Pratidhvani - Humanizing Science

Vishwesha is a physicist turned ecologist. He is an associate professor in centre for ecological sciences at Indian institute of science BengaluruHis webpage :  https://ces.iisc.ac.in/?q=user/36.

In this episode we discuss his

Listen, as we humanize science...

References :

(1)Theoretical Ecology and Evolution Laboratory. Theoretical Ecology and Evolution Laboratory. https://teelabiisc.wordpress.com/ (accessed 2023-09-21).(2)Vishwesha Guttal. https://ces.iisc.ac.in/?q=user/36 (accessed 2023-09-21).

(3)‪Vishwesha Guttal‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2ew94JcAAAAJ&hl=ja (accessed 2023-09-21).(4)Physics | IIT Kanpur. https://www.iitk.ac.in/phy/ (accessed 2023-09-21).

(5)Debashish Chowdhury. https://www.iitk.ac.in/new/dr-debashish-chowdhury (accessed 2023-09-21).

(6)Home. Vijaya College. https://vijayacollege.ac.in/ (accessed 2023-09-21).

(7)National College Basavanagudi. http://ncbgudi.com/ (accessed 2023-09-21).(8)2012_Guttal_brief_intro_phil_science.pdf. Google Docs. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9WKrHfGyqu4My1RNU1Da2pBNzQ/view?usp=drive_open&usp=embed_facebook (accessed 2023-09-21).

(9)Shanker-Guttal-2021-CurrentScience.pdf. Google Docs. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N6l3w9P8XVAEVp9v5zdc_1aGw3ej6IPn/view?usp=sharing&usp=embed_facebook (accessed 2023-09-21).

(10)Guttal, V. Ecology: From Individuals to Collectives: A Physicist’s Perspective on Ecology. Reson2014, 19 (4), 368–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-014-0041-y.

(11)Ciriyam Jayaprakash | Department of Physics. https://physics.osu.edu/people/jayaprakash.1 (accessed 2023-09-21).

(12)Iain Couzin. Wikipedia; 2023.

(13)Jhawar, J.; Morris, R. G.; Amith-Kumar, U. R.; Danny Raj, M.; Rogers, T.; Rajendran, H.; Guttal, V. Noise-Induced Schooling of Fish. Nat. Phys.2020, 16 (4), 488–493. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0787-y.

(14)Vishu Guttal !! ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ ಗುತ್ತಲ್ (@vishuguttal) / X. X (formerly Twitter). https://twitter.com/vishuguttal (accessed 2023-09-21).

(15)ಕನ್ನಡ | Theoretical Ecology and Evolution Laboratory. https://teelabiisc.wordpress.com/category/%e0%b2%95%e0%b2%a8%e0%b3%8d%e0%b2%a8%e0%b2%a1/ (accessed 2023-09-21).

(16)Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast Ep. 21: ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕನ ಬದುಕು-ಬವಣೆ.The...; 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N9jH_p4tlI (accessed 2023-09-21).

(17)ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಯನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ [ಕನ್ನಡ] ಭಾಗ ೧; 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNhqyd5CMVg (accessed 2023-09-21).

His webpage : https://wwws.rri.res.in/~biman/

He is also bi-lingual author (non-fiction+fiction)

We discuss

I am delighted to introduce you to my guest on this episode : M S Santhanam

“Website of M. S. Santhanam.” Accessed September 5, 2023. http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~santh/.

Santhanam is a physicist and a professor in dept. of physics at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

He is a theoretical physicist, and his research interest include a variety of topics including chaos and nonlinear dynamics, quantum chaos, quantum computation and machine learning, statistical physics, complex networks, extreme events and complex systems.

In this episode we discussed

- his biography

- on how he developed interest in physics

- his experience of studying at Hyderabad university

- the ecosystem of the university

- he also tells us about his experience on learning and doing research in Quantum classical correspondence, extreme event, data analysis leading to machine learning, nonlinear dynamics and complex systems

- We discussed importance of physics and it role in society and how academics can contribute towards betterment of society

- There is also an excellent segment in Tamil, in which Santhanam describes his research with an interesting analogy.

