Nobel Prize 2018, in Physiology or Medicine

Nobel Prize 2018, in Physiology or Medicine

Dr. A P Jayaraman, (https://www.drapjayaraman.com/science) senior retired BARC nuclear scientist who worked with the likes of Dr R Chidambaram and Dr Anil Kakodkar, whose initials match with the legendary APJ Kalam, very kindly asked me if he could use my FB posts on the Nobel Prizes. It was an honour for me to honour his request. Dr. Jayaraman, post his retirement has been very actively engaged in science communication and is a great friend and philosopher of our science centre. He has received global acclaim for his inimitable style of science story telling and he is also a prolific writer on science and literature. Unfortunately I had missed out FB posting on the Nobel Prize in Medicine and had only posted write ups on Chemistry and Physics Prizes. I am making amends and am posting this write up on the Nobel Prize 2018, in Physiology or Medicine. Though very late some friends may still like to read it.

This year’s coveted Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to the two immunologists, Dr. James P Allison, from the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Centre, USA and to Dr. Tasuku Honjo, Professor at Kyoto University in Japan, for their path breaking discoveries of harnessing the power of the immune system to combat cancer.

There are moments in history of scientific achievements that herald the beginning of a new era. The significance of such achievements - the inflexion points - are sometimes very apparent like the General Relativity, which eclipsed the Newtonian classical physics to herald a new era of Quantum mechanics, or Neil Armstrong’s first step onto the surface of the moon, in 1969, which marked a new phase of space exploration. There are however several other advances in science which take many years for their significance to manifest, and this year’s Nobel winning works in medicine is one such example. Our immune system is nature equipped with the best of molecular mechanism to combat diseases. Over the past several years’ scientists, including this year’s Nobel laureates, have been researching to harness the power of our immune system to fight cancer. The very word Cancer, the lexicon of which in itself manifests a terror in the minds of the people, has plagued human society for several centuries and attempts to rid people of cancer dates back to the period since when the disease was first recognised sometime in 1500 BC. However, the idea of using cancer patient’s own immune system to combat cancer is more recent.

The first scientist to postulate that the immune system might control tumours was Paul Ehrlich, the Nobel prize winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of haematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. He shared the 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov for their work on immunity. Ever since, researchers have tried to harvest the power of the immune system to wipe out cancers. This year’s Nobel Prize winning scientist in Physiology or Medicine, Dr. James P. Allison and Dr. Tasuku Honjo, have succeeded in discovering methods to inhibit negative immune regulation, thus providing a paradigm shift in the way cancer can be treated by stimulating the inherent ability of the human immune response to unleash an attack on cancerous tumour cells. Their research findings have led to new medicines that activate the immune system to fight cancers.

Dr. Allison’s research of over two decades has resulted in the discovery of a protein in the immune system - the T cell protein CTLA-4 - that functions as a brake on the immune response. Dr Allison looked at this protein from a completely different perspective to the one which most others followed of treating it as a target in the treatment of autoimmune disease. He developed an antibody that could bind to this protein and block its function. In the process, Dr Allison and his team found that the CTLA-4, protein blockade could disengage the T-cell brake and unleash the immune system to attack cancer cells, which they observed, could cure cancer while experimenting on the mice. Dr Allison worked on his research to develop a strategy called the immunotherapy for humans, which showed outstanding healing effects in patients with advanced melanoma. His clinical trials on humans showed remarkable results and in several of his patients signs of cancer almost disappeared completely. Allison’s work followed its logical conclusion eventually leading to the development of the drug Yervoy (ipilimumab), which is now used to treat melanoma skin cancer and some other cancers.

Working in parallel, Dr. Tasuku Honjo discovered that another protein PD-1, which is found on the surface of immune cells (T cells) also work as a check point protein. This protein, similar to Dr Allisons’s CTLA-4 protein, functions as a T-cell brake, but with a different mechanism. When this protein was attached to another protein, called the PD-L1 on cancer cells, it could prevent the T cells from recognising the cancer cells, as a result the immune system will not be in a position to destroy the cancer cells. The findings of Dr Honjo meant that blocking the PD-L1 protein on cancer cells, or the corresponding PD-1 protein on immune cells, will allow the immune system to recognise the cancer cells as foreign and attack them. Therapies, which were based on the discovery of Dr Honjo have proved to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer.

These pioneering works of the two scientists, on the CTLA4 and PD1 immune checkpoints, have revealed that these pathways act as so-called ‘brakes’ on the immune system, and showed that inhibition of these checkpoint pathways allows T cells to more effectively eradicate cancer cells. This research has laid the foundation for the clinical development of immune checkpoint inhibitors, which have dramatically improved outcomes for many people with cancer. These revolutionary findings have established a landmark in the human fight against cancer. Over the past several years, tackling the body’s own immune system to fight cancer has been one of the main focuses of researchers and drugmakers alike. While conferring the two scientists with the award the Nobel committee, said “the immune checkpoint therapy has revolutionised cancer treatment, which has led to the development of several drugs which act as “checkpoint inhibitors”. These drugs when infused into patients, block molecules that put the brakes on T cells. By releasing these brakes, the body’s own immune system is able to fight cancer.

Dr. Allison and Honjo’s works have been pathbreaking that have revolutionised the human understanding of how the immune system recognizes tumor cells. Their works have led to a paradigm shift in clinical oncology, which is likely to alter how we treat cancer in the foreseeable future. Until now the best known tools in the arsenal of oncology doctors for the treatment of cancer have been surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Sooner than later the new found cancer immunotherapy is likely to equal, or rival, the impact of radiation and chemotherapy for patients diagnosed with cancer. Hopefully, in the decades to come and with more research, the prediction of the then US President, Bill Clinton, that Cancer “will be known to our grandchildren only as a constellation of stars”, may turn out to be truly prophetic.

The majestic Himalayas from my I Pad lens, on-board the flight from Guwahati to Delhi

The majestic Himalayas from my I Pad lens, on-board the flight from Guwahati to Delhi -11th December, 2018.

The second week end of December, every year, is the time when the heads of Indian science centres and museums, from across the country, meet for an annual conference and the 18th heads of science museums conference (2018) was hosted by the APSCTC, Arunachal Pradesh - on the sidelines of the opening of two new facilities - at Itanagar. I was privileged to deliver the key note address during the opening ceremony of the  conference at the Dorjee Khandu, State Convention Centre, Itanagar, in the august presence of the Hon. Minister, Mr Nabam Rabia and other distinguished dignitaries, Secretary, S&T, AP and other guests and delegates of the conference.

