by R. Chidambaram

1. The Need to work on ‘Important Problems’! by R. Chidambaram Talk at Unveiling Ceremony of the statue of Sir C.V. Raman at University of Kerala , Trivandrum, 29th June, 2012

2. Three of my Heroes Very different in the nature of their work, but always focused on important problems. C.V. Raman : the greatest experimental physicist India has produced. HomiBhabha: the founder of our atomic energy programme. SrinivasaRamanujan: the ‘magical genius’ . For the last three decades, I have kept the photographs/paintings of these great scientists behind my chair in the Office!

3. “Advice to a Young Scientist” Always work on "Important" Problems. …Peter Medawar (Nobel Prize - winning Biologist) - Important to Science or to Society! This advice is useful for everybody, Scientist or otherwise! My motto when I was Director BARC: “Relevance or Excellence, preferably both”.

4. C.V. RAMAN WITH A QUARTS CRYSTAL

5. SOMMERFELD ON C.V. RAMAN “India had suddenly emerged in competitive research as an equal partner with her European and American sisters.”

6. A New Radiation Various ways are known by which atoms or molecules may be caused to emit light referred to as primary radiation. The first case discovered of secondary radiation was fluorescence. Another kind of secondary radiation is the scattering of light by atoms and molecules. It is this scattering that gives us the light of the sky, the blue colour of the deep sea and the delicate opalescence of large masses of clear ice. The light scattering from 60 liquids…though the phenomenon was described (by) Ramanathan and Krishnan as a “feeble fluorescence”, the impression left on my mind at the time was that we had here an entirely new type of radiation. C.V. Raman, India J. Phys., 1928, 2, 387

7. The Nuclear Path I have been saying for 2 decades now: “Nuclear Energy is an inevitable option to satisfy India’s future energy needs” HomiBhabha, Founder of the Indian Nuclear Programme He said it more succinctly: “There is no power as costly as no-power.”

8. Srinivasa Ramanujan • Hardy and Littlewood have compared Ramanujan’s natural genius with great mathematicians like Euler, Gauss and Jacobi • Ramanujan’s birthday (22nd December) has been declared National Mathematics Day • In December, 2011, to celebrate Ramanujan’s 125th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared 2012 as the National Mathematical Year

9. The Chandrasekhar Limit (in Astrophysics) Chandrasekharcombined Einstein’s special theory of relativity and the new quantum mechanics in 1935 to define the critical mass called the CHANDRASEKHAR’S limit above which the star would not become a white dwarf. This idea, which later won Chandrasekhar the Nobel Prize, was immediately ridiculed byEddington. This made young Chandrasekhar abandon this field and set back research in this area by perhaps 20 years.

10. Venki Ramakrishnan, NL Ph.D. in Physics, switched to biology at UCSF Contributions include the determination of the structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit and its complexes with antibiotics, the role of the 30S subunit in decoding, and the high-resolution (Thermus thermophilus ribosome at 2.8 Å resolution ) structure of the entire 70S ribosome complexed with mRNA and tRNA. Ribosome is the factory of protein synthesis. Hydrogen Bonds are very important in Biology Neutrons are very good in studying hydrogen bonds and my early work was on hydrogen bonds

11. ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Joint Venture of 7 parties ITER Fusion Power: 500 MW Plasma Volume: 840 m3 Plasma Current: 15 MA Typical Density: 1020 m-3 Typical Temperature: 20 keV ITER complex at Cadarache, FRANCE (an artist’s view) Courtesy : Y.C. Saxena

12. Research - Development - Delivery India, through its Universities, Research Institutions, S&T Departments, including Mission-oriented Agencies (Atomic Energy, Space, Defence Research) has laid a strong foundation for Basic Research as well as Applied Research and Technology Development. At the same time, the demand for using the generated (and globally available) knowledge for Industrial Development and Societal benefit, particularly Rural Development, is increasing. For industrial development, we need in-house R&D centres in industry and enhanced academia-industry interactions, and for rural development, we need improved mechanisms for rural technology delivery. These are rapidly growing in India now. India is too large a country to absent itself from any field of science and technology. Debating the relative importance of small science and big technology missions is irrelevant in today’s India. The two, in fact, are heavily cross-linked.

