India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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saip
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by saip »

92 Upper Circular Road (Einstein's letter to SN Bose)? My sister and brother - in - law used to work there in sixties. Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics used to be housed there. I wonder if they knew Prof Bose.
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Post by Amber G. »

Prof Pradeep Thalappil, whose scientific work was recognized today by a Padma Shri, has made 360 degree contributions to the functional nano-materials in general and effective materials for the low cost water purification in particular.

Wishing Pradeep and his coworkers joys of creative pursuits always.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by vinamr_s »

Retired Prof HC Verma, who made high-school Physics interesting through the problems given in this book (some people don't like its theory :lol: although I do), was awarded the Padma Sri on this republic day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_P ... 2020-2029)

He also has a few other initiatives which are lesser-known to people:
He has co-founded few initiatives like Daltonganj Sopan for the social upliftment of the children of the economically weaker section living near Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur's campus. According to his website, he is currently working on a book about electrostatics, magnetostatics, and electrodynamics for undergraduate students studying science.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._C._Verma
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

^^^ Thanks for posting this. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised to see a few familiar people ( at least 3 from IIT K alone )...
(Along with the Republic Day, it is also IIT Kanpur’s Diamond Jubilee so this news is celebrated there too)
..
-- Prof. Sudhir Jain, Director, IIT Gandhinagar and formerly a faculty of IIT Kanpur has been awarded the Padma Shri.
As founding Director, he has been instrumental in shaping IIT Gandhinagar.
Dr. Jain has experimented with numerous ideas in the curriculum, student affairs, faculty recruitment and faculty management and has conducted extensive research in the area of earthquake engineering. Heartiest congratulations to him!

-- (As posted above) Harish Chandra Verma, alumnus & retired Professor and now associated as an Adjunct faculty, has been awarded the Padma Shri. He epitomises outstanding teaching ethos of IIT Kanpur.

Prof. Verma was also instrumental in setting up Shiksha Sopan, an NGO that helps children from underprivileged background in their education. Through Shiksha Sopan’s scholarship program, many children have been able to access quality education.

Prof. Verma is a well-known name in the field of Indian education, thanks to his physics books which continue to be widely used in schools and colleges. Apart from his research on nano fabrication using focused ion beam, magnetism in graphite on irradiation by ion beam and nanosize magnetic materials, Prof. Verma has worked tirelessly on developing simple experiments to make science more interesting for school children. He has developed more than 600 physics experiments which can be used by teachers as DEMOs in their classrooms and he has also produced a set of 45 video lectures in Hindi for the school level.

--- Also Vashisht Narayan Singh, an ex-professor of IITK, (Also of TIFR) who passed away last year also been awarded Padma Shri along with Prof HC Verma and Prof Sudhir Jain. ..

There are few other names in related fields which I am very happy that they are being recognized ..
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Hiten »

This Rare Blip Of A Clip Shows India's First Hovercraft Performing Donuts
Dr. Kalam's baby, whose requirement, the Forces are increasingly expressing today.
Earlier Today: A Pair Of IAF Flankers Flanking A Phalcon [Image Of The Day]
This gem is, perhaps, the only video footage available, that captures the 1st ever Hovercraft built in India, as it is put through its paces.
https://www.spansen.com/2020/04/rare-cl ... craft.html
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Vips »

L&T builds cryostat for USD 20 bn global fusion projec.

Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro on Tuesday said it has achieved a major milestone under 'Make in India' initiative by building a cryostat for USD20 billion global fusion project. The final assembly or top lid sectors of the cryostat, a key part of the world's largest nuclear fusion reactor being built in France, were dispatched on Tuesday from the company's Hazira manufacturing complex in Surat district in Gujarat.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) in 2012 chosen by ITER-India to manufacture and install cryostat - a vacuum pressure vessel made of 3,850 tonnes of stainless steel. L&T Group Chairman AM Naik termed it a "moment of pride for India and Larsen & Toubro".

"The heavy engineering arm of L&T, India's leading engineering, construction, technology, manufacturing and financial services conglomerate, has flagged-off the most complex and final assembly of cryostat, the largest stainless-steel, high-vacuum pressure chamber in the world. "This is an important milestone in the global nuclear fusion arena as well as a moment of pride for the Make in India initiative," the company said in a statement.

The cryostat assembly weighing 650 tonne is to be installed with other cryostat segments for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in a reactor pit in southern France.

L&T has already delivered the base section, the lower cylinder and the upper cylinder for the cryostat. The cryostat's function is to provide cooling to the fusion reactor and to keep very high temperatures at its core under control. A virtual flag-off ceremony of the final assembly was held at the company's Hazira manufacturing complex.

Dr Bernard Bigot, Director-General, ITER Global, KN Vyas, Chairman Atomic Energy Commission, India, UK Baruah, Project Director, ITER-India, V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, A M Naik, Group Chairman L&T and SN Subrahmanyan, CEO & MD, L&T, joined the ceremony virtually.

