ConForce 25 – highlights

From 15th to 18th June 2025, I attended a focused meeting called ConForce.

The location was at an interesting place: Casuarina Resort Park- Kurunji, which is about 70 km from Pune. It was a scenic and raw place, with an amazing landscape. The resort facilities were ok with limited facilities, but the landscape was just breathtaking. It rained almost all the time, but it created a wonderful visual across the horizon with lush green patches of mountains and grey clouds (see image).

The main theme of the meeting was related to force spectroscopy, with a greater tilt towards biophysical applications. I spoke in the optical tweezers section and enjoyed the discussion with various participants and speakers. Specifically, I presented some of our recent, unpublished work on optical binding and its optical perturbation.

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Author: G.V. Pavan Kumar

Namaste, Hola & Welcome from G.V. Pavan Kumar. I am a Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, India. My research interests are : (1) Optics & Soft Matter: Optically Induced Forces – Assembly, Dynamics & Function; (2) History and Philosophy of Science – Ideas in Physical Sciences. I am interested in the historical and philosophical evolution of ideas and tools in the physical sciences and technology. I research the intellectual history of past scientists, innovators, and people driven by curiosity, and I write about them from an Indian and Asian perspective. My motivation is to humanize science. In the same spirit, I write and host my podcast Pratidhvani – Humanizing Science.

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