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CSIR labs for more collaboration, to act as force multipliers

Directors of two Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs said institutions under India's

premier national R&D organization are committed to work together instead of remaining in "academic silos".

"The way that we have worked in the past is that each laboratory is led by a director and each laboratory

kept its individuality but if you look at the past, where we have had major successes is when two or three labs

worked together…this way the 38 CSIR labs are force multipliers," CSIR's Central Glass And Ceramic

Research Institute (CGCRI) Director K Muraleedharan said.

He compared the spruced up working style to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "If you

look at ISRO, ISRO units work together. Chandrayan is the project of the whole organisation, not one lab,"

Muraleedharan said during the inauguration of the CSIR Platinum Jubilee Mega Science Exhibition at the CSIR

-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology's TRUE campus in Salt Lake City.

As an example, Muraleedharan cited a lithium ion

battery manufacturing project in Chennai which is a

collaboration of several CSIR labs, including CGCRI.

"My lab has contributed towards the ceramic

separator component of the battery. We realise that if we

work together, we can achieve much more than what each

person can do.

The manufacturing is at a prototype level and the

final product cost will be cheaper by half of the price of

the imported product," he said.

According to CSIR-IICB Director Samit

Chattopadhyay, the focus is on working with industry on a

"war footing."

"We are trying to find ways how our chemists and

biologists can work on a war footing with industry to

come up with 10 products in the next two to three years," he said. Chattopadhyay said each lab has zeroed-in on

10 problems to be taken up over the next two years and will work on them under "mission mode programme" to

deliver products in short timelines.

courtesy: IANS

October, 2017

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Indian American Science Whiz Kids among 2017 Broadcom MASTERS Finalists The Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science & the Public Sept. 20 announced the 2017 Broadcom

MASTERS competition finalists, which included at least seven Indian American and South Asian American

middle school students. A total of 30 kids were chosen as finalists, which were selected by a panel of

distinguished scientists and engineers from among the Top 300 MASTERS and 2,499 applicants representing 49

states and 4 U.S. territories, and 1 military base abroad, in the seventh year of the science, technology,

engineering and math competition. The finalists include 15 boys and 15 girls from 17 states representing 30

schools. “I’m thrilled to see that for the second year in a row we have an equal number of male and female

Broadcom MASTERS competitors,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science & the

Public and publisher of Science News. “I am proud that the Society for Science & the Public, along with the

Broadcom Foundation, is able to inspire and support such extraordinary young people.” Added Paula Golden,

president of the Broadcom Foundation, "These talented young scientists, mathematicians and engineers, whose

projects range from computer science and mechanical engineering to microbiology and sustainability, are part of

the generation that will solve the grand challenges we face today.”

Among the Indian American students selected as finalists include Meghna

Behari, Mithra Karamchedu, Arjun Moorthy, Sanjay Seshan, Aryansh Shrivastava,

Annika Viswesh and Pujita Tangirala.

Behari, an eighth grader at Marshall Middle School in Wexford, Penn., was

chosen for her project, “Aquabot: An Integrated Modular Platform for Testing and

Monitoring Surface Water Quality.” Karamchedu, a seventh grader at Stoller

Middle School in Portland, Ore., was selected as a finalist for his project, "Remote

Sensing the Ablation or Accumulation of a Glacier By Using Fractal Analysis on

Glacier Images." Moorthy, an eighth grader at BASIS Scottsdale school in Scottsdale, Ariz., was selected as a

finalist for the project, "Can Technology Be Used To Modify Behavior and Reduce Rates of Melanoma."

