GUNTUR: "Anything really new is invented only in one's youth. Later one becomes more experienced, more famous and more stupid," said Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Computer and Information Group, retired director P.V. Manoranjan Rao.

Speaking at a talk conducted at Hindu College on Tuesday to commemorate the World Year of Physics 2005, he quoted extensively from Albert Einstein. Apart from a few exceptions like Planck, Schrödinger, Gibbs and Chandrasekhar, who achieved much during the later part of their life, Einstein's views hold true in many cases, he said.

Einstein's woes

He talked on the life-story of Einstein, how he began his life and evolved as one of the greatest scientists ever. Einstein was not a brilliant student during his school days. He was rather late in learning to walk and was unable to speak till nine, worrying his parents. "His life is a great source of inspiration to all, especially the youngsters," Mr. Rao said.

Students listened in rapt attention as the lecture went on for over an hour, with the anecdotes spaced in between. Long queues were seen outside the exhibition hall as students from various schools and colleges poured in to the `India in Space' exhibition despite the RTC buses going off the road.

More documentaries

The college authorities screened documentaries made by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on topics like - Chandrayaan Mission, PSLV Rocket, GSLV, etc. in the afternoon.

"We will screen other documentaries based on the response from the students," said R.Vararuchi, exhibition coordinator.

Scientists from VSSC, Sashi K.Vettoor and Gopal had a tough time convincing teachers from colleges and schools, who wanted the exhibition to be conducted in their schools.

They also went round the place explaining the scientific principles behind the working of the satellites and rockets to the students.

When 12-year-old Madhavi wanted to know more about remote sensing, Sashi took up the task enthusiastically.

Remote sensing

After explaining about the concept and its applications, he said that India was among the leaders in remote-sensing technology.

"Even United States buys many images from National Remote Sensing Agency," he said.

Remote sensing helps in innumerable ways. Right from effective management of natural resources to the disaster warning, remote sensing has various applications.

CARTOSAT-2, satellite which is to be launched soon, will have a spatial resolution of one metre, which is more advanced than the 2.5 metre spatial resolution of CARTOSAT-1, he said.

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