How Alfred Gibbs Bourne became IISc’s second Director After overseeing the construction of several early buildings at the Institute and laying the groundwork for its growth, Morris Travers stepped down as IISc’s first Director in 1914. What followed was a year-long hunt for the person to fill this role. Members of the IISc […]
Going beyond the ‘reuse, reduce, recycle’ model to curb plastic pollution I turn off the alarm on my phone, slowly wake up, turn the fan switch off, and head to the bathroom. I push paste out of a tube onto my toothbrush, and brush my teeth. Then, I scoop water out of a peach-coloured […]
What concepts in science fiction have intrigued you?
Late hours on campus offer serene, vibrant vibes for students to unwind The night was filled with the sounds of crickets chirping. Leaves crunched under my feet as I walked towards the nursery gates to meet up with members of IISc’s Nature Club. We were going on a walk to see some of the […]
Why it matters and what are the challenges confronting science historians A quick internet search on the discovery of helium will be dominated by results that claim that helium was discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Janssen. “While observing a solar eclipse in Guntur, India, on 18 August 1868, Janssen noted that the […]
JC Ghosh, an eminent chemist, was IISc’s Director during World War II and the founding Director of IIT Kharagpur. His grandson, Dipankar Ghosh, spoke to CONNECT about his grandfather’s personal and professional life. In the late 1980s, E Arunan was looking for a place to stay in the midwestern town of Manhattan in the […]
Why the oldest department in IISc continues to be relevant As one goes down the canopy-covered Tala Marg in IISc, there stands a building tucked unobtrusively on the right side. The exposed stone bricks, sharp features, and small windows harken back to a time when robustness and utility were qualities that were paramount. Even […]
The story of Rama Krishna Baliga, a government bureaucrat who laid the foundation for Electronic City, which eventually led to Bangalore becoming the “Silicon Valley of India” Ragavendra R Baliga has fond memories of his father, Rama Krishna Baliga. “There’s an article my father wrote for my medical school journal after he retired. [In that], […]
The need for archives in academic institutions In a pivotal scene in the sensational Christopher Nolan film, Oppenheimer, the protagonist, J Robert Oppenheimer, meets Danish physicist Niels Bohr while struggling with his research at Cambridge University in the early 1920s. Bohr urges Oppenheimer to move to Germany and study under the famed physicist and […]
India is betting big on lithium-ion batteries, but at what cost? In 1817, Johan August Arfwedson, a Swedish lawyer and mineralogist, was studying the mineral petalite in the laboratory of the renowned chemist Jacob Berzelius. His investigations revealed that the mineral mainly contained aluminium, silicon and oxygen. But around 4% of the composition […]
