Category: science

Critical thinking in Indian STEM students

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 on podcast : Conversation with Aditi Sen (De)

Aditi Sen (De) is a Professor at HRI, Allahabad. We had a freewheeling conversation on her biography, research on quantum information, motherhood, her experience of working in Europe and India. Also we have small segment in Bengali বাংলা (her mother tongue) on quantum research and motivations. Listen as we humanize science…

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PxgZe1sdPwlIkDCUXwDht?si=1aWctGNcRmmc3i1H4SmT9g

YouTube: https://youtu.be/NPxLccZ5Z64

Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lMTcyMGUwYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/YTcyYjg0N2MtYWZiMS00M2E1LTljODgtMmFiNDE2NjZlZGQ3?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiY-86xwuf_AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

1.     “Aditi Sen (De).” Accessed June 27, 2023. ⁠https://sites.google.com/view/aditisende⁠

2.     “Aditi Sen De.” In Wikipedia, April 14, 2023. ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aditi_Sen_De&oldid=1149772049⁠.

3.     Konar, Tanoy Kanti, Ayan Patra, Rivu Gupta, Srijon Ghosh, and Aditi Sen De. “Multimode Advantage in Continuous Variable Quantum Battery.” arXiv.org, October 29, 2022. ⁠https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.16528v1⁠.

4.     Physics World. “Quantum Batteries Harvest Energy from Light,” April 9, 2022. ⁠https://physicsworld.com/quantum-batteries-harvest-energy-from-light/⁠.

5.     “Schrödinger’s Cat.” In Wikipedia, May 16, 2023. ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat&oldid=1155122246⁠.

6.     “Dagmar Bruß | Falling Walls.” Accessed June 27, 2023. ⁠https://falling-walls.com/people/dagmar-brus/⁠.

7.     ICFO. “ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences.” Accessed June 27, 2023. ⁠https://www.icfo.eu/⁠.

8.     “ICREA.” Accessed June 27, 2023. ⁠https://www.icrea.cat/Web/ScientificStaff/anna-sanpera–trigueros-318⁠.

9.     “Maciej Lewenstein.” In Wikipedia, June 24, 2023. ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maciej_Lewenstein&oldid=1161681689⁠.

10.  “Marek Żukowski.” In Wikipedia, February 9, 2023. ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marek_%C5%BBukowski&oldid=1138310178⁠.

11.  “Universität Düsseldorf: People.” Accessed June 27, 2023. ⁠https://www.tp3.hhu.de/en/people⁠.

Speckles from boiling water

Leidenfrost effect in my kitchen

Jerel Walker of the fame of Halliday, Resnick ,Walker textbook fame has a superb article on this: https://www.reed.edu/physics/332/pdf/Leidenfrost.pdf

Wikipedia has a reasonable explanation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect#:~:text=The%20Leidenfrost%20effect%20is%20a,the%20liquid%20from%20boiling%20rapidly.

Podcast: Gripping History of Laser Invention

I tell the story behind laser invention. It is a story of human imagination, tenacity, device invention, intense competition, blame and humour. I discuss how the Cold War era USA created an environment to innovate and compete, all thanks to Sputnik…

References :

  1. Hecht, Jeff. Beam: The Race to Make the Laser. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/beam-9780199738717?cc=in&lang=en&.———.
  2. Hecht, Jeff. “Short History of Laser Development.” Optical Engineering 49, no. 9 (September 2010): 091002. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3483597.
  3. Maiman, Theodore H. The Laser Inventor: Memoirs of Theodore H. Maiman. Springer, 2017. ⁠https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Laser_Inventor/bjxEDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover⁠.
  4. Townes, Charles H. How the Laser Happened: Adventures of a Scientist. Oxford University Press, 2002. https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/How_the_Laser_Happened/hhQzVno6dyIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover.
  5. Boyd, Robert. “Charles H. Townes (1915–2015).” Nature 519, no. 7543 (March 2015): 292–292. https://doi.org/10.1038/519292a.
  6. Garmire, Elsa. “Memories of Charles Townes.” Nature Photonics 9, no. 6 (June 2015): 347–50. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.91.
  7. Maiman, T. H. “Stimulated Optical Radiation in Ruby.” Nature 187, no. 4736 (August 1960): 493–94. https://doi.org/10.1038/187493a0.

Kamala Sohonie and Iravati Karve


Great to see Kamala Sohonie featured on google doodle today. She was (probably?) the 1st woman to get a science PhD in India – circa 1939.
Also featured in the book “Lilavati’s Daughters” which I mentioned in my recent podcast

Going by the timelines, Iravati Karve got PhD in 1930, in anthropology, which is generally categorized as ‘social science’. Nevertheless, all inspiring.
Iravati had deep connections with Pune, and taught Deccan College

More about her : https://www.ias.ac.in/public/Resources/Initiatives/Women_in_Science/Contributors/Iravati.pdf

More bios of inspiring scientists : https://www.ias.ac.in/Initiatives/Women_in_Science/The_Women_Scientists_of_India