Author: Debobrat ghose

At the helm of India’s nuclear research programme since its inception, Dr Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and former director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, has seen it grow despite infinite challenges to reach the present stage when India has a fleet of 22 operational nuclear power units with nine under construction and 12 more planned. Though nuclear energy production continues to contribute a meagre, less than 2% to the country’s total energy requirement, Dr Kakodkar feels that nuclear energy is the most feasible solution for India to achieve energy independence. He speaks to Science India at length about…

As majority global opinion takes a U-turn on the genesis of coronavirus – from natural origin to lab leak – we spotlight three Indians who contributed towards finding the answer. One question on the mind of everybody on the planet for the past year-and-a-half is: where and how did the lethal coronavirus originate? Even though major efforts of the entire world have been diverted to tackling the crisis, various theories have been doing the rounds on the possible origins of the deadly disease that has given rise to the unprecedented pandemic – having killed nearly 39 lakh people globally ever…

G Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), first shot to national fame as Project Director of the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), designed and operated by ISRO to launch the country’s remote sensing satellites into sun-synchronous orbits. Before the first successful launch of PSLV in 1994, this service was commercially available only from Russia. Still operational, PSLV has launched some of India’s most well-known payloads, such as the Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan and the country’s first space observatory, Astrosat. As the Chairman of ISRO (from 2003 to 2009) , Nair oversaw the launch of nearly 30 successful missions.…