Siddhesh Kamat is Professor of Biology at IISER Pune. His research explores lipid signaling, chemical biology, metabolomics, and serine hydrolases in neurodegeneration and immunity. In 2024, he was awarded the Infosys Prize (Life Sciences). He has also played under-14 cricket for Mumbai.
In this episode, we explore his intellectual journey and how sports played a vital role in his thinking.
Prof. Krishnendu Sengupta is a Senior Professor of Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata. His pioneering research explores strong correlations in ultracold atoms, quantum phase transitions, topological phases like insulators and Weyl semimetals, quantum scars, Hilbert space fragmentation, and non-equilibrium dynamics in driven systems. In this episode, we explore his intellectual journey.
References:
‘Bird, Jonathan, Jinguang Cheng, Chun-Gang Duan, et al. ‘Future of Condensed Matter Physics for the next 10 Years*’. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 37, no. 42 (2025): 421502. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/ae0be1.
Srubabati Goswami is a pioneering Indian physicist specializing in high-energy physics, particularly neutrino physics. She is probably the first Indian woman to earn a PhD in neutrino oscillations from the University of Calcutta. She advanced research at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad (PRL), Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, and Harish-Chandra Research Institute before becoming Senior Professor at PRL. A fellow of India’s three science academies, she unravels neutrino mysteries and champions women in science.
In this episode, we explored her intellectual history and her remarkable journey as a physicist.
‘The Neutrino Story: From Impossible Dreams to Unreachable Stars (ONLINE) by Srubabati Goswami – YouTube’. Accessed 16 January 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZKadiBqhrA.
Chaitanya is a professor of biology at IISER Pune and works on quantifying biology at the cellular scale. His lab focuses on cytoskeleton and cell shape research and explores synthetic biological roots to address a variety of questions at the cellular scale.
In this freewheeling conversation, we talked about quantitative biology in his lab, reading, the German language, his recent comic-themed book, and a bit on philosophy of biology as we explored his intellectual journey. Also, don’t miss the 3D model he shows to explain his research.
Welcome to the podcast, Pratidhavani – Humanizing Science Satish Patil serves as Professor at the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit (SSCU), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. His research centers on organic electronics, pioneering air-stable n-channel conjugated polymers and band-like transport in these materials. The Organic Electronics Research Group, under his leadership, advances semiconducting polymers for organic solar cells, field-effect transistors, TADF, singlet fission, and energy storage devices through molecular design and synthesis.
In this conversation, we explore his intellectual journey so far.
References:
Patil, Satish. Satish Patil | The Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit. n.d. Accessed 27 November 2025. https://sscu.iisc.ac.in/patil/.
A. R. Venkatachalapathy is a prolific historian, writer and Professor whose work explores the social and cultural history of colonial Tamil Nadu. In 2024, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award.
His notable books include “In Those Days There Was No Coffee,” “The Province of the Book,” “Tamil Characters,” and “Swadeshi Steam,” which examines V.O. Chidambaram Pillai’s role in anti-colonial maritime resistance. His scholarship spans Tamil literature, publishing history, and intellectual culture, blending rigorous archival research with literary analysis.
In this episode, we explore his intellectual journey as a historian and bilingual author.
Jyotishman Dasgupta is a professor at TIFR, Mumbai, in the Department of Chemical Sciences. His research focuses on probing dynamical structural events leading to charge generation in molecular materials, particularly for bio-inspired photocatalysis and solar electricity generation. He uses ultrafast spectroscopy, including Stimulated Raman spectroscopy, to study reaction mechanisms in these systems.
Jyotishman effectively combines his love and passion for research and teaching with compassion and mentoring researchers. In this free-wheeling conversation, we discuss his intellectual journey so far.
Aparna Deshpande is an Associate Professor of Physics at IISER Pune, specializing in atomic-scale exploration of two-dimensional materials and their interfaces using scanning tunneling microscopy. She is deeply engaged in research on nanomaterials and is active in physics education (as part of the department of science education at IISER Pune), communication, and outreach at IISER Pune.
Aparna is also the faculty in charge of the Smt. Indrani Balan Science Activity Centre at IISER Pune, where she leads diverse science outreach and STEM education initiatives, promoting hands-on multi-lingual learning and innovative workshops for students and teachers across India.
In this conversation, we explore her research in physics and science education.
Arka Banerjee is a cosmologist and an Assistant Professor of Physics at IISER Pune. His research focuses on exploring the connections between fundamental physics at microscopic scales and the formation and evolution of large-scale structures in the Universe, such as galaxies and cosmic voids. To pursue these questions, he develops new simulation methods, constructs summary statistics for cosmological data, and generates forecasts for upcoming observational surveys.
In this episode, we explore his intellectual journey and research.