Category: podcasts

Conversation with Arnab Mukherjee

Arnab Mukherjee is a professor of chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune, India. He is also associated with the Data Science Department at IISER Pune.

His webpage : https://www.iiserpuneccblab.com/

In this episode, we go into granular details about his educational experiences and how he got interested in science. He highlights how chasing marks turned from a boon to a curse with a stunning narrative of his student career. There are some profound lessons to learn from his experiences.

 His research interests include computational chemistry and biophysics. Specifically, he and his group work on “various topics ranging from drug-DNA intercalation, DNA structural change, single water entropy, protein folding and protein-DNA binding, dynamical recrossing and internal friction in proteins and machine learning. He also collaborates with experimental colleagues in projects such as synthetic ion channels, spectroscopic investigation of molecular recognition, etc.”

Listen as we humanize science.

on Apple and Google podcast

References :

Conversation with Dibakar Roy Chowdhury

Dibakar Roy Chowdhury is a professor of physics at Mahindra University. https://www.mahindrauniversity.edu.in/faculty/prof-dibakar-roy-chowdhury/

With a rich background in research, including stints at prestigious institutions like Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Australian National University, Dr. Roy Chowdhury has significantly contributed to our understanding of light-matter interaction at the micro-nano scale. Listen to this ‘Emergence’ series, where we explore his groundbreaking research in metamaterials, plasmonics, and more through his academic journey until now. Specifically, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of doing experimental research at a private university in India.

Listen as we humanize science.

Apple and Google podcast

References :

  1. “Dibakar Roy Chowdhury.” n.d. Mahindra University. Accessed May 14, 2024. https://www.mahindrauniversity.edu.in/faculty/prof-dibakar-roy-chowdhury/.
  2. “‪Dibakar Roy Chowdhury – ‪Google Scholar.” n.d. Accessed May 14, 2024. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=63q8bcwAAAAJ&hl=en.
  3. “Dibakar r Chowdhury (@DibakarRC) / X.” n.d. X (Formerly Twitter). Accessed May 14, 2024. https://twitter.com/DibakarRC.

Conversation with Sundar Sarukkai

Sundar Sarukkai is a philosopher who specializes in the natural and social sciences.

His webpage : https://www.sundarsarukkai.in/

As a professor and visiting faculty at various institutions, he has made significant contributions to the field. Sarukkai is the author of numerous books, including “Philosophy for Children,” “Translating the World,” “Philosophy of Symmetry,” and “What is Science?” He has also co-authored works exploring Indian philosophy, caste, and democracy. Sarukkai is the founder of Barefoot Philosophers, an initiative to bring philosophy to children and the public. With his diverse expertise and passion for accessible philosophy, Sarukkai is a captivating thinker in the intellectual landscape.

Listen, as we humanize science.

Note: The audio in the first 10 min is of lower quality

References :

  1. “Sundar Sarukkai, Philosopher, Writer | Barefoot Philosophers.” n.d. Sundar Sarukkai. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.sundarsarukkai.in.
  2. Barefoot Philosophers, dir. 2024. A Conversation with Sundar Sarukkai – Philosophy of Science Workshop (2024). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XszjdsCvCV4.
  3. Christ University, Bangalore, dir. 2023. Dr Sundar Sarukkai Talk on Philosophy and Literature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tL1GbPYkfs.
  4. DC Books, dir. 2024. The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory | Sundar Sarukkai | Babu Thaliath |KLF. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMMoI0ZQgS0.
  5. Toor, Sanchit. 2023. “‘The Challenge Was to Produce a Language, Not Just Use What Is Accepted as Correct’: Sundar Sarukkai.” Text. Scroll.In. https://scroll.in. April 22, 2023. https://scroll.in/article/1047684/the-challenge-was-to-produce-a-language-not-just-use-what-is-accepted-as-correct-sundar-sarukkai.

Conversation with Mayurika Lahiri

Mayurika is a cancer biologist and a senior faculty member at IISER Pune : https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/research/department/biology/people/faculty/regular-faculty/mayurika-lahiri/289

In this episode, we discuss her intellectual journey, how she became interested in molecular and cancer biology, her initiatives related to breast cancer research, and her role in the Genome India project.

We had a wonderful conversation about various aspects of science in India and tried to understand it through the lens of gender equity. Mayurika speaks about women’s representation in science and how and why it should improve.

There are many interesting strands in this conversation, and each branch enriches the discussion.

Listen, as we humanize science.

Google and Apple podcast

References :

1.      “Mayurika Lahiri – IISER Pune.” n.d. Accessed April 29, 2024. ⁠https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/research/department/biology/people/faculty/regular-faculty/mayurika-lahiri/289⁠.

2.     “Webpage of Her Lab.” n.d. Lahirilab. Accessed April 29, 2024. ⁠https://lahirilab.wixsite.com/lahirilab⁠.

3.     “Dr. Mayurika Lahiri: A Flagbearer of Breast-Cancer Research.” n.d. Accessed April 29, 2024. ⁠https://scicomm.iiserkol.ac.in/docs/1/pages/mayurika.html⁠.

