, PawanNational Institute ofOceanography, GoaSp: Seismic wave propagation inanisotropic medium; explorationof gas hydrates; physicalproperties of shallow marinesediment
Ghosh, SuhritIndian Association for theCultivation of Science, KolkataSp: Polymer chemistry; organicchemistry; supramolecularchemistry
Gogate, Parag RInstitute of Chemical Technology,MumbaiSp: Process intensification;cavitational reactors;sonochemistry; waste watertreatment
Krishnapur, ManjunathIndian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Probability theory; randommatrices
Mahapatra, SantanuIndian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Computationalnanoelectronics; compactmodelling; SET; MOSFET
Maji, PradiptaIndian Statistical Institute, KolkataSp: Pattern recognition; softcomputing and machine learning;medical image processing;bioinformatics
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Malik, SudipIndian Association for theCultivation of Science, KolkataSp: Electroluminescent polymers;clays; conducting polymers; smallmolecular gels
Mandal, SumantraIndira Gandhi Centre for AtomicResearch, KalpakkamSp: Grain-boundary engineering;thermo-mechanical processing;materials modelling
Mukhopadhyay, SamratIndian Institute of ScienceEducation & Research,ChandigarhSp: Protein folding; misfolding &amyloid biology; fluorescencespectroscopy; nanoscalebiophysics
Nagendran, SIndian Institute of Technology,New DelhiSp: Low-valent main groupchemistry; organometallicpolymers; bio-organometallicchemistry
Patil, Satish AmrutraoIndian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Conducting polymers; plasticsolar cells; biopolymer for drugdelivery; polymer nanocomposite
Singh, N D PradeepIndian Institute of Technology,KharagpurSp: Synthesis of newphotoremovable protectinggroups; functional groupphotolithography & itsapplications, photochemistry ofsecondary plant metabolites; solidstate photochemistry
Roy, DebdasNational Institute of Foundry andForge Technology, RanchiSp: Amorphous/nanocrystallinematerial; composite materials;biomaterials
Saha, Binoy KPondicherry University,PuducherrySp: Crystal engineering
Saxena, ManojDeen Dayal Upadhyaya College,New DelhiSp: Nanoelectronics; compactanalytical device modelling;nanoscale semiconductor devicesimulation
Singh, SanjayIndian Institute of ScienceEducation & Research,ChandigarhSp: Inorganic chemistry; maingroup organo-metallics; inorganiccatalysis
Thilagar, PIndian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Main group organometallics;polymers & nanomaterialschemistry
Venugopal, SanthanamIndian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Nanoparticle engineering;nanoscale device fabrication
Viswanath, SIndian Institute of Science,BangaloreSp: Infinite dimensional liealgebras; coxeter groups
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ANNEXURE 4 PLATINUM JUBILEE MEETING I (2–4 July 2009, Hyderabad)
A. Special Lectures1. Lalji Singh, Centre for Cellular and MolecularBiology, HyderabadGenetic diversity in Indian populations and itsimplications in health and disease2. Surendra Prasad, Indian Institute ofTechnology, New DelhiConverting copper into gold - Very high speed digitalsubscriber line (VDSL) technology
B. Public Lectures1. Narendra Luther, HyderabadHistory and heritage of twin cities2. W Selvamurthy, DRDO, New DelhiLife sciences in service of soldiers
C. Lecture Presentations by Fellows/Associates1. P P Sadhale, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreA serendipitous discovery of a novel drug target2. P N Vinayachandran, Indian Institute ofScience, BangaloreImpact of physical processes on Bay of Bengal biology3. Indranil Manna, Indian Institute of Technology,KharagpurNovelty of nano-dispersed solid alloys and thermalfluids4. E Arunan, Indian Institute of Science, BangaloreMaking weak bonds and breaking strong bonds withsupersonic techniques5. Srikanth Sastry, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research, BangaloreSlow dynamics and the glass transition in supercooledliquids6. K Sandeep, TIFR Centre for ApplicableMathematics, BangaloreInequalities and partial differential equations7. Rajendra P Roy, National Institute ofImmunology, New DelhiSorting out nature’s tools for protein surgery
