How you can talk with God?

                                   How you can talk with God?
It was late evening, I peeped through my window.  The sky had turned scarlet .  The birds had flown in  to their nests.  This hour was very special.  I lit the evening lamp.  The perfume of the insence sticks engulfed the house.  The noisy day was somewhat quiet now.  My evening prayes had commensed.  After the prayers I loved to stay in this quiet mood.  Years back, i recalled a lovely story I had read.  It was about a rich woman she asks he Master(spiritual) that inspite of having all the comforts  wealth a good loving husband, children house everything in life, she feels empty and something missing in her life. What& Why?   To this the spiritual Master replies …"A part of our mind remains empty even if all the riches happiness of this world we get.  We must fill this gap by prayers to Almighty.  Daily this prayers has to be exercised."  Further, he explained her how to practice meditation. The woman obeyed him.  She sat on a sofa in her room closed her eyes and sat for meditation as instructed by the Master, daily..for considerable span.  After  some time she visited the spiritual Master and thanked him .  She no more had that feeling of emptiness. Moreover , peace prevailed. The real meaning of Life had unfolded to her!
"This is how we talk with the Almighty",said the Master.   "Daily giving few minutes of silent  communion .  In the beginning with a short praise ,  reciting his name etc few minutes of deep breathing then keeping silence in body and mind.  This quietude leads us to peace and then his love starts pouring wisdom dawns, your heart is full of his grace which overflows in the form of tears at times." He explained.
The saints say you cry for the worldly things all your life have you wept for the Almighty , who has created you and this beautiful creation the Universe.  Have we thanked him?
Once Swamy Vivekananda had asked Shri Ramakrishna, have you seen God ?
“Yes”, replied the Master,. “I see him just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense.” "The magic touch of the Master that day immediately brought a wonderful change over my mind. I was astounded to find that really there was nothing in the universe but God! ... everything I saw appeared to be Brahman. ”...Swamy Vivekananda
Ask and it shall be given to you
Knock and it shall open to you
Seek and it shall be reaveled to you
Words of the Lord ringing in my ears…
One touch one glance of the Master changes the whole life…I pondered
I had sat in this mood for quite some time.
' For oft on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon my Inward Eye in the Bliss of Solitude'....William Wordsworth

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What is the Higgs boson and the Higgs field?

The Higgs field has been described as a kind of cosmic "treacle" spread through the universe.

According to Prof Higgs's 1964 theory, the field interacts with the tiny particles that make up atoms, and weighs them down so that they do not simply whizz around space at the speed of light.

But in the half-century following the theory, produced independently by the six scientists within a few months of each other, nobody has been able to prove that the Higgs Field really exists.

·        

Prof Higgs predicted that the field would have a signature particle, a massive boson.

What would the world be like without the Higgs boson?

According to the Standard Model theory, it would not be recognisable. Without something to give mass to the basic building blocks of matter, everything would behave as light does, floating freely and not combining with other particles. Ordinary matter, as we know it, would not exist.

How long has the search gone on?

Scientists have been looking for the Higgs since the 1960s, but the search began in earnest more than 20 years ago with early experiments at Cern in Europe and Fermilab in the US.

Does finding the Higgs boson mark the end of the search?

It's just the end of the beginning. Confirming the existence of the Higgs would only be the start of a new era of particle physics as scientists focus on understanding how it works and look for unexpected phenomena.

How do you find a Higgs boson?

To find the particle and characterise it, scientists must first try to create it by smashing beams of protons together inside the Large Hadron Collider at close to the speed of light and analysing the debris.

By doing so they will essentially be recreating a very small model of the state of the Universe as it was in the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang.

Some of the fragments released by the collision should in theory be Higgs Bosons, although they will instantly deteriorate into even smaller, more stable subatomic particles.

Like other heavy particles, the Higgs decays into lighter particles, which then decay into even lighter ones. The process can follow a certain number of paths, which depend on the particle's mass.