4.     IISER Pune, dir. 2019. Episode 4, SciTalk@SMC Feat. Dr. Mayurika Lahiri (Associate Professor, IISER Pune). ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIpb2cywtg⁠.

5.     IISER Pune Science Activity Centre, dir. 2023. International Women’s Day Celebration: Talk by Dr  Mayurika Lahiri. ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=S4l1HYxSKaE⁠.

6.     “Mayurika Lahiri (@MayurikaLahiri) / X.” 2024. X (Formerly Twitter). April 12, 2024. ⁠https://twitter.com/MayurikaLahiri⁠.

A Twitter thread on my Japan trip that inspired my podcast

Conversation with Snigdha Thakur

Snigdha is a computational soft condensed matter physicist and a senior faculty member at IISER Bhopal : https://sthakurlab.iiserb.ac.in/.

She uses computational physics to explore a variety of soft matter systems including active matter and of late biological systems.

In this conversation, we discuss her journey as a physicist, and how she developed interest in soft condensed matter. We also discuss about leadership in physics, as she has been the Chair of her department and a Dean at IISER Bhopal.

There are many things to learn from Snigdha and I enjoyed this discussion on various topics related to physics and pursuit of science.

Listen, as we humanize science.

Links on Google and Apple podcasts.

References:

  1. “Sthakur Group.” n.d. Accessed April 16, 2024. https://sthakurlab.iiserb.ac.in/.
  2. “‪Snigdha Thakur – ‪Google Scholar.” n.d. Accessed April 16, 2024. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q3X-5pQAAAAJ&hl=en.
  3. Fourth Paradigm conference, dir. 2020. Designing Synthetic Nano Motors by Snigdha Thakur, IISER Bhopal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J8F2Wd9AzM.
  4. “Principal Investigator | Raymond Kapral Research Group.” n.d. Accessed April 18, 2024. https://sites.chem.utoronto.ca/rkapral/content/principal-investigator.
  5. Raman Research Institute, dir. 2018. Biomimetic Behaviour of Synthetic Particles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9BVx8_4D-k.
  6. “Sunil Kumar’s Home Page.” n.d. Accessed April 18, 2024. https://physics.iitm.ac.in/~sunil/.
  7. Thakur, Snigdha, and Raymond Kapral. 2012. “Collective Dynamics of Self-Propelled Sphere-Dimer Motors.” Physical Review E 85 (2): 026121. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.85.026121.

Conversation with Sudipta Maiti

Sudipata is a molecular biophysicist who uses light and spectroscopy to study biologically relevant questions. He is a Professor at TIFR, Mumbai: http://www.biophotonics.co.in/

In this episode, we discussed what drew him to biophysics, his journey in establishing biophotonics as a research area in India, his motivation to start the FCS workshop and his thoughts on science in India. There are many other branches of discussion related to the pursuit of science, which the listeners may enjoy and learn from.

Listen as we humanize science.

On Google and Apple podcasts.

References:

  1. “Biophotonics Lab.” n.d. Biophotonics Lab. Accessed April 12, 2024. http://biophotonics.weebly.com/.
  2. “‪Sudipta Maiti – ‪Google Scholar.” n.d. Accessed April 12, 2024. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=_exYXS8AAAAJ&hl=en.
  3. “Sudipta Maiti (@SudiptaMaiti13) / X.” 2024. X (Formerly Twitter). February 8, 2024. https://twitter.com/SudiptaMaiti13.
  4. Berg, Jeremy M., Lubert Stryer, John L. Tymoczko, and Gregory J. Gatto. 2015. Biochemistry. 8th ed. edition. New York: WH Freeman.
  5. Eaton, William A., and H. Peter Trommsdorff. 2013. “Robin Main Hochstrasser (1931–2013), Giant of Physical Chemistry.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 (23): 9189–90. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1307692110.
  6. “Fluorescence India.” n.d. Accessed April 12, 2024. https://fluorescenceindia.org/.
  7. “Measuring Serotonin Distribution in Live Cells with Three-Photon Excitation | Science.” n.d. Accessed April 12, 2024. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.275.5299.530.
  8. “Watt W. Webb.” 2024. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Watt_W._Webb&oldid=1194542920.
  9. “Watt Webb, Biological Imaging Techniques Pioneer, Dies | Cornell Chronicle.” n.d. Accessed April 12, 2024. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/11/watt-webb-biological-imaging-techniques-pioneer-dies.
  10. Zipfel, Warren, Chris Xu, Elliot Elson, and Sudipta Maiti. 2021. “Memorial Viewpoint for Watt W. Webb: An Experimentalist’s Experimentalist.” The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 125 (11): 2793–95. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01045.

Conversation with Jayant Murthy

Jayant Murthy is a distinguished Senior Professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru. His research focuses on space missions, interstellar dust, and diffuse radiation fields. With a rich scientific background, a deep love for teaching and notable contributions to the discipline, Murthy’s work exemplifies excellence in astrophysical research.

Explore further at Jayant Murthy’s website: ⁠https://www.iiap.res.in/people/personnel/murthy/Jayant_Murthy/Home.html⁠

In this episode we discuss his biography. He explained how and why he became interested in astronomy and astrophysics. His ventures in teaching and a freewheeling discussion on science, rationality and society.

