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.

Conversation with Nirmalya Kajuri

Nirmalya is an Assistant Professor at IIT Mandi : https://sites.google.com/view/nirmalya-kajuri/

He is a theoretical physicist and an excellent science communicator who writes in various social media forums. In this ’emergence’ conversation, we discussed his research interest and what draws him towards science communication.

Listen as we humanize science…

youtube (audio):

spotify:

google podcast

apple podcast

References :

  1. X (formerly Twitter). “Nirmalya Kajuri (@Kaju_Nut) / X,” December 26, 2022. https://twitter.com/Kaju_Nut.
  2. “Nirmalya Kajuri.” Accessed November 10, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/nirmalya-kajuri/.
  3. “Nirmalya Kajuri – Writing and Outreach.” Accessed November 10, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/nirmalya-kajuri/writing-and-outreach.
  4. “Welcome to Jadavpur University Website.” Accessed November 10, 2023. http://www.jaduniv.edu.in/view_department.php?deptid=80.
  5. “Nirmalya Kajuri – YouTube.” Accessed November 10, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/user/nirmalyaz.
  6. Kajuri, Nirmalya. “Oppenheimer: Remembering the Physics That First Made Him Great.” The Hindu, July 29, 2023, sec. Science. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/oppenheimer-snyder-stellar-collapse-black-hole-formation/article67131932.ece.
  7. “Remembering A.K. Raychaudhuri: Transformed Relativity, Almost Got Fired.” The Hindu, July 21, 2023, sec. Science. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/amal-kumar-raychaudhuri-birth-centenary-general-relativity-iacs/article67097221.ece.
  8. “When Einstein Thought He Was Wrong but Feynman Convinced Physicists Otherwise.” The Hindu, May 30, 2023, sec. Science. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/einstein-gravitational-waves-feynman-thought-experiment/article66900109.ece.
  9. “‪Nirmalya Kajuri‬ – ‪Google Scholar‬.” Accessed November 10, 2023. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=5FJAaF8AAAAJ&hl=en.
  10. Online Talk Series:”A Brief History of Black Holes Physics” by Dr. Nirmalya Kajuri, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPfACaa9VCI.
  11. “School of Physical Sciences-IIT Mandi.” Accessed November 10, 2023. https://sps.iitmandi.ac.in/faculty_personal.php?id=13.
  12. “The Character of Physical Law.” In Wikipedia, October 29, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Character_of_Physical_Law&oldid=1182414252.

Kumar Patel and CO2 laser- Baramati-Pune to Bell Labs

Happy Deepavali: let’s celebrate (laser) light! Did you know there is a connection b/w Baramati, Pune city & the first-ever CO2 lasers? Kumar Patel, the inventor of one of the most powerful lasers, was born in Baramati & did his BE at the College of Engineering, Pune!

Chandra Kumar Naranbhai Patel had an illustrious career. From Pune, he moved to Stanford University for his PhD and then worked at Bell Labs, where he created his CO2 laser. See him describe the invention:

In Nov 1964 (around the time of the Diwali festival :)), he published his invention: https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.136.A1187

Wikipedia has a good profile of his work, including a video :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Kumar_N._Patel

Kumar Patel went on to win many laurels, including US President’s National Medal of Science. https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=270

Kumar was a rare engineering scientist who also served as the president of the American Physical Society in 1995.

https://www.aps.org/about/governance/presidents.cfm

One of the reasons to celebrate Diwali is the move from darkness(ignorance) to light(knowledge). I hope humanity moves toward peace, knowledge and harmony with nature guided by compassion and science. Baramati-born Kumar Patel has shown us one of the ways.

Kannada – ನಿಮಗೆಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ದೀಪಾವಳಿಯ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು

Marathi – तुम्हा सर्वांना दीपावलीच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा

Sanskrit – सर्वेभ्यः दीपावली शुभकामना

Hindi – आप सभी को दीपावली की शुभकामनाएँ

I wish you all a happy Deepavali.

Conversation with Srabanti Chaudhury

Srabanti is a theoretical chemist interested in biophysics and chemical physics.

