The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Further research on solar system is possible'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 15, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Further research on solar system is possible'

Staff Reporter

We are now more equipped for the task, says J.N. Goswami

ABOUT THE SUN: T.V. Ramakrishnan (right), president of the Indian Academy of Sciences, having a word with J.N. Goswami, Director of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, at a programme at the academy in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: "The recent advancements in our ability to experimentally determine the time-scale processes that took place during the formative stages of the solar system have opened up new doors for research," J.N. Goswami, Director of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, has said.

He was speaking on "The origin of the solar system: a cosmic accident?' during a programme organised by the Indian Academy of Sciences as part of its 17th mid-year meeting.

In the special lecture, which was aimed at understanding the theories of formation of the solar system, Dr. Goswami said the collapse of the protosolar cloud took place within a time span much shorter than what was inferred from theoretical studies, and was probably caused by an external trigger.

According to him, the death of a neighbouring star could be the reason for the gravitational collapse in our galaxy, which led to the formation of the solar system.

There were, of course, other theories to explain how the solar system came into being, he said.

Using experimental and analytical results, Dr. Goswami explained the basic approach used to determine the time-scale processes involved in the origin of the solar system. M.S. Narasimhan of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research spoke on "What do mathematicians do, and how?" On Saturday, K. Vijay Raghavan, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, will speak on "The development of locomotive ability", at the Faculty Hall of the Indian Institute of Science.

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