Caption: From left: Prof. Debabrata Goswami, Dr. Chidambaram and Prof. P.S. Anil Kumar (seated), recipients of Bhramara Trust awards instituted in the name of Prof. Y.T. Thathachari, are seen with Dr. V. Prakash, Madhuri Thathachari, Suttur Seer, Dr. B.A. Dasannacharya and Prof. R. Srinivasan at the awards presentation ceremony held at Rani Bahadur auditorium in city yesterday.
Mysore, Mar. 21 :
The Bhramara Lifetime Achievement Award, instituted by Bhramara Trust of Y.T. & Madhuri Thathachari, was presented to Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt. of India and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet, at a function held at Rani Bahadur auditorium of the Bahadur Institute of Management Sciences in city yesterday.
The Prof. Y.T. Thathachari Prestigious Research Awards for Science, also instituted by Bhramara Trust, were presented to Prof. P.S. Anil Kumar from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Prof. Debabrata Goswami from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
The awards, comprising Rs. one lakh cash, a citation and memento, were presented by Suttur Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji.
Dr. B.A. Dasannacharya, former Director, Inter-University Consortium – Department of Atomic Energy Facilities and Dr. V. Prakash, Hon. Director of Research Innovation and Development at JSS Mahavidya Peeta were the chief guests.
Dr. Chidambaram said in his acceptance speech that the scientists must contribute their mite to the progress of knowledge. Alluding to the Higgs Boson experiment that discovered the God Particle, Dr. Chidabaram said that apart from many Indian scientists involved in the experiment, India had contributed 40 million dollars for the machine in which protons were made to collide in a specially constructed tunnel underground. “But the origin of the universe still remains a big question,” he said.
Regarding the restrictions on scientists’ works, Dr. Chidambaram said, “You do not ask Sir C.V. Raman or Ramanujam to submit a project report and set up a committee to decide on whether the project should be funded or not. A scientist must be given the freedom to carry out research works without posing hurdles.”
Dr. Dasannacharya, while introducing Dr. Chidambaram to the guests, said that he had known the scientist for exactly half a century while serving at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. “America had always denied frontline computers to India. Then the BARC got the advanced computers from Norway,” he said and added that Dr. Chidambaram had developed a parallel computer system at the BARC, which, despite being a major achievement, was not appreciated by those in power.
Bhramara Managing Trustee Madhuri Thathachari, the driving force behind the awards meant to bring to fore achievers in the field of science, said in her welcome speech that this might be the last in the series of annual awards presented in the name of Prof. Y.T. Thathachari. She also suggested that newspapers must dedicate a column for scientific research.
Prof. R. Srinivasan, Trustee of Bhramara Trust and brother of Madhuri Thathachari, spoke about the selection process for the awards.
The programme began with chants by residents of Parasara Gurukulam, followed by hymns sung by Annapurna Srikanth, all-India 3rd rank holder in CA exams.
Jyothi proposed a vote of thanks.
source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / March 21st, 2013