How to tackle impatience ?

Conversation with Pushkar Sohoni

Pushkar Sohoni is an architect, architectural and cultural historian, and associate professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pushkar_Sohoni&oldid=1217982761.

He has been involved in various conservation projects and has written extensively on the history of architecture, numismatics, and material culture. Sohoni has also been a consultant for the Sahapedia project on culturally mapping the city of Pune and has contributed to several documentaries on the history of Ahmednagar.

In this episode, we explore his intellectual history with a lively conversation on various topics, including his research interests.

Listen as we humanize science.

References:

“Pushkar Sohoni.” 2024. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pushkar_Sohoni&oldid=1217982761.
“Pushkar Sohoni – IISER Pune.” n.d. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/research/department/humanities-and-social-sciences/people/faculty/regular-faculty/pushkar-sohoni/339.
“Pushkar Sohoni – Associate Professor and Chair, Humanities and Social Sciences – Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune | LinkedIn.” n.d. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://in.linkedin.com/in/pushkar-sohoni-11754a13.
“Pushkar Sohoni: Books, Biography, Latest Update.” n.d. Amazon.In. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://www.amazon.in/stores/author/B014L77ZCI.
Sahapedia, dir. 2021. In Conversation with Pushkar Sohoni about the Educational and Research Institutes in Pune | In Pune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhGg8Oo77Vw.
“The Kingdom of Ahmednagar (Lecture 3) : Architectural History Presented by Pushkar Sohoni. – YouTube.” n.d. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhJ_m7vyxXE.

Discipline is a Talent – Federer’s point

On 9th June 2024, the great Roger Federer gave a commencement speech at Dartmouth College. In this speech, he made some interesting observations on the parallels between tennis and life. He made three relevant observations. First, he mentioned that effortlessness is a myth. Secondly, he emphasized that failure is part of one’s journey. Third, he mentioned that life is greater than the court, meaning there are bigger priorities in life, such as family, health, etc.

One of the fascinating facts he revealed is that he ended up victorious in about 80% of the matches he played, but this was achieved by winning only about 54% of all the points. This highlighted the point (no pun intended) that one will always have lows in life’s journey. I really felt the speech made some profound observations about life by making a great analogy between life and the game of tennis.

During this discussion, Federer made a comparison between being gifted and gritty. He brought the ‘question of talent’ to play and made pertinent observations. He mentioned that talent has a broad definition, including human abilities such as discipline, trusting oneself, loving the work process, managing oneself and a few others. The proposition that discipline is also a talent caught my attention as it resonated with my opinion.

This motivated me to ask how discipline plays a critical role in learning science and mathematics? We need to put in time and effort to learn anything at some depth. This kind of dedication to be disciplined is, in fact, a talent. Other features, such as managing time and balancing breadth and depth of knowledge, are also included. Generally, such features are not considered talents, but Federer’s speech hints at broadening the definition of talent.

In the history of science, there are many examples of people who were not considered gifted while growing up but made important contributions to science and technology. Albert Einstein is one such example. So much so that Einstein was considered a failure by his school teachers, and many did not consider him competent even up to the stage of his PhD. Now, we all know how wrong those people and their judgements were.

Another example is S. Chandrashekar, the famous astrophysicist. At an early age, he was considered brilliant, but a significant feature of Chandra was that he worked very hard (although he was rated highly). He was indeed very gritty and dedicated himself to the pursuit of science. He combined ‘giftedness’ with ‘grittiness’, so to speak.

These examples show a variety of characteristics that can lead to good work. Being patient, dedicated and hardworking can be an asset in any career and scientific research is no exception. In a way, this reinforces Federer’s thoughts on broadening the definition of talent.

Federer was undoubtedly one of the greatest tennis players ever. There is a lot to learn from him and his recent speech. There are some profound lessons for teachers and researchers like me from his points (again, no pun intended 🙂).

The takeaway from all this is “discipline is a form of talent”, and the world has to take note of this. Now that is a game, set & lesson for life.

Conversation with Guruswamy Kumaraswamy

Guru is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay : https://sites.google.com/view/guru-group/group-members?authuser=0

In this episode, we explore his intellectual journey from Chembur, IIT Bombay, Caltech, NCL Pune and back to IIT Bombay. Guru explains how and why he is interested in soft matter and sustainability-related problems. He explains how one can evolve research questions that are attractive to academia and industries.

Listen as we humanize science.

Guru and his team are dedicated to optimizing material utilization, designing materials that are more functional and easier to recycle and reuse. They explore the fascinating world of soft matter, which surrounds us in everyday life, from plastic bags to biological materials.

Guru’s research focuses on three key areas: sustainable materials and processes, designer functional materials, and circularity through recycling and reuse. His group is working on innovative solutions like flame retardant nanocomposites, high-functionality membranes, and value-added materials from waste plastics.

