Scientist, Politician, Editor… 17 January 2008

This genius was born this day in the year 1706 at Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America as the fifteenth child of his parents. He

· was one of the most important and influential Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

· was a leading author and printer.

· was a political theorist, politician, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.

· was a scientist and inventor. His greatest contribution to the world is his discovery of electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, a stove, a carriage odometer, a musical instrument known as glass harmonica, and the flexible urinary catheter. Importantly, he never patented his inventions.

· formed both the first public lending library and the first volunteer fire fighting company.

· used to play violin, harp, and guitar and also compose music.

· printed a new currency based on innovative anti-counterfeiting method.

· made eight voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and made design changes in ships.

His name is Benjamin Franklin. Let us raise our hands to salute him!

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Disappointing…… 11 January 2008

The 95 th Indian Science Congress was held between 3 and 7 January 2008 at Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The theme of the conference “Knowledge Based Society Using Environmentally Sustainable Science And Technology” was most apt.

Performance was just not equal to promise. Top scientists, scientific advisers to the government of India, and heads of the major research institutions did not attend the meet. Defence laboratories of the country, Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institutes of Technology, Space and Nuclear establishments were hardly represented.

No major scientific results or theories were announced. Nothing path-breaking happened.

Many people, like me, interested in general Science have been left disappointed. A country which is looking for a place under the Sun and wanting to become a super power should have done better.

The ministry in charge of Science and Technology needs to wake up. China is charging ahead in Science and we are falling behind. Not a good feeling.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

A Rewarding Week…. 13 January 2008

(about 300 words)

The last week (6 to 12 January 2008) was one of the most intellectually stimulating week for me. I had the good fortune of listening to four brilliant and hard thinking men of contemperory India on four consecutive evenings starting 8 January 2008. I wish the Indian politicians listened to them too! All these public lectures were held in Bangalore.

R. Chidambaram, the Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (and a former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission) spoke about the status of nuclear energy in India. He talked on the basis of his vast experience as an active scientist as well as a science administrator with international exposure.

A. P. Venkateswaran, India’s former ambassador to China and a former foreign secretary spoke on `India and China – a comparison’. He was very cynical about India-China relations. He was not sure whether there would be any true friendship between the two countries in spite of the visit of India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh who is in China now.

Ramachandra Guha, a political and cricket historian, spoke on the `Beauty of Compromise’ (a term borrowed from Mahatma Gandhi). He felt that most conflicts in Asia can be solved by dialogue. However, on the subject of Kashmir he felt that solution was not that easy.

M. S. Valiathan, a cardiac surgeon by training and a former vice chancellor of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education spoke on the Science of Ayurveda. He traced the 2000-year history of this ancient Indian concept and practice with special reference to the works of Susrutha and Charaka and ended with the current status if research in this field in India.

In some subsequent issues of Penumbra I will try to share with you what I learnt in these lectures.

S .Gopal
…Keying in is better than idling

Symbols – Units of Measurement..… 29 December 2007

The other day I saw a signboard announcing `XYZ Factory: 12 KM ahead’. KM surely meant kilometers. But is KM the correct symbol for kilometers?

SI (Système International d’unités, meaning International System of Units) is the modern metric system of measurement and symbols. It is founded on seven base units. See Table below:

	SI base unit
length	meter	m
mass	kilogram	kg
time	second	s
electric current	ampere	A
thermodynamic temperature	kelvin	K
amount of substance	mole	mol
luminous intensity	candela	cd

As per SI convention, only those symbols that abbreviate the name of a person start with a capital letter. The one exception is litre whose symbol is L, the reason being symbol l (lowercase of L) was getting confused with numeral 1 (one).

It should have been `km’ and not `KM’ on the signboard. Similarly we see lot of incorrect symbols in product packaging and even in scientific and technical literature.

When we do not like our names misspelt, why do we allow ourselves to use incorrect symbols?

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Romance of Science…… 27 December 2007

(more than 300 words)

Top ten space stories of the year 2007 (copied from the World Wide Web)

1. Dazzling new images reveal the ‘impossible’ on the Sun

Japan’s Hinode telescope revealed the restless frothing of the Sun’s surface in astonishing detail.

2. Strange Martian feature not a ‘bottomless’ cave after all

An extremely dark feature on Mars was found to be just a pit, not the entrance to a deep cavern that future astronauts could call home.

3. Could black holes be portals to other universes?

A study suggested that the objects thought to be black holes could instead be wormholes leading to exotic cosmic locales.

4. Mars probe may have spotted lost rover

In 1997, NASA lost contact with its Pathfinder lander and tiny Sojourner rover, but a decade later, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s eagle eyes spied them both.

5. Satellites solve mystery of low gravity over Canada

A satellite pair called GRACE answered a weighty question: why does Canada have such low gravity?

6. Do black holes really exist?

A controversial study suggested that matter might never collapse completely into a black hole, an idea that would solve a troubling quantum paradox.

