Darwin remembered
ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN
|
Good Earth School celebrated the bicentenary of Charles Darwin with talks and project presentations from various schools.
|
In rapt attention : Learning about the ‘Master of Observation'.
"Nature seems to be distinctly
intelligent,"
said Dr. Gajanan Rao,
Founder of Good Earth School. It
was the perfect beginning for
"Footprints in the sand of time," -
at the bi-centenary celebration of
Charles Darwin at Good Earth
School, Naduveerapattu, with the
staff and student community from
10 schools in and around Tambaram.
The main speakers of the day
were Prof. P. Dayanandan, professor
emeritus, Department of Botany,
Madas Christian College,
Tambaram and Dr. Sridhar Ganapathy,
Teacher, Good Earth
School, Naduveerapattu.
Prof. Dayanandan began with
the aid of colourful slides. He
spoke of the religious conflict
faced by Charles Darwin and how
he handled it.
Darwin, "the Master of Observation"
had a rich legacy to leave for
humanity - he freed the human
mind to go beyond petty theories
and dogmas.
"Darwin was no ordinary scientist.
Even if he had not proposed
the theory of evolution he would
still be counted among the great
scientists for his work in geology,
fossils, classification of some animals,
a variety of studies on plants
and his numerous publications.
We remember him mostly for his
work on evolution," he said.
His voyage on "The Beagle" to
the Galapagos, his discoveries and
observations there have revolutionised
thinking in the world of
science, as his publications, The
Origin of Species and the The Descent
of Man have done. In the
latter book Darwin predicted that
evidence of human origins will be
found in Africa and the great apes.
About fossils
"Fossils and radiometric dating,"
was presented by Mr. Sridhar
Ganapathy of Geology senior
teacher. "Radiometric dating of
rocks is carried out with radio active
isotopes like uranium 235 and
using the inherent property of half
life period of the isotopes which
ranges from few thousands, millions
to billions of years. This helps
in determining the absolute dating
of the rocks. Carbon dating is another
method used for dating purposes
of organic bodies." The
fossils show that they are evidence
of ancient life preserved in sedimentary
rocks and that on Earth,
they are clues to what living things,
ecosystems, and environments
were like in the past.
He also discussed about the fossils
found in a place popularly
known as the "Sriperumbudur
bed" that comprises parts of Gunduperumbedu,
Manimangalam,
Mosur, Vallam, Kaavanur and Poonamallee
villages.
The post lunch session saw the
presentation of projects done by
the various schools.
Sri Anand Jain Vidyalaya, Tambaram,
had chosen "The Geological
Time Frame", while Christ
King H.S., Tambaram had done
their project on "Evolution of
plants" and K.V. 2, Tambaram had
"Dawinism" on record.
Nadeem, Std. XI, Crescent
M.H.S., Vandalur,spoke of "Cloning
a better tomorrow" and did
well by highlighting the effects and
reiterated the fact that it should be
done with care.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Young World
