India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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Nitesh
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Nitesh »

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/thir ... 466336.ece
Kiran Sreedhar R, a city-based engineering student, has won international recognition for a scientific discovery on the ‘Presence of alternate versions of reality.’

Titled ‘Kiran Effect’, the phenomenon explains the presence of alternate versions of reality and is a complete mathematical model. The phenomenon has been derived from Einstein’s special theory of relativity (time dilation). ‘Kiran Effect’ was recently published in the International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

"International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research"..
Just check out, how prestigious the editorial board is:
http://www.ijser.org/editorial-board.aspx

It is not uncommon to see total random gibberish being published even in more reputable journals and it is certainly not uncommon to see news papers like http://newindianexpress.com totally get fooled.

Check this out, for example,
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/paper.html

I tried to read about "Kiran Effect" and have to admit that I was not impressed.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Vayutuvan »

Of course, Sokal affair is quote famous. There are too many journals which publish a lot of "write only" articles and they get referenced in author's later papers which are usually nothing but recycled versions with some very incremental new results.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Bade »

That outfit (http://www.or-dp.org/our-aim/) seems like a dangerous one, designed to spread non-science in the name of scientific temperament. Be wary of all snake-oil salesmen.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

xpost -
I just received an email/Arxiv preprint from an IIT Kanpur undergraduate
Mr. Kimpang Avidadgh who has supplied an elegant proof using elementary technique, for the famous Leviculus Conjuncture.

The interesting part, as the papers intro says, that the proof was not original but
was found in one of the old Jain manuscript by a relatively theorem called
Anatmagya sidhant (अनात्मज्ञ)

The Leviculus Conjuncture for those who do not know is:
The average of any two consecutive odd primes is always a composite number
.

( For example, if you take two consecutive odd primes, say 13 and 17, the average is 15, and sure enough 15 is composite (5 times 3))

The proof, once you know it, is not very complicated. Hopefully some one here can prove or reproduce the proof.
(I will explain the paper in simple term when I get some time)
Link to Arxiv preprint:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.6902
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

Could anyone suggest a book or a website which talks about the greatest innovations and discoveries in India since 1947? With all the criticism, some of it scathing, of India's absence of real hard innovations, there have to be some achievements, including a few 'world's firsts' in India in the last 65 years. I'm not referring to ancient India here, with Aryabhata and Brahmagupta et al. Strictly the modern era.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by kish »

Wow kudos to Thalappil Pradeep and IIT Chennai

Silver nanoparticles provide clean water for $2 a year
SOMETIMES the solution to an enormous problem is tiny. Silver nanoparticles may be the key to supplying clean, affordable drinking water worldwide.

Thalappil Pradeep at the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai and colleagues have developed a filter based on an aluminium composite, embedded with silver nanoparticles. As water flows through the filter, the nanoparticles are oxidised and release ions, which kill viruses and bacteria, and neutralise toxic chemicals such as lead and arsenic.

Some nanoparticles leach into the water but at concentrations that pose no threat to health. Pradeep describes the process of making the filter as "water positive": 1 litre of water spent on making nanoparticles gives 500 litres of clean water.

In tests, a 50-gram composite filtered 1500 litres of water without needing reactivation, so they estimate that a 120g-filter that costs just $2 would provide safe drinking water for a family of five for one year (PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1220222110).

The filters are undergoing field trials in India with the aim of preventing waterborne diseases.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Vipul »

AEC building infrastructure for Rs1,500-cr Neutrino Observatory project.

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) has approved an expenditure of Rs66.31 crore for development of site infrastructure of the proposed Rs1,500-crore `Nutreno Observatory' during the 12th plan period (2012-17).

Under the project, the AEC proposes to establish a National Centre for High Energy Physics (NCHEP) at Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions in the prime minister's office V Narayanasamy informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.He said 26.825 ha of land has been acquired in Pottipuram Village in Theni District of Tamil Nadu for establishing the project, adding that infrastructure work is being undertaken in 12.155 ha of land.He said the project has received clearances from the ministry of environment and forests and from the department of environment and forests of the state government.