13. The Borders are Fuzzy • Scientists create Ideas Engineers create Products Innovators create Wealth • But the borders between them are fuzzy. Every researcher is a mix, in different proportions, of Scientist, Engineer and Innovator • For discovering the Raman Effect, a physicist was enough. To look for the Higgs Boson, we have the multi-billion dollar precision – engineered Large Hadron Collider. • On the other hand, the superstructure of Advanced Technology is built on the foundation of Fundamental Science. • And we need an e-science infrastructure. • (from talk in the Silver Jubilee Meeting of the Indian National Academy of Engineering , 20 April 2012)

14. India’s Technology Needs – Nuclear to Rural APSARA REACTOR. BARC, India Date of Criticality, August 4, 1956. First Nuclear Reactor in Asia Making Technology Choices requires Technology Foresight and this has to be done in a national perspective, based on natural resources, needs and human resource potential. The critical technologies for India today, in my opinion, range from strategic technologies (nuclear, space and defence-related) to rural development-related technologies. What is a ‘critical technology’ for India may or may not be so for other countries. Examples: Fast Breeder Reactors, Rural Food Processing, etc.

15. The three-stage Indian nuclear programme is based on the closed nuclear fuel cycle and thorium utilisation AHWR PHWR FBTR Th 300 GWe-Year U fueled PHWRs 42000 GWe-Year Th Nat. U Electricity Dep. U 155000 GWe-Year Electricity Pu Fueled Fast Breeders Pu U233 Electricity U233 Fueled Reactors Pu U233 Power generation primarily by PHWR Building fissile inventory for stage 2 Expanding power programme Building U233 inventory Thorium utilisation for Sustainable power programme Stage 3 Stage 2 Stage 1 Nuclear is now an accepted mitigation technology in the context of the Climate Change Threat. But if it is to be a sustainable mitigation technology, you have to close the nuclear fuel cycle.

16. The Need for Coherent Synergy (‘Coherent Synergy’ is a new phrase I coined some years back in the S&T context!) The S&T System, to contribute maximally to national development, requires a variety of efforts. Human Resource Development is one of the most important component efforts. Others are R&D with prioritization, academia-industry interaction, international cooperation, etc. Every such effort requires synergy among the concerned parties and every synergetic S&T effort gives a momentum for development. And momentum is a vector. All the vectors must point in the same direction for coherence. Synergy in every effort and Coherence among all the efforts – that is what I mean by ‘Coherent Synergy’.

17. International Cooperation International Cooperation is important for India and should be mutually beneficial for it to be sustainable. In nuclear science and technology in particular, I think, India can give to the world (in the long term) as much as it wants to take from it (in the short term) (from my talk in a meeting of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, Aso Mountain, July 13, 2006)

18. The Large Hadron Collider Model (for International R&D Collaboration) The world’s largest accelerator is being built in the Centre for European Nuclear Research(CERN) in Geneva – a more than 4 Billion U.S. Dollars machine. Under an agreement signed when I was Chairman AEC, India contributed 40 Million U.S. Dollars – worth hi-tech equipment like a thousand superconducting sextuple magnets, etc. and advanced ‘grid’ software. Half of this contribution has been put into an ‘India Fund’ which will support Indian scientists who will work with the Accelerator. Indian scientist groups are also participating in the construction and experimentation with two giant Detector systems – CMS and Alice – TIFR and SINP lead the Indian teams for these two experiments (post-script: CMS was one of the 2 detectors involved in providing the recent experimental evidence on the Higgs Boson). Our entry as a full member into the ITER programme is another example of India's 'equal partner' collaboration in a 'mega science' project.