Pittsburgh, Penn.-based Dorseyville Middle School eighth grader Seshan was selected as a national finalist for

his project, "Keeping Our Heads Above Water: Early Detection of Stress in Buried Water Pipes." Shrivastava, a

seventh grade student at Fremont, Calif.-based William Hopkins Junior High School, was selected for his

project, "A Microcontroller Based, Programmable, Elderly Healthcare Activity Monitoring System with

Intelligent Data Analytics for Early Emergency Detection and Alerts." Viswesh, a seventh grade student at

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Stratford School-Sunnyvale Raynor Middle School, was chosen for the project, "Oculus

Patch Assistant: A Novel Method to Simplify and Improve the Effectiveness of Amblyopia Treatment by Using

a Smart Sensor, a Smartphone Application, and Predictive Machine Learning Algorithms." And Tangirala, a

seventh grader from San Jose, Calif.-based Challenger School-Strawberry Park, was selected as a finalist for her

project, "A Green, Low-Cost Adsorbent for the Removal of Dye from Aqueous Solutions." Broadcom

MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars), a program founded and

produced by the Society for Science & the Public, seeks to inspire young scientists, engineers and innovators

who will solve the grand challenges of the future. Winners will be announced Oct. 24 in Washington, D.C.,

following a competition that will test the finalists’ abilities in STEM, critical thinking, communication, creativity

and collaboration. courtesy: http://www.indiawest.com

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10 Mathematical inventions in ancient India that changed the world

By Ayush Mathematics is the science that deals with the logic of shape, quantity, and arrangement. Math is all around us,

in everything we do. It is the building block for everything in our daily lives, including mobile devices,

architecture (ancient and modern), art, money, engineering, and even sports. It represents It represents a high

level of abstraction attained by the human mind. In India, mathematics has its roots in the Vedic literature which

is nearly 4000 years old. Between 1000 B.C. and 1000 A.D. various treatises on mathematics were authored by

Indian mathematicians in which were set forth for the first time, the concept of zero, the techniques of algebra

and algorithm, square root and cube root. There are various examples

of mathematics from ancient India that are applied even today.

1. Zero

If it weren’t for Indian mathematician-astronomer Aryabhatta, there

wouldn’t have been a number zero. Though people have always

understood the concept of nothing or having nothing, the concept of

zero is relatively new; it fully developed in India around the fifth

century A.D. Before then, mathematicians struggled to perform the simplest arithmetic calculations. Today, zero

- both as a symbol (or numeral) and a concept meaning the absence of any quantity - allows us to perform

calculus, do complicated equations, and to have invented computers. ‘The zero is widely seen as one of the

greatest innovations in human history, is the cornerstone of modern mathematics and physics, plus the spin-off

technology,’ said Peter Gobets, secretary of the ZerOrigIndia Foundation, or the Zero Project.

2. Algebra

As much as the students hate it today, India has had big contributions in the field of Algebra in the ancient times.

In ancient India, conventional mathematics termed Ganitam was known before the development of algebra. This

is borne out by the name Bijaganitam, which was given to the algebraic form of computation. Bijaganitam

means ‘the other mathematics’ (Bija means another or second and Ganitam means mathematics). In India,

around the 5th century A.D., a system of mathematics that made astronomical calculations easy was developed.

In those times its application was limited to astronomy as its pioneers were Astronomers. As astronomical

calculations are complex and involve many variables that go into the derivation of unknown quantities. Algebra

is a short-hand method of calculation and by this feature, it scores over conventional arithmetic.

3. Trigonometry

Though Trigonometry goes back to the Greek period, the character of

the subject started to resemble modern form only after the time of

Aryabhata. From here it went to Europe through the Arabs and went

into several modifications to reach its present form. In ancient times

Trigonometry was considered a part of astronomy. Three functions

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were introduced: jya, kojya and ukramajya. The first one is r sina where r is the radius of the circle and sina is

the angle subtended at the center. The second one is r cosa and the third one is r (1 - cosa). By taking the

radius of the circle to be 1, we get the modern trigonometric functions. Various relationships between the sine of

an arc and its integral and fractional multiples were used to construct sine tables for different arcs lying between

0 and 90°.

