.

Indian Model in Space Science Benefiting Common Man

Former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan has said India is

the "role model" in the world in harnessing space research

and explorations for the benefit of the common man. "The

vision of Vikram Sarabhai, our founder, was that this high technology (space science) should be beneficial

for the people of this country, for the governance of this country and that is what we have been doing in this

area. I am happy to say India is a role model in the whole world in how space can be used for benefits of

the people in this country," Mr. Radhakrishnan said at an event in Kolkata yesterday evening. He was con-

ferred the annual national award, the PC Chandra Puraskaar, by the PC Chandra Group. In his address he

stressed on how space science (satellite systems and communication) has helped fishermen, farmers and

disaster managers in India in early warnings and other services. During Radhakrishnan's tenure as the chief

of the space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation, India created history by becoming the first

country to enter Mars orbit in maiden attempt on September 24, 2014 after a nine-month voyage through

the inter-planetary space from Earth. India also became the first Asian country to have entered the Mars

sphere of influence (gravity) in its maiden attempt as a similar mission by China failed in 2011. Describing

India as a "major player" in space technology and explorations, the Padma Bhushan recipient said the Mars'

mission's success sparked interest in science and space exploration among children in India.

"It was not only the prestigious position that we did it at one go but it kindled the young generation of the

country. The children were there in the school together looking at this event and to me that is a great contri-

bution that we have done to the country and we made all Indians proud that India can do it on its own," said

Radhakrishnan, the current chairman, Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, in

West Bengal.

June, 2015

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2

Restoring Indias Calculus Crown Dr.George Gheverghese Joseph, Professor at Manchester university, UK

George Gheverghese Joseph is on a mission to reclaim In-

dias pride of place in the world of mathematics. An emeri-

tus professor at Manchester University in the UK, his book,

The Crest of the Peacock; Non-European roots of Mathemat-

ics, has challenged the status quo and persuaded the West to

acknowledge that a 15th century Kerala mathematician-

astronomer named Madhava (Madhavan, in local dialect)

had worked on the fundamentals of calculus a vital tool

for measuring time, making almanacs and finding directions

at sea almost two centuries before Sir Isaac Newton and

his German counterpart Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz were credited as its founders.

Kerala-born Joseph has some reasons to conclude that the southern Indian state may have served as a conduit

for the transmission of Indian mathematics to Europe through Jesuit priests, though the evidence available is

more circumstantial.

Joseph played an important role in purging the South African mathematics curriculum of its racial overtones

post-apartheid but rues that the colonial mindset that denigrated native contributions and politics had

clouded Indias efforts to honour its heritage.

Q: How did the West react to the conclusions in your first book, The Crest of the Peacock; Non-European

roots of Mathematics?

Joseph: The perception of the West was a very pleasant surprise. I did not expect so many people to be so re-

ceptive to ideas. I think the reason they had not touched upon it earlier is because they did not have the infor-

mation. The book received over hundred reviews by all sorts of groups. Not just maths educators, even activ-

ists reviewed it. What particularly moved me was the extent to which African Americans and Blacks took up

some of the things in it after they realised they had a very rich history. For instance, the earliest mathematical

artefact is available right in the middle of Africa, but nobody knows. Its called the Ishango bone which is a

type of lunar calendar and dates back to 22,000 BC, much earlier than anything of that sort found anywhere in

the world. There were a few critics, but nobody took me on the math in it. It was mostly the interpretation.

There was criticism that I was devaluing Newton, Leibniz and the Greeks. But all I was saying was that there

is that part of history which has been ignored and we need to reflect on. And also, how some of the ideas trav-

elled to the West to, in fact, create the scientific revolution.

.

3

People who disappointed me were the Indians. Part of colonization involves a form of brainwashing where

you end up defending something because you think you have invested time and emotion in it. I was awarded a

Royal Society Visiting Fellowship to deliver a series of lectures in Indian universities. But a number of those I

met didnt either want to know or were very critical. Subsequently, I also noticed that academics has been

highly politicised in the country. So I suddenly find my views and conclusions either being approved by the

Right who say, look here is a book that shows India is great, or being criticized by the Left, who claim that the

book panders to the other side and contains not much of material analysis.