Five of us - the Directors of NCSM science centres- had to reschedule our return journey to make way for a meeting in Delhi, on the 11th December, for which we had to fortuitously take a morning flight from Guwahati to Delhi. My friend and colleague Srikant Pathak, Director, CRTL, was lightening quick to take advantage of the change in our travel to Delhi from Guwahati on the morning flight and he quickly blocked each of our five seats on the north east facing window seats to facilitate sighting the effulgence of the majestic Himalayas (derived from the two Sanskrit words Hima and Alaya meaning the abode of the snow), which our flight was to overfly. The date of our journey - 11th December (2018) coincidentally also happened to be the UN International Mountain Day and therefore it was a unique and memorable experience for each of us to commemorate this international day, (with the theme “Mountains Matter”), by looking at the the majestic Himalayas, which are home to precious freshwater resources not just for India but also to several other countries in South Asia. Some of the mighty rivers - the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra etc., are born in the Himalayas. 

The Himalayan mountain range covers an area of approximately 600,000 square kilometers, extending over a range of 2,500 to 3,000 kilometers in a roughly east–west arc. With its subranges and extensions, including the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, and the Pamir, the Himalayas, which are spread across parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Burma, and China, as well as all of Bhutan and Nepal, are one of the most magnificent and breathtaking natural structures on Earth that are the youngest and also the tallest range of mountains in the world. The Himalayas, which comprises of mountain peaks that include the majestic Mount Everest - the tallest mountain on Earth with a height of 8,850 metres, and other mountain peaks including the Kangchenjunga the tallest mountain in India, with snowy peaks rise over a staggering 8,000 plus meters to be aptly and befittingly called the snowy roof-tops of the world.

Some time during the Triassic period - some 220 million years ago- the Pangaea began to break apart. The landmass of India, which was part of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate, began its slow migration northwards towards the Eurasian plate on which the massive continent of Asia lay, and some 40 to 50 millions years ago it collided with the Eurasian plate, resulting in the creation and birth of the Himalayas. Neither plate gave way; the pressure of the collision moved the rock upward, eventually into the form of the jagged Himalayan peaks, which are continuing to increase in height, year after year. This dynamism is evident today and is witnessed in the form of frequent earthquakes, landslides, and avalanches.

Our flight took off from Guwahati at 7.45 AM and immediately rose above the clouds and in quick time reached almost 32,000 feet above sea level. We soon found ourselves flying high above the snow-capped mountain peaks, which appeared before us. For most part of our rest of the journey, spanning more than an hour, we could see one peak after another peak sighting almost the entire Himalayas through our windows. We were flying at almost the eye level with some of the highest mountains in the world and I could hardly believe my eyes. Hundreds of mountain peaks sprawled across my horizon, each of them standing high and mighty above the clouds, rising like sharp white daggers poking the skies. Puffy white clouds lay beneath us under a clear cloudless sky, creating a sharp contrast to the white snow that blanketed the mountain peaks. It was as though the peaks were floating in the sky and I felt as if I am in the mythical heavens.

I am not an enthusiastic photographer nor do I have an eye for this wonderful art but then the sight that I witnessed from the window is something, which tempted me to photograph the snowy mountains using my I Pad. I am honoured to share some of the images that I captured during our flight journey from Guwahati to Delhi, which will remain etched in my memory for ever.

Long live the Himalayas.

Out Break : Epidemics in a Connected World

Out Break : Epidemics in a Connected World (An exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution)

The best selling book “The World is Flat : A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century." by Thomas Friedman, New York Times, columnist, uses a metaphor -World is Flat- to describe the 21st century’s connected world (inspired by Nandan Nilekani), which offers a level playing field for commerce to the global community, destined to economically benefit countries like India. But then this very advantageous level playing field -of a connected world- comes with challenges of infectious disease outbreaks.

This year marks the centenary of the 1918 pandemic -the Spanish Flu Outbreak-which rampaged the world and killed 50 to 100 million people an estimated 5 percent of the world’s population. India too paid a heavy price during this outbreak resulting in an estimated 17 million deaths, in two waves of this deadly flu that swept India in May and October of that year. A hundred years later, scientists know much more about how to prevent and treat such diseases. But the threat of a global outbreak is now far greater than ever. Understanding what happened during this major health crisis is therefore important, particularly in the current connected world and an era of humanity’s growing population and its ever continuing drift to crowded cities across the globe and the resulting cohabitation of limited space with animal kingdom, which aid in spreading of diseases. All it takes now is one plane ride for a few localized cases of a disease to become an epidemic.

It is with this point in mind that the Nehru Science Centre, (NCSM), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, will be opening the “Outbreak” exhibition, which has been developed by the National Museum of Natural History, a Smithsonian Institution, and brought to our centre with support from the Harvard Global Health Institute.

TB, Malaria, Dengue, Influenza, and such other diseases like AIDS, Ebola, Cholera, Plague, Nipah, Zika etc. terrorise our country and kill thousands every year. If this is not scary the modern lifestyles in a connected world and ever increasing migration from villages and smaller towns to larger metropolitans and to global cities, with ever shrinking space, and inadequate hygiene is sure shot recipe for disaster and the best way to arrest this is creating awareness on infectious diseases and outbreaks. We therefore earnestly hope that this exhibition, which under different sections and simple narratives will help in sowing a seed of public awareness with a hope that it will result in changing behaviour on an individual and community level to bring about the much needed difference. This awareness, we hoped, will go a long way in lowering the pandemic risk and also in the much needed education to the public, who visit our centre in large numbers.

November 11,

Engineering at the Speed of Light : From Cold Atoms to Hyperloop

Engineering at the Speed of Light : From Cold Atoms to Hyperloop

The Nehru Science Centre joined the world community of science centres and science Museum networks, who with support from the UNESCO and ICOM are commemorating this day (10th November) as the International Science Center and Science Museum Day (ISCSMD). In our continuing quest to educate our diverse audiences, we celebrated this year’s ISCSMD by organising a special public lecture, “ Engineering at the Speed of Light : From Cold Atoms to Hyperloop” that was delivered by Dr Anita Sengupta to a jam packed 300 plus audience in the 260 capacity auditorium that spanned an extraordinary age group from 5 years old to 80 years young.