Development of infrastructure facilities for the project has been initiated with the AEC entering into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) for supply of water to the project site and with the highways department for laying / widening the approach road to the project site.

The detailed project report on the mega project on the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), with an estimated cost of Rs1,500 crore, is under examination and the project is yet to be approved, the minister pointed out.The proposal envisages completion of the project within seven years from the date of approval, he added.

The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory with a rock cover of approximately 1200 m for non-accelerator based high energy and nuclear physics research in India.

The project includes:

Construction of an underground laboratory and associated surface facilities at Pottipuram in Bodi West hills of Theni district of Tamil Nadu;
Construction of an iron calorimeter detector for studding neutrinos, consisting of 50,000 tonnes of magnetised iron plates arranged in stacks with gaps in between where resistive plate chambers would be inserted as active detectors, the total number of 2m X 2m RPCs being around 29,000; and
Setting up of a National Centre for High Energy Physics at Madurai, for the operation and maintenance of the underground laboratory, human resource development and detector R&D along with its applications.
The underground laboratory, consisting of a large cavern of size 132m X 26m X 20m and several smaller caverns, will be accessed by a 2,100 m long and 7.5 m wide tunnel.

The initial goal of INO is to study neutrinos.

Neutrinos are fundamental particles belonging to the lepton family. They come in three flavours, one associated with electrons and the others with their heavier cousins the muon and the Tau. According to standard model of particle physics, they are mass less. However, recent experiments indicate that these charge-neutral fundamental particles have finite but small mass, which is unknown. They oscillate between flavours as they propagate.

Determination of neutrino masses and mixing parameters is one of the most important open problems in physics today. The ICAL detector is designed to address some of these key open problems in a unique way. Over the years this underground facility is expected to develop into a full-fledged underground science laboratory for other studies in physics, biology, geology, hydrology etc.

Development of detector technology and its varied applications is an important aspect of the project.

The detector R&D, electronics and control, magnet design as well as physics studies and numerical simulations related to ICAL detector is being done in-house at various participating institutions. Development of human resource has also started on a smaller scale in the form of the INO Graduate Training Programme (GTP) under the umbrella of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), a deemed-to-be University within DAE.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Prem »

Srinivasa Ramanujan Equations - way to stargate .
JE Menon
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by JE Menon »

^that link is not about Indian contribution to technology, but rather alien contribution to technology through an Indian using the medium of "Namagiri"...

Seriously, there are plenty of other links about Ramanujan if you want to post about that.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Vipul »

Indian inventor Ajay Bhatt-led team honoured by EU for developing popular USB.

The European Union today honoured India-born inventor Ajay Bhatt-led team at the US tech-giant Intel that developed the Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology, one of the most important advances in computing since the silicon chip.

The European Patent Office announced the winners of the European Inventor Award 2013, which honours outstanding inventors for their contribution to social, economic and technological progress.Some 500 guests attended the award ceremony at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam, including Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services.

Ajay V Bhatt-led team, comprising of Bala Sudarshan Cadambi, Jeff Morriss, Shaun Knoll, Shelagh Callahan of the United States won the award for inventors from Non-European Countries, for creating and developing USB technology, one of the most important advances in computing since the silicon chip.An industry standard today, USB not only allows users to more easily connect devices to a computer, it also streamlines work for hardware and software developers. It is found in billions of electronic devices all over the world, from webcams to cell phones and memory sticks.

56-year-old Bhatt is an Indian-American computer architect who helped define and develop several widely used technologies, including USB, Accelerated Graphics Port, PCI Express, Platform Power management architecture and various chipset improvements.After completing his graduation in Vadodara, India, Bhatt completed his master's degree in New York. Bhatt joined Intel in 1990. He currently holds 31 US patents.