She is an Associate Professor at IISER-Pune.

Her webpage : https://sites.google.com/site/srabantic01/home

In this episode we discuss her:

•biography and career trajectory

•interest in mathematics followed by chemistry

•Work during MSc, PhD and postdoc

•Current research

•Motherhood and her life lessons

•Many other interesting things…

Listen, as we humanize science…

apple podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-27-conversation-with-srabanti-chaudhury-journey/id1687861465?i=1000634068835

google podcast : https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ZmY1YjYwZjEtZjM1Yy00ZWE0LTg5NTctM2IzYjdiZTY2MTU3?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiAu6a-rbOCAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

References :

1.“Srabanti Chaudhury.” Accessed November 7, 2023. https://sites.google.com/site/srabantic01/.

2.“Durgapur.” In Wikipedia, November 2, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Durgapur&oldid=1183066399.

3.“The University of Burdwan.” Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.buruniv.ac.in/Demo/index_bucc.php.

4.“Group Members.” Accessed November 7, 2023. https://ipc.iisc.ac.in/~bjc/page3.html.

5.“Home.” Accessed November 7, 2023. https://ipc.iisc.ac.in/~bjc/.

6.“Inorganic and Physical Chemistry.” Accessed November 7, 2023. https://ipc.iisc.ac.in/.

7.Punia, Bhawakshi, Srabanti Chaudhury, and Anatoly B. Kolomeisky. “Microscopic Mechanisms of Cooperative Communications within Single Nanocatalysts.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no. 3 (January 18, 2022): e2115135119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115135119.

8.X (formerly Twitter). “Srabanti Chaudhury (@srabantichaudh2) / X,” September 7, 2023. https://twitter.com/srabantichaudh2.

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Curie and Raman – born on this day

Marie Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) and CV Raman (7 November 1888 – 21 November 1970) were born on this day. Both were extraordinary scientists and strong characters.

Marie Curie led an extraordinary life, and her dedication to science was unparalleled. She led a tough life in a male-dominated society and became a great scientist. Previously, I have written about her in one of my blogs on lab writing:
https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2018/11/11/expression-as-exploration/

CV Raman was an outstanding experimentalist and trained many students. He had his faults but led an astonishing scientific life, and linked are a couple of talks on his scientific biography that I have given:https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2022/03/18/talks-on-c-v-raman-youtube-links/

Scientists are human beings. For me, understanding their scientific life history in the context of their society & environment is fascinating. There is always something to learn from their past, not only from their achievements but also from their mistakes.

Keeps me humble!

Teaching LASERs – snapshots

Today, I will be teaching the origins of LASERs in my optics class. Some of the content may interest science enthusiasts here. I present some snapshots from my notes. As expected, it starts with Einstein introducing his A and B coefficients and the stimulated emission.

He introduced them in a paper written in German: Einstein, A. (1916). “Strahlungs-Emission und -Absorption nach der Quantentheorie”. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft. 18: 318–323.

The English translation of the paper: “Volume 6: The Berlin Years: Writings, 1914-1917 (English Translation Supplement) Page 212 (224 of 462).” Accessed November 3, 2023. https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol6-trans/224.

Under thermodynamic equilibrium, the detailed balance gives us the connection between the coefficients…and amplification and stimulated emission of radiation become a measurable prospect.

The pic shows the leading characters behind the invention of the Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER) Charles Townes was the intellectual pioneer behind microwave variety… and Maiman….the freak behind the optical version..

The history of the invention is fascinating and dramatic. I did a podcast on this a few months ago. Check it out..

https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/06/23/new-episode-on-podcast-gripping-history-of-laser-inventionnew-episode-on-podcast/

Conversation with Sourabh Dube

Sourabh Dube is an experimental particle physicist interested in computation and machine learning. He is an Associate Professor at the physics department, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.

His webpage:  http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~sdub:/.

In this conversation, we discussed his

  • Biography, career trajectory,
  • growing up in Pune.
  • His Fergusson College experience, PhD and postdoc time in the USA.
  • His thoughts on
    • Experimental particle physics and its interface with machine learning and computational physics.
    • science outreach initiatives
    • doing science in India and other parts of the world
    • importance of the research group and its communication
  • an interesting segment in Marathi
  • His recommendation – books, arts, sports etc.