Dr Anita Sengupta, an Indian American formerly with NASA, is very well known as the brain behind NASA's Curiosity landing on Mars as well as for her extraordinary feat of being the leader of a team of engineers who worked on the “Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL)” project for NASA. The CAL was carried by the Antares rocket and has been integrated into the International Space Station. She mesmerised the audience with her “rocket speed” lecture that emhasized the significant role that engineers play in bringing the benefits of science to people. She said “the human desire to understand the nature and complexity of the universe has been the mother of invention for all of recorded history”. She further added that “harnessing power of physics to provide prediction, technology, and the scientific method has shaped order to a society that is naturally born of chaos”.

Her richly illustrated lecture highlighted how the discipline of engineering, which she is so extraordinarily passionate about, is continuing to play a pivotal role to benefit human society. She narrated real life examples of her personal journey of leading the development of engineering systems that have travelled to the main asteroid belt, landed on the surface of mars, chilled matter to almost absolute zero, and is now working on a revolutionary form of transportation the Hyperloop, which is destined to revolutionise public transport the world over including in India.

This was her second lecture at our centre, the first of which she had delivered some time in August 2013 just after the success of the Curiosity rower landing on Mars. Dr. Anita Sengupta, an aerospace engineer, pioneered the revolutionary supersonic parachute system that was deployed during the incredibly precise landing of Mars Science Laboratory “Curiosity”.

The Cold Atoms Laboratory (CAL), which is now docked on to the International Space Station (ISS), uses lasers to slow atoms until they are motionless, cooling them to temperatures far below than what is possible on Earth. Incidentally, less than a month back the Nehru Science Centre was fortunate to host a Russian Cosmonaut, Michelle Kornienko, who spent almost one full year on the ISS. Highlighting the significance of CAL, Dr Sengupta said “the temperature in the CAL could be 10 billion times colder than the vacuum of space, creating the coldest spot in the universe”. The CAL will help researchers to study and understand the phenomenon of “Bose Einstein Condensate” (BEC), predicted by the work of our very own scientist Dr. Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein in the early 20th century, which occurs just above absolute zero in the microgravity environment. She added “the CAL is intended to provide one of the most sensitive instruments mankind has ever built, which will help scientists and engineers to develop future space-based quantum sensors, which could enable more precise measurements of gravity, magnetic fields and in-space navigation and even help in developing quantum computers”.

Expectedly, the most fascinating -almost sci-fi like- part of her lecture was on the Hyperloop, high speed transportation system, which is destined to revolutionise mass transportation the world over. It was not long ago - February 2018 to be precise- that the Maharashtra CM, Hon. Devendra Fadnavis, signed an MoU with Virgin Hyperloop One, the site of which he had personally inspected during his visit to US, to build the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop track, which could traverse the distance in just about 20 - 25 minutes. Dr Anita Sengupta is currently working in this exciting frontiers of technology area of Hyperloop super fast public transportation. Dr Anita, stressed on the fact that there has not been a revolutionary change in the transportation system, post the invention of the Aeroplane (1903) by Wright Brothers more than 100 years ago, and the time is now for fast forwarding to the era of Hyperloop transportation. Dr Sengupta said “Hyperloop involves traveling through a vacuum tube/ tunnel in a magnetically levitating pod designed to accommodate 12 to 20 people. She added, “the Hyperloop travel will be smoother than riding on an airplane, which encounters air drag, and people won't be able to tell how fast they are going. She said at full speed, they could go faster than commercial airplanes and that they are aiming to get the pods up to 1100 kilometres per hour.

The Hyperloop high-speed mass transportation concept was floated by an American entrepreneur and innovator Elon Musk. The project envisages building a perfect tube in which the specially designed Pods run on the rail lines - in a near perfect vacuum tube - floating above the track using magnetic levitation. The near perfect vacuum ensures extremely low friction and hence high efficiency.

Dr Anita Sengupta ended her hour long lecture with some interesting anecdotes one of which included a monumental error in the statement made by Lord Kelvin who in the year 1895 had said that no machines, heavier than air, can ever be built which can be made to fly, other than balloons. In less than a decade the Wright Brothers working from the cycle shop proved the greatest of scientist to be wrong. She therefore is confident that in the years to come the hyperloop transportation could be a reality. Let us hope so. The lecture ended with an outstanding standing ovation.

Centenary of WW1 (Armistice): Remembering the countless thousands of Indian Soldiers who lost their lives.

Centenary of WW1 (Armistice): Remembering the countless thousands of Indian Soldiers who lost their lives.

It was on this date, 102 years ago, that the dreaded World War 1, also called the Great War of west, came to an official close, ending with the Armistice on the 11th of Nov 1918. The World War I, which started on the 28th July, 1914, took a heavy toll on humanity and Indians, who had nothing to do with this senseless menace  were not spared either. Indians were drawn into this deadly war courtesy our colonial rulers, the British.

More than a million Indian soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder alongside their colonial masters against the Germans and the Ottoman Empire in the unknown territories across Europe, Mediterranean, North and East Africa, Mesopotamia and so also in the deadly battle of the Gallipoli, which was fraught, in the most inhuman conditions and in the treacherous trenches, during the World War I. An estimated 75,000 of our soldiers died on the battlefield and many more were injured. Most unfortunately, not many Indians remember our soldiers who were part of this infamous battle. Unfortunately, the martyrdom and sacrifice of our soldiers during this war have been forgotten for long and therefore it is time that we remember them and accord the very same respect, reverence to our soldiers who were part of this Wat and made their supreme sacrifice fighting this bloody war for our colonial rulers. The Britishers had promised that post the WWI we will be given our independence and therefore our political leadership had endorsed the decision that the Indian army should join the British army and join this WWI. When the war ended the British went back on their promise and this served as an insult to injury and all that promise made by the Britishers for our independence were nothing but pack of lies perpetrated by the British on our leadership and luring them into joining the WWI. A soldier is always a soldier and his duty has always been to fight for the dignity and honour of the country and its flag and command under which they serve. 