The European Inventor Award is presented annually by the European Patent Office, supported by European Union to inventors who have made a significant contribution to innovation, economy and society in Europe. Inventions from all technological fields are considered for this award. There is no cash prize associated with the award.The 2013 awards were presented in five categories, in addition to the Popular Prize for the first time.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Hiten »

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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Bade »

Can I take a wild stab ? Was he at PRL, A'bad ?
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by MurthyB »

Amber G. wrote:xpost -
I just received an email/Arxiv preprint from an IIT Kanpur undergraduate
Mr. Kimpang Avidadgh who has supplied an elegant proof using elementary technique, for the famous Leviculus Conjuncture.

The interesting part, as the papers intro says, that the proof was not original but
was found in one of the old Jain manuscript by a relatively theorem called
Anatmagya sidhant (अनात्मज्ञ)

The Leviculus Conjuncture for those who do not know is:
The average of any two consecutive odd primes is always a composite number
.

( For example, if you take two consecutive odd primes, say 13 and 17, the average is 15, and sure enough 15 is composite (5 times 3))

The proof, once you know it, is not very complicated. Hopefully some one here can prove or reproduce the proof.
(I will explain the paper in simple term when I get some time)
Link to Arxiv preprint:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.6902
Ok, maybe I am completely dense here, but isn't this conjecture trivial and true by definition? The average, c, of consecutive odd primes p1 and p2 has to be between them (p1 < c < p2), and cannot be prime as p1 and p2 were supposed to be consecutive. And since 2 is the only even prime, and the rest are odd, and since an (odd - odd) is always even, the average of p1 and p2 will always be an integer.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Vayutuvan »

MurthyB garu, look at the date on which AmberG ji posted the question ... :)
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by MurthyB »

matrimc wrote:MurthyB garu, look at the date on which AmberG ji posted the question ... :)
Right, I was dense, although the integers aren't :oops: Done in by another slow-moving thread. Indics need to step up the rate of contributions!
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Vayutuvan »

Well, yours is a better and simpler explanation than what I had in mind which is very close to ArmenT ji's proof.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

MurthyB wrote:
Amber G. wrote:xpost -
I just received an email/Arxiv preprint from an IIT Kanpur undergraduate
Mr. Kimpang Avidadgh who has supplied an elegant proof using elementary technique, for the famous Leviculus Conjuncture. ..

The interesting part, as the papers intro says, that the proof was not original but
was found in one of the old Jain manuscript by a relatively theorem called
Anatmagya sidhant (अनात्मज्ञ)

The Leviculus Conjuncture for those who do not know is:
<snip>
Ok, maybe I am completely dense here, but isn't this conjecture trivial and true by definition? The average, c, of consecutive odd primes p1 and p2 has to be between them (p1 < c < p2), and cannot be prime as p1 and p2 were supposed to be consecutive. .....
Murthyji: Of course! As to putting this on that particular date ... guilty as charged.. But .. as said before.. "Leviculus" does mean something like "silly" :) (along with sanskrit names too) .. and the arxiv link points to .. well ..interesting article..

Anyway, if you have not looked before there was some discussion in math dhaga.. eg look at the following messages (and may be few messages before and after)
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 2#p1434692
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Bade »

Bade wrote:Can I take a wild stab ? Was he at PRL, A'bad ?
Is he from Udipi ? :)
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by MurthyB »

Amber G. wrote: Anyway, if you have not looked before there was some discussion in math dhaga.. eg look at the following messages (and may be few messages before and after)
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 2#p1434692
Thanks Ameberji. Lots of interesting problems in that thread to read through (though can only solve very few :(( ).
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Hiten »

Bade wrote:Can I take a wild stab ? Was he at PRL, A'bad ?
Image
.......Dr. Brahm Prakash has been one such towering personality to have rendered his service in establishing & furthering critical programmes. The spectrum of his contributions extends pretty much into every metric for gauging a country's strategic prowess - Scientific Research, Space Programme, Nuclear Technology. Upon appointment, he became the first Indian Head of Department at the Indian Institute of Science's Metallurgy Department, an institution which till today remains at the forefront of cutting edge research in the field of Pure Science in the country. He later became the first Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre [VSSC], that witnessed some of the pioneering work in India's Space programme. The fuels used in the country's Nuclear reactors, including future Thorium-Cycle Fast Breeder Reactors owe their availability to the Hyderabad-based Nuclear Fuel Complex [NFC], that was set up in the late 60s under his Directorship. He was also the first Chairman of the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd [UCIL], which explores & mines the ore in the country.

