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 Amitabh Joshi

Amitabh Joshi is a Professor in EVOLUTIONARY AND ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY UNIT at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Adv Sci Research, Bengaluru. He is also a poet in Urdu and English (and occasionally, Persian).

his lab webpage : https://sites.google.com/view/ebl-jncasr/home

his twitter link : https://twitter.com/joshiamitabhevo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

In this episode, we discussed him becoming a biologist; his journey in to the  realm of genetics and evolutionary biology; science and its interface with society; on how to do research; and how to think of problems; we also discussed interface of art and science and; in a way, we broke the myth of CP Snow’s essay on “Two cultures”. Also, don’t miss the fabulous recitation of poems in Persian and Urdu – including lines from Iqbal and Rumi, and delightful insights on his thoughts in eloquent Hindustani. There is so much to listen, learn and think about…as always on a conversation with Amitabh

Listen…as we humanize science…

on youtube (audio) :

on spotify :

on google podcast :

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ODc3MjgyN2UtMTA4OC00NGUzLTkxN2UtYjM2MzlhMDAzNDZj?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiwwOTq4byAAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

on apple podcast :

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-14-conversation-with-amitabh-joshi-the-beautiful-mind/id1687861465?i=1000623112998

References : “The Two Cultures.” In Wikipedia, June 28, 2023. ⁠⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Two_Cultures&oldid=1162392930⁠⁠.

“Amitabh Joshi.” In Wikipedia, January 21, 2023. ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amitabh_Joshi&oldid=1134862112⁠.

“Amitabh Joshi | Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.” Accessed July 13, 2023. ⁠https://www.jncasr.ac.in/faculty/ajoshi⁠.

Amitabh Joshi at Navisht 2019, 2019. ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuZI0Lu1r9E⁠.

“EBL, JNCASR.” Accessed July 29, 2023. ⁠https://sites.google.com/view/ebl-jncasr/home⁠.

“EBL, JNCASR – Amitabh Miscellaneous Interests.” Accessed July 29, 2023. ⁠https://sites.google.com/view/ebl-jncasr/amitabh-miscellaneous-interests⁠.

“Joshi, Amitabh.” Accessed July 13, 2023. ⁠https://press.princeton.edu/our-authors/joshi-amitabh⁠.

Joshi, Amitabh. “Poems Recited by Amitabh in This Podcast.” Google Docs. Accessed July 31, 2023. ⁠https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BzJFUuunbWctVd_yCKARKtdEczlUXEfI/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=108686585365385026951&rtpof=true&usp=embed_facebook⁠.

Conversation with Saptarshi Basu

Our youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/@g.v.pavankumarlab2908/playlists

Please subscribe and share…

Saptarshi Basu is a ‘Pratt and Whitney Chair Professor’ at Mechanical Engineering department of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru . Saptarshi lab webpage : https://www.saptarshibasulab.com/

His research interests include Multiphase transport processes. Atomization and sprays, Micro-nanoscale transport in droplets, Combustion.  In this episode we discuss his dreams, transition from Engineer to a Scientist, his philosophy on research, teaching and academia; Segments on covid related work, Rabindra sangeet & many other things

Listen as we humanize science…

spotify :

google podcast : https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw

apple podcast :

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-13-conversation-with-saptarshi-basu-dreams-droplets/id1687861465?i=1000622340022

References :

  1. “Saptarshi Basu | webpage : https://mecheng.iisc.ac.in/people/saptarshi-basu/.
  2. “Amazon.In.” Accessed July 15, 2023. https://www.amazon.in/Books-G-Venkataraman/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AG.+Venkataraman.
  3. Borderless. “Abhisar by Rabindranath Tagore,” September 14, 2021. https://borderlessjournal.com/2021/09/14/abhisar-by-rabindranath-tagore/.
  4. “College Street (Kolkata).” In Wikipedia, April 4, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=College_Street_(Kolkata)&oldid=1148195301.
  5. “Manik Bandopadhyay.” In Wikipedia, March 5, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manik_Bandopadhyay&oldid=1142950285.
  6. “Park Street, Kolkata.” In Wikipedia, March 12, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Park_Street,_Kolkata&oldid=1144224604.
  7. “Poem: Can Death Be Sleep, When Life Is But a Dream by John Keats.” Accessed July 15, 2023. https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/can-death-be-sleep-when-life-dream.
  8. Popova, Maria. “When Einstein Met Tagore: A Remarkable Meeting of Minds on the Edge of Science and Spirituality.” The Marginalian (blog), April 27, 2012. https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/04/27/when-einstein-met-tagore/.
  9. “Rabindranath Tagore.” In Wikipedia, July 5, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rabindranath_Tagore&oldid=1163532295
  10. “Rabindranath Tagore – Verses – কথা – অভিসার (Abhisar).” Accessed July 15, 2023. https://www.tagoreweb.in/Verses/kotha-39/abhisar-1211.
  11. “Satyajit Ray.” In Wikipedia, July 14, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Satyajit_Ray&oldid=1165363344.
  12. “South Point School.” In Wikipedia, June 1, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_Point_School&oldid=1158045282.
  13. “Srinivasa Ramanujan.” In Wikipedia, June 2, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Srinivasa_Ramanujan&oldid=1158140678
  14. “The Last Leaf.” In Wikipedia, March 22, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Last_Leaf&oldid=1145991454.