A loss of life of even one of our soldiers in any of the battles is one too many and the nation comes together to salute the loss of men in uniform and unitedly pay our reverence to the martyrs and their family. However that was not to be for all those Indian soldiers who made the same supreme sacrifice fighting for the nation during the WW1. While the whole nation has rightfully been paying and will continue to pay respect and saluting our soldiers who fought in the various wars, both external and some internal (against the militants/terrorists) post our independence, most regrettably we have not given a fraction of that respect to the one million plus Indian Soldiers who fought the WWI and so also the WWII. As we commemorate the 102nd Armistice Day (11th November 1918) the anniversary of the end of WWI, it is time that we make amends and remember our soldiers who were part of this WW1 and pay our respect to them. Fortunately there are now scores of researched works, and books published that have chronicled in details the engagement of our soldiers in this war, which is helping us to remember the sacrifices of our soldiers during this war. Hope in the years to come, the role played by Indian soldiers during this war becomes a folklore and every Indians will learn of our soldiers participation in this war. On this day - the 102nd year of the Armistice, I join all my countrymen in paying my respect, salutations and homage to all our soldiers who are drawn in to the war of different kinds and pray that their sacrifice continue to be etched in the hearts and minds of every one of us. Hope that there will not be any more wars of this magnitude.

The world over the centenary celebration of the Armistice and the grand commemoration of the supreme sacrifice of the tens of millions of the soldiers, who fought this deadly World War1, ended two years ago on this very day with a hope and aspiration that the world will continue to remember this war and hope that there will never ever be another war of this kind. I also hope and pray that the WW1 has taught us an unforgettable lesson that such wars must be a big NO in future, irrespective of what the provocation is. The world over, particularly in those countries who were part of this deadly war, this day is remembered and commemorated with a hope and aspiration that the world will never face such wars in future. The day is also commemorated as a reverence day for the soldiers. Scores of published material is available on WW1 but there was not much research and published material available on the role played by the Indian soldiers during the WW1 and 2. Fortunately over the years many scholars have researched this subject, particularly the role of Indians in the war and now there are quite a number of published books and researched material available on this subject. This has helped in understanding and appreciating the role played by the Indian Soldiers during the WWI, which has now become more obvious not just to the Indians but also to the global community with several scholars publishing on this hitherto neglected issue.

I was one of those who were completely ignorant of the role played by the Indian soldiers during the WW1. Fortunately an exhibition’ Cricket Connects - India Australia’, which I was tasked to curate helped me to study and understand this subject. We, at the Nehru Science Centre, had the honour to curate two Cricket Connects exhibitions (India –Australia and India – England) in which we tried to connect the bonhomie between the Indian and British and Australian soldiers who fought together in this war. There are also records to suggest that the soldiers did partake in playing cricket during those rarest of the rare occasions.  We paid our homage to the Indian soldiers who fought to shoulder to shoulder with their buddies - the British and Australian soldiers during the WW 1 and 2. The Indian soldiers had an extraordinary connect with the British and the Australians, often times they played a side game of cricket for enriching the bond between the two. On the occasion of commemoration of the 102nd Armistice Day, it is again my honour to pay our homage to all those forgotten Indian Soldiers, who perished during the WW1. Accompanying archival photos of the Battle of Gallipoli, which were collected from Imperial War Museum in Australia and also from Turkey depict the role played by the Indian Soldiers during the World War 1 and 2. I am particularly tempted to write about the battle of Gallipoli which is one of the most legendary battle which has even been covered in the Hollywood films. 

Battle of Gallipoli: An Entente Most Remarkable

The Indian and Australian (ANZAC- Australia, New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder during the World War I at Gallipoli. The extent of the Indian participation at Gallipoli is only now becoming apparent. The ANZACs landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on the 25th April 1915, and fought in the trenches and on the frontline and in the process thousands perished and several thousand more were either wounded or scarred for life. The Australians and Indian soldiers united fight during the war is something that would not have been countenanced in a “White Australia” during this period. While the battle itself was a defeat for the ANZAC, the soldiers were relentless in their heroic gallantry and displayed incredible valour, courage and endurance in the most hostile environment in which this battle was fought. This has led to the ANZAC legend which every Australian and New Zealanders celebrate on April 25. The Sikh community, who fought alongside the Australians, has proudly joined in this tradition of paying homage to their forefathers and since 2005, there has been a Sikh contingent in the ANZAC Day march in Perth, comprised of direct descendants of those who fell in Gallipoli and other campaigns.

The Gallipoli battle, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, or the Battle of Çanakkale (Turkish: Çanakkale Savaşı), was a British campaign of World War I fought with the aim of capturing the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). The Indian soldiers, Sikhs and Gurkhas, fought shoulder to shoulder with the ANZAC and the respect of the Australians for the Indian soldiers is evidenced in a war record statement; “The [Indians] batteries did so well and gallantly that the Australians have metaphorically taken them to their hearts. All are the greatest pals imaginable, and the political effect of this cordial friendship should be good for both India and Australia.”

The best tribute for the battle heroes, the brave ANZAC - including the Indians -, who were martyred and buried at Gallipoli is evidenced in the famous words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer who founded an independent Republic of Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives; you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well” Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Jain Jawan

Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar (25 RR) : श्रधांजलि to the brave शौर्य चक्र Soldier.

Shaurya Chakra, Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar - श्रधांजलि to the martyrdom of the brave Soldier.

AJIT BHANDARKAR’s Wife and two Sons (both in defence services) during their visit to the Sainik School Bijapur for the opening of the Ajit Dwar.

This day last year - 30th October, 2019, was the twentieth year of the martyrdom of our dear friend Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, who made the supreme sacrifice in service of his motherland on this very date in 1999. Colonel Anirudh Gudi, another classmate of ours (1970-77), from the batch of Ajit Bhandarkar, at the Sainik School Bijapur, posted his tribute to our dear friend Ajit in our Ajeet 77 group with some very nostalgic and memorable photographs of our dear friend Ajit and his family. I have therefore updated the tribute which I had posted last year in my blog. Here it is for all my dear friends who have been gracious to follow my blog.

Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar (25 RR) : श्रधांजलि to the brave शौर्य चक्र Soldier

(My Blog post posted on 30th October 2019)

It was on this fateful day – Saturday the 30th October, 1999 - two decades ago, that our classmate, an illustrious alumnus of the Sainik School Bijapur (SSBJ 1970 - 1977 batch) and one of those India’s brave heart soldiers, Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, of the 25 Rashtriya Rifles (25RR), on deputation from his Madras Regiment and posted in Jammu and Kashmir, was killed in action while combating and trying to neutralise a group of terrorists at Surankot near Poonch, Kashmir.

Today, being the twentieth anniversary of Lt Col Ajit’s supreme sacrifice in service of the nation, Col. Pradeep Bhat, the crème de la crème of the SSBJ 1977 batch, started off our morning musings and interaction, on the What’s App group, with a sombre note by reminding the batch of the supreme sacrifice of our beloved chaddi dost, Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, in whose memory the entire batch had  come together to construct a memorial - the Ajit द्वार - at one of the entry gates to our school, a year earlier.

