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Karnataka

Science Express chugs into Bangalore

Staff Reporter

It has so far visited 34 important places in the country

It will be open for public between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The train will Mangalore from March 29

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Educative: Students aboard the Science Express at the Cantonment Railway Station in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: The Science Express, said to be world’s largest ever mobile science exhibition, was thrown open to the public here on Thursday. Stationed at the Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station, this exhibition on wheels will be open for students and general public between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. till March 10.

Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore Division of South Western Railway, Mahesh Mangal inaugurated the exhibition in the presence of German Consul-General Stefan Graf.

Flagged off from Delhi’s Safdarjung on October 30, 2007, the Science Express has so far visited 34 important places in the country with 22 more places to visit. An Indo-German pathway to discovery, it is a joint initiative of National Council for Science and Technology, Federal Ministry of Research and Education, Government of Germany, Max Plank Society, Germany and BASF, the chemical company.

Mr. Graf said Germany spends considerable amount on science and research and by 2010, is expected to spend nearly three per cent of its GDP on this. He said India has a great potential to be a leader in the field of science and research.

Mr. Mangal said so far more than one million people have visited the Express and the organisers expect total two million visits when it completes the journey. He said the coaches were custom-designed at the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurtala. Of the 16 coaches, 13 comprise exhibition stations, two park cars and one passenger car.

The train has large screen displays for audio-visual experience, interactive computers and many other attractions. Seeking to address issues from micro-cosmos to macro-cosmos, the exhibition answers how scientists have uncovered the understanding of the Universe. With 13 thematic “stations,” the Science Express also features a “Teen’s Lab” of BASF for students from 7th to 10th standards.

Thirteen exhibition topics, namely, On the way to the big bang; Nano Cosmos; Building blocks of life; from Gene to organism; Architecture of the mind; the World of Science; Technologies for the future; from Data to Knowledge; Global Challenges; Spaceship Earth; Our Home in the Cosmos; the Universe and Fantastic World of Chemistry named Kids’ Lab, are featured on this Science Express.

BASF Kids’ Lab is a miniature chemistry lab to ignite interest among school children in the field of chemistry through simple experiments and practical demonstrations. It has four work stations and the teaching is done by trained communicators from Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre, Ahmedabad.

The Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishat is coordinating the exhibition in Bangalore. The Express will visit Mangalore between March 29 and April 2.

Parishat President H.S. Niranjan Aradhya, BASF Resident Chief Executive P.M. Balakrishnan and Express’ Project Manager Andreas Klauke were present.

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