Not surprisingly, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, in his book 'Wings of Fire', lists him, along with Dr. Vikram Sarabhai & Professor Satish Dhawan as individuals whom he looked up to & learnt a lot from, inspired him.......
http://www.aame.in/2013/07/dr-brahm-pra ... clear.html
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

^^^Thanks for posting really interesting post about Brahm Prakash..This is a fun way to learn really important things.

To add ...

He is one of the famous MIT alumni ...(along with others famous Indian names like Khorana, Amar Bose etc). MIT's recent dean of Engineering (Subra Suresh who has won many prestigious awards) also had won award "Braham Prakash professorship")

Subra Suresh who is now president of Carnegie Mellon University, among other prestigious positions was Director of NSF ( I recall, Obama showering this young scientist with praise), and dean of Engineering at MIT.

Some may find this lecture at MIT interesting...
MIT Perspective on Engineering Systems
(The speaker is "Suresh is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. His honors include the Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholar award from CalTech, the Brahm Prakash Visiting Professorship from the Indian Institute of Science, selection by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the most highly cited researchers in Materials Science, the Clark B. Millikan Visiting Professorship at CalTech, the TFR Swedish National Chair in Engineering from the Royal Instiute of Technology, Stockholm and ")

Interestingly same picture as Hiten's is also posted at: .france-metallurgie.com
(But it is a mirror image of what Hiten posted !!)

PRAKASH, the Metallurgist who put maraging steel instead of 15CDV6 for Indian Space launch (US)

Here is the picture:
Image
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

Hitenji - Is the picture posted mirror imitate?
Here is another picture.. (which is mirror image of the other picture)
Image
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

Another photo from TOI's archives .. (1960, Trombay)
http://www.timescontent.com/tss/photos/ ... rakash.jpg
President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad accompanied by P N Thapar ...Dr Brahm Prakash is 3rd from left, ... atomic energy establishment at Trombay on May 4, 1960)
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Hiten »

Amber G. wrote:Hitenji - Is the picture posted mirror imitate?
No ji needed while addressing me, Sir. Hiten is perfect.

The picture got flipped accidentally while watermarking. Left it as it is since it made no difference.

Extracted the picture from the accompanying article

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3862/y4p4.jpg
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Hiten »

what is it?
clicky on the pic for larger pic
Image
via http://www.aame.in/2013/08/can-you-iden ... -quiz.html
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Hiten »

a rare composition, i think
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam with Professor Satish Dhawan
Image
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Hiten »

Hiten wrote:what is it?
clicky on the pic for larger pic
Image
via http://www.aame.in/2013/08/can-you-iden ... -quiz.html
October 16, 1985 saw the first Indian designed Strap-on rockets successfully take flight [see left]. These thrust augmenter were fashioned out of the Rohini-series of Sounding Rockets - the larger RH-300 functioned as the core, while 2 RH-200 rockets played the role of the strap-on. Taking up from the names of these two rockets, the test system was designated SO-300-200, where SO stood for Strap-On. Important among the parameters that were tested involved launching in a 'Zero Burn' mode, that saw the rocket take-off from the ground using only the strapon. Also tested was the time-delay deliberately induced in separating it from the core at the end of its operation. This separation process involved use of spring-loaded explosive bolts that connected it to the core using ball & socket joints. It, therefore, permitted random angular movement of up to 10o without causing damage1. While no satellites were put atop this one, its payload consisted of the self-destruct mechanism & instrumentation systems needed to evaluate the test. They were carried, both on the core, as well as one of the strap-on rockets. The other strap-on, thus, had dummy load put in it to maintain weight symmetry.
http://www.aame.in/2013/08/successful-f ... on-of.html
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by ravar »

Traditional Knowledge Systems (TKS) by Rajiv Malhotra

http://www.jagritbharat.com/index.php/o ... ge-systems

Cf the earlier discussion on Indian agri thread on Cow urine, ZBNF
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Bade »

India's Chandrayaan helps NASA detect water on Moon
Washington: Using data collected by India's Chandrayaan mission, NASA has detected magmatic water locked under the surface of the Moon.