Naik said: "It is a moment of pride for India and for L&T in particular as we have gathered to flag-off the last section of the Cryostat Vessel for the most ambitious clean energy project limitless carbon free energy that will power the future. L&T has always been proud of this global collaborative research to build a greener planet."

Subrahmanyan the company has used innovative and digital manufacturing techniques to ensure uninterrupted supply of high-precision assemblies to ITER. "This will further pave a way for the installation of cryostat at the project site in France and eventually lead to the demonstration of large scale feasibility of fusion power. It has empowered India to tread towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat by acquiring knowledge in this highly specialised field of science and technology,” Subrahmanyan added.

Anil V Parab, Executive Vice President and Head, L&T Heavy Engineering told PTI that ITER is a USD 20 billion project and India is contributing 9 per cent of the project component.

"With the supply of the Top Lid sector, we have successfully completed our India scope of the project ahead of the schedule. The fabrication of these components has been an engineering marvel both in terms of its massive size and its stringent quality standards.”

The project scope for L&T Heavy Engineering is divided into three aspects, the company said.

L&T's Heavy Engineering business won this prestigious contract from ITER India, a wing of Department of Atomic Energy, for the ambitious mega scientific project, conducted in collaboration of seven elite countries, including India, and with a project outlay of around USD 20 billion.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

This is a *major* contribution from Indian Scientists


The PIP-II project at Fermilab includes construction of a 215-meter-long particle accelerator that will accelerate particles to 84% of the speed of light. The new particle accelerator will enable Fermilab to generate an unprecedented stream of neutrinos.

This is a major project by USA with international cooperation from India and also UK, Poland, France and Italy.

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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

Remembering Mahalanobiss (Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis) - Who was friend/classmate of Ramanujan in his Cambridge days
Mahalanobis was “a physicist by training, a statistician by instinct and an economist by conviction” - A nice article written by Atanu-da

Some excerpts IMO relevant today -
I

.....
Bengal’s famine survey reminds us that we need estimates of the millions who will lose jobs or livelihoods and of the hundreds of millions whose economic conditions will deteriorate in today’s COVID-19-hit India. The extent of feasibility, success and problem of online access, for example, also needs to be properly estimated in this new dawn.


Mahalanobis is perhaps more relevant today when the accuracy of different sorts of data — from economic data to COVID-19 data — is under the scanner. Starting from the first area sample in the whole world for jute forecast in 1934, Mahalanobis built up a strong and trustworthy statistical heritage in India through his tireless efforts over the years, supplemented by his efficiency, wisdom, leadership, innovative ideas and brilliance. Mahalanobis envisaged large-scale sample surveys as statistical engineering rather than pure theory of sampling. He was instrumental in establishing the National Sample Survey (NSS) in 1950 and the Central Statistical Organization in 1951.



Mahalanobis was very careful about data accuracy in his surveys. In Kautilya’s Arthashastra, there is mention of the need for cross-checking by an independent set of agents for data collection: “Spies under disguise of householders (Grihapatika, cultivators), who shall be deputed by the Collector-General for espionage, shall ascertain the validity of accounts (of Gopas, the village officers and Sthanikas, the district officers) regarding the fields, right of ownership and remission of taxes with regard to houses, and the caste and profession regarding families...” (Chapter XXXV). This, according to Mahalanobis, was the “striking feature in the Arthashastra”. This might have prompted him to have an independent supervisory staff during the conduct of field operations by the NSS for collection of reliable data.


Mahalanobis was “a physicist by training, a statistician by instinct and an economist by conviction”. His initial training in Physics might have made him conscious about errors in measurement and observation. Students even called him the Professor of Counting and Measurement, using the initials of his name. The desire to have built-in cross-checks and to get an estimate of errors in sampling led him to introduce the Inter-Penetrating Network of Subsamples, which is now considered as the curtain-raiser for re-sampling procedures like Bootstrap, a revolutionary concept of statistics indeed.
....
At the end of his 1946 article in The Asiatic Review, Mahalanobis wrote: “Statistics are a minor detail, but they do help.” This is an eternal truth. What Mahalanobis didn’t spell out is that one needs a top statistician for listening to the heartbeats of data and for framing data-based policy decisions for human welfare and national development. And unfortunately, there’s no one to fill Mahalanobis’s shoes, even about half a century after his demise.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Mollick.R »

Amber G. wrote:Remembering Mahalanobiss (Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis) - Who was friend/classmate of Ramanujan in his Cambridge days
Mahalanobis was “a physicist by training, a statistician by instinct and an economist by conviction” - A nice article written by Atanu-da
Just to share a small fact, which i believe (most probably) is known to all gurus here. On several articles i have read that Subramanian Swamy was an student of Mahalanobiss at ISI Kolkata & they had quite bitter professional relationship. Swamy jee & Mahalanobiss jee had confrontation of opinions on several occasions.

Sorry for the OT.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

When Prime Minister's Modi did the Ram Janm Bhoomi Poojan - his health was guarded by a technology developed at IIT Kanpur and by a prominent incubated companies (E-Spin Nanotech Pvt. Ltd.)