Physicists compare the decay paths they observe after a particle collision to predicted decay paths simulated with computers. When a match is found, it suggests that the observed particle is the one being searched for.

How is the Higgs boson related to the Big Bang?

About 13.7 billion years ago, the Big Bang gave birth to the universe and caused an outburst of massless particles and radiation energy. Scientists think that fractions of a second later, part of the radiation energy congealed into the Higgs field.

When the universe began to cool, particles acquired mass from the Higgs field, slowed down and began to bunch up to form composite particles and, eventually, atoms.

Conditions present a billionth of a second after the Big Bang are recreated in the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator near Geneva.

How did the Higgs boson get the nickname "the God particle"?

A Nobel laureate physicist from Fermilab called Leon Lederman wrote a book in the early 1990s about the search for the Higgs boson. His publishers coined the name as a marketable title for the book, but it's disliked by many scientists.

Incredible in my lifetime... Higgs hails the 'proof' of his particle Published: Thursday, Jul 5, 2012, 15:01 IST By Nick Collins | Agency: The Daily Telegraph When Peter Higgs first proposed that an invisible field strewn across space gave mass to the building blocks of the universe, the theory was ridiculed by some of the most respected minds of the time. His first paper was rejected by a journal, while other scientists accused him and his colleagues of failing to grasp the basic principles of physics. Despite the slights, Prof Higgs - at the time a 34-year-old physicist at Edinburgh University - was convinced his idea was right, although he never envisaged being able to prove it. Yesterday (Wednesday), 48 years on, his radical concept was finally proved correct by a team of physicists at the Cern laboratory using a £6 billion piece of equipment designed to uncover the secrets of the universe. Announcing the latest results from the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, scientists confirmed they had discovered a new particle bearing the hallmarks of a Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson helps to explain how fundamental particles gain their mass; a property which allows them to bind together and form stars and planets rather than whizzing around the universe at the speed of light. Prof Higgs, 83, who travelled to Switzerland to witness the announcement, was visibly moved as the presentation was rounded off to tumultuous applause from the excited audience, some of whom had waited overnight to secure their seats. He said: "I am astounded at the amazing speed with which these results have emerged. They are a testament to the expertise of the researchers and the elaborate technologies in place. I never expected this to happen in my lifetime and shall be asking my family to put some champagne in the fridge." Prof Higgs has repeatedly resisted requests for interviews and comments, insisting that the limelight should be taken by the scientists who have proved that his theory is correct. He has long been uncomfortable even having his name attached to the particle, which is seen as the missing cornerstone of the Standard Model of physics. The son of a BBC sound engineer from Newcastle, he was raised in Bristol and excelled at Cotham Grammar School. During a school assembly he saw the name of a former pupil, the great quantum physicist P.A.M. Dirac, on an honours board and decided to read about his work. Quickly hooked, he read everything he could find on the subject. He went on to King's College, London, where he graduated with a first-class honours in 1950. He was denied a lectureship at the university, however, so became a researcher at Edinburgh University. His "eureka" moment reportedly came in a flash of inspiration during a walking trip to the Cairngorms. When one of his initial papers was rejected, he insisted the journal had not understood him. Upon publication in 1964, he and his colleagues were ridiculed as young pretenders and urged to abandon their research or risk "professional suicide". Prof Gerry Guralnik, a US researcher who published a paper on the subject with colleagues within months of Higgs, recalled a galling encounter with Werner Heisenberg, the German physicist who gave his name to the famous "uncertainty principle" of quantum mechanics. He said: "A lot of famous people told us that we were wrong. Heisenberg told me I did not understand the rules of physics, which is pretty scary if you are 26 and are worried about getting a job." Yesterday, the scientific community was united in its praise for Prof Higgs, with some calling for him to be given a knighthood. Prof Stephen Hawking said Prof Higgs deserved a Nobel Prize for his work, but admitted the discovery of the new particle had come at a cost. He said: "I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn't be found. It seems I have just lost $100."

