The former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair has stressed the need for developing Indian language equivalents of scientific terms in English.
This, to a large extent would help the common man to understand the language and working of science, he said in his inaugural address at the Science Communicators’ Meet organised as part of the ongoing 97th Indian Science Congress hosted by the University of Kerala at its Kariavattom campus.
The media and science communicators should strive to systematically showcase the achievements being made in small laboratories and in universities. Only then can success be achieved in propagating a scientific temperament in the country.
The media should also highlight the dedicated work of individual scientists so that they become role models for young minds wishing to be scientists. It is equally important to project the team behind an invention when the invention itself is being highlighted, he explained.
In his presidential address the vice chancellor of the University of Kerala A. Jayakrishnan said the common people were more interested in the fruits of science than in the working of science. It is necessary, therefore, to communicate to them clearly the benefits of a particular scientific process.
Science communicators, by chronicling in a systematic manner, the processes and people behind science, can also help fight and eradicate superstitions from society. All the same it must also be remembered that some trends in science get media attention for some length of time. When Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister the ‘in-thing’ in science was superconductivity. Now that position is being occupied by nano-technology, Dr. Jayakrishnan pointed out. Scientists who have the ability to communicate well should do their bit in taking science to the masses, he added.