Very proud of these engineers, doctors, scientists and above all great human beings. India which virtually imported all N95 masks and PPE, now has a capacity to produce 300,000 per day. All this - from design to manufacturing and obtaining all government requirements - within few months!)

Stay safe, as our PM prayed on this historic day " दो गज दूरी, मास्क जरूरी. जय सिया राम."
(Keep 2 meter distance and wear mask - always till required by your duty )

Some background: "Espin Nanotech was a startup spun by an IITK colleague, Dr. Sandip Patil, who did his thesis research on, well, electrospun nanofibers! Much before producing masks at a short notice, the company was already making electro-spinning machines and exporting.
Who says research driven, hi-tech, cutting-edge, hardware based startups with well-designed products cannot happen in India and its tier-2 cities, and that they cannot succeed globally with quality?!
One should be prepared to work hard though, be clear of vision and have atma-vishwas! It also helps when GoI listens to scientists and we have some world-class scientists in DST etc.

<Story here>
Image
RajaRudra
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by RajaRudra »

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 629231.cms

BENGALURU: Scientists from the <!-- -->Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences<!-- --> (CeNS) in Bengaluru have designed a metal mesh structure to make a transparent shield for <!-- -->electromagnetic interference<!-- --> (EMI), which the government calls an ‘invisible’ shield that has various military stealth applications. <br/>Scientists from CeNS, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have fabricated these transparent and flexible EMI shields made of metal meshes using the crack templating method via spray coating which is pioneered in their laboratory. <br/>And, the team led by Prof G U Kulkarni, along with his co-workers from CeNS and industrial partner Hind High Vacuum (HHV) Private Ltd have set-up a semi-automated production plant funded by DST-Nanomission for production of transparent conducting glasses which shows the potential for transparent EMI shields as well. <br/>“The CeNS team has developed a copper metal mesh on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet as its substrate, which exhibited a visible transmittance (T), a parameter of visible transparency of about 85% and high sheet resistance (~0.83 ohm per square),” the government said in a statement.


Gurus - Any idea regarding the application of the same in the defense arena
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Cyrano »

"Predator" camouflage will become reality at last !
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

.
From DST Inida's site" ARIES- Nainital's astronomers have traced the mystery behind dwarf galaxy aberrations of massive star formation. Using two Indian telescopes, scientists have found that disturbed hydrogen distribution could be the reason behind the strange behaviour of galaxies. ..
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

xpost from physics dhaga..
This is quite interesting and this could be huge!.

(Scientists from IIT Bombay proposed a novel setup to carry out quantum information processing at room temperatures. This study is funded by Government of India's Department of Science and Technology. Reputed institute and people involved. India has very heavily invested in Quantum Computing R&D)

May be some other thread be more appropriate..
A new approach to quantum information processing at room temperatures
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

https://www.thebetterindia.com/237594/g ... ch-ros174/

A great of Indian science has passed
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

^^^ Saddened by the passing away of Professor Govind Swarup- The Father of Indian Radio Astronomy. Many of the astronomy community had the pleasure of closely interacting and learning from him. His legacy lives on.
There is a post in physics dhaga.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

Happy Birthday to Prof. CR Rao.
A 'living legend', Professor C.R. Rao turns 100 today.
An Indian-American mathematician and statistician, he has been conferred with numerous prestigious awards including the 'Padma Vibhushan' and 'US National Medal of Science', over his long career.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

xpost:
Dr. Sekhar Basu, former Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, an unassuming thinker of keen insights, a problem solver, a committed scientist- technologist and a big hearted cheerful man passed away.

He leaves a rich legacy and a wide imprint that will always be remembered . He worked on several mega science projects and many Indian and international scientists had privilege of knowing/working with him

You will be missed Dr. Basu.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

xpost:
Along with Hawkins - there are two names - AK Raychaudhuri and CV Vishveshwara, among others.

Some of the foundational work on black holes was done by Indian scientists AK Raychaudhuri and CV Vishveshwara, among others.

Vishveshwara was cited in the first paper reporting gravity waves from black hole mergers (which won a Nobel Prize in 2017). And Penrose and Hawking gave the Raychaudhuri equation its name. Hawking and Raychaudhuri are no longer alive, and the prize could have been different had they been.
Image

One Nice Story: The 2 Unsung Indian Scientists Who Laid The Foundation For 2020 Physics Nobel Prize
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Haresh »

Indians predated Newton 'discovery' by 250 years

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/n ... p4-qymVH_k

A little known school of scholars in southwest India discovered one of the founding principles of modern mathematics hundreds of years before Newton according to new research.

Dr George Gheverghese Joseph from The University of Manchester says the 'Kerala School' identified the 'infinite series'- one of the basic components of calculus - in about 1350.

The discovery is currently - and wrongly - attributed in books to Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibnitz at the end of the seventeenth centuries.

The team from the Universities of Manchester and Exeter reveal the Kerala School also discovered what amounted to the Pi series and used it to calculate Pi correct to 9, 10 and later 17 decimal places.