- We also discussed about his interest in writing about science-society interface, and about politics

- Santhanam wonderfully combines intuitive thinking of physics, with computation approaches to study many interesting problems in complex systems, and he elaborates on this aspect with excellent clarity

- Santhanam and I work in the same department, and I have always found discussion with him both illuminating and interesting. I continue to learn a lot from him.

- I am sure, all of you will enjoy this discussion.

Listen...as we humanize science...

References :

- “M. S. Santhanam - IISER Pune.” Accessed September 5, 2023. https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/research/department/physics/people/faculty/regular-faculty/m-s-santhanam/329.

- “M. S. Santhanam’s Articles in News Media.” Accessed September 5, 2023. http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~santh/pubs.html#secgeneral.

- Pal, Ritam, Aanjaneya Kumar, and M. S. Santhanam. “Depolarization of Opinions on Social Networks through Random Nudges.” arXiv, February 24, 2023. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2212.06920.

- Physical Research Laboratory. “Home Page.” Accessed September 5, 2023. https://www.prl.res.in/prl-eng/home.

- Santhanam, M. S., Sanku Paul, and J. Bharathi Kannan. “Quantum Kicked Rotor and Its Variants: Chaos, Localization and Beyond.” Physics Reports, Quantum kicked rotor and its variants: Chaos, localization and beyond, 956 (April 22, 2022): 1–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2022.01.002.

- “University of Hyderabad.” Accessed September 5, 2023. https://uohyd.irins.org/.

Kaneenika Sinha is a mathematician and is as associate professor in department of mathematics at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune. She is a number theorist, and her research interest is in analytic number theory and arithmetic statistics of modular forms. Kaneenika did her PhD from Queen's University in Canada, and spent a few years as post doc in Univ of Toronto, Univ of Alberta and Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley. She started her independent career at IISER Kolkata before moving to IISER Pune.

“Kaneenika Sinha's webpage.” Accessed August 26, 2023. http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~kaneenika/.

Twitter. “Kaneenika Sinha (@kaneenikasinha) / X,” June 15, 2023. https://twitter.com/kaneenikasinha.

In this episode we discussed

References :

1. Link to her article on Prime numbers in the Bhavana Magazine: https://bhavana.org.in/primes-of-our-lives/

2. Link to a biographical article she wrote on Sarvadaman Chowla: https://bhavana.org.in/sarvadaman-chowla-the-perpetual-ambassador-for-number-theory/

3. Her TedX talk on Prime numbers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iOyG3sFJ7I&t=614s

4. Link to a blog post on Harivansh Rai Bachchan: https://academic-garden.blogspot.com/2022/12/harivansh-rai-bachchan-inspiring-phd.html

5. Link to two articles on C R Rao in Bhavana Magazine : https://bhavana.org.in/c-r-rao-a-life-in-statistics/https://bhavana.org.in/glimpses-from-the-life-and-work-of-dr-c-r-rao/

6. Link to Resonance: https://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Resonance_%E2%80%93_Journal_of_Science_Education

7. Link to her book on the AMS webpage: https://bookstore.ams.org/STML/104

8. Link to preface of the book : https://www.ams.org/bookstore/pspdf/stml-104-pref.pdf

E Arunan is a physical chemist and Professor at Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

webpage : https://ipc.iisc.ac.in/~ea/arunan_cv_December2020.html

twitter : https://twitter.com/earunan?lang=en

In this episode (2 hour+) we discussed his biography, learning science in Tamil, his transition from Madurai to Madras to Delhi to Kansas and finally to IISc Bangalore. We discuss about his work including microwave spectroscopy, hydrogen bonding, Indian academia, and Tamil poetry and its contemporary relevance...

Listen as we humanize science.

our youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/@g.v.pavankumarlab2908/playlists

References :

Arunan, E. “Arunan’s Lab Webpage.” Accessed August 19, 2023. https://ipc.iisc.ac.in/~ea/.

earunan. “Arunan’s Blogpage,” January 2, 2022. https://earunan.org/.