4. Decimal System and Quadratic Formula

In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 CE

to 1600 CE), important contributions were made by

scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Mahāvīra,

Bhaskara II, Madhava of Sangamagrama and

Nilakantha Somayaji. The decimal number system in

worldwide use today was first recorded in Indian

mathematics. It was in 7th century CE when Brahmagupta found the first general formula for solving quadratic

equations. The decimal system (or the Hindu number system), which was a precursor of the Arabic numeric sys-

tem, was developed in India between the 1st and 6th centuries CE.

5. Fibonacci Numbers

The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers

where a number is found by adding up the two

numbers before it. Starting with 0 and 1, the

sequence goes 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and

so forth. It was first described by Virahanka,

Gopala, and Hemachandra as an outgrowth of earlier writings by Pingala.

6. Length

Rulers are believed to have been used by the Indus Valley Civilization prior to 1500 BCE. Made of ivory, the

rulers found during excavation, reveal the amazing accuracy of decimal subdivisions on it. The people of the

ndus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time. They were among the first to

develop a system of uniform weights and measures. A comparison of available objects indicates large scale

variation across the Indus territories. Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal

in Gujarat, was approximately 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age.

7. Weights

The history of measurement systems in India begins in early Indus Valley Civilization with the earliest surviving

samples dated to the 5th millennium BCE. Since early times the adoption of standard weights and measures has

reflected in the country’s architectural, folk, and metallurgical artifacts. A complex system of weights and

measures was adopted by the Maurya empire (322–185 BCE), which also formulated regulations for the usage

of this system. Later, the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) used standard measures to determine land holdings and

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collect the land tax as a part of Mughal land reforms. A total of 558 weights were excavated from Mohenjodaro,

Harappa, and Chanhu-Daro, not including defective weights. They did not find statistically significant

differences between weights that were excavated from five different layers, each measuring about 1.5 m in

depth. This was evidence that strong control existed for at least a 500-year period. The 13.7-g weight seems to

be one of the units used in the Indus valley. The notation was based

on the binary and decimal systems. 83% of the weights which were

excavated from the above three cities were cubic, and 68% were

made of chert.

8. Geometry

Indian mathematicians had their contribution even in the area of Geometry. There was an area of mathematical

applications called Rekha Ganita (Line Computation). The Sulva Sutras, which literally mean ‘Rule of Chord’

give geometrical methods of constructing altars and temples. The temple layouts were called Mandalas. Some of

the important works in this field are by Apastamba, Baudhayana, Hiranyakesin, Manava, Varaha, and Vadhula.

9. Infinite Series

Kerala mathematicians produced rules for second order interpolation to calculate intermediate sine values. The

Kerala mathematician Madhava may have discovered the sine and cosine series about three hundred years before

Newton. In this sense, we may consider Madhava to have been the founder of mathematical analysis. Madhava

(circa 1340 - 1425 A.D.) was the first to take decisive

step from the finite procedures of ancient Indian

mathematics to treat their limit-passage to infinity. His

contributions include infinite-series expansions of

circular and trigonometric functions and finite-series

approximations. His power series for p and for sine and

cosine functions is referred to by later writers.

10. Binary Code

Binary numbers form the basis for the operation of computers. Binary numbers were discovered in the west by

German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz in 1695. However, new evidence proves that binary numbers were

used in India prior to 2nd century A.D., more than 1500 years before their discovery in the west. The source of

this discovery is a text of music by Pingala named ‘Chhandahshastra’ meaning science of meters. This text falls

under the category of ‘Sutra’ or aphorismic statements. Detailed

discussions of these short but profound statements are found in later

commentaries. ‘Chhandahshastra’ can be conservatively dated to 2nd

century A.D. The main commentaries on ‘Chhandahshastra’ are

‘Vrittaratnakara’ by Kedara in probably 8th century, ‘Tatparyatika’

by Trivikrama in the 12th century and ‘Mritasanjivani’ by Halayudha

in the 13th century. courtesy: https://detechter.com

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Last decade, over half of Shanti Swarup winners from three institutions, just seven women

amongst awardees

The awards, first constituted in 1958, are the country’s most coveted recognition for scientists and are given an-

nually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Over 50% of the 113 scientists who received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and

Technology between 2007 and 2017 have been from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Tata Institute of

Fundamental Research (TIFR), or one of the five oldest Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Of the 113, only

seven have been women scientists.