8. Sudip Chattopadhyay, National Institute forPlant Genome Research, New DelhiThe role of ZPFs in Arabidopsis ceedling development9. Y Narahari, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreGames, auctions and market design10. T Pradeep, Indian Institute of TechnologyChennaiLight emitting clusters of noble metals11. Bipul Pal, Indian Institute of ScienceEducation and Research, NadiaSpintronics : A new twist in electronics12. P. Sankaran, The Institute of MathematicalSciences, ChennaiMaps between Grassmann manifolds13. G P S Raghava, Institute of MicrobialTechnology, ChandigarhGPSR: A resource for genomics, proteomics andsystems biology14. Soniya Nityanand, Sanjay Gandhi PG Instituteof Medical Sciences, LucknowExcitement about mesenchymal stem cells15. Mewa Singh, University of Mysore, MysoreHow do animal species space out or coexist in their wildhabitats16. S N Suresh Babu, Vikram Sarabhai SpaceCentre ThiruvananthapuramAerosols and climate17. Abhijit Mitra, Indian Institute of TechnologyGuwahatiThe wireless world: Upcoming trends18. P S Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreMolecular assemblies of finite shapes: Design and self-assembly via coordination19. N Mahajan, Physical Research Laboratory,AhmedabadPhysics of beauty: A window into the known andunknown20. N Srinivasan, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreEvolution of protein-protein interactions
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21. Veena K Parnaik, Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology, HyderabadNovel insights into spatial and functional organizationin the cell nucleus22. S Natarajan, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreAre the metal-organic frameworks truly metastable
ANNEXURE 5 PLATINUM JUBILEE MEETING II (12–14 November 2009, Bangalore)
A. Presidential AddressD Balasubramanian, LV Prasad Eye Institute,HyderabadStem cell biology and an example of its use in visionscience
B. (a) Symposium: Climate Change: AnIndian Perspective1. J Srinivasan, IISc, BangaloreClimate change: science, technology and policy2. Pramod Aggarwal, IARI, New DelhiClimate change and Indian agriculture3. Mala Rao, Indian Institute of Public Health,HyderabadThe health impacts of climate change in India4. Navroz Dubash, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New DelhiWhat should be India’s strategy in the climatenegotiations?
(b) Symposium: Navigation andCommunication – What We Can Learn fromInsects1. Raghavendra Gadagkar, Indian Institute ofScience, BangaloreIntroduction2. Rüdiger Wehner, University of Zurich, Zurich,SwitzerlandA neuroethologist’s look into the cockpit of an insectnavigator3. Rohini Balakrishnan, Indian Institute ofScience, BangaloreAcoustic communication in crickets: from biophysics tobehavioural ecology
4. Sanjay Sane, National Centre for BiologicalSciences, BangaloreThe aerodynamics of flapping flight
5. Debashish Chowdhury, Indian Institute ofTechnology, KanpurAnt traffic: Marching soldiers or disciplined drivers?6. Raghavendra Gadagkar, Indian Institute ofScience, BangaloreCommunication of social status in a primitivelyeusocial wasp
(c) Symposium: Raman Spectroscopy1. H Hamaguchi, University of Tokyo, Tokyo,JapanRaman spectroscopic view of life2. Volker Deckert, Friedrich-Schiller-UniversitätJena, GermanyRaman spectroscopy beyond the diffraction limit3. A W Parker, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,Didcot, UKSeeing below surfaces: Developments in Ramanspectroscopy for chemical and medical analysis4. S Umapathy, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreRaman spectroscopy from physics to biology
C. Special Lectures1. C N R RAO, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research, BangaloreEmerging India as a great centre of science2. M R S RAO, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research, BangaloreGenomic and system approaches to understand thebiology of cellular differentiation and disease
23. Aswini Ghosh, Indian Association for theCultivation of Science, KolkataRelaxation dynamics and scaling in glasses andnanocomposites
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D. Public Lectures1. Nandan Nilekani (Chairman, UniqueIdentification Authority of India, New Delhi)Unique identification project2. Sir Mark Tully (Former Chief of Bureau, BBC,New Delhi)The need for balance in an unbalanced world
E. Lecture presentations by Fellows/Associates1. Hemalatha Balaram, JNCASR, BangaloreMetabolism in the malarial parasite, Plasmodiumfalciparum2. R Srianand, Inter-University Centre forAstronomy and Astrophysics, PuneCold gas at high redshifts3. D D Dhavale, University of Pune, PuneIminosugars as glycosidase inhibitors andimmunomodulatory agents4. V Ramgopal Rao, Indian Institute ofTechnology, MumbaiPolymer-based sensor systems for healthcare andhomeland security applications5. A Bhardwaj, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,ThiruvananthapuramNew findings on moon from the SARA experiment onboard Chandrayaan-I mission6. Joydev Chattopadhyay, Indian StatisticalInstitute, KolkataPrey–predator functional response: current research andparadigm shift7. Jaya S Tyagi, All-India Institute of MedicalSciences, New DelhiUnravelling secrets of a sleeping microbe: the curiouscase of the TB pathogen8. Srinivasan Kesavan, Institute of MathematicalSciences, ChennaiHomogenization and optimal control9. Arun K Nandi, Indian Association for theCultivation of Science, KolkataMultifunctional poly(vinylidene fluoride) usingsupramolecular interactions10. T Kavitha, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreEfficient graph algorithms
