Interaction With School Children, Kohima
Kohima : 15-03-2007
Science is a Lifetime Mission
I am delighted to be here in Kohima and interact with the students of Kohima schools. I greet all the principals, teachers, students and distinguished guests. Since I am in the midst of young, I would like to talk about the life of three scientists from India and abroad who have made a difference to the life of people in this planet. I am sure some of these scientists could be a role model for you to follow. First of all, let me discuss about Chandrasekhar Subramanyan.
Chandrasekhar Subramanyan: How long stars will survive?
Chandrasekhar in his younger days mastered mathematics and German. His uncle C. Ramasamy says ?Chandrasekhar?s performance at School, especially in Mathematics, was at least 3 years ahead of the class. His classmates were aware of his potentialities and recognized that he was a genius among them.? He was a voracious reader and has read everything from Shakespeare to Hardy. His reading speed was up to 100 pages in an hour. This speed helped him to read all the scientific journals, while he was in college and understand the research that was going on in the laboratories in the world. While he was studying in the Presidency college, Sommerfield gave a lecture on the exciting new developments in physics. Chandra was the one individual in that audience who followed every word that the great master uttered. After the lecture, Chandra had some very useful discussion with Sommerfield. Later after his degree, he went to Trinity. During his tenure at Trinity, he presented two papers to the Royal Astronomical Society. One of these presentations dealt with the theory of white dwarf stars and how the quantum mechanical properties of the electron dictate the behavior of these stars at the end of their life cycle. Chandrasekhar's colleague Eddington followed this paper with a presentation that was very critical of Chandrasekhar's results. This attack was severe blow to Chandrasekhar's feeling and left a life long impression on him. As a result of the disagreement and the stature of Sir Arthur Eddington, Chandrasekhar accepted a position as a research associate at the University of Chicago offered to him by the famous American astronomer Otto Struve. Chandrasekhar stayed at University of Chicago throughout his career.
Chandrasekhar's most famous success was the astrophysical Chandrasekhar limit. The limit describes the maximum mass (~1.44 solar masses) of a white dwarf star, or equivalently, the minimum mass for which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star or black hole following a supernova. The limit was first calculated by Chandrasekhar while on a ship from India to Cambridge, England.
Two of Chandrasekhar's students in 1947 were the doctoral candidates Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang from China. Even though he maintained his office at the Yerkes Observatory in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, he would regularly drive the one hundred miles to Chicago to instruct Lee and Yang. In 1957, these two students won the Nobel prize in Physics for their work in particle physics research. This shows Chandrasekhar?s dedication and commitment to his students. In 1999, NASA named the third of its four "Great Observatories'" after Chandrasekhar. Now, I would like to present how an enquiring mind of careful observation leads to path breaking result in science.
Sir C.V. Raman: Evolution of Raman Effect
Why is the sea blue? The view has been expressed that the dark blue of the deep sea has nothing to do with the color of water. It is simply the blue of the sky seen by reflection. Sir CV Raman then questions this view describing his own experiment on board the ship: Observations made in this way in the deeper waters of Mediterranean and Red sea showed that the color so far, from being impoverished by suppression of sky reflection was wonderfully improved here by. It was abundantly clear from the observation that the blue color of the deep sea is a distinct phenomenon itself and not merely an effect due to reflected sky light. Later Raman draws attention to the connection between the color of deep waters and the Einstein Smoluchowski formula. Naturally he starts with that the sky is blue because of scattering of light by the molecules in the upper atmosphere. The color of the sea is a different matter. Rayleigh believes it was all due to reflection, but Raman gives an entirely different view, that in this phenomenon, as in the parallel case of the color of sky, molecular diffraction determines the observed luminosity and in great measures also its color. This led to the birth of the Raman Effect. Since I am in the midst of children Scientists, I thought of sharing with you an incident narrated in the book about Sir CV Raman. Raman was in the first batch of Bharat Ratna Award winners. The award ceremony was to take place in the last week of January, soon after the Republic Day celebrations of 1954. The then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Raman inviting him to be the personal guest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan during his visit to Delhi for the award ceremony. He wrote a polite letter, regretting his inability to participate in the award ceremony. Raman had a noble reason for his inability to attend the investiture ceremony. He explained to the President that he was guiding a Ph.D. student and that thesis was positively due by the last day of January. The student was valiantly trying to wrap it all up and Raman felt, he had to be by the side of the research student, see that the thesis was finished, sign the thesis as the guide and then have it submitted. Here was a scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony associated with the highest honour, because he felt that his duty required him to be by the side of the student. It is this character that truly builds science. These characteristics are portrayed very lucidly in the book titled ?The Big and the Small? from the Microcosm to the Macrocosm written by Dr. G. Venkataraman?.
Visionary
Very rarely, in the life journey, great human beings influence one?s life. I had the privilege of working with three such personalities. I was fortunate to work with Prof. Vikram Sarabhai for seven years. While working closely with him, I saw the dawn of the vision for the space programme in a one page statement. Witnessing the evolution of this one page by many years of ceaseless work by a cosmic ray physicist, a great scientific mind was really a great learning for me. Also I was thrilled to see the famous vision statement of Prof Vikram Sarabhai made in the year 1970 which states ?India with her mighty scientific knowledge and power house of young, should build her own huge rocket systems(satellite launch vehicles) and also build her own communication, remote sensing and meteorological spacecraft and launch from her own soil to enrich the Indian life in satellite communication, remote sensing and meteorology.? When I look at this vision statement now, I am overwhelmed to see the results of this statement. Today, India can build any type of satellite launch vehicle, any type of spacecraft and launch from Indian soil and also it has all the capability with its mighty facilities and powerful human resource. Through space technology and space science, India can make global contribution for the prosperity of our planet. This great mighty soul Prof. Vikram Sarabhai started his career in the laboratory of Sir C.V. Raman at IISc.