Critical thinking in Indian STEM students

Conversation with Nagaraj Balasubramanian

Nagaraj is a cell biologist and an Associate Professor of Biology at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.

He is a scientist who interfaces with society and has a keen sense aesthetics and love for music.

We discussed research/education/music+Spic-Macay/a fascinating story of a concert+small segment in Tamil+ a Hindi poem & many other things

Listen…as we humanize science

You can also listen at :

Youtube : https://youtu.be/IfAebdM6yIo

Google podcast : https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/NDY1MTQyMmUtNzQyMS00NTlhLTkyZjQtMGNhZWFmOGE3NTg0?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjA1JqdzJmAAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

Apple podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-12-conversation-with-nagaraj-balasubramanian-cell/id1687861465?i=1000621582402

Link to essays on Oppenheimer

Linked below is a fantastic, well researched & authentic biographical sketch of Oppenheimer – through a series of essays by Ashutosh Jogalekar

The movie has created a hype, and in India, people have taken interest for various reasons.

At the core – Oppenheimer was a scientist, in true spirit.

Essays on the life and times of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Ashutosh Jogalekar

New Episode : Conversation with Seema Sharma

Seema Sharma is an experimental particle physicist who was also part of the experimental discovery of Higgs Boson at CERN. She is an Associate Professor, in the department of physics at the Indian institute of Science education research, Pune – India.

    In this episode we discuss about her journey from Rajsamand Rajasthan, to TIFR Bombay, then to FermiLab US and then to IISER Pune. We did a deep dive on what it takes to be an experimental physicist. We discuss about the role of conceptual understanding of various topics in physics, including quantum physics, to do cutting edge experiments. She further revealed her understanding of doing mega science projects in large collaborative networks and how it has influenced her thinking. There is a small and nice segment in Hindi in which Seema explains about her research and motivations.

Listen…as we humanize science

google podcast link : https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/MzMzZjI5NDctZDQyMi00MWQ2LTg0YjQtN2Y0YjE2MGI2M2E2?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwioitCEjIiAAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

youtube audio link : https://youtu.be/GPXzn5FxV4M

Seema Sharma’s Webpage: http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~seema/.

References:

  1. “Rajsamand.” In Wikipedia, January 19, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rajsamand&oldid=1134565017
  2. “The Higgs Boson | CERN.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson.
  3. “Tata Institute of Fundamental Research | TIFR.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://www.tifr.res.in/.
  4. “Sunanda Banerjee.” Accessed July 10, 2023. http://iacs.res.in/athusers/index.php?navid=0&userid=IACS090.
  5. “Fermilab | Home.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://www.fnal.gov/.
  6. “Home | CERN.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://home.cern/.
  7. “Inquiring Minds.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/physics/index.html.
  8. “The Large Hadron Collider | CERN.” Accessed July 10, 2023. https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider.
  9. Weinberg, Steven. “Four Golden Lessons.” Nature 426, no. 6965 (November 2003): 389–389. https://doi.org/10.1038/426389a.
  10. “William Dalrymple (Historian).” In Wikipedia, July 1, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Dalrymple_(historian)&oldid=1162930456.

New episode on podcast : Conversation with Sutirth Dey

Sutirth Dey is an evolutionary biologist. He is a Professor of Biology at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. In this conversation we discussed about his own evolution as a biologist, his career trajectory from Patna, Delhi, Bangalore to Pune, and how his knowledge, research and teaching has been influenced by the interactions he had over the years. There is a nice segment in Bengali and Hindi where he explains his research on evolutionary biology and ecology. We also discussed his deep interest in reading and Qawwali music, and many more things…

Listen, as we humanize science.

Spotify

Youtube

Google Podcast

Sutirth is on Twitter : https://twitter.com/SutirthDey.

References :

  1. “PBL@IISERPune.” Accessed June 30, 2023. https://sites.google.com/a/acads.iiserpune.ac.in/sdlab/.
  2. “PBL@IISERPune – Sutirth.” Accessed June 30, 2023. https://pbl.acads.iiserpune.ac.in/sutirth.
  3. “MolBioForAll.” Accessed June 30, 2023. https://sites.google.com/acads.iiserpune.ac.in/molbioforall/home.
  4. “Amitabh Joshi | Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.” Accessed June 30, 2023. https://www.jncasr.ac.in/faculty/ajoshi.
  5. Anderson, P. W. “More Is Different.” Science 177, no. 4047 (August 4, 1972): 393–96. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.177.4047.393.
  6. “Biostatistics: A User’s Perspective.” Accessed June 30, 2023. https://sites.google.com/acads.iiserpune.ac.in/biostatscourse/home.
  7. Dey, Sutirth, and Amitabh Joshi. “Stability via Asynchrony in Drosophila Metapopulations with Low Migration Rates.” Science 312, no. 5772 (April 21, 2006): 434–36. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1125317.
  8. IndiaBioscience. “Standing Conventional Wisdom on Its Head,” July 14, 2017. https://indiabioscience.org/columns/conversations/standing-conventional-wisdom-on-its-head.
  9. “Mewa Singh.” In Wikipedia, May 24, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mewa_Singh&oldid=1156769563.