Welcome Remarks by Dr Premnath Venugopalan
National Science Day at CSIR-NCL, 28 Feb 2024
Dear Friends
NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY
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Today is the National Science Day!
Every year 28 February is celebrated in India as National Science Day to mark the discovery of the Raman effect by Sir C. V. Raman.
On February 28, 1928, Sir CV Raman announced the discovery of the Raman Effect.
His classic paper with KS Krishnan titled “A New Type of Secondary Radiation” was published in Nature on 31 March 1928. Sir C.V. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for this discovery.
We were blessed to have Sir CV Raman’s presence at NCL on 3 Jan 1950 when NCL was opened formally by Pt Nehru. This institution has a long relationship with Sir CV Raman right from its inception (sometimes full of bitter disagreements and science policy debates – something very characteristic of us scientists and I think, a good thing to do that is much better than being indifferent and uninterested!)
THE SPIRIT OF SCIENCE
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I must tell you that this year’s theme of the National Science Day announced by the Government is “Indigenous Technologies for Viksit Bharat”. And as all of you know, I have chosen to dedicate my life to how science can be directed towards socio-economic development and build solutions/future industries for India and the World. That said, today’s day belongs to Sir CV Raman and the “Spirit of Science’ as he saw it.
On 22 December 1968, Sir C.V. Raman delivered a lecture on the Foundation Stone-laying ceremony of the Community Science Center, Ahmedabad titled “Why is the sky blue?”. This was actually a discourse on the spirit of science and has several nuggets of wisdom for the young scientists in this audience.
I want to share with you a few quotes from the lecture —
A quote on nature as the inspiration for science and his sense of wonderment:
” You learn science by keeping your eyes and ears open and looking around at this world. The real inspiration of science, at least to me, has been essentially the love of nature. Really, in this world, wherever we see, we see all kind of miracles happening in nature. To me, everything I see is something incredible something absolutely incredible. We take it all for granted. But I think the essence of the scientific spirit is to look behind and beyond and to realize what a wonderful world it is that we live in. And everything that we see presents to us not a subject for curiosity, but a challenge, a challenge to the spirit of man to try to understand something of this vast mystery that surrounds us. Science continually attempts to meet this challenge to the spirit of man. “
He goes on to later reiterate —
“.. it is not necessary to hunt round the textbooks to find problems of science. You keep your eyes open and you see that all around you, the whole world bristles with problems to solve; but you must have the wit to solve it; and you must have the strength of mind to keep going at it until you get something. This is the lesson, which I want to bring home to the younger generation in front of me. “
A quote on the process of scientific enquiry:
“Don’t read any book about it; don’t ask your teacher. Let us sit down and try to think out this problem: Why is the sky blue? Look at it as if it is a completely new scientific problem about which nobody has troubled himself before. You sit down and think it out and you will find it a most exciting thing to ask yourself that question and see if you can discover the answer for yourself. Now I will put it to you in this way. The best way to answer a question is to ask another.”
A quote on science as an endless quest:
“What is science? And how can we in this country hope to advance science? How can we try to really make ourselves worthy of our ancestors in the past? That is the real topic of my lecture. …… Science never stops. It is going on. The more you find, the more appears that you have to find. That is the attraction of science, provided you are not distressed too much by other people getting in front of you. Don’t bother about them. The real point is that it is an endless quest and every new discovery opens new paths for discovery. New questions arise, requiring new answers.”
A quote on the utility of science:
“I want to stress the philosophy of my life. Never to ask what is the use of all this. As I told you before, it is the striving that is worthwhile. Because we have certain inherent powers given to us to use – observation and thinking — we must use them. The more we use them, the sharper they become, the more powerful they become and ultimately something will come out of it so that humanity is benefited, science is benefited. Ultimately the aim of scientific knowledge is to benefit human life.”
Her further goes on to say – “The most important, the most fundamental investigations, though at first might seem an abstraction of nature, are precisely those, which in due course, affect human life and human activities most profoundly. This is a very heartening thing because one should not think that scientific work in order to be valuable should be (immediately*) useful. Scientific work is valuable because it will ultimately prove its value for the whole of human life and human activity. That is the history of modern science. Science has altered the complexion of things around us. And precisely those scientists who have laboured not with the aim of producing this or that, but who have worked with the sole desire to advance knowledge, ultimately prove to be the greatest benefactors of humanity.” (*–added by me)
CLOSURE
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Dear young friends
You may wish to imbibe and live the spirit of science that Sir CV Raman spoke about – one of sense of wonderment at Nature, the spirit of scientific enquiry, the desire to know and discover knowledge, cultivate the sense of continuously rising up to challenges posed by Nature and to contribute to this collective “valuable” activity of humanity called “science”.
While learning from the wisdom of Sir CV Raman, let us re-dedicate ourselves to the mission of this lab — “to advance knowledge and to apply it for the good of the people”.
With these words I welcome all of you to this National Science Day celebration. I welcome Prof Ruchi Anand to NCL and am grateful to her for taking time out to join us here today on this occasion.