Q: What spurred your interest in Madhava?

Joseph: I always felt that from the little I knew, the mathematical tradition outside the European tradition was

neglected. Even in Africa where I taught for a long time, children would ask me if there was any African link

to the evolution of the subject and all I could point out to them were some Egyptian connections. But then the

children would say Egypt is not Africa. Later, when I became interested in the work of the legendary Srinivas

Ramanujan and had gone to Cambridge in this connection, I met an eminent Newton scholar, Tom Whiteside.

He asked me if I had come across the Kerala school of mathematics. I said no. He then referred me to a foot-

note by him of an earlier Indian researcher who had with his collaborators written extensively on the work

done in Kerala on the infinite series. Whiteside suggested that I explore it further and thats how I discovered

the work of Madhava and his disciples.

Q: What exactly was Madhavas contribution to mathematics?

Joseph: His works laid the foundations of the Kerala school of mathematics which flourished between AD

1,300 and 1,700. But he was only part of the wider Indian school founded by Aryabhata who wrote the mas-

terpiece Aryabhateeyam in AD 499. There are still differences over Aryabhatas birthplace, whether it was in

the north or the south of the country. Madhavas contribution was his work on the infinite series. Though

Newton and Leibniz are credited with the discovery of calculus, the fact is one of its critical strands had been

developed in Kerala more than two centuries before that. The West has now recognised this and accordingly

renamed certain results relating to the trigonometric series, previously known as the Newton, Gregory and

Leibniz series, as the Madhava-Newton, Madhava-Gregory and the Madhava-Leibniz series, respectively.

The irony is that we still dont know much about Madhava, the man himself. An eminent mathematician from

Oxford, Marcus Du Sautoy, recently made a series of television programmes on the history of mathematics. I

was consulted on those programmes relating to the history of Indian mathematics, including the remarkable

work in Kerala. He was particularly interested in finding the physical location of Madhava and his main disci-

ples to add some footage of film. When he asked me I was clueless and somewhat embarrassed. But now Im

told that he hailed from Sangamagrama, a medieval town in present-day Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district. It is a

shame that there is no memorial plaque at the place which would certainly attract maths tourists.

.

4

Q: How do you suggest the knowledge from Indian shores reached Europe?

Joseph: That was the subject of my third book, A passage to infinity Me-

dieval Indian Mathematics from Kerala and its Impact. I had undertaken a

project on the topic and what I concluded was that a lot of the knowledge may

have reached Europe through the Jesuit priests. We looked at a lot of archives

in Rome and Lisbon, mostly Europe. There was no direct documentary evi-

dence to prove this, but this may be because the documents may have been

destroyed. A lot of Jesuit papers were destroyed by the Catholic Church at

one stage and also there was an earthquake in Lisbon. However, there is

strong circumstantial evidence as these priests were sent out with the brief that they should find new ideas on

stellar astronomy, how to use the stars for calculations, how they would be of use for navigation. And India, as

we know, was at that time much advanced in these areas through works of people like Aryabhata and Bhaska-

ra. These priests used to move around in the court circles in Kochi whose royal family too boasted of astrono-

mers like Sankararaman.

Q: Has India been fair to its mathematicians?

Joseph: The question to ask is if India would have recognised the work of Ramanujan, a failed college student

from a relatively poor background, if he had remained in India.

Q: How did you get involved with the curriculum revision committee in Africa?

Joseph: Our family had moved to Kenya from Kerala when I was nine years old and I had my schooling there

before we shifted to the UK. In Africa, I realised that the curriculum was much affected by racial bias. For in-

stance, Black students were not expected to learn calculus because the apartheid government felt it was too

abstract for them. Just before Nelson Mandela became President, a group of us were invited, including me, to

help in the reform of the school and university curriculum.

Q: What ails math education in India?