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.

Lichen can survive in space: Space station research sheds light on origin of life; potential for better sunscreens

Lichen can survive in space: Space station research sheds light on origin of life; potential for better sunscreens

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!

Herschel

Madame Curie

Madame Curie

Kalpana Chawla

By Prajakta Dighe

Serene Scene
Even in a peaceful looking scene such as this one of Saturn and its moon Tethys, the Cassini spacecraft reveals clues about how Saturn is ever-changing. Saturn's northern hemisphere still shows the scars of the huge storm that raged through much of 2011 (see PIA14905). And, day by day, the shadows cast by the rings on the planet's southern hemisphere are growing wider as the seasons progress toward northern summer. See PIA11667 and PIA09793 to learn about the changing seasons and the shadows cast by the rings.

Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across) appears above the rings to the left of the center of the image.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan. 10, 2012 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.4 million miles (2.3 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 39 degrees. Image scale on Saturn is 84 miles (136 kilometers) per pixel.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

AMAZING VESTA

Years back in 1998 hollywood science fiction movie ‘Armageddon’ was released. It was about a giant asteroid in space which was in collision

course with our planet Earth. In the movie the crew of astronauts and Oil drillers planted nuclear warheads on the impending asteroid and blew it! The space mission NASA has announced recently, its space mission,

about landing its astronauts on asteroid VESTA before 2030. The findings from NASA are reported in the Science Magazine.

Since its formation,4.5 billion years ago, Earth

has been hit many times with asteroids and

comets whose orbits brings them into the inner

solar system. These objects collectively known

as Near Earth Objects (NEOs) still pose danger

to Earth today. Massive damage can occur by

their collisions. We have come to know that

Dinosaurs were wiped out; they became extinct

due to such collision. Their fossils are the record

of their existence on earth.

In1994 the comet Shoemaker-Levy broke in fragments and crashed into the atmosphere of planet Jupiter.

If these fragments had hit Earth instead, we would have suffered global catastrophe!

Most of the asteroids and comets pose no danger to our planet. But in Every thousand or so of those objects, there is one with an orbit which crosses that of the Earth raising possibility of future collision.

NASA is planning to send humans further than they have ever been before. It would take astronauts far beyond the current limit of human endeavour-the moon which is about 385,000km from Earth,

One of the astronauts is Maj. Tim Peake, a former British Army Helicopter Test pilot- an astronaut with European Space Agency. Peake and five other Astronauts will be sent to an underwater base off the cost of Florida next month where they will spend 12 days 20 meters beneath the surface of the Atlantic to simulate working in the low gravity environment of an Asteroid.NASAs Extreme Environment Mission Operation(NEEMO): During the training the astronauts will stay in a capsule (12 meters by 6 meters) where they will live eat sleep as part of training.

Spacecraft Dawn was sent in space in the year 2007. Its circling VESTA since 2011. It has sent some 20,000 images and spectra data is collected from different wavelengths of radiations.

VESTA was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on 29th march 1807. It is named after the goddess of home and hearth from Roman Mythology.

Asteroid VESTA is the second largest in the asteroid belt between planet Mars and Jupiter. Its mean diameter is 525 kilometers (326 mi)

VESTA resembles a small planet. It is 4.5 billion year

old has a rare iron core and crust and mantle formation similar to the Earth. It is rich in metals and minerals like iron and magnesium.

VESTA has large mountains-the largest is more than twice the size of Mount Everest. The Crater centered near its south pole is 505 km in Diameter named as RheaSilvia.

Dr.Raymond of Dawn Mission says “ VESTA is special because it has survived the intense collisional environments of the asteroid belt- for billions of years, allowing us to interrogate a key witness to the events at the very beginning of the Solar System.”

By Prajakta Dighe.

My above article got published in The Hitavada dated 3/6/2012

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