The findings represent the first remote detection of this form of water that originates from deep within the Moon's interior, NASA researchers said.

Earlier studies had shown the existence of magmatic water in lunar samples returned during the Apollo programme.

NASA said scientists using data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, remotely detected magmatic water, or water that originates from deep within the Moon's interior, on the lunar surface.

M3 imaged the lunar impact crater Bullialdus, which lies near the lunar equator.

"This rock, which normally resides deep beneath the surface, was excavated from the lunar depths by the impact that formed Bullialdus crater," said Rachel Klima, a planetary geologist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel.

"Compared to its surroundings, we found that the central portion of this crater contains a significant amount of hydroxyl - a molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom - which is evidence that the rocks in this crater contain water that originated beneath the lunar surface," Klima said.

In 2009, M3 provided the first mineralogical map of the lunar surface and discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the Moon.

This water is thought to be a thin layer formed from solar wind hitting the Moon's surface.

Bullialdus crater is in a region with an unfavourable environment for solar wind to produce significant amounts of water on the surface, NASA said.

"NASA missions like Lunar Prospector and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and instruments like M3 have gathered crucial data that fundamentally changed our understanding of whether water exists on the surface of the moon," said S Pete Worden, centre director at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

The detection of internal water from orbit means scientists can begin to test some of the findings from sample studies in a broader context, including in regions that are far from where the Apollo sites are clustered on the near side of the Moon.

For many years, researchers believed that the rocks from the Moon were bone-dry and any water detected in the Apollo samples had to be contamination from Earth, NASA said.

"Now that we have detected water that is likely from the interior of the Moon, we can start to compare this water with other characteristics of the lunar surface," said Klima.

"This internal magmatic water also provides clues about the moon's volcanic processes and internal composition, which helps us address questions about how the moon formed, and how magmatic processes changed as it cooled," Klima said.

The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Bade »

Ambitious underground science project taking shape in Tamil Nadu
India's ambitious and largest ever Rs. 1,500 crore science research project to study atmospheric neutrinos in a deep underground cave is gradually taking shape at a sleepy village near Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

Christened 'India-based Neutrino Observatory' by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), it will study atmospheric neutrinos 1,300 metres below ground and is expected to provide precise measurement of neutrino mixing parameters.

"While approval of the full project proposal may take a few more months, we have been allocated Rs. 83 crore to start various pre-project activities at the site," INO spokesman Naba Kumar Mondal told PTI.

Pre-project activities include developing land for construction of a small prototype detector at Madurai before going ahead with the full detector construction, widening and strengthening the eight km road leading to the INO site at Pottipuram village, he said.

The proposed INO 1,300 metres below ground comprises two underground laboratory caverns with a rock cover of more than 1000 metre all around to house detectors and control equipment, for which a two km access tunnel would be driven under a mountain, according to the INO website.

"The surface facilities near the portal will consist of a laboratory and some housing for the scientists, engineers and operating staff. There will be no other tunnels and hence no disturbance on top or the sides of the mountain. The only entrance to the underground cavern will be at the bottom of the mountain," it said.

The Tamil Nadu government also assisted the project by giving 66 acres of land free of cost at Pottipuram to build all surface facilities, including laboratory, office building, guest houses and staff accommodation.

The site in West Bodi Hills near Madurai was not DAE's first choice for the project. Though it chose Singara near Nilgris, the Environment Ministry had objected to the idea, since it was within an elephant corridor.

The quality of rock, low seismic activity and location of being away from wildlife were major factors in settling for the present site.

The total project cost is estimated at Rs. 1,500 crore to cover many components -- construction of the underground laboratory and surface facility at Pottipuram, the Inter Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics at Madurai, the 50 kton magnetised neutrino detector and salary of scientists and engineers that will be employed.

