Dr. Bibha Chowdhuri Memorial lecture

Archaeometallurgy is the study of ancient metalworking techniques and the role of metals in past societies. It examines the extraction, production, and use of metals, as well as the technology and cultural significance behind metal artifacts. This field combines archaeology, chemistry, and materials science to understand historical metallurgy.  In this lecture, the speaker points to some highlights with respect to the study of metal artefacts, metallurgy and mining and Indian antiquity with examples of her work on medieval bronzes and ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, exploring a range of techniques, including electron probe microanalysis and lead isotope ratio analysis.

The recent Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya missions will be remembered as some of the most critical and challenging endeavours undertaken by ISRO. Several other missions have also left a lasting impact. To mention a few, The Mars Orbiter mission in 2013, the Spacecraft Re-entry Capsule Experiment in 2007, and the upcoming NISAR mission are just a few examples of diverse objectives, the Gagayanaan or the human space program and ISRO’s ability to succeed despite resource limitations. This talk delves into these missions, the challenges encountered during mission planning and operations, and highlights the innovations implemented.

Whether it is plankton in the ocean, dust-storms or water droplets in clouds, small particles in flow display a range of interesting behaviour, and in particular show a propensity to clumping. In this talk we will discuss how we may approach this problem, and the multiple approximations involved. And how a departure from sphericity affects interactions between the particles, and modifies clumping via the suppression of an instability.

Vaccines and vaccination have made a fundamental contribution to healthcare, decreasing, controlling and wiping out disease. These health effects translate to positive economic outcomes for individuals, healthcare systems and to society. However, the damage and consequences of diseases are rapidly forgotten, when the diseases are not seen in large number. Further, the full benefits of vaccines are not recognised and they are often undervalued and/or underused. Poorer countries think they cannot afford them, though new vaccines or increased vaccination coverage could improve the health of the population. Understanding the full value and potential impact of vaccines is critical to public health.

Vaccines and vaccination have made a fundamental contribution to healthcare, decreasing, controlling and wiping out disease. These health effects translate to positive economic outcomes for individuals, healthcare systems and to society. However, the damage and consequences of diseases are rapidly forgotten, when the diseases are not seen in large number. Further, the full benefits of vaccines are not recognised and they are often undervalued and/or underused. Poorer countries think they cannot afford them, though new vaccines or increased vaccination coverage could improve the health of the population. Understanding the full value and potential impact of vaccines is critical to public health.

Imagine a life without the words www or http? They emerged one fine day from a scientific laboratory! The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN Geneva, Switzerland is home to thousands of high energy physicists. By exploiting large sophisticated radiation detectors, designed and constructed over decades, we are collectively seeking answers to questions about the origin, evolution and composition of our universe. At this forefront of scientific pursuit, working hand in hand with industries, spin off technologies have completely changed our lives. With the world wide web, medical imaging, diagnostic and treatment techniques, high-performance computing, art restoration to name a few - the audacious, innovative cutting edge technologies of particle physics have entered and transformed mainstream society. This will trace exciting adventure at CERN and how we can collectively fight pandemics and catastrophes that are unknowns like COVID19 and some known challenges like cancer.

Imagine a life without the words www or http? They emerged one fine day from a scientific laboratory! The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN Geneva, Switzerland is home to thousands of high energy physicists. By exploiting large sophisticated radiation detectors, designed and constructed over decades, we are collectively seeking answers to questions about the origin, evolution and composition of our universe. At this forefront of scientific pursuit, working hand in hand with industries, spin off technologies have completely changed our lives. With the world wide web, medical imaging, diagnostic and treatment techniques, high-performance computing, art restoration to name a few - the audacious, innovative cutting edge technologies of particle physics have entered and transformed mainstream society. This will trace exciting adventure at CERN and how we can collectively fight pandemics and catastrophes that are unknowns like COVID19 and some known challenges like cancer.