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Kalam recalls Raman’s unique trait

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Philadelphia: The former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, cited an example from the life of Nobel laureate Sir C.V. Raman to stress the dedication needed by teachers, especially in research institutions.

Raman was also in the first batch of Bharat Ratna winners.

At a meeting organised by the Wharton School here on Saturday, Mr. Kalam recalled an incident when the Bharat Ratna award ceremony was to take place in the last week of January after the Republic Day celebrations in 1954.

The then President, Rajendra Prasad, wrote to Raman inviting him to be the personal guest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan when Raman came to Delhi for the award ceremony. Raman wrote a polite letter, regretting his inability to go. He had a noble reason for his inability to attend the investiture ceremony, Mr. Kalam said.

“He explained to the President that he was guiding a Ph.D student and that thesis was positively due by the last day of January.

“The student was valiantly trying to wrap it all up and Raman felt, he had to be by the side of the research student, see that the thesis was finished, sign the thesis as the guide and then have it submitted,” Mr. Kalam said.

Here was a scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony associated with the highest honour, because he felt that his duty required him to be by the side of the student, Mr. Kalam said. It was this unique trait of giving value to science that built science.

Mr. Kalam identified seven areas of research which he believed were most important and challenging.

These included increasing the efficiency of solar photovoltaic cell, which converts solar energy into electricity, from the current 15 per cent to 45 per cent using silicon as a base with carbon nanotube (CNT); developing thorium-based reactors to produce power: proteomic which studies of proteins; development of vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS; stem cell research; forecasting the occurrence of earthquakes; and more reliable meteorological forecasts.

“These are challenging areas for the youth which will provide multiple opportunities in the field of engineering and technology, biosciences and healthcare, energy, disaster management and also allied research in each of these disciplines leading to design, development, production and marketing missions,” Mr. Kalam said.

Referring to the energy sector, Mr. Kalam said that scientists in reputed laboratories had established the fact that the alignment of the CNT with the polymer composites substrate was the key issue and this aligned CNT based PV cells would give very high efficiency in photovoltaic conversion.

The polymer composites increased contact area for better charge transfer and energy conversion. In this process, the researchers could achieve the efficiency of about 50 per cent at the laboratory scale. The intensity of research in Indian research institutions must be enhanced to realise commercial production of CNT-based photovoltaic cells, he added.

Proteomics, he said, “helps to understand the basic biological processes critical to normal cellular functions as well as the development of diseases. It identifies the essential components of these processes and exploits these components as targets in the development of new methods to prevent or treat diseases.

The type of work involved was huge and challenging, and much bigger than the Human Genome programme, Mr. Kalam pointed out, stressing the need for international cooperation in the field. Stating that earthquakes destroyed the decades of progress and valuable civilisational heritage, he said it was essential to carry out research in forecasting using multiple parameters and precursors such as pre-shock conditions, electromagnetic phenomena prior to final rupture and atmospheric and ionospheric anomalies. — PTI

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