by
R. Chidambaram
Talk at Unveiling Ceremony of the statue of Sir C.V. Raman at
University of Kerala , Trivandrum, 29th June, 2012
Very different in the nature of their work, but
always focused on important problems.
C.V. Raman : the greatest experimental physicist India
has produced.
Homi Bhabha : the founder of our atomic energy
programme.
Srinivasa Ramanujan : the ‘magical genius’ .
For the last three decades, I have kept the photographs/paintings of
these great scientists behind my chair in the Office!
“Advice to a Young Scientist”
…Peter Medawar
(Nobel Prize - winning Biologist)
-
Important to Science or to Society!
This advice is useful for everybody,
Scientist or otherwise!
My motto when I was Director BARC: “Relevance or Excellence,
preferably both”.
C.V. RAMAN
WITH A QUARTS CRYSTAL
“India
had
suddenly
emerged in competitive
research as an equal partner
with her European and
American sisters.”
A New Radiation
Various ways are known by which atoms or molecules may be
caused to emit light referred to as primary radiation.
The first case discovered of secondary radiation was fluorescence.
Another kind of secondary radiation is the scattering of light by
atoms and molecules. It is this scattering that gives us the light of
the sky, the blue colour of the deep sea and the delicate
opalescence of large masses of clear ice.
The light scattering from 60 liquids…though the phenomenon was
described (by) Ramanathan and Krishnan as a “feeble
fluorescence”, the impression left on my mind at the time was that
we had here an entirely new type of radiation.
C.V. Raman, India J. Phys., 1928, 2, 387
The Nuclear Path
I have been saying for 2 decades now:
“Nuclear Energy is an inevitable option to
satisfy India’s future energy needs”
Homi Bhabha, Founder of the Indian
Nuclear Programme
He said it more succinctly:
“There is no power as costly as nopower.”
 Hardy and Littlewood have
compared Ramanujan’s natural
genius
with
great
mathematicians like Euler,
Gauss and Jacobi
 Ramanujan’s birthday (22nd
December) has been declared
National Mathematics Day
 In December, 2011, to
celebrate Ramanujan’s 125th
birth anniversary,
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh
declared 2012 as the National
Mathematical Year
Chandrasekhar combined Einstein’s special theory
of relativity and the new quantum mechanics in
1935 to define the critical mass called the
CHANDRASEKHAR’S limit above which the star
would not become a white dwarf.
This idea, which later won Chandrasekhar the
Nobel Prize, was immediately ridiculed by
Eddington. This made young Chandrasekhar
abandon this field and set back research in this area
by perhaps 20 years.
Ph.D. in Physics, switched to biology at
UCSF
Contributions
include
the
determination of the structure of the
30S ribosomal subunit and its
complexes with antibiotics, the role
of the 30S subunit in decoding, and
the
high-resolution
(Thermus
thermophilus ribosome at 2.8 Å
resolution ) structure of the entire
70S ribosome complexed with mRNA
and tRNA.
Ribosome is the factory of protein synthesis.
Hydrogen Bonds are very important in Biology
Neutrons are very good in studying hydrogen bonds and my early work was
on hydrogen bonds
ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)
Joint Venture of 7 parties
ITER
Fusion Power: 500 MW
Plasma Volume: 840 m3
Plasma Current: 15 MA
Typical Density: 1020 m-3
Typical Temperature: 20 keV
ITER complex at Cadarache, FRANCE
(an artist’s view)
Courtesy : Y.C. Saxena
India, through its Universities, Research Institutions, S&T Departments,
including Mission-oriented Agencies (Atomic Energy, Space, Defence
Research) has laid a strong foundation for Basic Research as well as Applied
Research and Technology Development. At the same time, the demand for
using the generated (and globally available) knowledge for Industrial
Development and Societal benefit, particularly Rural Development, is
increasing.
For industrial development, we need in-house R&D centres in industry and
enhanced academia-industry interactions, and for rural development, we
need improved mechanisms for rural technology delivery. These are
rapidly growing in India now.
