E Contents - UM Repositoryrepository.um.edu.my/23769/1/SI August 10 Text (1).pdf · medicinal...
Transcript of E Contents - UM Repositoryrepository.um.edu.my/23769/1/SI August 10 Text (1).pdf · medicinal...
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On Some Crucial S&T Issues inContemporary India:Some Thoughts - Part XIV -------------26
Science of the month------------------ 31
Science India Quiz---------------------40
Music: The energy source? ------------- 41
Indian Anxiety on Climate Changeand Economy ------------------------- 43
The cardio-tonic and cardio-protectantmedicinal plants around us ------------46
Organic solar cells –The future energy source -------------- 50
Science of PIN Code ------------------- 54
Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) technology –A Breakthrough in mild Technologies forPreservation of Food ------------------ 55
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A
charya PrafullaChandra Ray
A
Book For YourHome Library
A
primitive ancient wonder –Horseshoe crab
August 2010
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SCIENCEINDIA THE NATIONAL
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This year, in 2010, keeping in mind the theme of the celebrations, “Biodiversity is life;Biodiversity is our life “the while world is celebrating International Year of Biodiversity. The
biodiversity conservation efforts are getting greater importance world over. In this connection,a small creature, the Horseshoe crab needs special mention. For many, the horseshoe crab is achildhood acquaintance, first introduced by a fierce-looking shell on a sandy beach. Forecologists, the horseshoe is an important creature - a vastly adaptable generalist that pre-dates most species on the planet, with a lifecycle that is interlocked with other animals. Forthe scientist, the limuli are an intriguing puzzle, offering insights into evolution, bacterial,vision and species - interdependence.
The horseshoe crab population has dropped dramatically in recent years. In an article entitled“Jurassic Beach”, by Jennifer Uscher, in the summer 2008 issue of Nature Conservancy magazine,it states that from the late 1960s to 1996 the annual catch of horseshoe crabs has increasedfrom 10 tons to 2,500 tons. The article identifies one reason for the increased demand to haulin horseshoe crabs: an increased culinary demand in Asia for conch and American eel. Horseshoecrabs are used as bait to reel in the conch and eel.
As the horseshoe crab populations declines it puts at risk other species who feed on the horeshoecrab such as the loggerhead sea tuttle. Loggerhead sea turtles are already listed on thethreatened species list. There is an urgent need to enhance the conservation efforts to savethis wonderful creature. A special article on “A primitive ancient wonder - Horseshoe crab“appears in this issue of Science India.
Dr. P. C. Ray - A Professor of Chemistry in the University. A pioneer in the field of pharmaceuticalindustry in India who started making chemicals at home, eighty years ago, to prevent foreigncompanies making excessive profits at the cost of Indian patients.
A scientist who won international acclaim. His dwelling - a simple room on the first floor of thecollege in which he was leaching; his household - students who could not afford to stayelsewhere.
His salary - all a donation to the Department of Chemistry. The income from this donation tobe spent on the development of the Department of Chemistry at the University College ofScience and to give scholarships to needy students. And the total amount the donated in theway - two lakh rupees !!
Such was the Scientist - Professor Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray.
2010 - It is the 150th Birth Anniversary of this great son of India. Vignana Bharathi, the parentalorganization of Swadeshi Science Movement and Science India is celebrating the event inmany universities, professional institutional and schools in the country for an year from 2ndAugust 2010. A special article on Acharya P.C. Ray appears in this issue of Science India
Team Science India
August 2010
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The evolution has a great debt to the
ocean, a massive body of water, were life
first originated. Horseshoe crab, the world’s
oldest and most fascinating creature also lives
in this deep blue massive water body. This
valuable creature is a marine
chelicerate arthropod with
jointed limbs. They belong
to the class merostomata
(Mouth surrounded by legs).
The great resemblance of
shell of this animal to a
horse hoof, made them to
be called as “Horse Foot
Crabs” in earlier days.
However these harmless
crabs are more closely
related to spiders, ticks, and
scorpions than to crabs, although we call them
as Horseshoe crab. During the process of
evolution a number of marine organisms,
suspected to be extinct, still flourish as living
A PRIMITIVE ANCIENTWONDER –
HORSESHOE CRABP.J. Pradeep and T.C. Srijaya
animals and Horseshoe crab is one such
incredible animal.