Joseph: Firstly, there is too much stress on examinations, that the exam becomes the end in itself and know-

ing the subject is not so important. Secondly, there is limited opportunity for people to do a PhD in maths

(and, even worse, history of mathematics) which is why even the best minds opt for an MBA or move to the

IT field. Thirdly, there is not much of an inspiration coming from the teachers because they are dealing with

large classes and, in a number of cases, engaged in tutorial work after work. Also, the the system of teaching

is too didactic that there is only one right answer and only one right way of doing a problem. system of

teaching is too didactic that there is only one right answer and only one right way of doing a problem. right

way of doing a problem.

Source: Telegraph India

.

5

Four Indian Americans Named to American

Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences

announced the election of 197 new members,

four of whom are Indian Americans. Members

contribute to academy publications and studies

of science and technology policy, global security

and international affairs, social policy and Ameri-

can institutions, and the humanities, arts, and

education. The new Indian American members

are Sanjeev Arora of Princeton University, Sang-

eeta N. Bhatia of the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, Renu Malhotra of the University of

Arizona, and Ravindran Kannan of Microsoft

Research Labs in Bangalore, India.

Arora has done research in theoretical computer

science. Specific topics that he has worked on

includes computational complexity, computing

approximate solutions to NP-hard problems,

geometric embedding of metric spaces, unique

games conjecture, complexity of financial deriva-

tives, and provable bounds for machine learning.

Bhatia's research investigates applications of

micro- and nano-technology for tissue repair and

regeneration. In 2003, she was named to the MIT

Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100

innovators in the world under the age of 35. She

was also named a "Scientist to Watch" by The

Scientist in 2006, and Howard Hughes Medical

Institute investigator in 2008.

Malhotra is known for her work on the orbital

resonance between Pluto and Neptune. The as-

teroid 6698 Malhotra is named for her. She at-

tended the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

She graduated with a master's degree in physics

in 1983. She attended Cornell University where

she was introduced to non-linear dynamics. She

later worked for nine years at the Lunar and

Planetary Institute where she completed work on

Pluto's orbital resonance and predicted the reso-

nance of the Kuiper Belt.

Kannan is a principal researcher at Microsoft

Research India, where he leads the algorithms

research group. He is also the first adjunct faculty

of Computer Science and Automation Depart-

ment of Indian Institute of Science and previous-

ly was on the faculty at Yale University. He did

his B.Tech at IIT, Bombay and Ph.D. at Cornell

University. His research interests include algo-

rithms, theoretical computer science and discrete

mathematics as well as optimization. His work

has mainly focused on efficient algorithms for

problems of a mathematical (often geometric)

flavor that arise in computer science.

India closer to developing its own space shuttle

India is on the cusp of developing its own reusable space launch ve-

hicle, popularly known as a space shuttle. Isro's 1.5 tonne vehicle re-

sembling an aircraft is provisionally slated to make its maiden flight

towards the end of July or August from the Satish Dhawan Space

Centre, Sriharikota. Officially known as the reusable launch vehicle

(RLV-TD), it is undergoing final preparations at the Vikram Sarabhai

Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.

Its primary role will be to reduce the cost of access to space. The cost

of placing 1kg of object in space is about $5,000, which scientists are

hoping will come down to about $500 with the RLV. As of now,

there are no plans to use it for a manned mission. Speaking to TOI,

those connected with the nearly Rs 100-crore project said that the

spacecraft will initially be carried by a single solid rocket booster

with nine tones of propellants.

After lift off, it will zoom to an altitude of 70km and then execute a

soft landing in the Bay of Bengal. The duration of this sub-orbital

mission is expected to be around 900 seconds. The most anticipated

moment will be when the vehicle re-enters the Earth's atmosphere at

five times the speed of sound.

.

6

An ISRO Engineer told TOI: "To prevent the vehicle from getting damaged (due to heat), its nose has been

protected by carbon-carbon and there are about 600 heat-resistant tiles placed around the vehicle. These tiles

will be able to withstand a temperature to about 1,200 degrees Celsius."

The space-qualified tiles have been procured from Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, after it splashes down, the vehi-

cle will sink to the bottom of the sea and for now there are no plans to recover it.

"We have simulated different scenarios and we know what can happen. But, we have kept other options open.

If there is a change of thinking at the last moment, we may seek the help of the Indian Navy and the Coast

Guard to recover it," the engineer said.

