podcasts – Page 13 – VISMAYA – History & Philosophy of Physics

New Episode : Science, Rationality and Compassion

Watson, Peter. “Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud.” Accessed May 26, 2023. https://peterwatsonauthor.com/books/ideas-a-history-from-fire-to-freud/.

Pinker, Steven. “Rationality.” Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Rationality/HT0NEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover.

“Tarka Sastra.” In Wikipedia, July 8, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tarka_sastra&oldid=1097005247.

Adam Grant [@AdamMGrant]. “Compassion Is Kinder and Healthier than Empathy. Evidence: When We Feel Others’ Pain, We Often Get Overwhelmed and Withdraw. When We Feel Concern for Their Pain, We Reach out and Help. The Point of Compassion Isn’t to Share Their Feelings. It’s to Care about Their Feelings. Https://T.Co/EHDwUxHUJd.” Tweet. Twitter, May 24, 2023. https://twitter.com/AdamMGrant/status/1661377095736389640.

In Defense of Science & Scientific Method, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng9ifSod7_k.

Kumar, G. V. Pavan. “51. A Case for Science + Philosophy.” Scatterings (blog), October 13, 2021. https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2021/10/13/51-a-case-for-science-philosophy/.

Kumar, G. V. Pavan. “Connection between Science and Empathy.” Scatterings (blog), March 5, 2022. https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2022/03/05/connection-between-science-and-empathy/.

New episode : Six Jugalbandis of Scientific Research

References from the podcast :
“Jugalbandi.” In Wikipedia, March 14, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jugalbandi&oldid=1077148368.
Dyson, Freeman J. “Is Science Mostly Driven by Ideas or by Tools?” Science 338, no. 6113 (December 14, 2012): 1426–27. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1232773.
“The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” In Wikipedia, May 2, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions&oldid=1152843404.
Galison, Peter. Image and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1997. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo3710110.html.

“The Hedgehog and the Fox.” In Wikipedia, April 21, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Hedgehog_and_the_Fox&oldid=1150956564.
“You and Your Research.” Accessed May 20, 2023. https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html.
Alon, Uri. “How To Choose a Good Scientific Problem.” Molecular Cell 35, no. 6 (September 24, 2009): 726–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2009.09.013.
Weinberg, Steven. “Four Golden Lessons.” Nature 426, no. 6965 (November 2003): 389–389. https://doi.org/10.1038/426389a.
Whitesides, George M., and John Deutch. “Let’s Get Practical.” Nature 469, no. 7328 (January 2011): 21–22. https://doi.org/10.1038/469021a.

Namaste, Hola, Welcome!

I am G.V. Pavan Kumar, the author of this blog.

My research interests are :

Optics and Soft Matter Physics
History of Science

In my research group, we study the interaction of light with soft-matter from a photonics viewpoint.

Until now, I have supervised 11 PhD theses, 11 MS theses, a few post-docs and several undergraduate students at IISER Pune (see my group members – past and present). I continue to learn a lot from them.

See our publications sorted by : topics / chronology.

Another strand of my research is the history of science. I am interested in the historical evolution of ideas in physical sciences and technology. I research the life and work 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.

Writing has been an integral part of my life since my childhood (1980s), and I have been in the process since the ‘pre-internet’ era. I have been blogging since 2008 or so. You can access my old blog site here.

Also connected to my blog are:

YouTube channel – Science meets History,

podcast – Pratidhvani: Humanizing Science.

My blog integrates all of the above.

official profile

lab webpage

twitter feed

You can access and listen to my audio podcast – Pratidhvani – Humanizing Science, on -Spotify, YouTube (audio), Google Podcast or Apple podcast (all links below).

Youtube channel

Podcast Pratidhvani – Spotify

Podcast Pratidhvani -Google podcast

Podcast Pratidhvani -Apple podcast

You can give your feedback here.

Note: My blogs/podcasts/videos are motivated by my research, teaching and learning. I create them in my personal capacity.