19. A Three-Step Strategy for India • In development of all high-technology areas, I have been suggesting a three-step strategy: • optimally use Visible Capabilities; • identify and stimulate Latent capabilities; and • leverage international collaboration to strengthen our own initiatives

20. RESEARCH AND INNOVATION Research involves generation of new knowledge and Innovation requires adding economic value (or societal benefit or strategic value or a mix of them) to knowledge, not necessarily generated by you. We have also to consider Research in all its dimensions - Basic Research, (what I call) Directed Basic Research, Applied Research (both pre-competitive and that leading to proprietary product development) – and Innovation, again in all its dimensions – Product Innovation, Process Innovation and Design Innovation. Success in Research gives prestige, Success in Innovation gives prosperity. We want both. People today want Science to improve their Quality of Life. And this is happening.

21. “Science Agencies must bite Innovation Bullet” “After the second world war, the U.S … led the world …… through the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) central role in technology development. To support this technology base, the DoD invested in emerging fields….Resulting waves of innovation created whole industries that helped to fuel the US economy…. The attributes that accounted for the military’s successes (included), in particular, its focused mission. …….…. and its role as an early customer for advanced technologies”. Daniel Sarewitz, Nature 471, 137(9 March 2011) India’s mission-oriented agencies have a similar experience and must continue to play a catalytic role in India’s technology development by introducing new advanced technologies. We must remember that, in high-technology areas, ‘proven’ technologies are often a synonym for ‘obsolete’ technologies. R. Chidambaram

22. Indian Tsunami Warning System • The TSUNAMI N2 model is customized for Indian Ocean region Travel times, Directivity maps, Surge heights and Extent of inundation • A large database of Scenarios for different magnitudes (6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0 & 9.5) and depths (10, 20, 40, 60, 80 & 100 km) for 100 x 50 km grid. • Forecast is given for 1800 coastal forecast points. WEBGIS based service. • IOTWS is a network of national systems consisting of Regional Tsunami Service Providers (RTSP) and National Tsunami Watch Centres (NTWC).RTSPs distribute products to NTWCs. NTWCs are responsible for providing warnings to their citizens based on their analysis of the situation. Operational RTSP Services started from October 12, 2011. Courtesy: Dr. Shailesh Nayak

23. Space Application Projects in Diversified Areas PRA Road Field Survey Parcel Water Drain Soil LU/LC Drinking Water Agriculture • Area & Production estimation - Rice, Wheat, Sorghum, Cotton, Potato, mustard groundnut • National Centre for Crop Forecasting being established under Ministry of Agriculture • Groundwater prospect & Recharge zones • 20 States completed; • Phase-IV ( 13 States & UT) in Progress. Fisheries Watershed Development • Potential Fisheries Zone (PFZ) Forecast to > 450 Stations • Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services • Spatial data base at large scales to facilitate planning and monitoring development of land and water resources on watershed basis , in several National and State level programmes Wasteland Monitoring Monitoring Irrigation Infrastructure • Use of High resolution satellite data for Assessment of irrigation potential created under the “Accelerated Irrigation Benefit programme” of Planning Commission • 53 Projects; 5.4 Mha in 18 States • National Wasteland Inventory Project (1986 - 2000); Wasteland Updation Mission (2003-04); • Wasteland Monitoring Project - 2006 • Wasteland Change Analysis project using 2009 data Courtesy: Dr. K. Radhakrishnan

24. An Example of RuTAG/HESCO-BARC work in Uttarakhand(RuTAG is an Open Platform Innovation Strategy of PSA’s office)Identification of Recharge Zones to Drying Springs in Gaucher Here springs are the only available source of water for domestic and agricultural use. • Techniques applied include; • Measurement of environmental stable isotopic ratios of 18O/16O, 2H/1H and environmentally radioactive tritium. • Geomorphologic and hydrogeological data. Based on the above analysis, artificial recharge structures were constructed at selected locations. The rate of discharge increased three to nine times in many springs and also two new springs sprang up. Almost all the springs have become perennial. from K. Shivanna, Gursharan Singh, A.P. Joshi et al, Current Science(2008)