Jayant was recently commemorated with the naming of asteroid “(215884) Jayantmurthy” by the IAU, acknowledging his significant advancements in ultraviolet astronomy and space missions. We explore how that happened.

There are many other interesting strands in the conversation. Listen, as we humanize science.

on Google and Apple podcast

References :

  1. Jayant Murthy [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www.iiap.res.in/people/personnel/murthy/Jayant_Murthy/Home.html (accessed 4.2.24).
  2. ‪Jayant Murthy‬ – ‪Google Scholar‬ [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=Gdv6OEsAAAAJ&hl=en (accessed 4.2.24).
  3. Bureau, T.H., 2024. Asteroid named after Bengaluru Professor. The Hindu.
  4. Henry, R.C., 2005. The mental Universe. Nature 436, 29–29. https://doi.org/10.1038/436029a
  5. IIAstrophysics [@IIABengaluru], 2024. We are happy to announce that the asteroid 2005 EX296 has been named as “(215884) Jayantmurthy” by @IAU_org in honour of Prof Jayant Murthy! He is Honorary Prof & former acting director at IIA. @dstindia @doot_iia @asipoec @fiddlingstars @SPG_IIA https://t.co/E1k6MytYsY. Twitter.
  6. International Astronomical Union | IAU [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www.iau.org/ (accessed 4.2.24).
  7. Jayant’s Class Presentations [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www.iiap.res.in/people/personnel/murthy/Jayant_Murthy/Teaching.html (accessed 4.2.24).
  8. Kumar, A., Ghosh, S.K., Hutchings, J., Kamath, P.U., Kathiravan, S., Mahesh, P.K., Murthy, J., Nagbhushana, S., Pati, A.K., Rao, M.N., Rao, N.K., Sriram, S., Tandon, S.N., 2012. Ultraviolet imaging telescope (UVIT) on ASTROSAT, in: Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray. Presented at the Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, SPIE, pp. 455–466. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.924507
  9. Latest Updates | Astronomical Society of India [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www.astron-soc.in/ (accessed 4.2.24).
  10. Murthy, J., Henry, R.C., Overduin, J., 2023. Dust scattered radiation in the galactic poles. J Astrophys Astron 44, 82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12036-023-09973-5
  11. Professor Richard Conn Henry [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://henry.pha.jhu.edu/rch.html (accessed 4.2.24).
  12. Singh, K.P., et al., 2014. ASTROSAT mission, in: Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray. Presented at the Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, SPIE, pp. 517–531. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2062667
  13. Slide 1 [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www.iiap.res.in/people/personnel/murthy/Jayant_Murthy/Teaching_files/history_of_astronomy/siframes.html (accessed 4.2.24).
  14. Zachariah, P., 2024. ‘Our world is built on basic science, and part of basic science is rationality.’ The Hindu.
  15. ಡಾ. ನಳಿನಿಮೂರ್ತಿ | Dr. Nalini Murthy – Hemanth Sahitya, n.d. URL https://hemanthsahitya.com/book-author/d-nalinimurthy/ (accessed 4.3.24).

Conversation with Umakant Rapol

Umakant is an atomic physicist who is innovating on quantum optical technologies. What motivated him to study this fascinating area ? What has been his journey in atomic physics, quantum optics and the resultant technologies. We discuss this and many other things in this episode.

Umakant Rapol, an accomplished experimental physicist, is known for his innovative research in quantum technologies.

He is currently Professor of physics at IISER. Pune, Physics Department, Pune – India.  http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~umakant.rapol/team/

His research interests are in the area of Atomic Physics and Quantum optics. He has an active research group at IISER – Pune, working in the areas of Ultra-cold atoms and ions for precision Optical Metrology, Quantum Information processing and Quantum optics and in Quantum technologies ranging from Quantum computing to Quantum sensors.

His work explores the dynamics of quantum systems, focusing on atom optics and quantum information processing. Leading a research group at IISER Pune, Umakant conducts pioneering experiments in quantum information processing and quantum optics, advancing the field of quantum technologies. With a solid foundation in fundamental physics and extensive experience in experimental research, Umakant Rapol is a key figure in the realm of quantum research, making significant contributions to the development and application of quantum technologies.

Listen as we humanize science.

Google and Apple podcast

References :

  1. Umakant Rapol (@RapolUmakant) / X [WWW Document], 2021. . X (formerly Twitter). URL https://twitter.com/RapolUmakant (accessed 3.23.24).
  2. Atomic physics and quantum optics Lab – Team [WWW Document], n.d. URL http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~umakant.rapol/team/ (accessed 3.23.24).
  3. Indian Institute of Science, n.d. URL https://iisc.ac.in/events/remembering-prof-vasant-natarajan-1965-2021/ (accessed 3.23.24).
  4. ‪Umakant D. Rapol – ‪Google Scholar [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=VaQjNL8AAAAJ&hl=en (accessed 3.23.24).
  5. Umakant Rapol’s lab – Home [WWW Document], n.d. URL http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~umakant.rapol/ (accessed 3.23.24).