The whole of the day, every single one of us - Ajit’s batch mates - kept pouring their hearts out remembering our beloved Ajit. The remembrance stretched back to the early seventies and to the days when Ajit joined the Sainik School Bijapur, with all of us, at an impressionable age of just about 9 years. The day - though started with a tragic note- was one of the most nostalgic of all times with everyone in the batch going back in time to sketch a memorable canvas of the immemorial deeds of our beloved Ajit, stretching right up to the period of his last days. While the nation will eternally remember the valour of Shaurya Chakra, Lt Col. Ajit and his other brethren’s - who have made supreme sacrifice in service of the nation - we, the classmates, the fellow Ajeets from the 70-77 batch of Sainik School Bijapur,  join millions of our countrymen in paying our श्रद्धांजलि to Lt Col. Ajit. All of us had got together to conceive to develop a Ajit Dwar, at the Sainik Sxhool Bijapur in memory of our dear Ajit Bhandarkar and the lead for this work was taken by two of our classmates Arjun Misale and our PWD Engineer classmate, Guru S Patil, who really worked hard to complete this beautiful gate as a mark of our respect for our classmate Ajit. This gate at SSBJ, the Ajit द्वार, was very graciously opened at the hands of Mrs Shakuntala Ajit Bhandarkar, the exemplary widow of the military hero in the presence of their two sons, who are very proudly following the foot steps of their illustrious martyr father and are serving are in the military.

Ajit was born in Mumbai,  the city where I am currently posted, on 31st December 1960 and from our school days we were aware of his leadership qualities, and his born leader attributes, the example of which he exhibited in our Sainik School many times. Only the best of the best students manage to get into the coveted Sainik School and our batch had about 90 students and were divided among the 5 houses. Lt Col Ajit was in Hoysala House, which was our  neighbouring house, which also housed Vice Admiral, Srikant among others from our batch. Ajit was one of the most well behaved, idealistic and brilliant all rounder student, nicknamed ‘Manav’ by our batch, his classmate, in memory of the idealistic character role that Dharmendra had played in the famous Hindi Cinema ‘Dosti in 1974. The role that matinee idol Dharmendra played in Dosti was practised in reality by our dear Ajit and hence he earned the epithet of Manav for his idealism. He excelled in most activities of the school and rightfully was chosen to be the School Captain. Sainik School Captain is the most coveted position for the school with only one among the 500 plus students getting this rear honour. In the true spirit of our alma mater Ajit joined the NDA and then the IMA and was commissioned into the Madras Regiment of the Indian Army. Ajit joined 59th Course at National Defence Academy (NDA) Khadakwasla Pune in Dec 1977 and was commissioned into 18 MADRAS on 19 Dec 1981. On successful completion of Staff course at DSSC Wellington, Ajit served as a Brigade Major in Military Secretary Branch of Army HQ, which were clear indicators of a bright future in Army hierarchy. He was promoted to the post of Lt Col and posted as the Second in Command (2IC) of 25 RASTRIYA RIFLES (MADRAS), which was deployed in Jammu & Kashmir to fight the insurgency in Kashmir.

On the 30th of October, 1999, Lt Col Ajit’s unit (the 25RR) had received intelligence inputs about the presence of Kashmiri terrorists - who are disgracefully and most unfortunately referred to as militants - in Faizalabad village in Poonch district. The inputs were properly analysed and the situation was assessed and a decision taken to launch a operation. Our dear friend, Lt Col Ajit, was chosen to lead this operation. Ajit and his men launched a cordon and search operation with an objective of eliminating the five dreaded, hardcore terrorists who, like cowards, had taken refuge in the midst of the innocent civilians and were hiding in the village. Lt Col Ajit led his men from the front and managed to spot the terrorists who were trying to escape towards a नल्लाह. Ajit chased them, shooting down one terrorist. The second terrorist, who was hiding inside the nullaha  fired indiscriminately, and injured Lt Col Ajit grievously. Despite being injured, he moved ahead and lobbed a grenade on the terrorists. He then crawled forward and shot down another one. His daredevil action and that of his men resulted in the elimination of all the five hardcore terrorists. Most unfortunately, Lt Col Ajit later succumbed to his injuries and was martyred. Three other Jawans were also killed in the encounter along with him. For this act of exemplary courage and supreme sacrifice, Lt Col Ajit Bhandarkar was awarded the “Shaurya Chakra” posthumously.

I vividly remember that darkest day for the batch of 77 Sainik School Bijapur. I was then posted at Delhi and was working as the Curator at the National Science Centre and staying in Timarpur office campus area. The telecom revolution, led by the visionary Shyam Pitroda, had just about begun to yield its fruits, the genesis for which was sown by the CDoT company, which had tested the revolutionary RAX (acronym for the Rural Automatic Exchange) the forerunner for the telecom revolution in India at a place called Kittur in Karnataka. Thirteen of the officers and staff working at the National Science Centre were staying in the residential quarters in the campus and we had just one common phone, whose number I vividly remember even today (2523737), which was kept at the security and was used as an emergency means of communication for all the thirteen families. My door bell rang at around 2 AM on the night of 30th October, 1999, and the guard knocking on my door informed me of an emergency call from a friend. When I rushed into take the call the man on the other side was Col. Neeraj Roy, our class mate from Sainik School, who was posted in Delhi. He broke the tragic news of our martyred friend and asked me to join him and others to receive the mortal remains of our hero. I joined him and several others at the dead of the night and all through this period Neeraj with his army friends and colleagues successfully planned for taking the mortal remains of our beloved friend to his native place, Bangalore, which he succeeded. The plane carrying the mortal remains of our hero reached Bangalore on Sunday the 31st October, 1999 and thousands joined Mrs Bhandarkar, the exemplary role model widow of Ajit in paying their last respect to the great son of India.