The awards, first constituted in 1958, are the country’s most coveted recognition for scientists and are

given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). They are awarded to scientists below

the age of 45 who have made “outstanding contributions to human knowledge and progress - fundamental and

applied” in the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine, physics and environmental

science. This year, 10 young scientists, including two working in the field of cancer, were selected for the awards.

An analysis by The Indian Express of the awards shows that 58 of the 113 winners over the last decade

have been from the IISc (25 winners), TIFR (16) and the five IITs (17) - a testament to the fact that these

institutions remain the leaders when it comes to nurturing research and attracting talent. There has been at least

one winner each year from IISc in the last decade, with as many as four in 2009 alone.

This year, there were two winners from IISc – Aloke Paul and Neelesh B Mehta. Paul’s work on materials

engineering and Mehta’s on next-generation wireless communication systems were awarded in the engineering

sciences category. The remaining 55 scientists

represented 32 institutions some of them CSIR

institutes, central universities or private research

facilities.

Among the IITs, scientists from IIT-

Kanpur were awarded seven times over the last

decade, followed by IIT-Madras (4), IIT-Delhi

(3), IIT-Kharagpur (2) and IIT-Bombay (1).

None of the other 18 IITs have ever made it to

the list. While scientists from TIFR-Mumbai

bagged 11 awards over the last decade, those

from TIFR-Pune and TIFR-Bengaluru won five awards.

CSIR, however, categorically states that only “science” is discussed when the advisory committee meets

to discuss nominations. “The advisory committees for each year’s award are constituted with the approval of the

Chairman of the governing body of CSIR. The committees consist of at least six experts, including at least one

former Bhatnagar awardee in the respective discipline,” states the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award website.

CSIR’s principal scientist Dr Inderpal Singh, who has been associated with the awards since 1999, said,

“Once we scrutinise each nomination, it is often peer-reviewed and then we seek comments from national and

international referees. The nominations are then circulated to members of the advisory committee.

There is a healthy discussion during meetings. There is no discussion on which institution the scientist works at

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or who is his or her mentor. Only science is discussed.” Bharat Ratna recipient Professor C N R Rao, who

received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in 1969, and subsequently served on the committee that vetted

nominations said, “The selection of awardees over the years reveals that we have not searched for talent all over

India. I think the committee should be more careful and objective while choosing scientists.”

Only 16 women have won the award since its inception in 1958 and seven of those in the last decade. The

first award given to a woman scientist was in 1961, after which, over a span of 46 years, only nine women

received the award. Three women won in 2010: Subha Tole from TIFR-Mumbai in the biological sciences

category, Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay from the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata in the engineering science

category and Mitali Mukerji from the Delhi-based CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in the

medical science category.

President Ram Nath Kovind, who spoke at CSIR’s platinum jubilee celebrations on Tuesday, where the

2017 awardees were announced, also pointed to the “distressingly small” participation of women in science.

“Less than two of every 10 scientific researchers in Indian are women. Of those who join the Indian Institutes of

Technology each year, just about 10 per cent are women,” he said. Kovind had appealed to the scientific

community to take “accelerated steps” to promote participation of girl students and women in science and

technology. “These numbers are simply not acceptable” he said.

Courtesy: www.indianexpress.com

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Asima Chatterjee: One of India’s First Woman Doctorates of Science!

