Mega Science Projects: Quest for understanding the unknown, micro to macro universe. (2 Days seminar at the Nehru Science Centre 8th and 9th May 2019)

Mega Science Projects: Quest for understanding the unknown, micro to macro universe.

(2 Days seminar at the Nehru Science Centre 8th and 9th May 2019)

The Army’s tweet regarding the findings of the ‘mythical creature’ Yeti’s footprint on the foothills of Himalayas, which featured on the front page of Times of India and several other media, though ridiculed by many on the social media as hogwash and unscientific, brings to focus the need for addressing such issues scientifically, through peer reviewed evidence and research. Such issues also accentuates the need for better understanding the unending mysteries of not just the mythical creatures like the Yeti, but also the universe, of which we are a small part. The mysteries of our universe stretches from an extreme unseen universe of subatomic particles - quarks, muons, positrons, Higgs Bosons (god particle discovered at the LHC, at CERN, Geneva) etc. - to the extreme, beyond the observable, unseen macroscopic universe. The quest for study and understanding of such extreme scales of universe and its nature has become a necessity for scientists in their endeavour to collectively aim at pushing the frontiers of science.

The need for research on pushing the frontiers of science has led to international collaboration in pooling of men and material resources and establishing global partnership. And the resultant outcome is the Mega Science Projects, in which India is also a partner. To show case the significance of such Mega Science Projects, particularly the Indian contributions in these projects, three Government of India institutions; Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Science and Technology and the National Council of Science Museums, have joined hands to present the first ever “VIGYAN SAMAGAM”, an exhibition of seven mega science projects and a plethora of events, panel discussions, debates, programmes etc. involving the best of scientists from India and abroad and other stakeholders in the field, including industry.

“VIGYAN SAMAGAM: Pushing the Frontiers of Science”, a first-of-its-kind Mega Science event, will be inaugurated by Dr V K Saraswat, Member NITI Ayog, at the Nehru Science Centre, on the 8th of May 2019. A galaxy of distinguished scientists and dignitaries including Prof VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, Dr. K N Vyas, Chairman Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary DAE, Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST, Dr. Baum Andreas, H.E, the Hon. Ambassador of Switzerland to India, and others shall be present during the opening of the exhibition, which will be followed by two days “scientre stage” mega events. The event will also showcase a special exhibition which has travelled all the way from CERN, Geneva and seven other mega-science projects in which India is collaborating with other international scientific bodies namely ; European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), Square Kilometre Array (SKA), Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).

The Scientre Stage” two daylong event, will commence with the key note address by Prof VijayRaghavan. Each of the seven mega science projects will have a dedicated session of their own, with one common session for each session dedicated to a panel discussion on “leveraging collaboration for Indian Science and Industry”. The session will start with the CERN project and will include; address by Dr. Tsesmelis Emmanuel, on “CERN - India perspective”, Dr. Bordry Frederick, Director of Accelerators and Technology, CERN, will speak on “Accelerators and future Projects” and Dr Srivastava, will speak on Indian Contributions in CERN. A session on “Doing business with CERN” will be conducted by Mr. Unnervik, Anders, Head, Procurement and Industrial services, CERN. The FAIR project sessions will include a lecture by Dr Giubellino, Paolo, Scientific MD, GSI&FAIR on “FAIR The Universe in the Laboratory” followed by a lecture on “FAIR, the next generation Accelerator, a technology marvel “by Dr, Bhandari, IUAC, New Delhi. This will be followed by a lecture by Dr Subhasis Chattopadhyay, Program Director FAIR Project on “Indian Industries at FAIR”.

The session on the INO project will start with a lecture “Neutrinos New Window to the Universe” by Amol Dighe from TIFR, Mumbai. The lecture by Prof Vivek Datar “On Why INO” will hopefully shed light and address several issues on the need for this project. The other sessions of the INO include a lecture on “Spin Offs and Social Benefits of the INO Project” by Dr B Satyanarayana, TIFR. The ITER session will include lectures by Dr Shashank Chaturvedi, Director, IPR Gandhinagar on “India’s Plasma Science & Technology Program and Spinoffs”, Dr. Laban Coblentz, Head Communications, ITER, France, will speak on “The ITER Project the way to New Energy”. The LIGO project session will commence with a opening lecture by Dr Reitze David, Executive Director, LIGO on “The Gravitational Wave Astronomical Revolution: India’s Emerging Role”, and will be followed by a lecture on “LIGO-India Project – Optical Instrumentation at its limits” by Dr Sendhil Raja, Head Laser & Optical Instrumentation section RRCAT, Indore and a lecture on “LIGO India: Opportunities for the Industry” by Prof. Subroto Mukherjee Head LIGO Division, IPR, Gandhinagar. The SKA sessions will include lectures that will commence with “Square Kilometre Array: An Astronomers Dream Science Machine” by Prof. Braun Robert, Science Director SKA, a lecture on “Technology Challenges on the Road to designing and building the SKA” by Prof. Yashwant Gupta, Centre Director NCRA, TIFR Pune and a Lecture on “Indian Industry Engagement in the SKA: Current status and Future Projects by “Prof. Yogesh Wadekar, NCRA. The last session of the Mega Science Projects addresses the TMT project and will include lectures by Prof Ravinder Bhatia, Associate Project Manager on “Thirty Metre Telescope”, Prof A N Ramprakash will speak on “Challenging Technology Horizons for Expanding Discovery Space” and the last lecture of the series will by by Dr Ahmed Mushtaq on “Building Distributed Telescope Control System”. The two day sessions will end with a session for the Industry in which the discussion on all the seven mega science projects with a perspective on Indian Industries will be discussed organised between the scientists and the Industry representatives.

The two-month long exhibition at the Nehru Science Centre will also have a dedicated week for each of the seven Mega Science Projects and series of curated events and activities concerning these projects will be organised during the exhibition period. The exhibition and events will also be organised in Bangalore at the Visvesvaraya Museum, at Kolkata in the Science City and at the National Science Centre in Delhi.

The primary objective of this mega event is to spread a message that all developments in science and fundamental research in basic sciences leads to new knowledge and will hopefully provide scientific capital. The mega science projects create an opportunity from which the practical applications of knowledge can be drawn for the benefit of society, this is all the more relevant today than ever and history has shown that basic research is the pacemaker of technological progress.