25. Nuclear Desalination- Hybrid MSF-RO, Kalpakkam It is the largest nuclear desalination plant in the world based on hybrid technology. NDDP Kalpakkam – MSF 4.5 Million Litres per Day (MLD) Stages: 39 Product Quality: Distilled 2-5 ppm NDDP Kalpakkam-RO 1.8 MLD capacity Product Quality: Drinking water (WHO quality) Solar Energy can also be used. (Courtesy : P.K. Tewari, BARC) Nuclear is, of course, Power. But its impact branches out to medicine, agriculture and other societal needs, including water security.

26. Tremor analysis glove fabricated by IGCAR, in collaboration with SCTIMST(with IGCAR knowledge of synergy with sensors used for seismic detection in nuclear reactors used for monitoring hand movement disorders in SCTIMST) Courtesy: Dr. Baldev Raj, IGCAR, and Dr. AshaKishore, SCTIMST

27. National Knowledge Network On Conclusion of Final Phase Aims to connect all Knowledge Institutions in India through a high-speed all-optical fibre low-latency network • 31 PoP • 89 Backbone Links • 1500 Edge Links • More than 700 connections by April 2012 Regional and International Research Collaboration can be enhanced by connecting such Knowledge Networks NKN an integral part of e-science infrastructure Courtesy: R.S. Mani, NIC

28. NKN APPLICATIONS High Energy Physics NKN e-Classroom NKN Climate Change NKN Webcasting Remote Experiment Engineering Research Collaboration: Complex Systems from Nuclear to orthodontics (Collab CAD platform)

29. Science is done by Scientists • The most important issue, today, and not only in India but everywhere, is attracting talented young people to careers in science and technology, particularly in those areas which a country considers important. INSPIRE programme of DST is a significant initial step in this context, starting from age group 10-15 (middle and high schools) to faculty awards in the age group 27-32 (post doctoral) – 6,40,000 awards released since 2008. • Hemorrhage of engineering research talent has also got to be stemmed at the B.Tech/M.Tech Final Years. • And then there are the Gifted in Science and Mathematics, whose innate abilities have to be identified and nurtured. Our Office has initiated a pilot project in this context. R. Chidambaram

30. Srinivasa Ramanujan “By the time Ramanujan finished school, he had become a celebrity for his talent in mathematics…..before he left school, he came upon …..Carr’s Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics, a collection of important mathematical results, ….without proof or explanation. ……following the example of Synopsis, much of Ramanujan’s original work consists of brilliant results simply stated, with generations of researchers …..who came after him having to plod to find the proofs ….. Ramanujan failed in his FA examination in Government College in Kumbakonam ….. (and again in Pachaiyappa’s College). …..providentially, a brilliant young mathematician at Cambridge, G.H. Hardy, ….. was thunderstruck by the incredible originality of the material sent to him (by)….. the remarkable Indian clerk”. Can we identify and nurture today’s Ramanujans? “from S. Ananthanarayanan’s “Icons from the World of Science”, 2004

31. MOTIVATION How did India produce world-class scientists like C.V. Raman and S.N. Bose in 1920’s? “In the 1920’s, there was need for self-expression as a part of the national movement ………. to show the West that in their own realm, we were equal to them” S. Chandrasekhar speaks to K.C. Wali Today, the motivation should be to make India a ‘Developed Country’ in the fullest sense of the term and a ‘Global Innovation Leader’.

32. Need for Character • “Most people think it is the intellect • which makes a great scientist. • They are wrong, it is the character.” • Einstein • To do experiments with patience and care, to interpret results without bias or prejudice, to persevere in spite of failures and to claim credit for what you have done and no more than that requires character. These virtues mutatis mutandis are needed also for leadership in any field.