Fossil records of this valuable creature dates
backs to 360 million years. All these years they
remained unchanged and evolved into its present
shape with little apparent
change in their morphology
and has not shown any
significant phenotypic
change. They are commonly
referred to as ‘living fossils’
since, they have survived over
several mass extinctions. The
first fossilized Horseshoe crab
(Mesolimulus walchi,
Desmerest, 1822) was found
from the upper Jurassic layer
of famous lithographic lime
stone of Bavaria in West Germany. This ancient
species became so precious after the discovery
of a valuable property in its blood which saved
millions of human lives.
Fossil records of thisvaluable creature dates
backs to 360 millionyears. All these years theyremained unchanged andevolved into its present
shape with little apparentchange in their
morphology and has notshown any significant
phenotypic change.
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Habitat and
distribution
This alien shaped
creature has been reaching
the beaches from the deep sea
for breeding purpose. They prefer
calm seas or estuaries with sandy
muddy bottoms. They are highly
specialized animal and have the
ability to select suitable habitat
for reproduction and dispersal
during their migration itself. This
specialized character ensure these animals to
safely reach there perspective destination and
thus reduce the chance of mortality. Their
migration depends on two important physical
stimuli, tide and lunar periodicity. Physiology
of this animal is well suited to overcome all
the environmental fluctuations during their
long journey. They use their appendages
(chelicerae) similar to those used by spiders
and scorpions for grasping and crushing the
feed. Their food includes polycheate worms,
mollusks and dead fishes.
There are four species of Horseshoe crabs.
Three species of these occur in the waters
around India, Japan, Malaysia, Philipines,
Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia (Tachypleus
gigas, Tachypleus tridentatus and
Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda). In India,
Tachypleus gigas and Carcinoscorpius
rotundicauda are found confined to Orissa and
the West Bengal coasts. Along the Orissa
coast they are found near Burhabalanga
estuary and Abana. The fourth species,
Limulus polyphemus is specifically found in
the waters along the east coast of North
America.
Physical description
Horseshoe crab has a unique and primitive
body structure. The carapace or exoskeleton
of this living fossil has the morphology very
similar to that found in Jurassic deposits.
Arthropods, usually grow by periodically
moulting their exoskeletons, similarly
Horseshoe crab also does. They have an
estimated life span of 20 years and require 9
Distribution of Horshoe crab over the globe
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- 13 years to reach maturity and represents
long-lived animal category.
There are several special types of
glycoproteins present in their body that
prevents all the active depositions of fouling
organisms and protects these crabs from the
deadly infections caused by the microbes and
pathogens. Their carapace is divided into three
sections: the anterior portion is the prosoma;
the middle section is the opisthosoma; and
the “tail” is called the telson.
Compound eyes of horseshoe crabs are so
special and has all together nine eyes on the
upper surface of the body. These eyes in
shades of gray are sensitive to polarized light
and can magnify sunlight 10 times. In fact
compound eyes are very sensitive to infrared
and ultraviolet rays. However it is
advantageous for the animals to locate their
way even in dark cloudy days; even a small
clear sky is enough for them to locate the sun.
All the signals from photoreceptor cells are
received by the brain and they influence the
Biological clock. Horseshoe crab eyes have
therefore been extensively studied as a model
organ for visual processes.
Unlike true crabs, they are not having
antennae or jaws. They have six pairs of
thoracic appendages where as in true crab it’s
only five pairs. The anterior ends of the
appendages are fringed and four leaf liked
structures which helps the Horseshoe crab in
scooping the sand or mud at the time of
burrowing for building their nests. Walking of
this animal are made easy by five pairs of
appendages in the middle part which are
having small claws at its end. Usually male
crabs are smaller than females and their first
pair of appendage differs from female. There
are peculiar hook like structures or pincers in
the first pair of walking legs of male Horseshoe
crab, referred to as “boxing gloves”. The males
use this mating claw to attach and hold on to
females during mating.
Horseshoe crabs have book gills for
respiration like that of spiders, helping them
to survive outside water for a long time
provided the gills are moist. During spawning
periods they bury themselves in the sand or
in the mud to conserve water until the tide
rise again. This highly specialized book gills
help them to survive during the low tide. The
book gills are continuously moved up and
down, that helps to keep oxygenated water
flowing around them and they use this as
paddle for swimming too.