Inspirations from Japan

(G. V. Pavan Kumar, “OMC 2023,” Scatterings, April 21, 2023, https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/04/21/omc-2023/)
(G. V. Pavan Kumar, “Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop – History of Optical Manipulation,” Scatterings, April 19, 2023, https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/04/19/halina-rubinsztein-dunlop-history-of-optical-manipulation/)
(G. V. Pavan Kumar, “3 Axis Pendulum at Yokohama City : An Introduction,” Scatterings, April 17, 2023, https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/04/17/3-axis-pendulum-at-yokohama-city-an-introduction/)
(G. V. Pavan Kumar, “Cup Noodles Museum – Food + Science + Technology + Inspiration,” Scatterings, April 22, 2023, https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/04/22/cup-noodles-museum-food-science-technology-inspiration/)
(G. V. Pavan Kumar, “Two Talks in Tokyo,” Scatterings, April 25, 2023, https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/04/25/two-talks-in-tokyo/)
(G. V. Pavan Kumar, “Ocean, Okinawa and OIST…,” Scatterings, April 29, 2023, https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/04/29/ocean-okinawa-and-oist/)
(G. V. Pavan Kumar, “Osaka and Optical Manipulation,” Scatterings, May 2, 2023, https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/05/02/osaka-and-optical-manipulation/)
(“Super-Kamiokande,” Wikipedia, April 18, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Super-Kamiokande&oldid=1150512078)
(“The University of Tokyo,” The University of Tokyo, n.d., https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/museums.html)
(James Poskett, Horizons: A Global History of Science [Penguin UK, 2022])
(“It Matters Who Does Science,” n.d., https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/it-matters-who-does-science)
(Hideki Fujiwara et al., “Optical Selection and Sorting of Nanoparticles According to Quantum Mechanical Properties,” Science Advances 7, no. 3 [January 13, 2021]: eabd9551, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abd9551)
(Yohei Zushi and Kazumasa A. Takeuchi, “Scaling and Spontaneous Symmetry Restoring of Topological Defect Dynamics in Liquid Crystal,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no. 41 [October 11, 2022]: e2207349119, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2207349119)
(Yosuke Minowa et al., “Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles in Superfluid Helium,” Optica 9, no. 1 [January 20, 2022]: 139–144, https://opg.optica.org/optica/abstract.cfm?uri=optica-9-1-139)
(Takuya Iida and Hajime Ishihara, “Theoretical Study of the Optical Manipulation of Semiconductor Nanoparticles under an Excitonic Resonance Condition,” Physical Review Letters 90, no. 5 [February 5, 2003]: 057403, https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.057403)

Pratidhvani-Humanizing Science: podcast on reflections of Academic Scientist

As an extension of my blog, I am starting a podcast in my individual capacity :

Pratidhvani – Humanizing Science

In several Indian languages, including Kannada, Marathi, Sanskrit, Hindi and many more, the word – Pratidhvani (ಪ್ರತಿಧ್ವನಿ/प्रतिध्वनि) – means resonance, reflection (of sound). Through my podcast, I intend to reflect on my thoughts as an academic scientist on some topics related to science, technology, history and philosophy of science. Listen to my first podcast, and let me know what you think.

Download the audio file

References :

Kumar, G.V.P., 2023. Science + History —> better Science. Scatterings. URL https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2023/04/01/science-history-better-science/ (accessed 5.11.23).

Kumar, G.V.P., 2022. 12 Years as a faculty member in India – 12 lessons. Scatterings. URL https://backscattering.wordpress.com/2022/05/25/12-years-as-a-faculty-in-india-12-lessons/ (accessed 5.11.23).

Weinberg, S., 2003. Four golden lessons. Nature 426, 389–389. https://doi.org/10.1038/426389a

Mankutimma’s Aphorisms!!: 789, n.d. . Mankutimma’s Aphorisms!! URL http://mankutimma-aphor.blogspot.com/2012/12/789.html (accessed 5.11.23).

Cup Noodles Museum – Food + Science + Technology + Inspiration

Here is the video blog on the Cup Noodles Museum at Yokohama. I visited this place recently, and was inspiring. Also, has some connections to history of science and scientists. Some notes/references at the end.

Notes & References :

CUPNOODLES MUSEUM YOKOHAMA (no date) CUPNOODLES MUSEUM YOKOHAMA. Available at: https://www.cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/yokohama/ (Accessed: 22 April 2023).

‘Hideki Yukawa’ (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hideki_Yukawa&oldid=1148467040 (Accessed: 22 April 2023).

‘Momofuku Ando’ (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Momofuku_Ando&oldid=1143758937 (Accessed: 22 April 2023).

Space Noodles | Science and Education | Trends in Japan | Web Japan (no date). Available at: https://web-japan.org/trends01/article/020920sci_r.html (Accessed: 22 April 2023).

‘Cup Noodle’s Nissin develops space ramen, space curry rice for astronauts to eat among the stars’ (2020) SoraNews24 -Japan News-, 17 September. Available at: https://soranews24.com/2020/09/17/cup-noodles-nissin-develops-space-ramen-space-curry-rice-for-astronauts-to-eat-among-the-stars/ (Accessed: 22 April 2023).

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1949 (no date) NobelPrize.org. Available at: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1949/yukawa/biographical/ (Accessed: 22 April 2023).

3 axis pendulum at Yokohama city : an introduction

40. Tadashi’s practical application

Steven Strogatz is a well know applied mathematician from Cornell University, and has done some fascinating research on nonlinear dynamics (NLD). His lecture series on NLD and chaos is one of the best I have come across. Apart from writing columns in New York Times, he has also published some fantastic books on explaining mathematics, its relevance and impact on our daily lives, society and ecology.

Steve Strogatz has also been hosting The Joy of x podcast on the Quanta Magazine. In there, he interviews many contemporary mathematicians and scientists, who are actively involved in research and teaching. I found these informal interactions and exchange of ideas very interesting.

In one of the podcasts, Steven interviews Tadashi Tokieda, a mathematician who is interested in toys, and specifically the intriguing mathematics and physics of toys. In this interview, Tadashi describes his journey as an artist, philologist and as a professor who works on mathematics of toys.

Towards the end of the podcast (around 49 min in this audio), Tadashi describes how people (especially adults) ask him about the practical applications of studying toys, and how it can be beneficial to them. To this, his answer is something on the following lines :

When I show these toys to children, and explain to them the science and mathematics related to the toys, they feel very happy about it. What can be a better practical application that this !

Listening this just made my day…