India is too large a country to absent itself from any field of science and
technology. Debating the relative importance of small science and big
technology missions is irrelevant in today’s India. The two, in fact, are
heavily cross-linked.
The Borders are Fuzzy
 Scientists create Ideas Engineers create Products Innovators create
Wealth
 But the borders between them are fuzzy. Every researcher is a
mix, in different proportions, of Scientist, Engineer and
Innovator
 For discovering the Raman Effect, a physicist was enough.
To
look for the Higgs Boson, we have the multi-billion dollar
precision – engineered Large Hadron Collider.
 On the other hand, the superstructure of Advanced Technology is
built on the foundation of Fundamental Science.
 And we need an e-science infrastructure.
(from talk in the Silver Jubilee Meeting of the Indian
National Academy of Engineering , 20 April 2012)
India’s Technology Needs – Nuclear to Rural
APSARA REACTOR.
BARC, India
Date of Criticality,
August 4, 1956.
First Nuclear
Reactor in Asia
Making
Technology
Choices
requires
Technology
Foresight
and this has to be done in a
national perspective, based on
natural resources, needs and
human resource potential. The
critical technologies for India
today, in my opinion, range from
strategic technologies (nuclear,
space and defence-related) to rural
development-related technologies.
What is a ‘critical technology’ for
India may or may not be so for
other countries. Examples: Fast
Breeder Reactors, Rural Food
Processing, etc.
The three-stage Indian nuclear programme is based on the closed nuclear
fuel cycle and thorium utilisation
PHWR
Nat. U
U fueled
PHWRs
AHWR
FBTR
300 GWe-Year
Th
42000
GWe-Year
Electricity
Dep. U
Th
155000
GWe-Year
Electricity
Pu Fueled
Fast Breeders
Pu
U233
U233 Fueled
Reactors
Pu
Electricity
U233
Power generation primarily by PHWR Expanding power programme Thorium utilisation for
Building U233 inventory
Sustainable power programme
Building fissile inventory for stage 2
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Nuclear is now an accepted mitigation technology in the context of the Climate Change Threat. But if it is to be a
sustainable mitigation technology, you have to close the nuclear fuel cycle.
The Need for Coherent Synergy
(‘Coherent Synergy’ is a new phrase I coined some years back
in the S&T context!)
The
S&T System, to contribute maximally to national
development, requires a variety of efforts. Human Resource
Development is one of the most important component
efforts. Others are R&D with prioritization, academiaindustry interaction, international cooperation, etc.
Every such effort requires synergy among the concerned
parties and
every synergetic S&T effort gives a
momentum for development. And momentum is a vector.
All the vectors must point in the same direction for
coherence.
Synergy in every effort and Coherence among all the
efforts – that is what I mean by ‘Coherent Synergy’.
International Cooperation
International
Cooperation
is
important for India and should be
mutually beneficial for it to be
sustainable.
In nuclear science and technology in
particular, I think, India can give to the world
(in the long term) as much as it wants to take
from it (in the short term)
(from my talk in a meeting of the Atomic Energy
Society of Japan, Aso Mountain, July 13, 2006)
The Large Hadron Collider Model
(for International R&D Collaboration)
The world’s largest accelerator is being built in the Centre for
European Nuclear Research(CERN) in Geneva – a more than 4 Billion
U.S. Dollars machine. Under an agreement signed when I was
Chairman AEC, India contributed 40 Million U.S. Dollars – worth hitech equipment like a thousand superconducting sextuple magnets, etc.
and advanced ‘grid’ software. Half of this contribution has been put into
an ‘India Fund’ which will support Indian scientists who will work with
the Accelerator. Indian scientist groups are also participating in the
construction and experimentation with two giant Detector systems –
CMS and Alice – TIFR and SINP lead the Indian teams for these two
experiments (post-script: CMS was one of the 2 detectors involved in
providing the recent experimental evidence on the Higgs Boson).
Our entry as a full member into the ITER programme is
another example of India's 'equal partner' collaboration in a 'mega
science' project.