Lt Col. Ajit, Bhandarkar is survived by his wife Shakuntala and two sons Nirbhay and Akshay. Shakunthala Bhandarkar, having gone through the personal experience of being a martyr’s wife, is passionate about helping other martyrs’ families and is engaged in conducting various programmes for the welfare of the families of martyrs. Like her illustrious husband, Shakuntala too has inherited the undying passion to serve the nation. She has bought up her two sons, who were just 7 and 5 when Ajit was martyred, in an ambience of service to the nation and as a result both her sons are now treading the path of their illustrious father and are serving in the army and navy. Whilst the elder son Capt Nirbhay Bhandarkar has joined his father’s unit in the army, after passing out from OTA Chennai, Sub Lt Akshay Bhandarkar has joined the Indian Navy after graduating as an Engineer. Mrs Shakuntala Bhandarkar is now working tirelessly to publish a memorial book on our dear friend Ajit, her beloved husband, with rich visual and archival images. I take this opportunity to wish her all the very best in this extraordinary endeavour and assure her of all our assistance. I also wish to thank Col Anirudh Gudi.

I am posting this श्रद्धांजलि on behalf of all of Ajit’s class mates, the SSBJ 77 batch and I am sure we will be joined by millions of our countrymen in saluting our beloved Lt. Col Ajit Bhandarkar and countless other brave soldiers, who have made the supreme sacrifice in service of our nation.

जय हिंद । जय जवान

The Russian Cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko

The Russian Cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko, who was expected to visit us at 12 noon today turned up 2 and a half hour early to attend the opening of the Rosatom Festival of Science & Culture. The programme started with the formal opening of the Festival. There was not one media person present, it was not expected as well more so we had announced that Mikhail Kornienko will be addressing the students at 12 noon. We had a series of events including art demonstrations by Sir JJ School of Art, courtesy my friend Prof Sable, the Dean.

I just took a chance to enquire if Mikhail would spare 30 minutes for his on the spot portrait painting, which one of the JJ School of art student volunteered to do in front of large number of students and audience. Truly grounded, incomparably humble, an extraordinary human being that Mikhail is, accepted our request in less than blink of an eye. Unfortunately the spot chosen by the artist where a chair was placed for Mikhail to sit had no fan and was relatively hot, yet Mikhail sat through his committed 30 minutes intermittently asking how was his portrait painting progressing. In the promised time the artist could complete the painting, which Mikhail very happily signed and this painting rightfully will adorn the office of the Director Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai once it is duly framed.

Mikhail addressed the jam packed auditorium supported by several video clips of his stay at the International Space Station with his compatriots and innumerable stunning images of Earth from the space station. He took several questions from the students and media. Although no where near to the 70 plus media team that we had encountered with tens of cameras during the visit of Sunita Williams visit to the centre, courtesy the hype that NASA had created and our very own efforts of trying to rope in as many press as possible reaching them through PIB, the Press Club etc, yet for the Mikhail’s visit, we had about 12 media persons including the die hard compulsive space correspondent, Srinivas Laxman in attendance. We also had 3 TV reporters who along with other journalists had a special closed door interaction with the Cosmonaut. Mikhail was at his diplomatic best during the press interaction. When pinned by Srinivas to comment on what his relationship was with his American counterpart Kelly, Mikhail surprised Srinivas with his master stroke answer. He said “ I could mix with him and chat with him much more than his Russian fellow cosmonauts” and added “ that at the ISS all the astronauts (for the Americans) or Cosmonauts( for the Russians) irrespective of whether they are from Russia, USA or Japan we are all one small family in a confined space”. He patiently answered every question. The challenge of avoiding collision with space debris was some thing that press may pick up. He said they came so very close to one of the space debris, which at the speed at which it was travelling - 30metres per second- would have wiped out the ISS had they not avoided the collision.

What was most amazing was the humility and simplicity of Mikhail Kornienko the National hero of Russia. He patiently posed with innumerable students and visitors for a selfie, and signed several autographs. While we expected him to spend an hours time at the centre he ended up spending more than 5 hours. The experience was truly memorable, which we will remain etched in our memories. A big thank you Mikhail and the Rosatom team.

THANK YOU NGMA and every one associated with the institute.

THANK YOU NGMA and every one associated with the institute.

My 6 plus long years of association as the Director, NGMA, (Director, NGMA Bangalore for 4 months, from October 2012 to January 2013, and Director, NGMA, Mumbai for 5 years and 8 plus months, from 13th October 2013 till today) ended today with my signing and exchanging of the “Certificate of Transfer of Charge” with my successor, Ms. Anita, Roopavataram, who has taken the charge of the regular Director of NGMA Mumbai.

I take this opportunity to thank a whole lot of stakeholders of NGMA starting from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, to the staff of all the three NGMAs, particularly NGMA Mumbai, the respective past and current advisory committee members of NGMA, Dr Pheroza Godrej, Dr Suhas Bahulkar and Mr Sudhakar Rao (the former two chairpersons of NGMA Mumbai and the later the Chairperson of NGMA Bangalore) and a whole lot of outstanding creative artists, art connoisseurs, visitors and art lovers, for your extraordinary support, encouragement and well wishes, which made this unexpectedly long tenure a memorable experience.

Handling responsibility of two national level museums - one a Art Museum and another a Science Museum - has been challenging and often times too taxing requiring burning of midnight oil more so for the NGMA works. I have tried my best to do full justice to the additional responsibility of the Director NGMA, and that has been possible primarily because of the support that I got from art community and the members of the advisory committee both past and present of NGMA.

While I say good bye to NGMA, I must place on record the untiring work of my colleague Mr Ajay, my personal assistant at the Nehru Science Centre, who had to bear the major brunt of my additional responsibility and often times had to work very late hours with absolutely no financial or other rewards, whatsoever.

Last but not the least my special thanks to my beloved wife and life partner, Vidya, Khened, who had to endure quite a lot of hardship and had to majorly take care of our home affairs because of my two responsibilities.

A big thank you to one and all and wishing my successor all the very best.

I will continue to be the Director of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai.

All are equal but some are more equal

“All are equal but some are more equal” is a proverbial statement, which most of us have learnt to live with in India. This unwritten edict cuts across different fields and professions and perhaps explains why some get the due that they truly deserve while others fall in the category of also ran - and going into oblivion blaming their fate to destiny - may be because they do not know how best to market themselves or be practical. History is replete with such instances, cutting across areas and countries, of some making it to the headlines globally while others do not even find a mention in the subtexts. This perhaps sums up the reason why we are not finding the kind of a buzz or hype among the media or student fraternity for the visit of Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to the Nehru Science Centre, that is scheduled at 12 noon on the 25th of October.

