National Science Day on Feb 28: Scientific triumphs open for all

With the vision of recollecting the past scientific triumphs and paving the way for many more, different institutes of scientific research will open their gates to students and common public in celebration of the National Science Day on February 28.

The day is celebrated in India to mark the discovery of the Raman effect by Indian physicist Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman on the same day in 1928.

Among them, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, like every year has organised an open day from 10 am on Wednesday with science exhibitions, lecture demonstrations and screenings of science films. This year, the institute has also organised a special interaction on Saraswati Supercluster, whose discovery by the IUCAA scientists recently brought the institute on international radar.

Some of the other highlights to be organised at their science park include presentation of science toys by students, and an exhibition on space stations and telescope making by astronomers. Also, for the general public, IUCAA has organised a sky-watching and telescope viewing session at their campus from 7 pm to 10:30 pm.

Similarly, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) will also hold an open day from 10 am to 5 pm. “The open day is an effort for showcasing the research to the public and enabling them to come and see what scientists at IITM are doing. During this period, visitors will be taken on a guided tour to different laboratories and facilities of IITM and will have an opportunity to interact with the concerned scientists,” a notification from the institute said. 

India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, will also be opening their laboratories to the public and has planned to organise special sessions on Wednesday.

Another prominent institute dedicated to furthering research in basic sciences, Maharashtra Association for the Cultivation of Science (MACS)’s Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) will be holding a science exhibition on the day, presenting various interesting projects by graduate and post-graduate students from 9:30 am to 5 pm.

While on one hand the display will include fossils, hybrid crops, medicinal plants, on the other it will exhibit new advancements, like a mobile application made using nanotechnology to measure blood haemoglobin, method of detecting viral infection in shrimps, and much more.

At the National Centre for Cell Sciences (NCCS) a competition on ‘Innovative Ideas in Biological Research’ will kick-start the day at 10 am. The day is to progress with special lectures by vice-chancellor of Deccan College, Vasant Shinde, on ‘Genesis and Relevance of Ancient Indian Science and Technology’ and on ‘Creating a Space for Engagement with Science’ by founder of Bengaluru-based science gallery, Jahnavi Phalkey.

Further, to make science easy and accessible to people of all ages, Muktangan Exploratory Science Centre has organised an inter-school competition, ‘Young Explorer Project Competition’ which saw a participation of over 60 projects from 30 schools in Pune.

The exhibition, scheduled to begin on February 27 at 11 am, will display all the projects and eventually on February 28, the prize distribution ceremony Samarendra Kumar, director of National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), will take place. This is in addition to the exploratory hub which will be inaugurated on Wednesday by IUCAA director Somak Raychaudhury and eminent scientist and Padma Bhushan recipient Jyeshtharaj Joshi.