And there is strong circumstantial evidence that the Indians passed on their discoveries to mathematically knowledgeable Jesuit missionaries who visited India during the fifteenth century.

That knowledge, they argue, may have eventually been passed on to Newton himself.

Dr Joseph made the revelations while trawling through obscure Indian papers for a yet to be published third edition of his best selling book 'The Crest of the Peacock: the Non-European Roots of Mathematics' by Princeton University Press.

He said: "The beginnings of modern maths is usually seen as a European achievement but the discoveries in medieval India between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries have been ignored or forgotten.

"The brilliance of Newton's work at the end of the seventeenth century stands undiminished - especially when it came to the algorithms of calculus.

"But other names from the Kerala School, notably Madhava and Nilakantha, should stand shoulder to shoulder with him as they discovered the other great component of calculus- infinite series.

"There were many reasons why the contribution of the Kerala school has not been acknowledged - a prime reason is neglect of scientific ideas emanating from the Non-European world - a legacy of European colonialism and beyond.

"But there is also little knowledge of the medieval form of the local language of Kerala, Malayalam, in which some of most seminal texts, such as the Yuktibhasa, from much of the documentation of this remarkable mathematics is written."

He added: "For some unfathomable reasons, the standard of evidence required to claim transmission of knowledge from East to West is greater than the standard of evidence required to knowledge from West to East.

"Certainly it's hard to imagine that the West would abandon a 500-year-old tradition of importing knowledge and books from India and the Islamic world.

"But we've found evidence which goes far beyond that: for example, there was plenty of opportunity to collect the information as European Jesuits were present in the area at that time.

"They were learned with a strong background in maths and were well versed in the local languages.

"And there was strong motivation: Pope Gregory XIII set up a committee to look into modernising the Julian calendar.

"On the committee was the German Jesuit astronomer/mathematician Clavius who repeatedly requested information on how people constructed calendars in other parts of the world. The Kerala School was undoubtedly a leading light in this area.

"Similarly there was a rising need for better navigational methods including keeping accurate time on voyages of exploration and large prizes were offered to mathematicians who specialised in astronomy.

"Again, there were many such requests for information across the world from leading Jesuit researchers in Europe. Kerala mathematicians were hugely skilled in this area."


Erratum

Since the publication of this news release it has come to the attention of the University of Manchester that other researchers have made a significant contribution to knowledge on the transfer of Kerala Mathematics to Europe. The University would particularly like to recognise the significant body of work conducted by Professor CK Raju in this area and would have wished to acknowledge this in the original news release.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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India to launch deep sea mission in 3-4 months: Ministry of Earth Sciences.

India will soon launch an ambitious ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ that envisages exploration of minerals, energy and marine diversity of the underwater world, a vast part of which still remains unexplored, a top official of the Ministry of Earth Sciences said.

The ministry’s secretary, M Rajeevan, said required approvals are being obtained for the “futuristic and game-changing” mission, and it is likely to be launched in the next 3-4 months.

The mission, which is expected to cost over Rs 4,000 crore, will give a boost to efforts to explore India’s vast Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf, another senior official of the MoES said.

Rajeevan said the mission will also involve developing technologies for different deep ocean initiatives.

The multi-disciplinary work will be piloted by the MoES and other government departments like the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will be stakeholders in this mission, Rajeevan added.

Some of the technologies involved will be developed by organisations such as the ISRO and DRDO.

“One of the main aspects of the mission will be design, development and demonstration of human submersibles,” the MoES official said.

Another aspect is exploring the possibility of deep-sea mining and developing necessary technologies, the official added.

The official said the move strategically significant as it will enhance India’s presence in the Indian Ocean where other players like China, Korea and Germany are active.

Last week, China live-streamed footage of its new manned submersible parked at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This was part of its mission into the deepest underwater valley on the planet.

India has been ear-marked nearly 1.5 lakh square kilometres of area in the central Indian Ocean for exploration.

In September 2016, India signed a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for exploration of Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS) in the Indian Ocean.

The ISA is an institution set up under the Convention on Law of the Sea to which India is a Party.

The 15-year contract formalised India’s exclusive rights for exploration of PMS in the allotted area in the Indian Ocean.

The ISA earlier approved 10,000 sq. km for India with a 15-year PMS exploration plan along the Central Indian Ridge (CIR) and Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) region of the Indian Ocean.

Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS), which contain iron, copper, zinc, silver, gold, platinum in variable constitutions, are precipitates of hot fluids from upwelling hot magma from the deep interior of the oceanic crust, discharged through mineralized chimneys.

PMS in the Ocean Ridges have attracted worldwide attention for their long term commercial as well as strategic values.

“The aim is to be prepared when rules are formalised in this area. The deep oceans frontier is yet to be explored. We have been working on it on a piecemeal basis but the thrust is to carry out work on mission mode,” the official added.

The mission will also involve the procurement of more advanced deep-sea vessels for explorations. The existing vessel Sagar Kanya is nearly three-and-half decades old.
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How Deep Ocean Mission will further government's vision of 'blue economy'.