I am reminded of the extraordinary hype and buzz that we had experienced, at the Nehru Science Centre, when we hosted the visit of Sunita Williams, NASA astronaut with part Indian roots, in the year 2013. We had the highest ever contingent of media both print and electronic including at least 9 OB vans the first for the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. The Russian space achievements, which until that historic moment of “One small step for man and Giant leap for mankind” was achieved by Neil Armstrong for the Americans, had always pushed the Americans to the second position. But then when it comes to remembering the achievements most of our younger generations will hardly remember the Russian contributions in Space sciences. After all who can beat the Americans in marketing themselves to glory while almost obliterating the achievements of others. So no wonder that the Nehru Science Centre’s hosting the Russian Cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko’s visit on the 25th October, is yet to get even a fraction of the attention that we got when we last hosted Sunita Williams.

Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai with support from the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Russia, is organising the ‘Rosatom Festival of Science & Culture’ at our centre during October 25-26, 2018 and the special attraction of the event will be an interaction with the Russian Cosmonaut, Kornienko, flight engineer on International Space Station(ISS) who with NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, served Expedition 43-46 and spent a whopping 340 days on the International Space Station (ISS)during their yearlong flight. The "one-year crew" mission—which began on March 27, 2015 and was the longest by any astronauts aboard the ISS and seen as a vital chance to measure the effects of a prolonged period in space on the human body. This, almost a year long stay in space of Kelly, was also the longest period for any American astronaut. Russia however continues to rule, though not known very well among the public, when it comes to long-duration spaceflight. The world record of 438 days was set by a Russian doctor during the mid-1990s more than 25 years before the achievements of Kelly.

The Soyuz capsule carrying Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and his 340-day roommate, Scot Kelly, landed back on Earth on the 1st of March 2016. The Russian and Americans duo had travelled 232 million kilometres through space, circled the world 5440 times and experienced 10,880 orbital sunrises and sunsets during the longest single spaceflight by an American. The news of Kelly returning back to planet Earth after spending almost a year in space made media headlines across the globe while his companion Russian Cosmonaut was pushed to the subtext. Leading the marketing for the American Astronaut, Kelly, was none other than the President of USofA, Barack Obama, whose tweet “Welcome back to Earth, @StationCDRKelly! Your year in space is vital to the future of American space travel. Hope gravity isn’t a drag!” did not find the mention of two of Kelly’s fellow travellers from Russia including Micheal Kornienko.

During the mission, the ISS crew conducted almost 400 investigations to advance NASA’s mission, of preparation for mans landing on Mars by 2035. Kelly and Kornienko particularly conducted research into how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation and the stress of long-duration spaceflight, the knowledge of which are expected to guide future missions to deep space destinations.

Space missions have always been the turning point in the history of supremacy of nations. However with the onset of the global era the space missions have now become a global cooperation with more and more countries joining hands in the spirit of true humanity for the good of science and humanity. This global cooperation was aptly articulated by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden who said “It’s incredibly important that we all work together to make what is seemingly impossible, possible.” For NASA, that mission possible is its gearing up for human expeditions to Mars in the 2030s. Radiation will be a top challenge, along with the body and mind’s durability on what will be a 2-year journey round trip to Mars. He added “With his one-year mission, Kelly has “helped us take one giant leap toward putting boots on Mars,”.

While Kelly made it to the headlines, on the 1st/ 2nd of March 2016, globally the time is here and now for those of you who wish to meet the man who was Kelly’s room mate, Mikhail Kornienko, for all of 340 days in space on-board the ISS, in flesh blood at the Nehru Science Centre on the 25th of October at 12 noon. Come one come all don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet the Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.

Nobel Prize Chemistry 2018.

Nobel Prize Chemistry 2018.

This year’s coveted Nobel Prize for Chemistry (2018) - that carries a prize money of ₹ 7.4 Crores - has been awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy for Sciences, to three distinguished scientists - Frances Arnold, who shares half the prize money and the other half will be shared by George Smith and Gregory Winter - for their “research using directed evolution to produce enzymes and antibodies for producing new chemicals and pharmaceuticals”.

Enzymes are one of the most fascinating chemical proteins, which most of us have studied as biological catalysts during school days. The Nobel laureates in Chemistry, have used their enzyme knowledge to successfully bio-mimic evolution in ultra-fast forward mode to engineer enzymes that are beneficial to humankind.

Life on our unique planet Earth - the only known celestial body in the unending, infinitesimally vast cosmos, that harbours life - has been evolving ever since it came into existence some 3.7 billion years ago. Nature has used the power of evolution to create a vast diversity of life on Earth and in the process molecules with divergent chemical capabilities have also evolved. Darwin’s findings “On the origin of species by natural selection”, that was published as an outcome of his Beagle voyage to the Galápagos Islands, has revealed the process of evolution of life and its adaptation. This evolutionary process on Earth, which is loosely referred to as “Survival of the fittest”, takes a long process and is the best known source for adaptation.

Dr Arnold, a biochemical engineer at Caltech, has harnessed the “survival of fittest” adaptation power of evolution and has used the principles of Darwin’s evolution in the test tube to speed up the process of enzyme production to create never-before-seen chemical reactions in a process called “directed evolution”. Dr Smith, of the University of Missouri in Columbia and Dr Winter, of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, have used Dr Arnold’s findings of “directed evolution” to produce new chemicals and pharmaceuticals for the benefit of human society. This process has opened up new vistas in fields from materials science to immunotherapy. Directed evolution will enable scientists to use nature's prowess in searching through trillions of different molecules to try and find solutions to problems, which humans could never have imagined.

Arnold - only the fifth female Nobel laureate in Chemistry - who has survived breast cancer and is also a single mother to three sons, started conducting her first “directed evolution” experiments at Caltech in 1993. Her works began in a fit of desperation since she was pretty “clueless and did not know how to make proteins”. She began tinkering with proteins - using her mechanical engineering training - and started doing lots of experiments simultaneously and in the process realised “that's exactly what nature does”. Many considered her approach to be lunatic but she remained undeterred. She was certain that her way of addressing the protein engineering problem - with a completely different perspective, which was akin to what nature does always - was the only way forward. Her conviction and self-belief in what she was doing was right, notwithstanding the adverse comments and criticism that she constantly subjected to, led her to the path breaking discovery of “directed evolution”.

Arnold created random mutations - by shuffling genes artificially by figuring out which elements have a fighting chance of producing proteins that actually work and maybe even do something useful - to produce desired enzymes. She then slipped these mutated genes into bacteria, which helped in pumping out thousands of different variants of the enzyme. Sifting through these enzymes, she identified variants that were useful for the chosen task. She used these new variants to produce a new round of mutations in this variant. The result was a new enzyme, which worked better than its predecessor. This is exactly what happens in nature, which produces the best variant that is capable for adaptation, albeit over hundreds of thousands of years. Dr Arnold’s experiments have fundamentally changed the way scientists think about working with enzymes. She says “By doing what nature does, you can get the job done much more quickly.”