“Indian Institute of Science.” Accessed August 19, 2023. https://iisc.ac.in/events/remembering-prof-vasant-natarajan-1965-2021/.

“Inorganic and Physical Chemistry.” Accessed August 19, 2023. https://ipc.iisc.ac.in/.

“The American College | Madurai.” Accessed August 19, 2023. https://americancollege.edu.in/.

Arunan, Elangannan, Gautam R. Desiraju, Roger A. Klein, Joanna Sadlej, Steve Scheiner, Ibon Alkorta, David C. Clary, et al. “Definition of the hydrogen bond (IUPAC Recommendations 2011).” Pure and Applied Chemistry 83, no. 8 (July 8, 2011): 1637–41. https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-10-01-02.

“Current Science.” Accessed August 19, 2023. https://www.currentscience.ac.in/show.author.php?id=3002.

driftonblog. “Ode to My Mozart in Physics.” Driving and Drifting... (blog), December 29, 2021. https://driftonblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/29/ode-to-my-mozart-in-physics/.

“EA>Research.” Accessed August 19, 2023. https://ipc.iisc.ac.in/~ea/research.html.

Episode 08 : Gripping History of Laser Invention, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atjcoM8UANs.

“Gautam Radhakrishna Desiraju.” In Wikipedia, July 12, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gautam_Radhakrishna_Desiraju&oldid=1164957848.

“Kural.” In Wikipedia, August 12, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kural&oldid=1169933209.

“Pankaj Mandal’s Webpage - Pankaj Was One of the PhD Students of Arunan.” Accessed August 19, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/iiser-pankaj-mandal/team.

I discuss the legacy of two important individuals Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar and their students. I highlight their styles of doing research and how they inspired important schools of thought. I emphasize the role of economic privilege and gender. I discuss Bimala Buti and mention about interesting books on women in science : Lilavatis Daughters and Lab Hopping.

References :

1.     “Bimla Buti.” In Wikipedia, February 8,

2.     “Chandrasekhar and His Limit - Google Books.”

3.     Chandrasekhar, S. Liquid Crystals.

4.     Cladis, Patricia E., Banahalli R. Ratna, and

5.     Dunmur, David, and Tim Sluckin. Soap,

6.     Goodby, John W. “Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar

7.     Gray, G. W., G. R. Luckhurst, and E. P.

8.     “Kameshwar C. Wali.” In Wikipedia, May

9.     Kumar, G. V. Pavan. “Raman’s Nephews.” Scatterings

10.  “Lilavatis Daughters | Women in Science |

11.  Penguin Random House India. “Lab Hopping.”

12.  “Prof. G S Ranganath.” Accessed June 14, 2023.

13.  “Prof. G. Srinivasan | Imprints Collection |

14.  “Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar.” In Wikipedia,

15.  “The Women Scientists of India | Women in

16.  Wali, Kameshwar C. A Quest for

17.  Wali, Kameshwar C. Chandra: A Biography of

18.  Wali, Kameshwar C. S Chandrasekhar: The Man

I share 15 lessons that I have learnt as an Indian Professor, academic scientist, teacher and a citizen...

This is an audio-visual episode. The video is available on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVIRTkGrtbrsYaCGtmHK2MVMRlWg9zFPC

References :

“A Case for Compassionate Rationality.” Scatterings (blog), July 1, 2023. https://backscattering.blog/2023/07/01/a-case-for-compassionate-rationality/.

“New Episode : Science, Rationality and Compassion.” Scatterings (blog), May 27, 2023. https://backscattering.blog/2023/05/27/new-episode-science-rationality-and-compassion/.Pinker, Steven. “Rationality.” Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Rationality/HT0NEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover.

Weinberg, Steven. “Four Golden Lessons.” Nature 426, no. 6965 (November 2003): 389–389. https://doi.org/10.1038/426389a.

Ranjini is an experimental soft condensed matter physicist. She is a Professor at Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru.