In development of all high-technology areas, I
have been suggesting a three-step strategy:
 optimally use Visible Capabilities;
identify and stimulate Latent capabilities;
and
leverage international collaboration
strengthen our own initiatives
to
Research involves generation of new knowledge
and Innovation requires adding economic value (or
societal benefit or strategic value or a mix of them)
to knowledge, not necessarily generated by you.
We have also
to consider Research in all its
dimensions - Basic Research, (what I call) Directed
Basic Research, Applied Research (both precompetitive and that leading to proprietary
product development) – and Innovation, again in
all its dimensions – Product Innovation, Process
Innovation and Design Innovation.
Success in Research gives prestige, Success in
Innovation gives prosperity.
We want both.
People today want Science to improve their
Quality of Life. And this is happening.
“After the second world war, the U.S … led the world ……
through the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) central role in
technology development. To support this technology base, the
DoD invested in emerging fields….Resulting waves of
innovation created whole industries that helped to fuel the US
economy…. The attributes that accounted for the military’s
successes (included), in particular, its focused mission. …….….
and its role as an early customer for advanced technologies”.
Daniel Sarewitz, Nature 471, 137(9 March 2011)
India’s mission-oriented agencies have a similar experience and must
continue to play a catalytic role in India’s technology development by
introducing new advanced technologies. We must remember that, in
high-technology areas, ‘proven’ technologies are often a synonym for
‘obsolete’ technologies.
R. Chidambaram
Indian Tsunami Warning System
•
The TSUNAMI N2 model is customized for Indian Ocean region Travel times, Directivity
maps, Surge heights and Extent of inundation
• A large database of Scenarios for different magnitudes (6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0 & 9.5)
and depths (10, 20, 40, 60, 80 & 100 km) for 100 x 50 km grid.
• Forecast is given for 1800 coastal forecast points. WEBGIS based service.
• IOTWS is a network of national systems consisting of Regional Tsunami Service Providers
(RTSP) and National Tsunami Watch Centres (NTWC). RTSPs distribute products to
NTWCs. NTWCs are responsible for providing warnings to their citizens based on their
analysis of the situation. Operational RTSP Services started from October 12, 2011.
Courtesy: Dr. Shailesh Nayak
Space Application Projects in Diversified Areas
Agriculture
Drinking Water
• Area & Production
estimation - Rice, Wheat,
Sorghum, Cotton, Potato,
mustard groundnut
• National Centre for Crop
Forecasting being
established under Ministry
of Agriculture
• Groundwater prospect &
Recharge zones
• 20 States completed;
• Phase-IV ( 13 States & UT) in
Progress.
Fisheries
Watershed Development
• Potential Fisheries Zone
(PFZ) Forecast to > 450
Stations
• Indian National Centre for
Ocean Information
Services
Monitoring Irrigation Infrastructure
• Use of High resolution satellite
data for Assessment of irrigation
potential created under the
“Accelerated Irrigation Benefit
programme” of Planning
Commission
• 53 Projects; 5.4 Mha in 18 States
Road
Parcel
PRA
Water
Drain
Soil
LU/LC
Field Survey
• Spatial data base at large
scales to facilitate planning and
monitoring development of
land and water resources on
watershed basis , in several
National and State level
programmes
Wasteland Monitoring
• National Wasteland Inventory Project
(1986 - 2000); Wasteland Updation
Mission (2003-04);
• Wasteland Monitoring Project - 2006
• Wasteland Change Analysis project
using 2009 data
Courtesy: Dr. K. Radhakrishnan
An Example of RuTAG/HESCO-BARC work in Uttarakhand
(RuTAG is an Open Platform Innovation Strategy of PSA’s office)
Identification of Recharge Zones to Drying Springs in Gaucher
Here springs are the only available source of water for
domestic and agricultural use.
Techniques applied include;
 Measurement of environmental stable isotopic
ratios of 18O/16O, 2H/1H and environmentally
radioactive tritium.
 Geomorphologic and hydrogeological data.
Based on the above analysis, artificial recharge
structures were constructed at selected locations.
