Nobel Prize in physics — 1997

This year’s Nobel Prize in physics recognises the spectacular progress during the last decade in the cooling and trapping of atoms by the use of laser beams. The techniques exploit basic physical principles with great ingenuity and have very interesting applications in precision measurement and the study of new phenomena.     

Information determinism: The consequences of the faith in information

We identify and examine the assumption of information determinism that is commonplace in policy arenas: that mere access to the “right information” will precipitate desired actions. Our analysis focuses on implications of information determinism in three cases: California disaster response plans in the 1980s, an Indian development project in the 1990s, and an education project directed at the Global South in the 2000s. Our analyses shows that planning based on information deterministic assumptions tends to overlook the sociomaterial circumstances of information production and circulation, including how social structures and materiality shape information in practice. Further, they imbue what we call “information” with the agency to bring about change. While we do not deny that “information” can be useful, we argue that policy needs to move away from information deterministic thinking and its singular focus on information access to address the needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations.     

Reality versus Simulation

A systematic study of the implementation of simulation hardware (TIMS) replacing software (MATLAB) was undertaken for advanced undergraduate and early graduate courses in electrical engineering. One outcome of the qualitative component of the study was remarkable: most students interviewed (4/4 and 6/9) perceived the software simulations as “fake”. Professionals, on the other hand, find such simulations as essentially perfectly replacing data from “real” systems. The implications of this large difference in perception between advanced undergraduate/early graduate students and professionals are discussed. At present, suitable theoretical frameworks related to motivation do not afford satisfactory explanation for this observation.Work done at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln     

Conformational analysis of cyclohexanes diastereoisomerism in disubstituted cyclohexanes

The cycloalkanes most commonly found in nature, viz., in some alkaloids, steroids and terpenoids contain six membered rings because they can exist in a completely strain free chair conformation. The fundamental understanding of the conformations of cyclohexane and the structures of molecules containing cyclohexane ring was developed by Derek H R Barton and Odd Hassel, who shared the Nobel Prize in 1969. An enormous amount of experimental and theoretical evidence is available on the conformational analysis of these compounds. In this article, distinguishing the conformations of the diastereomers and their relative stabilities are discussed in brief.     

Climate change,greenhouse gases and aerosols

The surface temperature of the earth is controlled by the balance between the absorbed solar radiation and the emitted infrared radiation. During the past 150 years the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere has increased from 280 parts per million to more than 380 parts per million on account of burning of fossil fuels. The higher absorption of infrared radiation by the atmosphere (on account of higher carbon dioxide) has resulted in an increase in the surface temperature of the earth. The burning of fossil fuels has also caused an increase in sulphate and soot aerosols in the atmosphere. Both these aerosols reduce the solar radiation incident at the earth surface. Hence the surface of the earth has cooled on account of increase in aerosols. The sulphate aerosols have also cooled the atmosphere but the soot aerosols, which absorb solar radiation, have heated the atmosphere. The net impact of increase in carbon dioxide and aerosols has been an increase in the surface temperature of the earth by 0.7 degrees centigrade in the past 100 years. J Srinivasan is a Professor at the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was a lead author in the second and fourth reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).     

Doing science that matters to address India’s water crisis

India is one of the most water stressed countries in the world. However, despite appreciable increase in funding for water research, high quality science that is usable by stakeholders remains elusive. I argue that this can be attributed to the absence of research on questions that actually matter to stakeholders, unwillingness to transcend disciplinary boundaries, and the demise of fleld-work research culture in favour of computer simulation.Conventional wisdom is these trends are driven by what is publishable. However, there is an increasing interest in the international community in interdisciplinary, problem driven, empirical research. Using examples of my own research in Chennai and Bengaluru, on water scarcity in urbanising watersheds, I offer some methods and insights.