References:

“Guru Kumaraswamy.” Accessed June 11, 2024. https://sites.google.com/view/guru-group/home.
“Guru Kumaraswamy – Group Members.” n.d. Accessed June 11, 2024. https://sites.google.com/view/guru-group/group-members.
“Guruswamy Kumaraswamy | Chemical Engineering.” n.d. Accessed June 11, 2024. https://www.che.iitb.ac.in/faculty/guruswamy-kumaraswamy.
“‪Guruswamy Kumaraswamy – ‪Google Scholar.” n.d. Accessed June 11, 2024. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rRaAd4YAAAAJ&hl=en.
“Guruswamy Kumaraswamy (@GuruKumaraswamy) / X.” 2024. X (Formerly Twitter). June 1, 2024. https://x.com/gurukumaraswamy.

Conversation with Venu Gopal Achanta

Gopal is an experimental physicist, a Professor at TIFR Mumbai and currently heads the National Physics Laboratory, Delhi. https://www.tifr.res.in/achanta/

He and his research group have made important contributions in plasmonics, metamaterials and metrology. His work on magneto-plasmonics, plasmonic quasicrystals, exciton dynamics and quantum nanophotonics has opened some avenues in the field.

In this episode, we discuss his intellectual journey from Guntur, Mumbai, Japan and back to Mumbai, and on the way we explore how he got 2 PhDs and plenty of knowledge in semiconductor optics and plasmonics. We also discuss the importance of metrology in science and engineering and how it can impact the society.

A small segment in Telugu and some wonder memories of his student and postdoc days in India and Japan.

Listen as we humanize science.

References:

“FOTON Laboratory.” n.d. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.tifr.res.in/achanta/.
Achanta, Venu Gopal. 2015. “Plasmonic Quasicrystals.” Progress in Quantum Electronics 39 (January):1–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pquantelec.2014.12.002.
2020. “Surface Waves at Metal-Dielectric Interfaces: Material Science Perspective.” Reviews in Physics 5 (November):100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revip.2020.100041.
Akashvani AIR, dir. 2024. Science Talk II Prof Dr Venugopal Achanta, Director, CSIR – National Physical Laboratory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBW9HVPuVV0.
Belotelov, V. I., I. A. Akimov, M. Pohl, V. A. Kotov, S. Kasture, A. S. Vengurlekar, Achanta Venu Gopal, D. R. Yakovlev, A. K. Zvezdin, and M. Bayer. 2011. “Enhanced Magneto-Optical Effects in Magnetoplasmonic Crystals.” Nature Nanotechnology 6 (6): 370–76. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.54.
“DCMPMS.” n.d. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.tifr.res.in/dcmpms/venugopal_achanta.php.
“Metamaterials for Quantum Technologies by Venu Gopal Achanta – YouTube.” n.d. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7FEfz3hxMc.
“Our Director – NPL.” n.d. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.nplindia.org/index.php/about-us/directors-message/.
“Prof. Venu Gopal Achanta Elected as a Member of International Committee for Weight and Measures (CIPM).” n.d. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.pib.gov.in/www.pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1877736.
Rab, Shanay, V. K. Jaiswal, D. D. Shivagan, Goutam Mandal, Ashutosh Agarwal, Sanjay Yadav, D. K. Aswal, and Venu Gopal Achanta. 2024. “An Update on the State of the Art of Metric System in India.” https://www.services.bis.gov.in/tmp/WCPGD16325508_01052024_1.pdf.
Science Talk II Prof Dr Venugopal Achanta, Director, CSIR – National Physical Laboratory. n.d. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBW9HVPuVV0.
“‪Venu Gopal Achanta – ‪Google Scholar.” n.d. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=ZgLTn-EAAAAJ&hl=en.

50 deg C – here to stay..

India and many parts of the world are facing severe heat waves. Routinely, we are observing recorded temperatures much above 40 degrees Celsius.

Where is the problem? How to overcome this?

We need an ecological reset, perhaps a new social contract with nature. We may have to ask what human development means to us in the short and long term. Using technologies, quick-fix solutions can wash the eyes, not the dust inside them. Despite being an experimental physicist who likes to tinker with nature and is fascinated by machines, I am saying this.

Many proposed solutions to alleviate the problem of climate change are not sustainable. It is no longer just a question of science or technology deployment. We need a change in human behaviour on a large scale, and this includes governments, industries, and common people. Collective incoherence is the crux of the problem, and until we address it, we will see 50 deg C more often and in many places.

Raman & Gol Gumbaz

Below is a descriptive video I made on Raman’s fascination with some Indian architecture; a facet of his personality that is not highlighted enough.

So, why was he interested in them?

Conversation with Devapriya Chattopadhyay

Devapriya Chattopadhyay is a paleobiologist and marine ecologist who studies how marine organisms respond to their environment over ecological and evolutionary timescales. We explore her intellectual journey from Bengal, Mumbai, Michigan, Kolkata and Pune.

She is a professor in the Earth & Climate Science department at IISER Pune: http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~devapriya/

Her research focuses on shelled molluscs, using a combination of fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and statistical modelling to investigate predator-prey dynamics, fossil records, and modern distributions along the Indian coast.

Listen as we humanize science.

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