Building Scientific Institutions Jayant V Narlikar InterUniversity Centre

Building Scientific Institutions Jayant V. Narlikar Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Pune 1

Three Scientific Institutions Cambridge Observatory [Representing old astronomy] 2

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New Post-war Era • Fred Hoyle’s brainchild: Institute of Theoretical astronomy (1966 -72) IOTA became famous as a • Dynamic visitor-oriented institute • 1972: IOTA merged with the Observatories IOTA IOA 4

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Tata Institute of Fundamental Research • Created in 1946, moved to Mumbai to its present location in 1961 • Source of talent for India’s atomic energy programme • Emphasize fundamental research in nuclear science and mathematics • Source of scientists for universities in India 6

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The IUCAA - Story 8

IUCAA Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Established on December 29, 1988 at Pune by the University Grants Commission as a centre of excellence in the university sector with the objective: To nucleate, promote and grow research, development and teaching of A&A in the universities and colleges in India 9

IUCAA’s Eightfold Way As proposed in the Project Report, the IUCAA adopted a multi-pronged approach to fulfil its mandate: 10

IUCAA’s Eightfold Way Organize Create a high research level academic level workshops ambienceand at its schools Pune headquarters for universities withboth emphasis at Pune onand basicthe research university and facilities conducive to it campuses 11

IUCAA’s Eightfold Way Run an associateship Organize refresher courses programme for teachers under in which A&A users from universities can come and use IUCAA facilities at Pune; also encourage other academics to visit and participate in IUCAA’s programmes 12

IUCAA’s Eightfold Way Run a graduate Guide universities school in creating at IUCAA newincourses which in A&A or augmenting graduate students from existing IUCAA ones as well as from universities and colleges can participate; in addition lecture in the M. Sc. programmes of other universities on occasions 13

IUCAA’s Eightfold Way Act as Use and a facilitator act as a facilitator for university for universities users in in the usage of observing programmes the Giant Meterwave at other facilities Radio in Telescope India and abroad near Pune 14

A Brief History September 1987 April 1988 Basic idea mooted in consultation with Yash Pal, Chairman, UGC approved the idea formally and the Project Report was prepared The Government of India approved November 1988 the setting up of IUCAA 15

A Brief History December 1998 IUCAA’s Foundation Stone laid by Yash Pal 16

A Brief History Till September 1989 IUCAA functioned from a single room in the Golay Bungalow of Pune University 17

A Brief History September 1989 IUCAA Moved to a temporary shed called ADITI 18

A Brief History December 1990 December 1992 IUCAA moved to newly constructed staff colony IUCAA buildings dedicated with a lecture by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, with Ram Reddy, Chairman, UGC presiding 19

A Brief History August 1993 December 1998 Chandrasekhar Auditorium completed Science park dedicated by Armaity Desai, Chairperson, UGC 20

A Brief History Mr Charles Correa, the eminent architect ‘educated himself’ by acquiring and reading the Cambridge Atlas of Astronomy

Facilities in Pune Pleasant user-friendly campus which integrates the visitor accommodation with the main building, a staff colony across the road, and a 500 - seater auditorium and a science park for public oriented activities 22

Facilities in Pune A state of the art computer centre with data centre having good link/mirror sites with the leading data centres in the world 23

Facilities in Pune An up to date library in A&A and supporting fields, with hard copy/electronic subscription to most journals in the field 24

Facilities in Pune An instrumentation laboratory for making astronomical instruments on a do-it-yourself basis 25

Facilities in Pune A 2 m optical telescope about 85 km from IUCAA is nearing completion 26

Scientific Exhibits at IUCAA’s Symbol 27

Scientific Exhibits at IUCAA’s Symbol The Foucault Pendulum 28

Scientific Exhibits at IUCAA’s Symbol The Foucault Pendulum The Sierpinski Gasket 29

Scientific Exhibits at IUCAA’s Symbol The Foucault Pendulum The Sierpinski Gasket The Accretion Disc and Jets 30

Scientific Exhibits at IUCAA’s Symbol The Foucault Pendulum The Sierpinski Gasket The Accretion Disc and Jets Binary Star with Roach Lobes 31

Scientific Exhibits at IUCAA’s Symbol The Foucault Pendulum The Sierpinski Gasket The Accretion Disc and Jets Binary Star with Roach Lobes The Asymmetrical Tiles 32

Scientific Exhibits at IUCAA’s Symbol The Foucault Pendulum The Sierpinski Gasket The Accretion Disc and Jets Binary Star with Roach Lobes The Asymmetrical Tiles Spiral Arms in Akashganga 33

IUCAA’s Academic Calendar IUCAA’s pedagogical programme: Introductory schools Telescope Making workshops Refresher course Advanced summer schools Advanced workshops 34

IUCAA’s Academic Calendar Conferences and symposia are also hosted occasionally e. g. VI Asia-pacific Regional meeting of IAU 1993 15 th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation 1997 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of India 1994, 2002 35

IUCAA’s Academic Calendar School and workshops through international collaborations: IAU School for Young Astronomers (1994) Sino-Indian School in China (1995) and IUCAA (1998) Indo-French School at IUCAA (1995, 2000) and in Les Houches (1996) Indo-US Workshop on Array Detectors and Image Processing (1996) 36