ISRO ultimately plans to develop technology to land the shuttle on a runway. The mission, which will attract

global interest, will evaluate technologies such as hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise

flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion.

These technologies will be developed in phases through a series of experimental flights. The first in the series

is the hypersonic flight experiment followed by the landing experiment, return flight experiment and scramjet

propulsion experiment.

.

7

The age-old home remedy for jaundice - nimbu paani or lemon juice - has now got a 21st century spin, thanks to Indian scientists. They have literally squeezed lemons to nano-dimensions to create a nanodrug for speedy and accurate therapy of the dis-ease. Widening the scope of nanomedicines in India, scientists in West Bengal have designed special na-noparticles that break down bilirubin - the yellow

pigment found in bile, a fluid made by the liver.

Essential to liver health, higher than normal levels of bilirubin in blood (hyperbilirubinemia), may indicate certain diseases, including jaundice, in adults as well

as newborns.

"High levels may lead to brain damage or even death in newborns and adults, if not treated. To combat this, we designed manganese oxide nano-particles capped with citrate, a derivative of citric acid found in citrus fruits such as lemons," Nabarun Polley, of S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sci-ences, Kolkata, told IANS. Polley, a senior re-searcher at the Centre's department of chemical, bi-ological and macro-molecular sciences, explained that this nano-hybrid helps to degrade bilirubin and

bring it down to a normal level swiftly.

"It is actually like nimbu paani administered through nanoparticles," said Polley, adding lemon juice is usually suggested due to its cleansing nature. Through experiments performed on lab mice, Polley and his co-investigators at Jadavpur University and Dey's Medical, showed the nanoparticles to be safe, compatible with the body, and proved that they had the ability to act directly and specifically on the tar-

get-bilirubin.

This ensures the nanodrug doesn't affect any organ. There were no toxic effects after the particles were injected into the mice and parameters like blood cell count didn't change," said collaborator Soumendra Darbar, research and development division, Dey's Medical Stores (Mfg.) Ltd. In fact, this precision which is the product's USP, also takes care of the

time factor.

"It brought down high bilirubin levels within two hours (in mice) while the commercially available drug silymarin took more than a day to control the levels for the equivalent dose," said Polley, adding the group has been working on this specific nano-particle for the last five years. The latest findings, which are currently in press for publication in the Nanomedicine journal, open a new door for "cost-effective and efficient therapeutic treatment of hy-perbilirubinemia, jaundice and associated diseases,"

according to group leader Samir Kumar Pal.

"We have been working on detection as well as the treatment aspect of elevated bilirubin. In the near future, we could help avoid preventable deaths of newborns," said Pal, professor at the Centre's depart-ment of chemical, biological and macro-molecular

sciences.

Union Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan, post his visit to Pal's lab recently, had highlighted on Facebook that neonatal jaundice deaths, comprise 18 percent of newborn mortality in India. He was particularly impressed with a non-invasive, computer-based fibre-optic detector fabri-cated by the group that detects bilirubin levels within three seconds by shining light on the white part of

one's eye.

"Nanomedicine has huge potential for India as it has elsewhere in the world. Specially, diagnostics prom-ises to offer cheap and faster way for detecting dis-eases for India. This has a huge potential for India because our healthcare is not as widespread," said Praveer Asthana, Mission Director, Nano Mission,

Department of Science amp; Technology, India.

Nanomeds can cure jaundice faster: Indian Scientists

Hello Kiddies, Here is your Answers!!!

1. Jupiter

2. April 22

3. Wind Speed

4. Honey

5. Five

.

8

Mumbai Schoolgirls Bag Bronze at Global

Engineering Contest

Sakshi Pandey and Kajol Shelke, both Standard IX students of North Mumbai Welfare Society High School, Ghatkopar, have won the bronze medal in the Engineering category for their 'agro-dehydrator' project, at the International Sustainable World Pro-ject Olympiad (Energy, Engineering & Envi-ronment), or I-SWEEEP, held on May 9 at Houston,

Texas.

How it all began!!!

