My Inward Eye.....: June 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012

A Glimpse of The Major

A Glimpse of The Major

Those days I was serving in a private company. My father had come to see us. He had retired from his Defense Services. He retired as a Major. He was well built handsome came from a village. With his hard work and sharpness he was promoted as 2nd lieutenant in the Army. He was married to a beautiful lady(my mother) from the same village.

We were, huge family of three brothers and five sister was like the Sound of Music..

Do Re Mi Fa So La Te Do……..

As the years passed, we grew up did our schooling and then College. All of us got settled and married.

That day, I was thrilled that father would come and see my posh office. I introduced him to my Boss. My boss granted me leave and so I spent the hours with my father visiting the shops and purchasing things…

Later we sat in a café for coffee…we chatted. His sparkling eyes wore a tired look.- we returned home.

I had realized father was aging. At night massaged his feet with oil. My hands felt the scars, bullets had pierced during war. Memories kindled I could vishualise the harsh yesteryears. Fighting and braving the attacks of the enemy. He had narrated us his encounters in the harsh snowladen mountains

I remember his bottle green uniform, decked up with medels.. we kids used to take pride in polishing them. He had risen from 2^nd lieutenant to Major. Father was stationed to different places. He could get leave for a couple of days to visit his family. Life was very hard. During war (with China in 1962) he was posted to remote place(NEFA Border).

We families of our Regiment were stationed at Srinagar. It was like a big community living together. Our happiness and sorrow shared together.

I recall the Sirens, the troops petrolling in the streets. Our mother was a brave lady taking care of her small childrens.

At night there was total blackout. The darkness and marauding planes would frighten us. The day, too did not feel secure . The news from the border was the topic in every mouth. Where air raids from the enemy had taken place? How many jawans and officers were killed! How did the enemy get to know the strategy of Commanding Officer with his troops stationed …His area was bombarded! The slain body was brought home to pay the respect from his near and dear ones.(A close friend of my father.) Last rights were performed. The Gun Salute reverberated the sky.

The pangs of war victims are still there..vivid

No news we received of our father.

Wives of the Officers of our Regiment would gather . Together with the families of the Jawans, kintted sweaters, glovers socks mufflers for the jawans . Food items too were packed and sent at the border. The winter was unbearable. They(Jawans) were short of armaments etc. entailing large scale combat at the altitude of 4,250meters(14,000 ft). The worst conditions they encountered.

Days passed , and one day on the 20th Nov1962 the ceasefire was declared by the enemy. It withdrew its forces from the disputed area. At last the war was over..

The day dawned when Father knocked our door. Our joys knew no bounds. Mother and we thanked the Almighty for his return from the battle.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Women have made contributions and sacrifices in the field of Science and Technology from ancient times.

The ancient Greece was the seat of intellectuals. Around 300 B.C Alexander the Great founded the city Alexandria

He invited worldwide cultures and scholers for the pursuit of knowledge. The greatest marvel of Alexandria was its Library. Hypatia daughter of Theon was a scholar and director of the Library. She was very beautiful and intelligent. She was a Mathematician and an Astronomer. From some historical information it is learnt that she was brutally murdered . The Arabs conquered and destroyed all her works. The little information of her writings and works in known from the works of others who quoted her and wrote to her contemporaries.

Amongst the ancient known scientist was an Egyptian Merit Ptah , chief physician. Agarmades, Theano . Theano was possibly wife of Pythagoras. She was a mathematician and physician. There were a record number female scientist all over the world in those days too.

During 16th century, most famous in Germany was Astronomer Maria Winkelman. Maria discovered comet and made some original contributions in Astronomy. She was married to Prussian foremost Astronomer Gottfried Kirch and worked under him as Assistant Astronomer. Even though she was highly qualified and experienced she was denied post in Berlin Academy when her husband died. Maira faced a lot of obstacles in her profession.

No woman was invited to either The Royal Society of London nor the French Academy of Sciences untill the 20th century. Two English women Caroline Herschel and Margaret Cavendish added to the scientist of that time. Carolyn Herschel had discovered eight comets between the years 1786-1797

Marie Sklodowska Curie discovered the mysterious element radium. It opened the door to deep changes in the way scientists think about matter and energy. She also led the way to a new era for medical knowledge and the treatment of diseases. She was the first women scientist to be awarded two Noble Prize one in Physics(1903) and the other in Chemistry(1911) .