Listen, as we humanize science….

youtube (audio) :

spotify :

google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ZTFiNzI5ZTEtZTc2My00Y2RjLThhOTktZWI1MjIzNmE3MWMx?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiYqdGk3qGCAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-26-conversation-with-sourabh-dube-punekar-doing/id1687861465?i=1000633286027

References :

  1. Quick Primer on Particle Physics with an Experimentalist!, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylkn-XaW_iA.
  2. आपल्यया वविशयाचचे सवियार्वात लहयान ततुकडचे (The Smallest Pieces of Our Universe) by Dr Sourabh Dube, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTy2sfSxjRo.
  3. “India Research Innovation and STEM Enhancement | (iRISE).” Accessed October 31, 2023. http://irise.org.in/.
  4. “MS-DEED.” Accessed October 31, 2023. https://sites.google.com/acads.iiserpune.ac.in/ms-deed-msfda-iiser-pune/home.
  5. “Fergusson College, Pune.” Accessed October 31, 2023. https://www.fergusson.edu/.
  6. “Rutgers University Department of Physics and Astronomy.” Accessed October 31, 2023. https://www.physics.rutgers.edu/hex/.
  7. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “Berkeley Lab | Delivering Science Solutions for the World.” Accessed October 31, 2023. https://www.lbl.gov/.
  8. “Home | CERN.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://home.cern/.
  9. “The Large Hadron Collider | CERN.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider.
  10. “Fermilab | Home.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://www.fnal.gov/.
  11. “Isaac Asimov Home Page.” Accessed October 31, 2023. http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html.

Conversation with Kasturi Saha

Kasturi Saha is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay. 

Her research interests include

  • Hybrid quantum systems – cavities coupled to color defect
  • Quantum sensing and imaging with NV-centers in diamond
  • and allied research areas

Her webpage: https://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~kasturis/index.php/the-team/

In this episode, we discuss an emerging topic in quantum technologies – Nanodiamonds & Quantum Photonics !

Listen as we humanize science…

youtube (audio) :

spotify:

google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/NmIyYjdhYTItODM3MC00ZWI3LTgyNGQtNzI3NzVkZTk4MGI4?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjwz9GNk5CCAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

apple podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-25-conversation-with-kasturi-saha-nanodiamonds/id1687861465?i=1000632503730

References :

  1. IIT Bombay. “Kasturi Saha.” Accessed October 14, 2023. https://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/webpeople/kasturi-saha/.
  2. “‪Kasturi Saha‬ – ‪Google Scholar‬.” Accessed October 14, 2023. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=4BSdOhUAAAAJ&hl=en.
  3. “P-Quest Lab – Photonics and Quantum Enabled Sensing Technologies Lab, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT-Bombay, Principal Investigator – Kasturi Saha.” Accessed October 14, 2023. http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~kasturis/.
  4. Barry, John F., Jennifer M. Schloss, Erik Bauch, Matthew J. Turner, Connor A. Hart, Linh M. Pham, and Ronald L. Walsworth. “Sensitivity Optimization for NV-Diamond Magnetometry.” Reviews of Modern Physics 92, no. 1 (March 31, 2020): 015004. https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.92.015004.
  5. “DCMPMS.” Accessed October 14, 2023. https://www.tifr.res.in/~dcmpms/venugopal_achanta.php.
  6. Prof. Kasturi Saha’s Talk at IQTI on Quantum Sensing, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX8gNXIczck.
  7. “Saikat Ghosh.” Accessed October 14, 2023. https://www.iitk.ac.in/new/dr-saikat-ghosh.
  8. Shukla, Ashutosh, Sunny Tiwari, Ayan Majumder, Kasturi Saha, and G. V. Pavan Kumar. “Opto-Thermoelectric Trapping of Fluorescent Nanodiamonds on Plasmonic Nanostructures.” Optics Letters 48, no. 11 (June 1, 2023): 2937–40. https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.491431.