"Since we are waiting for budget approval, work pertaining to underground work such as digging has not started yet," Mondal said.

The project will house all indigenously developed equipment for the experiment.

"All equipment required are being developed indigenously at various laboratories like TIFR, BARC, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre and IIT Madras. After their development, the knowhow will be transferred to Indian Industry for mass production," Mondal said.

The state government has also given another 30 acres at Madurai for Rs. 17 crore to DAE to construct India's first dedicated Centre for High Energy Physics.

"Though work is on to construct the centre, we have already started operation of the centre at Madurai from a rented building," Mondal said.

On the project's importance, he said it would address a key question in neutrino physics- neutrino mass ordering.

"Currently, INO is the only detector in the world having potential to provide answer for this fundamental question."

It would also help India pick up the correct theory beyond standard model of particle physics. The special environment provided by the underground laboratory will also be useful to conduct experiments in rock mechanics, geology and biology, the senior scientist with Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) said.

"INO should also put India back on the world map of underground science, a position held by us in the second half of the 20th century when Indian scientists had the privilege of working at Kolar Gold Field mines," Mondal said.

More than 30 research institutions across India like Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad and some IITs are coordinating with INO for the project.

On possible opposition from environmentalists, Mondal said, "There is no real opposition from anyone for this project. We have received all environment and forest clearance from the Environment Ministry, as well as government of Tamil Nadu."

"It may be possible that few people may still have some misconception about the project, but I am sure they will soon realise the benefit this project will bring, especially for aspiring science students from the state as well as from the whole country. This project will make India scientifically rich," he said.
Bade
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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Indian researchers’ team finds endogenous water on the Moon
The finding is based on an analysis of spectral data of Compton-Belkovich Volcanic Complex region

A research team from the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Ahmedabad, led by Satadru Bhattacharya, has found evidence of water of volcanic origin — water that has originated from deep within the Moon’s interior — rather than water-bearing igneous surface lunar material detected hitherto by different lunar missions including Chandrayaan-1.

Thus far scientists had believed lunar rocks were “bone dry” and that any water detected in lunar samples was either due to contamination from the Earth or produced by solar wind and other exogenous extra-lunar sources. Significantly, the concentration of the water detected by Indian researchers — 0.55 per cent by weight — is the highest ever found on the Moon, according to Prakash Chauhan, a member of the team.

The finding is based on an analysis of high-resolution spectral data of the Compton-Belkovich Volcanic Complex (CBVC) region on the far side of the Moon obtained by the NASA instrument Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), which was sent aboard the Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-1. Unlike the earlier detection of water and hydroxyl molecules in the polar region of the Moon by Chandrayaan-1 and other missions, CBVC is a non-polar region. A 2011 work on the geology of the CBVC region by B. L. Jolliff and others had found it to be highly rich in silica, which makes its geology totally different from that of the polar regions. The Indian finding has been reported in the latest on-line edition of the journal Current Science.

The Indian work comes close on the heels of a similar finding based on M3 data on the central peak of the volcanic crater Bullialdus, which was reported by R. Klima and associates in Nature Geoscience about a fortnight ago. Crater Bullialdus is in the equatorial region of the Moon and Klima and company had suggested that the water signatures observed could be of magmatic or volcanic origin as the non-polar Bullialdus crater region is an unfavourable environment for solar wind to produce significant amounts of water on the surface. The independent Indian work, which pertains to a different volcanic region altogether, too has led to the conclusion that water in the CBVC could have originated from episodic events of volcanic eruption and effusion of silicic magma. It thus has thus not only confirmed the presence of magmatic water but has also provided a quantitative estimate of it.

The presence of endogenous water/hydroxyl molecules was inferred from the distinct and prominent absorption lines in the 2800 nm wavelength region observed in spectra of the Compton-Berkovich Thorium Anomaly (CBTA) region of the complex. The CBTA region is an area of high concentration of radioactive thorium of about 5.3 microgram/gram while the surrounding areas contain only 0.06 microgram/gram of thorium. It has an area of 32 km x 18 km.