The rate of discharge increased three to nine times
in many springs and also two new springs sprang up.
Almost all the springs have become perennial.
from K. Shivanna, Gursharan Singh, A.P. Joshi et al, Current Science(2008)
Nuclear Desalination- Hybrid MSF-RO, Kalpakkam
It is the largest nuclear desalination plant in the world based on
hybrid technology.
NDDP Kalpakkam – MSF
4.5 Million Litres per Day (MLD)
Stages: 39
Product Quality: Distilled 2-5 ppm
Solar Energy can also be used.
NDDP Kalpakkam-RO
1.8 MLD capacity
Product Quality: Drinking water
(WHO quality)
(Courtesy : P.K. Tewari, BARC)
Nuclear is, of course, Power. But its impact branches out to medicine, agriculture
and other societal needs, including water security.
Tremor analysis glove fabricated by IGCAR, in
collaboration with SCTIMST
(with IGCAR knowledge of synergy with sensors used for seismic detection in nuclear
reactors used for monitoring hand movement disorders in SCTIMST)
Courtesy: Dr. Baldev Raj, IGCAR, and
Dr. Asha Kishore, SCTIMST
National Knowledge Network
On Conclusion of Final Phase
►
►
►
►
31 PoP
89 Backbone Links
1500 Edge Links
More than 700
connections by April
2012
Aims to connect all
Knowledge Institutions in
India through a high-speed
all-optical fibre low-latency
network
Regional and International
Research Collaboration can
be enhanced by connecting
such Knowledge Networks
NKN an integral part of escience infrastructure
Courtesy: R.S. Mani, NIC
NKN APPLICATIONS
High Energy Physics
NKN e-Classroom
NKN Webcasting
NK
N
Climate Change
Remote Experiment
Engineering Research Collaboration: Complex Systems from Nuclear to orthodontics (Collab CAD platform)
 The most important issue, today, and not only in India but
everywhere, is attracting talented young people to careers in
science and technology, particularly in those areas which a
country considers important. INSPIRE programme of DST is
a significant initial step in this context, starting from age group
10-15 (middle and high schools) to faculty awards in the age
group 27-32 (post doctoral) – 6,40,000 awards released since
2008.
 Hemorrhage of engineering research talent has also got to be
stemmed at the B.Tech/M.Tech Final Years.
 And then there are the Gifted in Science and Mathematics,
whose innate abilities have to be identified and nurtured. Our
Office has initiated a pilot project in this context.
R. Chidambaram
“By the time Ramanujan finished school, he had become a
celebrity for his talent in mathematics…..before he left school,
he came upon …..Carr’s Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure
Mathematics, a collection of important mathematical results,
….without proof or explanation. ……following the example of
Synopsis, much of Ramanujan’s
original work consists of
brilliant results simply stated, with generations of researchers
…..who came after him having to plod to find the proofs …..
Ramanujan failed in his FA examination in Government
College in Kumbakonam ….. (and again in Pachaiyappa’s
College). …..providentially, a brilliant young mathematician at
Cambridge, G.H. Hardy, ….. was thunderstruck by the incredible
originality of the material sent to him (by)….. the remarkable
Indian clerk”.
“from S. Ananthanarayanan’s “Icons from the World of Science”, 2004
Can we identify and nurture today’s Ramanujans?
MOTIVATION
How did India produce world-class scientists
like C.V. Raman and S.N. Bose in 1920’s?
“In the 1920’s, there was need for selfexpression as a part of the national
movement ………. to show the West that in
their own realm, we were equal to them”
S. Chandrasekhar speaks to K.C. Wali
Today, the motivation should be to make
India a ‘Developed Country’ in the fullest
sense of the term and a ‘Global Innovation
Leader’.
Need for Character
“Most people think it is the intellect
which makes a great scientist.
They are wrong, it is the character.”
-Einstein
To do experiments with patience and care, to
interpret results without bias or prejudice, to
persevere in spite of failures and to claim credit
for what you have done and no more than that
requires character. These virtues mutatis
mutandis are needed also for leadership in any
field.