If accidentally overturned, tail of
Horseshoe crab helps them flip over. Although
telson have a dangerous looks, and many
believes that they are poisonous, the fact is
that it is not so. However, in ancient times
the tail was used as a weapon by the Chinese
and Native Indians.
Human uses of Horseshoe crab
This prehistoric creature with the armour
like body and spear-like tail is a great
beneficiary to mankind. Interestingly
scientists from almost all the fields of science
including ecology, microbiology,
biotechnology, pharmacology, immunology,
Horseshoe crab eggs
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and neurophysiology has been working at the
same time on this primitive animal. This itself
defines us how much they are valuable to the
human beings. The amazing fact is that Horse
shoe crab is having very perfect but primitive
immune system that makes them medically
quite useful to humans.
Native Americans were the first to
recognize the importance of the Horseshoe
crab. They eat the meat with delicacy. They
use several parts of this animal for varied
purposes. They use its carapace as paddles
for their canoes and tail for making arrow and
spear tips. They also found that Horseshoe
crab was rich in nitrogen, which they use as
an excellent fertilizer for the farm fields and
aquaculture ponds.
In India, tribes from north east coast of
Orissa usually ties horseshoe crabs tail in their
arms and prick their fore head using it. They
use the tail as traditional medicine for relief
from different types of joint pains and also as
a cure for arthritis. In early days appendages
of the crabs were eaten by tribes of India. For
treating rheumatic fever and pain, medicines
are prepared from the carapace of dead crab,
by boiling it along with mustard oil. Indians
use to take their food and drink by utilizing
its carapace, as a bowl. Chinese use the
carapace as hat and as spoon for serving soup.
In China, Korea and Japan the dead crabs shell
and its parts are sold as decorative pieces to
tourists. In several countries like Borneo,
Malaysia, Singapore and China many people
use the eggs of Horseshoe crab as delicacy.
Pregnant ladies from Singapore usually eat the
eggs believing that it is good for enhancing
immunity to the baby. Chinese usually blend
the meat and use it as sauce in their dishes.
From the mid of 18th centuries, several
fertilizer industry rise up using Horseshoe crab
as fertilizer and poultry food supplements
before the advent of artificial fertilizers in
America. But by the mid of the 19th centuries
all these industries were collapsed due to over
exploitation of this animal by collecting from
the wild and also growing opposition from the
public.
Horseshoe Crab Vision
In 1926 an American scientist named Prof.
H. Keffer Hartline began his research on
electrical impulses from the optic nerves of
Horseshoe crab. Following the findings from
this research, Hartline along with another
Horseshoe crab blood collection
Ornaments from Horseshoe crabs
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American scientist George Wald and a
Swedish scientist Dr. Ragnar Granit discovered
some important principles about the function
of human eyes. For their notable contribution
they were awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine
in the year 1967. The optic system of
Horseshoe crab is cross connected. When one
nerve cell of the crab is stimulated, its partner
nerve gets suppressed and this result in an
increase in contrast of the images. This
principle was taken by General Electrical
Company from USA and they developed a
video system to provide sharper images to the
television and it is presently used by all
television companies. At present almost all
radar systems follow this principle and help
them to increase its efficiency.
The Blue blood
The blood of these crabs are pretty
amazing scientifically and is generally known
as haemolymph, white in color but turns blue
when exposed to air. This phenomenon is due
to the high concentration of copper-based
oxygen carrying substance called hemocyanin,
in their blood. Omnipresence of bacteria is
always a threat although some are beneficial.
However gram negative bacteria are the
greatest threat in pharmaceutical industry.
Some bacteria which are non-pathogen can
cause disease if they enter the bloodstream,
which are usually free from contaminants.
Thus it is critically important to avoid all
possible bacterial contaminations in drugs,
vaccines, and medical devices. So the
biomedical industry and pharmaceutical
manufacturers need to make sure their
products are not only sterile but also non-
toxic.
It was in early 1950s the clotting quality
of the Horseshoe crab’s blood was discovered
by a scientist named Frederick Bang. From the
Horseshoe crab blood he isolated a chemical
that helped the blood to get clot and heAn antique from Horshoe crab
Horseshoe crab cuisine
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named it as “Limulus amoebocyte lysate” or
LAL. The discovery of LAL changed the
scenario because the quality checking of drugs
before that was rather very laborious and not
efficient (Rabbit test). Now LAL is being used
to test all drugs and other sophisticated
devices including implantable devices and
artificial kidneys and its worth, is estimated
to be around $15,000 a quart. A small draw
back in LAL test is that they cannot
distinguish the live and dead gram negative
bacterial strains. However this test has been
used to diagnose rapidly the urinary tract
infections and spinal meningitis. LAL test has
been widely used to assess the food spoilage
in food processing industries too. Even in very
minute quantities LAL is an effective detector
of harmful bacteria causing life-threatening
diseases in humans. This blue blood saved
millions of people and thus we owe a lot to
Horseshoe crabs. Many attempts have been
done to make synthetically LAL, since now
we are solicidily depending only on this blue
blood.