The idea of preparing an agro-dehydrator struck Pan-dey and Shelke when the two were at a chikoo farm in Dahanu to understand how dehydration processes take place. They noticed that the fumes released were high in nutritive value and they were simply

being wasted.

"I once had read in the newspaper that fruits and vegetables worth R13 crore are wasted every year in India as they grow stale easily. At the farm, we saw a machine called a dehydrator and noticed fumes being released. We wrapped a plastic bag around the nozzle as it was the only thing available and gradual-ly droplets started to collect in the bag. That's how the whole idea started," said Shelke. Subsequently, the hypothesis of their project was accepted and the duo won the Second Grand Gold award from around 75 participations at the Indian National Science and Engineering fair (INSEF) at the Agni College of

Technology in Chennai on January 10.

On January 21, mid-day had reported on the achieve-ments of the duo ('Juicy innovation helps Mumbai teens bag top award at science fair'). The first three grand gold award winners qualified for the I-

SWEEEP competition.

Hard Work

Shelke and Pandey, along with the support of their science teacher Rajeswari Nair, worked on their pro-ject and kept improvising on it for efficiency. "Initially the plastic containers and metallic tubes that we were using were not giving the desirable ef-ficiency. Hence after many trial and errors we settled

for an aluminium container and nickel-plated brass

pipes," said Pandey.

The two girls were trained under experts from Sci-ence Society of India, Bengaluru, along with experts from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Chembur. "The cost of the trip was R75,000 each, which was looked after by the Science Society of India, whereas the cost of my trip was taken care of

by the school," said Nair.

Global Stage

The competition was held at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston. "For the five days that we were there, we learnt things that we never imagined. We got a chance of meeting people from NASA and many well-known personalities," said Pandey. In all there were 427 project participations from around the world. Each project was to be

judged by a minimum of seven judges.

"We enjoyed so much with our competitors from Italy, New York, Ireland and Brazil. It was a new chapter in our life altogether," said a beaming Pan-dey. "We want to apply our project to the practical world. We are ready to share our idea with any dehy-dration company as well as farming people and are ready to help in any way. With our techniques I am sure their output will increase as well as their in-

come," added a confident Shelke.

About the project : The agro-dehydrator is a modi-fied microwave oven that is used to extract the water content in fruits and vegetables so as to increase their shelf life. A tube helps in capturing the mois-ture and the vapour released from these fruits and

veggies, re-condensing it to form a nutritive drink.

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9

NTPC flags off mobile science labs for rural India

Country's largest power producer

NTPC on Monday flagged off a mo-

bile science lab as part of its efforts to

promote scientific learning and revo-

lutionizing rural education in India. It

is a very innovative concept by which,

we can ignite scientific learning and I

am sure this new initiative will further

encourage young bright minds in re-

mote parts of India to learn better and

faster," Minister of State for Power

and Coal Piyush Goyal said.

NTPC is introducing Mobile Science Lab (MSL), a vehicle fitted with LCD TV carrying working science

models emphasising curiosity-based learning for children in rural India.

It is an initiative to revolutionise rural education and make hands-on learning accessible amongst underprivi-

leged children, an official statement said.

The three mobile service labs were flagged off by the Power Minister in the presence of P K Sinha, Secretary

(Power), NTPC CMD Arup Roy Choudhury, U P Pani, Director (HR) and senior officials of Ministry of Pow-

er and NTPC.

.

10

Nine Indian-American Students Win Awards at Prestigious International Science Fair

An Indian-American student won the prestigious Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award Friday, while nine

students from across India won awards in various categories and five US students were awarded science trips

to India at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (IISEF) in Pittsburgh. The IISEF honors the

world's most promising high school student scientists, inventors and engineers selected through rigorous

competitions held around the world. Many past winners have gone on to win Nobel Prizes and other prestig-

ious awards.

For his work on refining a system to help protect the seas from oil-drilling disasters, Karan Jerath, 18, of

Friendswood, Texas, received the $50,000 Young Scientist Award, the second highest prize at the IISEF.

Jerath was also one of the five students selected for the Intel and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum

Visit to India Award. They will receive a week long visit to India to showcase their research projects, visit

research leading institutions and interact with top scientists.