This serene bespectacled woman, a world-class scientist, once said, “I wish to

work as long as I live.” Asima’s maiden name was Mokerjee. She grew up in a middle-

class household in Calcutta and was the oldest of two children of Dr. Indra Narayan

Mookerjee and his wife, Kamala Devi. Her younger brother, Sarashi Ranjan

Mookerjee, also came to known as a noteworthy surgeon, and collaborated with

Asima in her research on medicinal plants. It was her father’s love for botany that piqued

Asima’s interest in their medicinal properties.

As a young girl, her parents never restricted Asima from pursuing education. She

completed her graduation with honors in chemistry from Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta in

1936. She moved on to received a master’s degree in organic chemistry in 1938 from the University of Calcutta.

She became the second woman after Janaki Ammal to be earn a Doctorate of Science by an Indian University, i.e

the University of Calcutta in 1944. She researched natural products chemistry and developed leading anti-

convulsive, anti-malarial, and chemotherapy drugs. One of her most successful anti-epileptic drug, ‘Ayush-56’

was developed from Marsilia minuta, while her anti-malarial drug was developed from Alstonia scholaris,

Swrrtia chirata, Picrorphiza kurroa and Ceasalpinna crista. She spent 40 long years researching a class of

compounds called alkaloids. Some of these alkaloids are efficiently used during chemotherapy to prevent the

multiplication of cells in cancer patients. These patented drugs have been widely marketed by several companies.

Asima also chemically analysed coumarins, which essentially came from the bael tree, a native species in

India. It was she who brought to light that the fruits and bark of this tree could treat a variety of gastrointestinal

disorders. In association with Mr. Anjan Palit, a well known personality in chemistry, she became the founding

head of the department of chemistry at Lady Brabourne College of the University of Calcutta. She joined the

University College of Science of the University of Calcutta, as reader in pure chemistry in 1954.

Her numerous achievements include being a Premchand Roychand Scholar of the University of Calcutta

and serving as the Khaira Professor of Chemistry, the most prestigious and coveted chairs of the University of

Calcutta. 1960 marked her election as the Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi. The

following year, she became the first female recipient of the country’s most prestigious science award, the annual

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. Even though the award was first introduced in 1958, but it wasn’t until 1960, that

the ‘chemical sciences’ category was introduced. Asima won the award for her contribution and achievements in

phytomedicine (the study of plant extracts for therapy). It took over 14 years for another woman to win the same

prize, and over 48 years for a woman to win it in the ‘chemical sciences’ category.

In 1972, Asima was appointed the Honorary Coordinator of the Special Assistance

Programme to intensify teaching and research in natural product chemistry,

sanctioned by the UGC, India. She was conferred the prestigious Padma Bhushan

in 1975. She also became the first lady scientist to be elected as the General

President of the Indian Science Congress Association . She was nominated by the

President of India as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from February 1982 to May

1990. She left for her heavenly abode on November 22, 2006. In her lifetime, she

published over 400 papers on Indian medicinal plants and their chemistry. Ashima may have gone, but her legacy

continues to live on. Courtesy: www.thebetterindia.com

Hello Kiddies, Here is

your Answer!!!

1. Mercury

2. Saturn

3. Venus

4. Jupiter

5. Saturn

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13

"Science is one thing, wisdom is

another. Science is an edged tool,

with which men play like children,

and cut their own fingers .”

Sir Arthur Edington

Discover

VOLUME 03

ISSUE 07, OCT 2017

Compiled & Edited By

Prasanth Nair

Reshmy Krishnakumar

Science International Forum, Kuwait

facebook.com/sifkuwait

For subscription mail to info@sifkuwait.com

Do You Know!!!

1. In terms of computing, what does ROM stand for?

2. Original Sony PlayStation use CDs/Cartridges to play games ?

3. What is the Earth’s primary source of energy?

4. Computer and Information Technology company, what does

IBM stand for ?

5. Along with whom did Bill Gates found Microsoft it?

You have time till next edition