Other biomedical compounds from
Horseshoe crab and there uses
The plasma proteins and peptides of the
blood cells in Horseshoe crab have elevated
A breeding pair of Horseshoe crabs
Shore birds eating eggs of Horseshoe crab
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them as best-described immune system for
any long-lived invertebrate. Other than LAL
a great number of biomedical compounds and
useful reagents have been discovered from
its blood. In Japan for fungal infections they
have developed a test called G-test using the
compounds from Horseshoe crab. The
endotoxin-neutralizing protein which is the
main defense system in Horseshoe crab is
being used potentially as antibiotic and as
an alternative for endotoxin assay. Some
other proteins also have been discovered that
have anti-viral and anti-cancer activity.
Inspite of these, this hard-shelled
invertebrate have properties to treat a variety
of diseases including typhoid and meningitis,
and act as a pain killer as well as create
wound dressings for use on burn victims and
skin-graft donors.
Horseshoe crabs eggs in medical field
The embryo of the Horseshoe crab is
protected inside a fluid named peri-vetilline
fluid. This fluid contains several primitive
proteins. This fluid can increase the
proliferation of insulin producing cells in
human beings and thus can be effectively
used for producing anti-diabetic drugs. It also
contains several compounds that stimulate
the growth and helps in differentiation of
specific organs. There are also other factors
which are useful in cardiac disorders and
ischemia.
Uses of Chitin
Chitin from Horseshoes crab have a
variety of medical uses including chitin-
coated filament for suturing and chitin-
coated wound dressing for burn victims and
skin-graft donors. The advantage of using
this chitin coated materials in medical
researches is that it drastically reduced the
healing time by 35-50 percent and also
reduces pain compared to the other ordinary
treatments.
Space research
NASA scientists and their collaborators
are now exploring the possibility of using the
LAL for discovering any type of microbes from
the outer space including the soils from other
planets like Mars. This research will give
certain interesting facts like how the
bacteria’s in other planets react to the
Horseshoe crab enzymes or else whether
those bacteria’s are similar to that found in
earth.
Ecological importance
Inspite of their great contributions to
mankind, they play a vital role in balancing
the ecology of coastal communities. World’s
largest Horseshoe crab population is found
in Delaware Bay on the Atlantic coast.
Mostly Horseshoe crab lay hundreds to
thousands of eggs, in a relatively short
season of the year. Horseshoe crab eggs are
Conservation
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eaten mostly by migrating shore birds and
many species of fishes. Migrating birds rely
heavily upon these eggs during their nesting
season. For their long migratory these birds
utilizes the high energy
reserves of Horseshoe crab
eggs. Otherwise these
migrating birds would not
acquire the energy needed
to fly their long migration
routes. Many of the marine
invertebrate species, such
as barnacles, mussels,
sponges, oysters, asteriids,
snail furs, blue mussels,
scuds, ghost anemones,
oyster drill eggs, agardh’s
red seaweed, flatworms and many others
utilizes the carapace of Horseshoe crab as
shelter until it gets moulted.
Conservation of blood donors
Most of the humans are unaware of the
importance of this creature. The armuored
shell and spiked tail animal is gradually dying
out and is the latest to join the long list of
endangered species. The Horseshoe crab
population has been declining drastically due
to coastal development, pollution and
destruction of wetlands. Seawall and other
types of coastal development alter the
configuration of the shoreline, seriously
disrupting the reproductive activities of
Horseshoe crabs. Fishing activity is also
affecting its populations badly. Fisherman
catches a lot of this animal for supply to
primate companies for their blood extraction.
The human recreational activities like
recreational vehicles in the beaches can
crush the crabs and destroy them. Oil leakage
poses threat to the eggs and larvae. These
have led to the significant decrease in the
number of crabs visiting the beach. These
activities harm not only
the blue blood crabs but
also other organisms
depending on them.