Women Scientist in INDIA: During the time of Marie Curie Indian women scientist too had made a mark in their field.

A Book titled ‘Lilavatis Daughters: Women Scientist in India’ written about scientists, a hundred of them, their biographies etc is published by Scientist Rohini Godbole and Ram Ramaswamy . It is an attempt to enthuse girls in schools and colleges to hear or read about the work the women scientist are doing and take up research as their career. To name a few:

Anna Mani (1918-2001) Anna Mani, the distinguished Indian meteorologist, was the former Deputy Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department. She made significant contributions in the field of meteorological instrumentation and pioneered research in the areas of solar radiation, ozone and wind energy measurements.

Janaki Ammal:E K Janaki Ammal was a renowned botanist cytologist who made significant contributions in evolution, phytogeography and ethnobotany.

Kamal Ranadive (1917-2001)Ph.D. (1949, Bombay), FNA. This recipient of the Padmabhushan established the first tissue culture laboratory in India at the Indian Cancer Research Centre (presently Cancer Research Institute). She got Watumal Foundation Award for her work in the field of leprosy. She founded the Indian Women Scientist Association (IWSA).

Rohini Godbole:Ph.D. (1979, Stony Brook), FASc, FNA, FNASc, FTWAS, recipient of Sheel Memorial Lecture award (NASI), the distinguished Alumni award of IIT (Bombay), Meghnad Saha gold medal of Asiatic Society, J.C. Bose Fellowship of DST, Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship (INSA), INSA Satyendranath Bose Medal, etc., Chairs Academy Panel for Women in Science (WiS), Member Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet. Her area of specialization is theoretical high energy physics. Email: rohini@cts.iisc.ernet.in

Neelima Gupte

Ph.D. (1983, Stony Brook). She is a theoretical physicist and Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. She has been a member of the Editorial Board of Pramana and is a recipient of the Stree Shakti Science Sanmaan. Her areas of specialization are nonlinear dynamics and statistical mechanics.

Pushpa Khare:Ph.D. (1978, Bombay), she is Professor at the Physics Department, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. Her areas of interest are astrophysics and cosmology. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at University of South Carolina, and a visiting scientist at the University of Chicago, Max Planck Institute, Munich and Osaka University

Mangala Narlikar: (nee Sadashiv Rajwade) Wife of the renowned Scientist Jayant Narlikar

Ph.D. (1982, Bombay), works on number theory and mathematics education.

The Council of the Indian Academy of Sciences had in January 2003 constituted a committee on "Women in Science" to look into the issues of women scientists. This led to the formation of a Panel for "Women in Science" (WiS), in January 2005, to study the issues of women scientists and to suggest measures for obtaining suitable solutions. The Panel is currently chaired by Prof. Rohini M Godbole. The Panel has undertaken several initiatives towards fulfilling its objectives.
The Women in Planetary Science: Since the invention of Hubble Telescope the study of the stars , galaxies etc and the Cosmos is fast growing. Women in the Planetary field have opted for research on various fields such as the study of atmosphere soil of different Planets and their moons,also Search for Extra Terristrial Intelligence(SETI) founded by Astronomer Carl Sagan.

Deputy Administrator of NASA :Lori Garver addressing the girls scouts encouraging them for perusal of the education in Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM). She said the new generation needed to build courage perseverance and endurance to travel into our Solar System and explore the Universe.

Indian Women in Planetary Field: Dr. Renu Malhotra , Anita Cochran.

Renu Malhotra earned her M.S. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi in 1983, and her Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University in 1988. She did post-doctoral research at Cornell (1989) and at Caltech (1989-1991), and worked as a staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston (1991-2000). She has been the recipient of honors and awards from the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union, The University of Arizona, and the IIT-Delhi.

Anita Cochran: Anita Cochran is Assistant Director of the McDonald Observatory and a senior research scientist at The University of Texas at Austin.

Kalpana Chawla:

Hypetia

The brave and
brilliant NASA woman of Indian origin Kalpana Chawla was an American Astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist who died aboard Space Shuttle Columbia during mission STS107 . Our meteorological satellites are named after her an Asteroid 51826 kalpanachawla is also named after her.
(The above details is produced with the help of the Internet)
Going through the achievements of these Women our soul gets enlightened a new spirit dawns, it boots our energy and hidden talents which lie latent in us. A New direction in us is bound to unfold!