Monday is being celebrated as Children's Day, the birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
On the occasion of Children's Day, it would be interesting for the locals to know that Chacha Nerhu, as he was affectionately called by children, had visited Andhra University in 1954 when he came to Visakhapatnam to launch two ships at the Scindia Shipyard (now Hindustan Shipyard). Nehru visited the campus at the request of the then Principal of AU Colleges and HoD of Geology Prof. C. Mahadevan, a reputed geologist who did his Doctor of Science under Sir C.V. Raman, the first non-white, Asian and Indian to receive the Noble prize, recalls a professor of geology N. Subba Rao on the eve of Children's Day.
Prof. Mahadevan showed to the then Prime Minister the largest sized beryl (as seen in the picture), which is 25 inches long with a diameter of 5.6 inches, and was collected by a geology student Mohinuddin from Kurupam area in Viziangaram district. The object must have not only interested Nehru just by the size of it or its uses, but also the quality and nature of the gem stone, since he had studies geology as one of the subjects in his graduate studies at Cambridge University. The same gem stone can still be seen at the museum of Department of Geology. Beryl is a verity of gemstone, which is mainly used in aircrafts, missiles, space vehicles, atomic energy field, x-ray tubes etc, because of its hardness, tensile strength, high electrical and thermal conductivity, non-sparking and non-magnetic nature, and resistance to fatigue, corrosion and changes of temperature, according to Prof. Subba Rao.
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