11. Anil Grover, University of Delhi, New DelhiMolecular components involved in mounting responseto high-temperature stress in rice12. Chetan E. Chitnis, International Centre forGenetic Engineering and Biotechnology, NewDelhiRational design of a malaria vaccine13. S Sampath, Indian Institute of Science,BangaloreInterfacial electrochemistry using functionalizedsurfaces14. Vikram Tripathi, Tata Institute ofFundamental Research, MumbaiNMR as a probe for strongly correlated electronbehaviour in mesoscopic devices
INDIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BANGALORE
STSTSTSTSTAAAAATEMENT OF ACCOUNTSTEMENT OF ACCOUNTSTEMENT OF ACCOUNTSTEMENT OF ACCOUNTSTEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
2009–2010
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RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2010
(Amount in rupees)RECEIPTS 2009-2010 2008-2009I Opening Balances:
a) Cash in hand 45,394 93,554b) Bank balances 28,75,598 10,09,703
II Grants received:a) From Govt. of India 9,00,00,000 4,68,50,000b) From other sources 1,20,49,965 1,04,30,890
III Income on investments fromEarmarked endowment funds 34,02,236 5,68,125
IV Interest received:a) On bank deposits (SB) 3,93,033 4,03,548b) Loans, advances, etc. 24,000 24,000
V Other Income 1,67,82,457 1,23,13,581
VI Any other receipts:Contribution to corpus fund 1,10,000 8,74,339
VII Investments matured 1,76,00,000 3,25,10,000
TOTAL 14,32,82,683 10,50,77,740
PAYMENTSI Expenses:
a) Establishment expenses 1,69,11,345 1,34,65,804b) Administrative expenses 6,14,33,438 4,86,49,273
II Investments and deposits madeout of own funds 2,65,00,000 2,79,00,000
III Expenditure on:a) Fixed assets 20,77,225 19,20,740b) Capital work in progress 1,11,00,000 31,00,000c) Land 30,00,000 70,00,000
IV Other payments 71,71,231 1,20,931
V Closing balances:a) Cash in hand 37,958 45,394b) Bank balances 1,50,51,486 28,75,598
TOTAL 14,32,82,683 10,50,77,740
As per our report of even date annexedFor B R V GOUD & CoChartered Accountants
Place: Bangalore Sd/- Sd/- Sd/- Sd/-Date: 26.06.2010 (A K Sood) (S Chandrasekaran) (G Chandramohan) (A B Shiva
President Treasurer Executive Subramanyam)Secretary Partner
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INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED31 MARCH 2010
(Amount in Rupees)
Particulars 2009-2010 2008-2009A. INCOME Plan Non-Plan Plan Non-PlanGrants/subsidies 8,91,83,074 46,22,500 5,25,45,070 41,80,000Fees/subscriptions Nil 1,01,32,439 Nil 67,32,058Income from royalty, publications etc. Nil 4,89,930 Nil 9,16,820Interest earned Nil 3,93,033 Nil 4,03,548Other income Nil 3,40,104 Nil 1,68,480Total (A) 8,91,83,074 1,59,78,006 5,25,45,070 1,24,00,906B. EXPENDITUREEstablishment expenses 72,89,317 96,23,028 28,00,000 1,06,65,804Other administrative expenses 7,49,83,786 63,55,994 5,48,28,410 60,08,306Total (B) 8,22,73,103 1,59,79,022 5,76,28,410 1,66,74,110Surplus/(Deficit) 69,09,971 (-)1,016 (-)50,83,340 (-)42,73,204
As per our report of even date annexedFor B R V GOUD & CoChartered Accountants
Place: Bangalore Sd/- Sd/- Sd/- Sd/-Date: 26.06.2010 (A K Sood) (S Chandrasekaran) (G Chandramohan) (A B Shiva
President Treasurer Executive Subramanyam)Secretary Partner
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2010
(Amount in Rupees)
31-3-2010 31-3-2009SOURCES OF FUNDSCorpus/capital fund 11,64,19,731 8,21,95,557Earmarked/endowment funds 1,20,56,660 90,10,434Current liabilities and provisions 87,50,938 88,26,038
TOTAL 13,72,27,329 10,00,32,029
ASSETS/APPLICATION OF FUNDSFixed assets 5,63,98,731 4,04,44,105Investments: from earmarked/endowment funds 77,00,000 57,00,000Investments: others 5,43,30,000 4,74,30,000Current assets, loans, advances etc. 1,87,98,598 64,57,924TOTAL 13,72,27,329 10,00,32,029
As per our report of even date annexedFor B R V GOUD & CoChartered Accountants
Place: Bangalore Sd/- Sd/- Sd/- Sd/-Date: 26.06.2010 (A K Sood) (S Chandrasekaran) (G Chandramohan) (A B Shiva
President Treasurer Executive Subramanyam)Secretary Partner
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