Albert Einstein and Energy Equation
Now let us study how great scientists like Albert Einstein got shaped for science in their school days.
Teachers? influence: In Albert Einstein life, we find that his interest in science started early, beginning with his encounter with magnetism, which he called ?the first miracle?. He was given a compass by his father and Einstein was endlessly fascinated by the fact that invisible forces could make object move. This experience made a lasting impression on him. His interest in compasses was reinforced when he found a caring mentor to hone his ideas. At the age of 12, he experienced second wonder in a little book given by his mentor Max Talmud with Euclidean plain Geometry which he called ?Holy Geometry Book?. Einstein called this his ?second miracle?. Here Einstein made contact with the realm of pure thought. Without expensive laboratories or equipment, he could explore universal truth, limited only by the power of human mind. Mathematics became an endless source of pleasure to Einstein especially if intriguing puzzle and mysteries were involved.
Visualizing pictures: Einstein?s father was in an electro chemical business. Being in the midst of electro magnetic contraptions awakened an intuitive understanding of electricity and magnetism in Albert Einstein. It sharpens his ability to develop graphic, physical pictures that would describe the laws of nature with uncanny accuracy. This trait, the ability to see everything in terms of physical pictures, would mark one of Einstein?s great characteristics as a physicist.
Freedom to Learn: Though born in Germany, Einstein moved to Zurich Polytechnic Institute in Switzerland. The entry into the polytechnic did not require a high school diploma, just a passing grade on its tough entrance examination was sufficient. Einstein failed in the entrance examination but he did exceptionally well in the Maths and Physics section. That impressed the Principal and he promised to take him during the following year without an entrance test and the Principal did it. The message we get from this experience is about having a flexible system of admission. Also an ability to spot the aptitude of the student in a particular subject and nourishing the talents. In addition, Einstein enjoyed the liberal atmosphere of the Swiss school.
Simplicity in description: Unlike other scientists who often got lost in Mathematics, Einstein got in terms of simple physical picture ? speeding trains, falling elevators, rockets and moving clocks. These pictures would unerringly guide him through the greatest ideas of the twentieth century. He wrote ?All physical theories, their mathematical expression notwithstanding, ought to lend themselves to so simple a description that even a child could understand?. This is a very important message for all physics researchers and physics teachers. Here the birth of famous simple, elegant and very powerful energy equation E=MC2, which decided war and peace system of the world.
COURAGE
Courage to think different,
Courage to invent,
Courage to discover the impossible,
Courage to travel into an unexplored path,
Courage to share the knowledge
Courage to remove the pain
Courage to reach the unreached
Courage to combat the problems
And Succeed,
Are the unique qualities of the youth.
As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my scientific missions.
My best wishes to all the students, teachers and parents.
Questions and Answers
Ms Alune Kuliuvelu Tetso, Class IX, Don Bosco H.S., Kohima
1. Your Excellency, you are known as the Missile Man and a scientist and now you have become the President which is completely different from the previous field. So how much is that Scientist still alive in you ?
Ans: What is science? Science comes out of proper question and getting the proper answer. Getting a proper answer is a continuous process. With a person with scientific temper, science will be always throbbing.
Mr Prosonjit Sengupta, Class IX, Baptist H.S.
2. I read in a book that your role model is your teacher, Sir Siva Subramanyam. How did he inspire you and change your life.?
Ans: Bird story
Ms Kezhalenuo, Minister`s Hill Baptist HSS
3. Is your dream of India 2020 possible? Did you include Nagaland in this dream?
Ans. Yes, it is there. In my India 2020 Vision all the 28 states and UTs are covered. Economically developed states make developed India.
Ms Anovili Chishi, Class IX, Mount Sinai School.
4. What special contribution are you giving to the girl child?
Ans: Children are out wealth, there should not be any discrimination between girls and boys. This should be practiced in all our actions. Girls education is given highest priority.
Mr Jaffery, Class X, Chandmari HSS.
5. Your Excellency being a Scientist what advice would you give to young science students aspiring to be scientists ?
Ans: Science is a life time mission. One should love the subject and excel in the performance. Science requires a strong mind, so that problem comes it should be defeated and we should succeed.
Ms Imtisenla, Class X, Grace School.
6. With so many scientists around us why are we still unable to find the cure for AIDS which is threatening the human race? Why?
Ans: The disease results out of a unique virus. Of course medicine to control the disease and extend the life is available. What we need is prevention of the disease. A mission is going on in our country. Three groups are working in our country to develop a vaccine against HIV AIDS. Soon we will get the result.
Mr Seyievilie, Class IX, Don Bosco HSS.
7. The Indian Government has banned Child labour, which deprives those very poor children from earning their livelyhood whose parents cannot earn sufficiently? What is your view on this major problem?
Ans:Prevention of child labour is accompanied by rehabilitation of the child with education as per Law. Many government agencies and social groups are working for that.
Ms Vimenuo, Class IX, Mount Sinai School.
8. We want Technical Colleges in our State, which we don`t have now. Can you help?
Ans: I understand the Nagaland University has a programme to start an engineering college in 2007 August with the following subjects: Bio-technology, agricultural technology, electronics and communication, information technology and computer science.
Ms Imkongnenla, Minister`s Hill Baptist HSS.
9. What is the benefit of India being a nuclear State?
Ans: When all around us nuclear weapon countries are there, for national security and national peace, so that we can be busy on development. India should be a nuclear weapon state. But we have a nuclear doctrine NO First Use.
Ms Shihrani, Class X, Mezhur HSS.
10.Is there anything more you want to achieve in life?
Ans: I would like to see India transforming into a developed nation and its billion plus will be happy,prosperous and safe before.