7. Satellite snaps first images of mysterious glowing clouds

NASA’s new AIM satellite took its first data on silvery blue ‘noctilucent’ clouds, which may be linked to global warming.

8. Strange alien world made of ‘hot ice’

The smallest planet known to pass in front of its host star was found. Intriguingly, it may be made of exotic hot ice and shrouded in steam.

9. Satellite could see shadow of extra dimensions

Researchers calculated if our 3D universe is floating in a higher dimensional space, the shape of those extra dimensions might be detectable by Europe’s Planck satellite, set to launch in 2008.

10. Atom smasher may give birth to ‘Black Saturns’

Physicists said tiny, ringed black holes resembling Saturn might be produced at the Large Hadron Collider, set to open in 2008.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

I met a young (?) scientist… 24 December 2007

Day-before-yesterday, I had the rare privilege of meeting this young scientist at a lecture session in Bangalore.

He is Dr. T. Ananda Rao, the botanist, who

• is a veritable treasure house of eco-information.
• is actively engaged in environmental and ecological projects.
• is the author of several books and research papers.
• is a specialist in orchids (He has collected more than 140 of the 175 orchid species that are seen in Karnataka. Orchid is a collective term for a set of flowers which have a great ability to survive and grow on biological wastes which often feed themselves just by sucking moisture from the air).
• lost his wife in 1992, and who finds solace in his botanical passion.
• used to employ a friendly monkey (who would go with him on his scientific tours) to climb up tall trees to pick up orchids; he only had to bribe his friend with bananas.

He is ONLY 97 years Young…

S. Gopal …..Keying in is better than idling

Units of Measurement and Morons..II 23 December 2007

When a cricket commentator in Australia announces the score as `2 for 3’, he means 2 wickets lost for 3 runs. In other parts of the cricketing world, it would mean 3 wickets lost for 2 runs. Well, this is not much of a problem; in a few more overs matters would become clear. But such ambiguity can lead to disasters in some other situations.

The American Mars Climate Orbiter was lost due to a miscalculation caused by an undetected mismatch between metric and English units of measurement. The use of metric units was specified in a navigation software interface. Despite this, the scientists at the Lockheed Martin company provided impulse data in English units of pound-force seconds rather than newton seconds resulting in the orbiter descending too low into the atmosphere of Mars. These values were incorrect by a factor of 4.45 (1 lbf = 4.45 N). The mix-up caused erroneous course corrections. The vehicle either burned up or bounced off into space resulting in a loss of a few million dollars.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Students and Satellites…… 20 December 2007

Two groups of students – one in Anna University, Chennai and the other in the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai – are designing amd building micro satellites.

Both the satellites would be launched into low Earth orbit (800 -1000 km above the Earth’s surface) by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the help of their Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

ISRO encourages young blood to be a part of the space programme. The overall objectives are to foster interest in Earth observation and space technology among students and faculty and to provide hands-on training in all aspects of spacecraft building and operations.

The satellite being built by the Integrated Systems Laboratory of Anna University is known as ANUSat. It will carry a digital store and forward payload for amateur communication designed to conduct experiments on message transfer across the country. It will have a mass of 50 kg.

The equipment being made at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai will have a mass of 10 kg and is designed for studying high-energy particles in space and Greenhouse Effect.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Friend or Foe?…… 17 December 2007

This entity is both, depending on where it is found. It is Ozone.

Ozone is essential for human life. The ozone layer present at an altitude of 20 to 30 kilometers above the earth in the stratosphere is responsible for absorbing the harmful ultraviolet radiation emitted by the Sun.

On the other hand, high levels of ozone at the ground level are the cause of eye irritation and respiratory problems.

Human beings are largely responsible in both the cases:

· During various activities indulged by the humans, substantial quantities of compounds containing chlorine and bromine are released leading to the damage of the ozone layer.

· Increasing number of motorised vehicles release nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide. Sunlight converts these into ozone.

The good news: Great progress has been made by humans in reducing the use of such items, which release chlorine and bromine.

The next time you are about to take your car out, hold your breath, think about yourself, your children and grandchildren, and ask a question to yourself: Can I cover the distance on foot or take a bus?

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

He transformed communication… 16 December 2007

He turns 90 today. Unfortunately he is wheelchair bound due to polio. He lives in Sri Lanka. Sir Arthur C Clarke was born on 16 December 1917.

He

· is an inventor and a futurist.

· is the person who proposed the revolutionary idea of using geostationary satellites for telecommunications.

· is the last surviving member of what was sometimes known as the “Big Three” of science fiction, which included Robert A.Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.

· is the author of the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey which was subsequently made into a movie – one of the greatest ever to be produced.

· formulated three `laws’ of prediction:

o When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

o The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

o Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Happy Birthday to you, Sir.

S .Gopal
….keying in is better than idling