The work of Klima and others too had found an enhancement of concentration of elements such as Thorium in the central peak of Bullialdus. The two findings together suggest that all the endogenous hydrogen present at the time of formation of Moon did not boil off and remained trapped at the certain locations on the Moon associated with primary magmatic minerals such as thorium. The presence of such endogenous water could call for revision of models of Moon’s origin, points out Dr. Chauhan.
The original paper in the recent issue of Current Science.
http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/105/05/0685.pdf
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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LIGO detector on Indian soil under consideration: IIT-Gandhinagar
AHMEDABAD: The proposal to set up an advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detector for detection of gravitational waves is under active consideration of Indian funding agencies like DST and DAE.

If approved, the mega science project -- as part of an Indo-US joint programme -- will help expand the worldwide network of detecting gravitational waves-holding key to mysteries behind the black holes.
"It (proposal) is under active consideration of Indian funding agencies like Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). And this mega science project is likely to included in the fifth five year plan," IIT-GN Prof Anand Senupta said.

Gravitational waves can help unfold the mystery behind black holes and how they merge, offering fresh perspective to the science fraternity globally on relativity theory of Einstein, experts in astrophysics said.

LIGO is a large scale physics experiment aiming to directly detect gravitational waves. The LIGO laboratory was set up with permission from US National Science Foundation (NSF) in America and is only the organisation which manages these detectors.

The LIGO laboratory in US has offered to provide all of the designs and hardware for one of the two planned Hanford advanced LIGO detectors to be installed, commissioned, and operated by an Indian team of scientists (IndIGO) in a facility to be built in and by India, they said.

In August last year, the US board approved the LIGO Laboratory's request to modify the scope of advanced LIGO by not installing the US based Hanford "H2" interferometer, and to prepare it instead for storage in anticipation of sending it to LIGO-India, experts said.

"LIGO operates two detectors one in Hanford and other in state of Lousiana. These two detectors are seperated as far as possible with each other because the science demands that they have longest baseline possible," Sengupta said.

"And one of the two proposed advance detectors at Hanford is now proposed to be set up on Indian soil," he said. "Actually its important that the third LIGO detector is proposed to be set up in India, since it offers the longest baseline possible on earth," says Sengupta, principal investigator of LIGO science MoU.

"Because USA is just 180 degrees opposite to India, therefore it provides the longest baseline possible," he claimed.

There are ten institutions from India who have come under one banner called IndIGO (Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations) and have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the LIGO scientific collaboration.

"Our involvement in LIGO is through what is called as LIGO scientific collaboration, which is a collaboration of 800 scientists worldwide," Sengupta said.

"Thrust of the MoU that we shall work towards making detection of gravitational waves a reality and the expertise which is available across the 10 institutions including IIT-Gn will join forces either to analyse data or develop instruments or provide managerial services to provide LIGO India happen," he said.

Highlighting the importance of India for setting up the detector, Sengupta said, "Geographically, India is very critically located as far as setting up of this LIGO detector is concerned."

"If we place detector in Indian sub-continent it greatly enhances the network of LIGO detectors worldwide that is why our participation is important," he said.

"Lot many Indian scientists have recently been trained on LIGO detectors in USA, and they have come back and taken faculty jobs in various top institutions," Sengupta informed.
Theo_Fidel

Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Theo_Fidel »

^^^^
That would be pretty cool....
hope it gets built here.
Am I correct in assuming no Gravity waves have been detected yet.
Bade
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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Yes. The sensitivity requirements are phenomenal for a detection. Was at a NSF organized science fair for high school students and ended up chatting with one of the LIGO guys. It seems the Indian participation is waiting govt approval on the Indian side. If they can pull it off this will be a tremendous boost for big science in India with other tangential benefits.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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A contribution at least for India that never came to be. It is an interesting read on why science should be supported and how certain funding pitfalls need to be avoided. India had pledged $50 million in the least and had already jump started some collaborations between BARC and the HEP community in Accelerator science as it coincided with the RRCAT facility being opened at Indore.
The Supercollider That Never Was
Foreign funds that never came

It was always expected that $2.6 billion in funds from foreign governments and from the accelerator’s home state would supplement DoE dollars. Although Texas did promise $900 million, and deliver $400 million before the project’s cancellation, none of the seven countries that DoE officials looked to for the rest came up with money, except for a $50 million pledge from India.