Sometime in the next three years, three people — likely a pilot and two scientists — will go 6,000 m deep into the ocean in a lithium battery-powered vehicle capable of staying underwater for up to 16 hours. They will be seated in a specially crafted titanium alloy sphere with a diameter of 2.1 m and thickness of 80 mm in a space that would be slightly smaller than that of a Maruti 800, with three view ports. This vehicle, Matsya 6000, will be India’s rst manned submersible and the dive, if successful, will be akin to a giant leap, to paraphrase Neil Armstrong, for the country. If space was once the nal frontier, the unexplored depths of oceans are now seeing no less of a race among countries to go where others have not gone
before.

The development and launch of Matsya 6000 is part of India’s ambitious Deep Ocean Mission, for which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced Rs 4,000 crore, to be spent over ve years, in Budget 2021-22. While plans for the mission have been discussed over the last few years and work has begun, this is the rst time there is a dedicated budget for it. “It’s been in the works for two-three years but this has now become a huge project in mission mode. The ocean has a lot of resources, both living and non-living, which we really need to map and exploit — for minerals, for
energy, for drinking water,” says Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, which will be spearheading the mission.

The imperative to double down on deep sea exploration and research also stems from the fact that countries that are developing the technology for going 6,000 m down to exploit deep-sea minerals (currently not allowed commercially) will not part with their expertise because of its strategic importance. “Minerals mean money, so ocean technology is not easily shared.

Unless we do it ourselves, we cannot perfect this technology,” says Rajeevan. Even in manned submersibles, only five countries have been successful. Last November, China shared footage of its manned submersible, Striver, which descended over 10,000 m to the bottom of the Mariana Trench with three researchers. India’s manned submersible is being developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, with ISRO working on the “crew module”. It is expected to be ready by 2024. “We are halfway through and might venture into a 500 m depth next year,”
says GA Ramadass, director, NIOT.

Image

The submersible is one of the many projects of the Deep Ocean Mission, which involves institutes like NIOT, CSIR, ISRO and DRDO. Its other projects include developing deep-sea technologies and systems, deep-ocean exploration and setting up a research facility in Goa for marine biology and engineering. “It is an ambitious programme to develop deep-sea mining systems as it will have to bear the high pressure at depths of 4,000-6,000 m, where the resources are located.

These mining systems are not available anywhere in the world,” says MP Wakdikar, senior scientist and adviser, Earth Sciences Ministry.

India has a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN backed body in charge of regulations for ocean floors, to explore 75,000 sq km in the Indian Ocean for manganese nodules, or polymetallic nodules, as they are known. These potato shaped nodules, found on the seabed, are rich in copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese — metals which have a host of applications in devices, from batteries to mobile phones. An estimate by India from the surface pegs the quantity of these nodules at 385 million tonnes, with the processed minerals valued at $110 billion. The country also has a 15-year contract for the exploration of hydrothermal sulphides across 10,000 sq km southeast of Madagascar.

“Hydrothermal sulphides are like underwater volcanos, in which heavy minerals are deposited, including rare earth elements like gold and platinum,” says Wakdikar.

Mission Mode
Deep Ocean Mission includes:
- Developing systems for deepsea mining, launching a manned submersible
- Deep-ocean eploration, including purchase of a vesselfor this
-Deep-ocean biodiversity studies, bio prospecting
- Establishing a research facility in Goa for marine biology and engineering
- Undertaking climate change surveys of seas around India
-Making ocean thermal energy conservation efficacious*
-*Generates power from the difference in temperatures on the surface of the sea and its depths


While the surveys of polymetallic nodules have been complete to a large extent and the development of technology for exploratory mining has begun, surveys of hydrothermal sulphides are still at an exploratory stage, says Ramadass. Under the Deep Ocean Mission, there are plans to acquire a dedicated vessel for this exploration, which could cost around Rs 900 crore, depending on the equipment. There are about 30 private and government contracts with the ISA for deep-sea exploration but mining is not allowed because the international code for it has yet to be announced. The plan to allow deep-sea mining has also come under criticism from environmental organisations that fear it might cause irreparable damage to the flora and fauna on ocean floor. Ramadass says they will have to prove that even exploratory mining won’t harm the environment.

Mission Mode
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The Deep Ocean Mission will also be examining the effect of climate change and warming on regional sea levels and assessing what impact that would have on coastal regions, which will be led by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services. “It’s important that we do these climate change assessments now. Otherwise, we will not understand the local impact,” says director Srinivasa Kumar. Another project involves funding out if a pioneering effort by NIOT in setting up eco-friendly desalination plants in Lakshadweep — powered by using the difference in temperatures between the surface of the ocean and its depths — can be replicated in a coastal city like Chennai. “The plants use very little power and cause no pollution. But the challenge is that to reach 1,000 m depth from Chennai, you need to go very far from the coast, unlike on islands,” says Ramadass. Despite the daunting prospects, scientists working on the mission feel that India, surrounded by ocean on three sides, needs to develop technologies to explore it. “It’s tough. But unless we jump into the pool, how will we learn swimming? Similarly, unless we start going down (into the ocean), we can’t learn all these things,” says Rajeevan.
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What NIO scientists mapping genomes in the Indian Ocean hope to learn.

