Sunday, December 07, 2008
Three Commitments of Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Our DREAMS are our VISION
K J Rao Professor Solid State and Structural Chemistry IISc Bangalore
Indian Institute of Science will soon be 100 and enter its second century. Its founders wanted it to be the John Hopkins of India. A centenary is the time to ruminate on its future. Here is a glimpse of the vision of a material scientist about the big science IISc should contemplate, to measure up to its reputation. There are at least three commitments of IISc. The first is to carry out research in frontier areas of science (includes technology) in the pursuit of excellence. The second is to help the country find solutions to its problems through the application of science and technology. The third is to provide human resource of the best kind to the nation through imparting training at the highest level, in various branches of science. The vision of big science is embedded in the first two. Some of our gifted faculty strives for excellence in research all the time, and it is their only goal. Stimuli for their work comes from unpredictable sources; new research reported from somewhere else, conference discussion, inherent curiosity, intuitive flashes and many others. They are unmindful of the eventual use of their research. One thing they do is to push the frontiers of knowledge, and in the process, bring enormous fame. IISc has only to continue to attract such bright faculty and provide all forms of support to their activities. IISc should go for international faculty hiring to fulfil this vision. Our vision of big science can help the country in tackling its well-nigh insatiable energy needs. We should look beyond solar and wind powers as future energy sources and examine controlled nuclear fusion (like Bussard-type clean inertial electrostatic confinement fusion of proton and 11B which gives only helium and energy). We should examine if microwave power from space can be harnessed economically. Providing drinking water for a sixth of the global population who reside in India is a serious challenge. Discoveries in nanoscience should be exploited for efficient water purification, particularly to make it arsenic and fluoride free. We have to develop energyefficient and carbon-free transportation, since global warming is a real and immediate threat. It needs out-of-the-box thinking to find solutions. Can compressed air and liquid CO2-operated engines provide economically viable and carbonfree urban transportation of the future? Some day our bio-scientists may invent a bug that gets magnesium from sea water very efficiently, and our technologists design engines which burn solubilised magnesium! Remember, the enthalpy of Mg oxidation is one of the highest. Carbon neutral energy sources are needed urgently. We must genetically engineer new algae. Algae can synthesize huge quantities of lipids, 60% of their dry mass, at very high rates. Algae culturing requires only marginal land and small amounts of water and fertilizers. We should also develop strategies for carbon sequestration, into our layered minerals, into our oceans and into carbon (grapheme) itself. Cancer and diabetes are on the rise at an alarming rate. Can we make drug molecules which make the body cells let in sugar without requiring insulin? Can we synthesize cancer cell busters which enter and destroy cancer cells using nano-technology routes? Why not! Our strength is a century of robust tradition and a faith that it can do the impossible. Our dreams are many and they constitute our vision. VIGNETTES Bhabha’s cosmic rays In 1940, Homi Bhabha accepted the position of a Special Reader for six months in the department of Physics at the Institute, on an honorarium of Rs 2,000, and delivered a series of 25 lectures on cosmic rays. At that time, Nobel laureate R A Millikan of the California Institute of Technology also delivered a course of four lectures on ‘Experimental Methods and Results of Cosmic Ray Research’. Centenary run today The Bangalore chapter of IISc’s alumni association will hold a ‘Science & technology run’ on Sunday to celebrate the institute’s centenary. The run will start from the main building at 8 am. Participants will include the IISc fraternity and students of science and engineering colleges (The writer is professor, solid state and structural chemistry unit, IISc)
Times of India 6th page 7th December 2008
K J Rao Professor Solid State and Structural Chemistry IISc Bangalore
Indian Institute of Science will soon be 100 and enter its second century. Its founders wanted it to be the John Hopkins of India. A centenary is the time to ruminate on its future. Here is a glimpse of the vision of a material scientist about the big science IISc should contemplate, to measure up to its reputation. There are at least three commitments of IISc. The first is to carry out research in frontier areas of science (includes technology) in the pursuit of excellence. The second is to help the country find solutions to its problems through the application of science and technology. The third is to provide human resource of the best kind to the nation through imparting training at the highest level, in various branches of science. The vision of big science is embedded in the first two. Some of our gifted faculty strives for excellence in research all the time, and it is their only goal. Stimuli for their work comes from unpredictable sources; new research reported from somewhere else, conference discussion, inherent curiosity, intuitive flashes and many others. They are unmindful of the eventual use of their research. One thing they do is to push the frontiers of knowledge, and in the process, bring enormous fame. IISc has only to continue to attract such bright faculty and provide all forms of support to their activities. IISc should go for international faculty hiring to fulfil this vision. Our vision of big science can help the country in tackling its well-nigh insatiable energy needs. We should look beyond solar and wind powers as future energy sources and examine controlled nuclear fusion (like Bussard-type clean inertial electrostatic confinement fusion of proton and 11B which gives only helium and energy). We should examine if microwave power from space can be harnessed economically. Providing drinking water for a sixth of the global population who reside in India is a serious challenge. Discoveries in nanoscience should be exploited for efficient water purification, particularly to make it arsenic and fluoride free. We have to develop energyefficient and carbon-free transportation, since global warming is a real and immediate threat. It needs out-of-the-box thinking to find solutions. Can compressed air and liquid CO2-operated engines provide economically viable and carbonfree urban transportation of the future? Some day our bio-scientists may invent a bug that gets magnesium from sea water very efficiently, and our technologists design engines which burn solubilised magnesium! Remember, the enthalpy of Mg oxidation is one of the highest. Carbon neutral energy sources are needed urgently. We must genetically engineer new algae. Algae can synthesize huge quantities of lipids, 60% of their dry mass, at very high rates. Algae culturing requires only marginal land and small amounts of water and fertilizers. We should also develop strategies for carbon sequestration, into our layered minerals, into our oceans and into carbon (grapheme) itself. Cancer and diabetes are on the rise at an alarming rate. Can we make drug molecules which make the body cells let in sugar without requiring insulin? Can we synthesize cancer cell busters which enter and destroy cancer cells using nano-technology routes? Why not! Our strength is a century of robust tradition and a faith that it can do the impossible. Our dreams are many and they constitute our vision. VIGNETTES Bhabha’s cosmic rays In 1940, Homi Bhabha accepted the position of a Special Reader for six months in the department of Physics at the Institute, on an honorarium of Rs 2,000, and delivered a series of 25 lectures on cosmic rays. At that time, Nobel laureate R A Millikan of the California Institute of Technology also delivered a course of four lectures on ‘Experimental Methods and Results of Cosmic Ray Research’. Centenary run today The Bangalore chapter of IISc’s alumni association will hold a ‘Science & technology run’ on Sunday to celebrate the institute’s centenary. The run will start from the main building at 8 am. Participants will include the IISc fraternity and students of science and engineering colleges (The writer is professor, solid state and structural chemistry unit, IISc)
Times of India 6th page 7th December 2008