Several organizations
have come up for
conserving Horseshoe
crabs including Ecological
Research and
Development Group,
which is now being
actively involved in the
conservation of the world’s four Horseshoe
crab species. In the universe the most well
studied invertebrate will be Horseshoe crab
as the animal is still unchanged and going
on. This deep sea life is now life donor of not
only millions of human beings, but also to
those far flying birds, becoming the most
valuable commodity in almost all aspects of
the life in an ecosystem covering, from the
aquatic, terrestrial and sky up to the outer
space. It is the duty of every human being to
protect this evolutionary forefather, to be in
this world for the benefit of ecological
balance.
Acknowledgements: All images from Google
P.J. Pradeep and T.C. SrijayaPh. D. Scholars
Institute of Tropical AquacultureUniversity of Malaysia, Terengganu
Mengabang Telipot21030 Kuala Terengganu
Terengganu, Malaysia.E Mail: [email protected]
Fossil records of thisvaluable creature dates
backs to 360 millionyears. All these years theyremained unchanged andevolved into its present
shape with little apparentchange in their
morphology and has notshown any significant
phenotypic change.
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Acharya PrafullaChandra Ray
Dr. Subodh Mahanti
“I have no sense of success on any large scale in things achieved…but have the
sense of having worked and having found happiness in doing so.” – Acharya P.C. Ray
A more remarkable career than that of P.C.
Ray could not well be chronicled”, wrote
Nature, the famous international scientific
journal, while
commenting on the
first volume of Ray’s
autobiography. Prafulla
Chandra Ray was the
founder of the Indian
School of modern
Chemistry. He was a
pioneer of chemical
industries in India.
Ray’s activities were
not confined to his
laboratory and
teaching. His activities
concerned with all
spheres of human
interest-educational reform, industrial
development, employment generation and
poverty alleviation, economic freedom and
political advancement of the country. He was
a pioneer in social reforms in the country. He
took to social service with a missionary zeal.
He was a great
critique of the
prevailing caste
system in the Hindu
society.
In his Presidential
address to the Indian
National Social
Conference in 1917 he
made a passionate
appeal for removal of
the caste system from
the Hindu society. Ray
was an ardent
advocate of the use of
the mother tongue as
medium of instruction in schools and colleges.
In recognition of his contribution towards the
advancement and enrichment of Bengali
Ray's activities were not confined to his laboratory and teaching. Hisactivities concerned with all spheres of human interest-educationalreform, industrial development, employment generation and povertyalleviation, economic freedom and political advancement of the country.
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language, he was elected the General
President of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad
(1931-34). Ray symbolized the best of Indian
tradition and philosophy.
He lived a life of extreme self-denial. He
became a symbol of plain living. Mahatma
Gandhi said: “It is difficult to believe that the
man in simple Indian dress wearing simple
manners could possibly be the great scientist
and professor.” He lived in a single room at
the University College of Science. Its furniture
consisted of an iron bedstead, a small table,
a smaller chair and an almirah with shelves
full of books, most of which were English
classics.
Ray was a voracious reader of literature,
history and biography. He could read half-a-
dozen languages. He once claimed that he
‘became a chemist almost by mistake.’
There is no better document to know
about Ray and his thoughts and
accomplishments than his autobiography
entitled Life and Experiences of a Bengali
Chemist in two volumes. Besides giving his
life-sketch, it gives glimpses of the
intellectual history of Bengal in particular and
India in general. “It is, in fact, a history of
intellectual renaissance in Bengal as part of
the larger enlightenment of India in the
nineteenth century and in the early decades
of the twentieth century.” In the preface to
his autobiography Ray wrote: “While a student
at Edinburgh I found to my regret that every
civilized country including Japan was adding
to the world’s stock of knowledge but that
unhappy India was lagging behind. I dreamt a
dream that, God willing, a time would come
when she too would contribute her quota.
Half-a-century has since then rolled by.
My dream I have now the gratification of
finding fairly materialized. A new era has
evidently dawned upon India. Her sons have
taken kindly to the zealous pursuit of different
branches of science. May the torch thus
kindled burn with greater brilliance from
generation to generation.”
Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on August
2, 1861 in a village in the district of Jessore
(subsequently of Khulna), now in Bangladesh.
