In a bid to popularise science and inculcate a scientific temper, Breakthrough Science Society (B.S.S.), an all-India organisation, will be holding its first All-India Science Conference, starting with a public march on October 17.
The public march from Freedom Park to KEB Engineers’ Association Hall will be joined by students and scientists, said B.S.S. convener Soumitro Banerjee. Despite some very visible scientific achievements like the successful Mars Orbiter Mission, research in India science is facing a “crisis”, with science education not translating into scientific thought, he said.
“We have science education in colleges and schools. Yet, people’s minds are devoid of science,” he said, adding that ignorance is making people fall prey to superstition. The country needs a “movement” to inculcate scientific culture and thought, Prof. Banerjee said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Several prominent scientists from Bangalore will speak at the three-day event, which will be held at the KEB Engineers’ Association auditorium. The former National Aerospace Laboratories director Roddam Narasimha will deliver the inaugural address, while the former ISRO chairman U.R. Rao will be chief guest. Director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences Satyajit Mayor and B.S. Shylaja, director of Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore, will attend the conference.
More than 1.000 delegates comprising professors, teachers, research scholars and students from 16 States will participate.