A team of scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) will spend the next three months traversing the course of over 10,000 nautical miles in the Indian Ocean to understand it at a cellular level.

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The area the research vessel will sail. (Image courtesy: NIO)

A 30-member team of scientists and researchers from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Panaji and another 30 crew members onboard its research vessel Sindhu Sadhana will spend the next three months traversing the course of over 10,000 nautical miles in the Indian Ocean on a research project to reveal the internal working of the body of the ocean at a cellular level.

The first-of-its-kind research project in the country is aimed at understanding the biochemistry and the response of the ocean to climate change, nutrient stress and increasing pollution. Conceptualised over the last two to three years, the research project has been undertaken at a cost of Rs 25 crore and will take three years to complete, NIO Director Sunil Kumar Singh said.

What is the NIO’s research project about?
The research project that will be flagged off at Visakhapatnam on Thursday will see the team of 30 scientists and researchers — including six women — course the Indian Ocean from India’s east coast, all the way to Australia, then onward towards Port Louis in Mauritius and up to the border of Pakistan, off India’s west coast, gathering samples for genome mapping of microorganisms in the Indian Ocean. The researchers will collect samples from various stretches of the ocean at an average depth of about 5 km.

Just like gene mapping is carried out on blood samples collected from humans, the scientists will map these in the bacteria, microbes found in the ocean. The mapping of the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic acid (RNA) will show the nutrients present in them, and also those lacking in different parts of the ocean.

What will the scientists learn from this genome mapping in the ocean?
NIO Director Sunil Kumar Singh explained that this will help scientists understand the internal working of the ecosystem of the Indian Ocean. The research will enable scientists to identify the factors controlling the changes in RNA, DNA in the oceans, and various stressors impacting them. The ocean has several micronutrients like nitrates, sulphates and silicates, minerals like iron ore and zinc, and trace metals like cadmium or copper. The genome mapping will show the presence of which these microbes have adapted to, in addition to their reaction to atmospheric carbon dioxide. This will help in identifying which part of the ocean has a greater concentration of which mineral or element.

Scientists will then use these as tracers to tackle the causative factors for excess or lack of a certain mineral or element and suggest possible solutions for their mitigation. In addition, the large pool of RNA, DNA library of the oceans will be utilised for using the Indian Ocean to human benefit in the future.

According to the NIO, rapid advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have enabled exploration of the ocean genome. “Exploring the ocean genome will enable an increase in the growing number of commercial biotechnology applications, extending from multiple anticancer treatments to cosmetics and industrial enzymes, to antiviral molecules… Exploration of the ocean at a genetic level will result in new insights into taxonomy and adaptive capacity that can help optimize conservation efforts,” the NIO stated in its project abstract.

What is the objective of studying the interactions of trace metals and marine plant and animal life?
Trace metals like cadmium or copper are supplied to oceans via continental run-offs, atmospheric deposition, hydrothermal activities and continental shelf interaction. They are essential for ocean productivity. Scientists say that it is important to understand the interactions of trace metals with marine biota “for having a holistic understanding about nutrient cycling and productivity of the oceans”. Apart from their reactions on marine life, isotopic forms of trace metals can be utilised to track the movement of water masses responsible for ocean circulation and as tools to study the biological, geochemical and ecosystem processes and food web analyses. The NIO’s project is expected to generate new information about trace metals from underexplored regions of the Indian Ocean, the third largest water body in the world, covering about 20 per cent of the Earth’s water surface.

How will the scientists collect the samples?
The team of scientists will stay aboard their research vessel for about 90 days with refueling scheduled at Mauritius. The route is from Visakhapatnam to the mouth of the Ganga then down the ocean to Australia, then westward to Mauritius and up to the Pakistan border. At various stages and stretches, samples will be collected by lowering a Kevlar cable of up to 8 km with a set of 24 teflon coated bottles to collect samples. They have a capacity of 12 litres. The Kevler cable and the Teflon coating are to ensure that metals are not inadvertently introduced into the water by the vessel itself. The samples will be collected and the bacteria will be stored at -60 degrees Celsius with the help of liquid nitrogen. While some samples will be tested at six laboratories on board the vessel, several samples will be brought back to NIO for study and analysis over the next three years.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by arvin »

India is a partner in the thirty meter telescope consortium along with US, China, Japan and others, and is involved in fabricating the primary mirror assemblies. In return for the cost shared what I understand is we get telescope time and the know how to fabricate the mirror assemblies.
This would be a massive jump (10x) in the observation capability for Indian astronomers when its ready in 2027 since the largest telescope we have is currently the 3.6 meter telescope at Devasthal in UtaraKand.

https://www.tmt.org/news/484

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Map of TMT Primary Mirror Assembly journeys around the world - Each TMT M1 Segment Support Assembly (SSA) will be fabricated in India and will travel to one of the four mirror integration facilities distributed among TMT partners. M1 segment packages will then be shipped to a US-based facility for undergoing an Ion Beam Figuring optical correction process before their final destination to the observatory site, where they will be integrated with the telescope - Image credit: TMT International Observatory
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Post by Haresh »