George Smith, developed an “elegant method” known as phage display, where a bacteriophage - a virus that infects bacteria - can be used to evolve new proteins. His technique of phage display is now used in producing antibodies that can neutralise toxins, counteract autoimmune diseases and cure metastatic cancer. Smith, according to his colleagues, is one of the most genius scientists whose humility is par excellence. He showed a glimpse of his exemplary humility, modesty and generosity by thanking the university and his co-winners for “winning him the Nobel prize”. Addressing the press on his winning the Nobel, Smith said “There have been enormous numbers of people in this web of science, and I happen to be somewhere in the middle of that, and that’s why I’m getting this prize,” further exhibiting his extraordinary humility.

Party loving Cambridge Professor, Sir Gregory Winter, on being informed of his Nobel award ordered Champagne, worth ₹2.5 Lacs, for his lab colleagues. Sir Winter adopted Dr Arnold’s “directed evolution” approach and Dr Smiths phage display technique to create useful antibodies and proteins, which could target and grab onto disease-related targets. His findings have been used to produce the first pharmaceutical medicine - AbbVie's adalimumab- that was approved for sale in 2002.

Pharmaceuticals for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases have resulted from the research of this year’s Nobel laureates in Chemistry. Their research has further helped in developing anti-bodies that can neutralise toxins, counteract autoimmune diseases and cure metastatic cancer, rightfully earning the trio their coveted Nobel Prize.

Nobel Prize in Physics (2018)

The coveted Nobel Prize in Physics (2018)- an award worth a staggering 9 Million Swedish Kronor (7.4 Crores of Indian ₹) - was announced today by the Royal Swedish Academy for Sciences and has been awarded to three distinguished scientists Dr. Arthur Ashkin, Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, USA, Dr. Gérard Mourou, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and to Dr. Donna Strickland, University of Waterloo, Canada, “for their groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics”. Ashkin has been awarded half the prize “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems”, while the other half is shared by Mourou and Strickland for “their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses”.

The immense fecundity that the field of “Laser Physics” carries can be visualised in the best spirit of Alfred Nobel – for the greatest benefit to humankind.

Two of the three awardees - Arthur Ashkin and Donna Strickland - have created a sort of an unprecedented record. Ashkin ( born September 2, 1922) aged 96 years, is the oldest living person to have received this honour. When the Royal Swedish Academy broke this news to him and requested him for a live telephonic interview with the press, the actively young scientist - in his later part of the 90s - excused himself by stating that he was engrossed in his new scientific paper and don’t have time to spare for the live interview. So much for the love of science. Donna Strickland is only the third woman winner of the Physics Nobel award, along with Marie Curie, who won in 1903, and Maria Goeppoert-Mayer, who was awarded the prize in 1963.

Arthur Ashkin invented optical tweezers that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers. He succeeded in getting laser light to push small particles towards the centre of the beam and to hold them there. A major breakthrough came in 1987, when Ashkin used the tweezers to capture living bacteria without harming them. He immediately began studying biological systems. Optical tweezers are now widely used to investigate the machinery of life.

Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland paved the way towards the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by mankind. Their revolutionary article was published in 1985 and was the foundation of Strickland’s doctoral thesis. Using an ingenious approach, they succeeded in creating ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses without destroying the amplifying material. First they stretched the laser pulses in time to reduce their peak power, then amplified them, and finally compressed them. If a pulse is compressed in time and becomes shorter, then more light is packed together in the same tiny space – the intensity of the pulse increases dramatically. Strickland and Mourou’s newly invented technique, called chirped pulse amplification (CPA) soon became standard for subsequent high-intensity lasers. Its uses include the millions of corrective eye surgeries that are conducted every year using the sharpest of laser beams.

The inventions being honoured this year have revolutionised laser physics resulting in shedding new light into extremely small objects and incredibly fast processes that can now be studied in a new light. This will not only help physics, but also other sciences - chemistry, biology and medicine - which will be benefitted from the resulting precision instruments that can be used in basic research and practical applications.

No other scientific discovery of the 20th century has been demonstrated with so many exciting applications as laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). The basic concepts of laser were first given by an American scientist, Charles Hard Townes and two Soviet scientists, Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov and Nikolai Gennediyevich Basov who shared the coveted Nobel Prize (1964). T H Maiman of the Hughes Research Laboratory, California, was the first scientist who experimentally demonstrated laser by flashing light through a ruby crystal, in 1960. Ever since new applications of lasers have been announced in various fields almost regularly. Laser finds applications In the fields of communication, Industry, medicine, military operations, scientific research, etc. Besides, laser has already brought great benefits in surgery, photography, holography, engineering and data storage.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, which helped in the discovery of the first gravitational waves produced by two giant merging blackholes last year leading to a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017, also owes its genesis to Lasers. Incidentally a new gravitational wave detector to measure ripples in the fabric of space and time is set to be built in India by 2025, in collaboration with universities from across the globe, thus helping Indian scientists.

Laser is a powerful source of light having extraordinary properties, which are not found in the normal light sources. The unique property of laser is that its light waves travel very long distances with very little divergence. Laser light is created through a chain reaction in which the particles of light, photons, generate even more photons. These can be emitted in pulses. Ever since lasers were invented, almost 60 years ago, researchers have endeavoured to create more intense pulses.

Many applications for the new laser techniques are waiting just around the corner – faster electronics, more effective solar cells, better catalysts, more powerful accelerators, new sources of energy, or designer pharmaceuticals. There is already speculation about the next step: a tenfold increase in power, to 100 peta watts and may be extending it further to the power of a zettawatt (one million petawatts, 10 to the power 21 watt), or pulses down to zeptoseconds, which are equivalent to the almost inconceivably tiny time of 10 to the power -21 seconds. New horizons are opening up, from studies of quantum physics in a vacuum to the production of intense proton beams that can be used to eradicate cancer cells in the body.

Along with the development in the research in laser technology and modern optics theory and their application, optics has been completely endowed with new contents and is playing an important role in scientific and technological progress. In recent years, the discipline has put great emphasis on updating the contents and collaborative research programs interdisciplinaryly.