'Role of women equally imp in field of science'

ALLAHABAD: With a pledge to strengthen the Indian scientific scenario, the fifth science conclave organised by the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad concluded on Friday. The weeklong congregation witnessed six nobel scientists, 40 eminent international scientists and 1800 participants from different parts of the country.
Walter Kohn, noble laureate winner in chemistry in year 1988 addressed the participants in the pandal this morning from US through video conferencing focussing on advantage of science and technology.On a lighter note he started by thanking technology by quoting, "Happy to be in India without travelling to India". Talking about his early research work which involved quantum field theory, the study of the interaction of subatomic particles he recalled the days of Second World War where how as a student his studies were hampered during that time. Then he talked about semiconductors and how as a young researcher he was very much interested in the solid state physics. Citing his own personal example he emphasized that to be successful in the field of science one should have strong analytical skills. He showed a photograph where John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter H Brattain, the pioneer of solid-state physics and the inventors of transistors were shown busy with their research work. He said that transistors were the fundamental device in the early development of solid state electronics.
He concluded his speech by talking about his work with electronic structures known as DFT i.e. Density Functional Theory which proved to have applications way beyond solid state electronics. He ended his speech by saying that because of DFT's wide-ranging applications to chemistry and bio-chemistry, he was awarded the Noble Prize in Chemistry. He answered to the questions of the students present in the arena.
JK Bhattacharjee, Harish Chandra Research Institute on the occasion shared his experience with WKohn citing an incident from 1979 where he went together with him for the same job and talked about the co-incidence that he is again sharing the same stage with him today.
Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy, Krishan Lal started his speech on the topic-Fascinating World of crystals. He also told that why he fascinates of mankind natural crystal as gems, jewellery. Natural diamonds are not too attractive and beautiful as these are seemed. The largest ever natural diamond with weight 3106 carat, the Cullinan diamond was discovered in 1905 by South Africa. He also enlightened the historical perspective of Indian culture with diamonds, gems and jewellery. He also explained the scientific understanding of diamond and chemical composition structure. He concluded that crystals prepared from diamond and charcoals were identical.
Speaking on the occasion a scientist, KF Lindahl spoke on the "Women in Science 2012". She raised a burning question of why so few women are found in the field of Science, Politics, Business, Law, Medicine, Engineering etc. She emphasized on how the participation of women leads to diversification of gender which results in different points of view and different approaches in identifying and solving problems. According to her not engaging women wastes brainpower, not employing women wastes resources spent in their education and training.
She concluded her speech by saying that women too are equally important in field as vast as science and talked about some remedial measures to combat this. OP Vyas felicitated her.
Nobel Laureate Prof. Deisenhofer talked about Structural Biology of Photosynthetic Light Reaction. Later Prof Sajal Das, Director, Centre for Research in wireless mobility and networking ,University of Texas, US spoke on "Cyber-Physical World: A Perspective from Pervasive Computing and Smart Environments" and Dr SP Singh, Department of Chemistry, Kurukshetra University threw light on Reflections On Indian Science: Challenges And Opportunities.
Dr M D Tiwari, director, IIIT- Allahabad speaking at the valedictory session said that we all are witnessing a resounding success of the fifth science conclave which is due to untiring effort and dedication of IIIT-A fraternity." Words & phrases are just not enough to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the support that all of you have been extending. I am also sure of setting our sights towards the future, and I sincerely hope that all of you will continue to support this endeavor with the same zeal and dedication", added Dr Tiwari.
The fifth science conclave could not have been so grandeur and opulent without round the clock efforts of different committees and their volunteers which comprised of Audio & Light / Stage Show & Cultural Committee, Registration Committee, Transport Committee, Media Committee etc.
The audio & light/stage show & cultural committee under the guidance of Dr Anurika Vaish, Division Head MBA/MS worked in sync to make the event a grand success. On the other hand the registration committee under the guidance of Dr S Sanyal worked day in and day out to make sure that all participants of the science conclave are properly entertained.
The Transport Committee under the guidance of Dr Seema Shah made sure that there is smooth flow of transport coming in and going out during the entire science conclave.