Man of science

Scientific temper was a core value which P.M. Bhargava lived by, not only as a scientist and builder of institutions but also as a science communicator and educator. During the Janata regime in the late 1970s, he conceptualised a “method of science exhibition”, a bracing presentation by scientists, thinkers, and artists of the purpose and discipline of scientific endeavour and indeed of knowledge itself. It was brutally destroyed in the dead of night in the nation’s capital by chauvinists and obscurantists. A pointer to the challenges facing science in India, the incident was brought to the attention of the International Council of Scientific Unions.

Vasantha Surya,

Noida, Uttar Pradesh