Cambridge University’s Sir Shankar Balasubramanian in winning DNA sequencing team

https://www.iglobalnews.com/newsviews/c ... ncing-team
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Post by sanjaykumar »

He should be picking up a Nobel as a matter of course.
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Post by Amber G. »

This might be of interest and opportunity ..
A Science Film Festival on the occasion of 75th year of Independence:
(One can submit entries for Prizes etc)
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Post by Haresh »

‘Mini-Neptunes’ beyond solar system may soon yield signs of life

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techands ... li=AAnZ9Ug

Nikku Madhusudhan

https://people.ast.cam.ac.uk/~nmadhu/Ni ... /Home.html
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Post by Vayutuvan »

congrats to all the SSBhatnagar awardees. it is a intersting mix of practical and theoretical scientists.
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indias first manned ocean mission samudrayan launched.

India’s first manned ocean mission ‘Samudrayan’ was launched here on Friday by Union Minister Jitendra Singh and with this the nation joined an elite club of nations having such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities.

The nation has made huge progress in science and technology and when an Indian goes up into space as part of the Gaganyaan programme, another would dive deep into the ocean, the Minister said.

The Minister tweeted,”Launched India’s First Manned Ocean Mission #Samudrayan at #Chennai. India joins elite club of select nations USA, Russia, Japan, France & China having such underwater vehicles. A new chapter opens to explore ocean resources for drinking water, clean energy & blue economy.”

In his launch address at the National Institute of Ocean Technology here, Singh said the mission does not only increase the scientific capacity but also gives the nation a sense of esteem that “we are doing something which is no less than any other country of the world.”

“What we are actually contributing is not only confined to the realms of scientific work, it is actually contributing to building of India’s national esteem,” he said at the event that also coincided with the institution’s foundation day celebrations.

“Very soon, may be in a year or two, we have a man going deep into the ocean, and I was telling the other day to some of the scientists from ISRO that it was a strange coincidence because Gaganyaan has got delayed.”

“It was to be launched somewhere by the end of this year or before the next Independence day. I said it was God’s will, now we have one man going up in space and one in the ocean simultaneously. The delay in Gaganyaan has virtually timed it with your deep sea mission. So when an Indian goes up into the space, same time, an Indian will go deep into the ocean. See what a huge progress,” the Minister said.

An official release said the Matsya 6000 under Samudrayan initiative is capable of carrying three human beings in titanium alloy personnel sphere of 2.1 metre diameter enclosed space with an endurance of 12 hours and an additional 96 hours in case of emergency situation.

The niche technology facilitates carrying out deep ocean exploration of non-living resources such as polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, the NIOT said.

Matsya 6000, the deep sea vehicle, will be ready for qualification trials by December 2024, according to an NIOT official.

“The manned submersible can take three scientists to ocean depths to explore oceans and to survey the ocean bed and collect the data and samples,” the official said.

By the end of 2022 or 2023, the shallow water (500 metres) phase is expected to happen which would be followed by more deeper initiatives, he added.

“Indigenous efforts are underway at NIOT towards design of the vehicle and some of the subsystems are realized from Indian as well as from global market towards its special usage in high pressure deep sea environment,” the release said.

The NIOT had developed a ‘personnel sphere’ made of mild steel with local industry for an operational capability of 500 metres and tested for its usage as per the International Classification and Certification Agency for man rated operation during this month sea trial using Ocean Research Vessel Sagar Nidhi in Bay of Bengal.

The deep sea vehicle shall be maneuvered at deep sea floor with six degree freedom using battery powered propulsion system for 4 hours at 6000 metre depth, according to the release.

“Basically this vehicle is a platform to carry any devices, sensors etc to deep sea for doing experiments/observations in the presence of a human being.” This programme shall augment India’s capability with infrastructure facility such as high thickness welding facility and deep ocean simulator.

During the course of the programme new skill sets are being added under the capacity building which would pave the way for industry development within the country under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in the 75th Year of India’ Independence.

System design, concept of operation, subcomponents functionality and integrity, emergency rescue, failure mode analysis are reviewed and certified as per the rules of International Association of Classification and Certification Society for man-rated usage of manned submersible at a depth of 6000 metres, the release added.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

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Remembering Homi J. Bhabha who became the founding father of India's nuclear program and its renowned Tata Institute for Fundamental Research was born OTD 1909.

Here he accompanies Albert Einstein, Hideki Yukawa and John Wheeler in Princeton, NJ
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Post by Vayutuvan »

Amber G. wrote:Remembering Homi J. Bhabha who became the founding father of India's nuclear program and its renowned Tata Institute for Fundamental Research was born OTD 1909.

Here he accompanies Albert Einstein, Hideki Yukawa and John Wheeler in Princeton, NJ
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'Kay. But he is almost out of the frame.
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

As I posted <here>.. I am glad that these guys have been honored yesterday by the president of India and awarded padma awards...

