This year’s ‘Science at the Sabha’, an outreach initiative of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, will be held on February 11.
The initiative aims to create awareness about the developments in science among the public. Scientists and mathematicians will deliver talks followed by question and answer sessions. The questions will be posted live on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
T. V. Venkateswaran, Scientist F, Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology, said the idea was to establish a connect between the people and science. “The gap in understanding science will lead to misconstruing it. Science at the Sabha is an effort to appreciate the frontiers of science and contemporary development,” he said.
The December music season inspired the name for the event, Mr. Venkateswaran said. “In Europe, science cafés are popular. It is a place where people flock during weekends and discuss issues. We chose the sabha culture in Chennai for our theme,” he noted.
S. Krishnaswamy, an organiser of the event, said, “The talks on previous two occasions featured varied topics such as stars, tiger conservation, cryptography, bio-molecular chemistry, Madras history, insect flight, why the sun shines, the Indian monsoon, and whether computers can do everything for us.”
More details of the previous two events, including pictures and lecture videos, are available at https://www.imsc.res.in/~knr/past/S@S16/ . Posters will be available this year too. The four-hour event will be organised at the Music Academy from 4 p.m. Details of the talks will be made available online at https://www.imsc.res.in/ a fortnight before the event. Though participation is free and open to all online registration is necessary.
For more details, contact triveni@imsc.res.in or outreach@imsc.res.in . or call K.N. Raghavan 9445631505, Varuni Prabhakar 9482650805, Gautam Menon 944403214.
