Of the world of stars and planets

Updated on: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

What potential does astronomy hold for students as a field of study? Naresh Dadhich, Director of the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, answers this and other questions on the fields of astronomy and astrophysics.

‘Schools should concentrate on basic courses, but they should also invite scientists to inspire students to do science.’

Enjoying his work: Doing research is, in fact, a hobby as playing cricket or music and not a profession, says Naresh Dadhich, Director of Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.

The world of astronomy and astrophysics is opening up new educational horizons for the youngsters in the country. Exciting avenues await scientific talents who want to explore the secrets behind the celestial objects.

The Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune is spearheading the growth of astronomy and astrophysics education in the country. Its director, Naresh Dadhich, a physicist of international repute, who has done extensive research in classical and quantum gravity and relativistic astrophysics, spoke on a wide range of issues related to astronomy education and research in an exclusive interview to The Hindu- EducationPlus.

With the United Nations declaring 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), how do you plan to take the message of astronomy to the general public in the country?

During IYA, we have planned several programmes all through the year. Firstly, my colleague Prof. Ranjiv Misra is the single contact person for coordination of IYA activities nationally and internationally. We had launched IYA on January 10 when representatives of all the institutes as well as other organisations had come to chalk out a coordinated programme. We had also invited some of our associates from the universities for the purpose. In addition to planning of the programmes, there were public lectures by Prof. Jayant Narlikar on “Why study Astronomy” and Dr. Sreekumar of ISRO on Chandrayaan. IUCAA has very strong and active programmes for popularisation of astronomy and science in general through hands-on workshops, lectures, etc. IUCAA has established a number of science centres in the schools around the IUCAA Giravali Observatory, which is located at 80 km north of Pune. In addition, there are six IUCAA reference centres in the universities at Cochin, Raipur, Kolkata, Siliguri, Delhi and Udaipur. There are 80 IUCAA associates from universities and colleges from all over India who would all be involved in IYA programmes.

ISRO has proposed launch of a dedicated satellite for astronomical research next year. What is your take on the current status of astronomical research in the country?

ISRO’s initiative to put up a dedicated astronomy satellite, ASTROSAT, is indeed most commendable. It is perhaps the first of its kind fully devoted to astronomy research. It would have telescopes covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum. This is a very challenging experiment which would give a great boost to astronomy research in the country. The great challenge is to create a trained student-power to take full advantage of this great opportunity and do exciting science. Indian astronomy is doing very well. Apart from the world-class observational facilities like GMRT and ASTROSAT, there are plans afoot for participation in international projects of next-generation very-large 30-metre-class optical telescope. IUCAA has already acquired a 6 per cent share in the 10-metre SALT (Southern African Large Telescope in South Africa) with other 13 international partners. In short, one can safely say that there is great opportunity for young students to do astronomy with the world-class observing facilities.

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Of the world of stars and planets

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