Dr Sudhir Jain (IIT Kanpur / Gandhinagar)..
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Dr. HC Verma (IIT Kanpur)
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(I was glad to see many familiar names in science category)
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Post by Manish_P »

There is a Twitter thread going on about a certain Prof Verma of IIT.

Apparently the thread writer had studied in hindi medium and subsequently appeared for IIT admission where he had to be interviewed by a committee of professors.

He was very nervous about not being fluent in spoken hindi and after answering the first question in a mix of Hindi and English was sternly rebuked by the committee and told to answer only in English. When he kept quiet on the 2nd question he was asked by a prof Verma, in hindi, if he had not heard the question. The OP meekly replied that he had heard it correctly and knew the answer but was not confident of giving it in English. Prof Verma told the OP - 'Don't worry.. you give me the answer in Hindi and I will translate it in English to the other members' The OP did so and answered all the questions correctly (except one), was admitted and subsequently graduated from IIT.

The OP mentions how he is eternally grateful for that simple but profoundly life-changing act of kindness by that Prof Verma.

I think it is likely that this is that Prof. Verma.
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I was also glad to know Dr. Narinder Sing Kapany was honored with padma Vibhushan this year.

(I mentioned him *many* times in Physics dhaga - One of the Indian (/American) scientist who did not get Nobel bud deserved to.

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President Kovind presents Padma Vibhushan to Dr Narinder Singh Kapany (Posthumous) for Science and Engineering. Known as the father of fibre optics, Dr Kapany was a scientist, academician, entrepreneur, passionate collector of Sikh art and philanthropist.

(I posted this about a year ago here in Physics Dhaga:
Amber G. wrote: Another famous scientist, Narinder S. Kapany, ‘Father of Fiber Optics,’ Died recently. He was 94 years old.
Several times I have mentioned him in Physics or other dhaga's here in Brf about his work.

He never won a Nobel, but was one of the great pioneer/engineer who as a an young Engineer at Cornig did pioneering work to make fiber optics a success. Fortune named him one of seven 'Unsung Heroes' in their 'Businessmen of the Century' issue in 1999.
.[/quote]
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by TKiran »

Amber G ma'am, could you tell about Amar Bose (of Bose speakers fame, MIT prof.), I m sure you would be aware about him.
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Post by Amber G. »

TKiran wrote: could you tell about Amar Bose (of Bose speakers fame, MIT prof.), I m sure you would be aware about him.
Thanks for recognizing Prof Amar Bose.

As you say this MIT prof is another great who shares the last name "Bose" (Jagdish C Bose, Satyen Bose, not to mention Subash Bose).
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(Picture Credit: MIT Archive)

He is famous for Bose speakers, but to his students, and others, he is also known as a *great* teacher. Even when he was extremely famous, he still taught MIT freshmen courses in subjects like circuit theory or basic acoustics - well attended by many who themselves were professors/graduate students but will sit in the back and admire what a great teacher he was and learn new things in the process. These classes were *huge* - many hundred students. (Yes, I have been to such a class :))
(Many of these lectures are still available on MIT site)

He was a student of world renowned Prof. Norbert Wiener and Yuk-Wing Lee. So he was very good in theory and he was also an extremely good Engineer.

Some aspects of his life which may not be that well known:
- His father Nani Gopal Bose was a physics student in Calcutta, was involved in freedom movement. Night before he was going to be arrested he escaped - got out of India with the help of others and escaped to US.. (This was in 1920's). (That itself is a very interesting piece of history).

In Philadelphia he married a local school teacher and Amar Bose was born in Philadelphia (1929). According to Amar Bose, this American mother was 'more Bengali' than his father - they cooked Bengali food, were vegetarian etc. His child-hood (being son of a Mixed race couple was little harsh but the boy was extremely bright. He talks about how he grew up with Indian food and eating out was quite hard as very few restaurants in those time will sever a mixed race couple with children. He used to repair others radios etc and was very good in school.

- Amar Bose Joined MIT - After graduation he worked as a successful Engineer but got back to MIT, did his PhD. Even when company was making lot of money he recycled most of the profit in research. (After his death - most of his money went to MIT).

- Like his father He was quite interested in music - but speakers in those days (even expensive ones) were not good so as a student he tinkered and made good quality speakers)

- His professor (Norbert Wiener) wanted Amar Bose to know more about India and its culture as he never visited India till then. So after PhD he arranged for him to spend time in India. (Amar Bose got married (first marriage) in India in that short stay.

I hope you enjoy this: (He in his own words)
https://youtu.be/ySAXW-7WrDg


Added later: The above clip, is *really* worth watching ...
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Re: India's Contribution to Science & Technology

Post by Amber G. »

Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, Palo Alto Networks, and now Twitter run by CEOs who grew up in India...Many from my alma mater IIT - Wonderful to watch the amazing success of Indians in the technology world .. Thanks to good schools and the opportunity America offers.
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Post by Paul »

Always wondered why 2nd Gen Indian Americans are not able to match to their FOB cousins......
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