From the beginning officials seemed conflicted about the project’s goals. Riordan wrote that at a 1987 press conference, the day after Reagan’s go-ahead, “Secretary of Energy John Herrington told reporters that the SSC would be ‘an American project [with] American leadership,’ but at the same time the DoE also intended ‘to seek maximum cost-sharing funding from other countries.’” Such nationalistic rhetoric tamped enthusiasm from Canada, Europe, and Japan when DoE went looking for financial pledges.

In Europe maintaining success at the CERN laboratory was the priority, after its 1983 discoveries of the W and Z bosons responsible for weak interactions, and it would have made little sense to collaborate on a machine larger than the Large Hadron Collider they were then considering. Despite the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991 Russia’s focus and funds went elsewhere; the end of the Cold War also repurposed attitudes in the U.S., reducing emphasis on big, technological science projects that displayed national might. The SSC also competed for funding with the development of the International Space Station, including the Johnson Space Center and other NASA operations in Texas.

That left Japan as a major target for foreign funding. Delegations began visiting Japan as early as 1984, but tensions over Tokyo’s inroads into the U.S. automobile market often got in the way, as did U.S. requests that Japan establish quotas for importation of U.S. auto parts. By 1991 Pres. George H. W. Bush’s popularity was falling, and the Japanese were not convinced of U.S. commitment to the SSC. The accelerator was to feature prominently in Japan–U.S. observances of the 50th anniversary of the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, but Bush’s trip to Japan was delayed as trade tensions mounted. With the tenor of the relationship in flux, high-level talks on the SSC came to nothing, and Bush’s visit to Japan in early 1992, where the Japanese expected the U.S. president to directly ask Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa for SSC funding, ended with Bush’s unfortunate and embarrassing regurgitation on Miyazawa. Noting that Bush’s reelection looked increasingly unlikely, Japan postponed a decision on the SSC. And despite expressing support for it as a presidential candidate, Bill Clinton and his administration never gave much support to the project.

What should the U.S. have done differently? Burton Richter, the Nobel laureate who was then director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (now known as the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) in California, says “it was a very bad mistake to seek funding only after the design parameters of the project were determined.”

There was also infighting among subfields of U.S. physics, as condensed matter physicists were especially concerned that the SSC would drain funding from other specialties. Many physicists spent at least a year grieving and venting their disappointment and anger in public, especially in Physics Today, the U.S. magazine devoted to covering the field. When the SSC was finally canceled, the late Rustum Roy, professor of materials sciences at The Pennsylvania State University, expressed his joy to the New York Times. “This comeuppance for high-energy physics was long overdue.” Roy said. “There is an acute oversupply of scientists in the United States,” which he and others said was the educational system’s responsibility to fix.

Richter, now director emeritus at SLAC, thinks the bitterness between subfields of physics has faded, and that scientists learned a valuable lesson: “Once a project is approved, shut up.”
Read it all as it has very interesting nuggets from the recent past and also highlights the fading away of US big science.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by JE Menon »

The late Dr. Rustom Roy mentioned above.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3087358/
Bade
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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India is part of the 30m telescope (TMT) collaboration where it will contribute 10% of the project cost at $1.4B. This is one of the biggest contribution/participation from India outside of the country on a state of the art science activity. Young people should take notice for long productive careers in Astronomy.

http://www.iiap.res.in/files/India_TMT_digest1.pdf

http://tmt.iiap.res.in/
gakakkad
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by gakakkad »

the wikipedia page of CNR Rao is poorly written..it fails to adequately highlight his contributions properly..it merely states his awards and doctorates .some chemistry wallah brf should edit it..perhaps Ramana saar?
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