Onkar Singh Gujral, 18, of La Martiniere for Boys in Kolkata, won the Association of Computing Machinery

first award and the second award in the System software category for his entry on image processing algo-

rithms for detecting nanomaterials. The other Indian winners came from Delhi, Kozhikode, Mangalore and

Panipat. An Indian-American foundation, gave ten awards at the Fair. Sanjana J Rane, 17, of Louisville, Ken-

tucky, received the first award for work relating to renal fibrosis from the Ashtavadhani Vidwan Ambati Sub-

baraya Chetty Foundation based in Georgia.

Five American students of Indian descent were among those who

received the foundations second awards.

About 1,700 students who participated at the IISEF in Pittsburgh

were the top performers at 422 affiliated fairs held in 75 countries.

At the IISEF their projects went through rigorous evaluations by

about 1,000 judges with PhDs or equivalent qualifications from

across scientific disciplines.

Seventeen students from India were selected for the IISEF from

the National Science Fair held by Initiative for Research and Inno-

vation in Science.

Maya Ajmera, who is Indian descent and heads the Society for

Science and the Public that conducts the IISEF, congratulated the

winners and said, "These talented young students are the problem

solvers and innovators of their generation."

Hey, You Know Me?

I am the scientific term Bioremediation !!!

Bioremediation is the use of microbes to clean up contami-nated soil and groundwater. Mi-crobes are very small organisms, such as bacteria, that live natu-rally in the environment. Biore-mediation stimulates the growth of certain microbes that use contaminants as a source of food and energy.

Learn More in Coming Editions!

.

11

The top prize, the $75,000 Gordon E

Moore Award, went to Raymond

Wang, 17, of Canada.

Scores of Indian American students

won awards in various categories,

five of them getting the first award in

their specializations, biochemistry,

behavioral sciences, environmental

engineering, and mathematics and

energy physics. Scores of Indian

American students won awards in

various categories, five of them get-

ting the first award in their specializations, biochemistry, behavioral sciences, environmental engineering,

and mathematics and energy physics.

More than 200 Indian American students were among the finalists at the IISEF, having won regional compe-

titions across the US. In addition, students of Indian descent came from South Africa, Malaysia and Singa-

pore.

These are the other winners from schools in India:

Mansi Aggarwal, 17, and Harshit Jindal, 14, of Maharaja Agarsain Public School, Delhi: Fourth Award in

Plant Sciences category for research on "An Effective Herbal Ointment against Enterobiasis"

Ravi Pradip, 17, of Dayapuram Residential School, Kozhikode, Kerala: Third Place in Material Sciences for

work on "Plumeria Blooms for Organic Electronics"

Arsh Shah Dilbagi, 17, of DAV Public School, Panipat, Haryana, Third Award in Embedded Systems catego-

ry for developing "TALK-An AAC Device: Converting Breath into Speech for the Disabled"

Mansi Aggarwal, 17, and Harshit Jindal, 14, of Maharaja Agarsain Public School, Delhi: Fourth Award in

Plant Sciences category for research on "An Effective Herbal Ointment against Enterobiasis"

Aditya Bhargava, 16, and Komal S, 16, of Sharada Vidyanikethana Public School, Mangalore, Karnataka:

Fourth Award in Material Sciences for work on "Highly Sensitive Nano-Ferrite for Detection of Carbon

Monoxide in Air"

.

12

Events

Sastra Prathibha Contest, 2016

Science International Forum (SIF) Kuwait announced January 14, 2016, Thursday, as the exam date for the prestigious Sastra Prathibha

Contest for the academic year 2015-2016.

A scientist in his laboratory is not

a mere technician: he is also a

child confronting natural phenom-

ena that impress him as though

they were fairy tales

Marie Curie

Discover ISSUE 01 JUNE, 2015

Compiled & Edited By

Prasanth Nair

Reshmy Krishnakumar

Science International Forum, Kuwait

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1. A concave shape bends ..

2. In which country was Nelson Mandela born?

3. What is a dogs most powerful sense?

4. What is the sweet substance made by bees?

5. The scientific study of plant life is known as what?

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