Ranjini's lab webpage : https://ranjinibandyopadhy.wixsite.com/complexfluids

She and her lab have been working on fascinating experiments on soft squishy matter including : Structure-dynamics correlations in colloidal suspensions; Mixed clay dispersions; Active colloids (synthesis and the study of active glasses); Interfacial instabilities and many other things.

In this episode we explore her biography, her ability to design and develop experiments, the difference between impact of research and impact factor of a journal, the process of articulation, importance of soft matter science and its relevance to India, and many other things.

Listen...as we humanize science...

References :

Twitter. “Ranjini Bandyopadhyay (@RanjiniRRI) / Twitter,” July 20, 2023. https://twitter.com/RanjiniRRI.

“Ajay K. Sood.” In Wikipedia, July 19, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ajay_K._Sood&oldid=1166154434.

“Ajay Sood’s Home Page.” Accessed July 23, 2023. http://www.physics.iisc.ernet.in/~asood/.

Basak, Rajib, and Ranjini Bandyopadhyay. “Encapsulation of Hydrophobic Drugs in Pluronic F127 Micelles: Effects of Drug Hydrophobicity, Solution Temperature, and PH.” Langmuir 29, no. 13 (April 2, 2013): 4350–56. https://doi.org/10.1021/la304836e.

complexfluids. “Group Members and Recent Lab News.” Accessed July 23, 2023. https://ranjinibandyopadhy.wixsite.com/complexfluids/page3.

complexfluids. “Ranjini Bandyopadhyay.” Accessed July 23, 2023. https://ranjinibandyopadhy.wixsite.com/complexfluids.

“Durian Group - Home.” Accessed July 23, 2023. https://www.physics.upenn.edu/duriangroup/.

Mukherjee, Siddhartha. The Emperor of All Maladies. HarperCollins UK, 2011.

Nagel, Sidney R. “Experimental Soft-Matter Science.” Reviews of Modern Physics 89, no. 2 (April 12, 2017): 025002. https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.89.025002.

Phillips, Rob, and Stephen R. Quake. “The Biological Frontier of Physics.” Physics Today 59, no. 5 (May 2006): 38–43. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2216960.

Amitabh Joshi is a Professor in EVOLUTIONARY AND ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY UNIT at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Adv Sci Research, Bengaluru. He is also a poet in Urdu and English (and occasionally, Persian).

his lab webpage : https://sites.google.com/view/ebl-jncasr/home

his twitter link : https://twitter.com/joshiamitabhevo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

In this episode, we discussed him becoming a biologist; his journey in to the  realm of genetics and evolutionary biology; science and its interface with society; on how to do research; and how to think of problems; we also discussed interface of art and science and; in a way, we broke the myth of CP Snow's essay on "Two cultures". Also, don't miss the fabulous recitation of poems in Persian and Urdu - including lines from Iqbal and Rumi, and delightful insights on his thoughts in eloquent Hindustani. There is so much to listen, learn and think about...as always on a conversation with Amitabh

Listen...as we humanize science...

References :

“Amitabh Joshi.” In Wikipedia, January 21, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amitabh_Joshi&oldid=1134862112.

“Amitabh Joshi | Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.” Accessed July 13, 2023. https://www.jncasr.ac.in/faculty/ajoshi.

Amitabh Joshi at Navisht 2019, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuZI0Lu1r9E.

“EBL, JNCASR.” Accessed July 29, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/ebl-jncasr/home.

“EBL, JNCASR - Amitabh Miscellaneous Interests.” Accessed July 29, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/ebl-jncasr/amitabh-miscellaneous-interests.

“Joshi, Amitabh.” Accessed July 13, 2023. https://press.princeton.edu/our-authors/joshi-amitabh.

Joshi, Amitabh. “Poems Recited by Amitabh in This Podcast.” Google Docs. Accessed July 31, 2023. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BzJFUuunbWctVd_yCKARKtdEczlUXEfI/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=108686585365385026951&rtpof=true&usp=embed_facebook.