About his village Ray, in his autobiography,
wrote: “My native village is Raruli, in the
district of Jessore (at present Khulna). It is
situated on the banks of the river Kapotakshi,
which follows a meandering course for forty
miles (only 16 miles as the crow flies) till it
reaches Sagardari, the birth place of our great
poet Madhusudan Datta. And higher up lies
the village of Polua-Magura known of late
years as Amritabazaar, the birth place of Sisir
Kumar Ghosh, the veteran journalist. The
village adjoining Raruli on the north is
Katipara, the residence of the Zemindars of
the Ghosh family, from which came the
mother of Madhusudan. These two villages are
often hyphened together and called Raruli-
Katipara.” It says in the Upanishads that the
Supreme One wanted to be many. The urge
for self-dispersal is at the root of this creation.
It was through this kind of creative urge that
Prafulla Chandra became many in the minds
of his pupils by diffusing and thereby
reactivating himself in many younger minds.
But this would hardly have been possible
unless he had the capacity to give himself
away fully to others. Rabindranath Tagore
(Quoted in P.C. Ray by J. Sen Gupta, National
Book Trust, 1972) As pioneer of chemical
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education, chemical research and chemical
industries in India, and more possibly as a self-
denying and dedicated worker for the uplift
and emancipation of the country, and last but
not least as a man of austere habits and
sterling character with dynamic sympathy for
the poor and down-trodden, ever alert to the
call of humanity,Prafulla Chandra Ray
occupied a unique position in India in his days.
P. Ray in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of
the National Institute of Sciences of India
(1966) Acharya Ray was one of the giants of
old, and more particularly, he was a shining
light in the field of science. His frail figure,
his ardent patriotism, his scholarship and his
simplicity impressed me greatly in my youth.
Jawaharlal Nehru. His father Harish Chandra
Ray, a scion of a local zemindar, was a man of
taste, learning and liberal views. He was an
accomplished violin player. He was proficient
in Persian and English languages and he had
also workable knowledge of Sanskrit and
Arabic. Harish Chandra was closely associated
with the cultural and intellectual leaders of
those days in Bengal. For his liberal views
Harish Chandra was branded a mlechcha
(foreign heretic) by his fellow villagers. Ray’s
mother, Bhubanmohini Devi was also an
accomplished lady of enlightened views.
The decade of 1860-69 of the nineteenth
century was very important in India’s history.
Thus, Animesh Chakraborty, a well-known
inorganic chemist, wrote : “It was the best of
times – the second half of the nineteenth
century. The decade of 1860-69 alone saw
the birth of Rabindranath Tagore, Motilal
Nehru, Swami Vivekananda, Madan Mohan
Malaviya, Asutosh Mookerjee, Lala Lajpat Rai,
Srinivasa Sastri and Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi. And of Prafulla Chandra Ray. A season
of light and hope was descending on a
languishing India.”
Ray’s early education was in his village
school, founded by his father. However, he
made very little progress in this school as he
used to be frequently absent from the school.
In 1870 his father permanently shifted to
Kolkata (then Calcutta) mainly for proper
education of his children. Describing his first
impression of Kolkata, Ray, in his
autobiography, wrote: “In August 1870, I came
to Calcutta for the first time…I spent the
month of August in Calcutta, to my great joy,
almost every day seeing new sights. I caught
glimpses of a new world. A panorama of
gorgeous vistas was opened to me. The new
water-works had just been completed and the
town enjoyed the blessings of a liberal supply
of filtered drinking water; the orthodox Hindu
still hesitated to make use of it as being
impure; but the superior quality of water
carried its own recommendation; by slow
degrees, reason and convenience triumphed
over prejudice, and its use became almost
universal. The construction of underground
drains had just been taken in hand.”
In 1871, Ray and his elder brother
Nalinikanta, were admitted into the Hare
School, founded by David Hare, then located
in the one-story building. The school was
shifted to its present location in 1872. David
Hare was also associated with the
establishment of Hindu College. David Hare
himself was not educated. He was neither a
Government servant nor a Christian
missionary. However, he played a very
important role in spreading western education
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in Bengal. S.K. Dey in an article entitled ‘The
Hindu College and the Reforming Young
Bengal’ in Acharya Ray 70th Birthday
Commemoration Volume wrote: “The facts of
David Hare’s life are very few and can be told
very briefly. Son of a watchmaker in London,
who had married an Aberdeen lady, Hare came
out to Calcutta in 1800 at the age of 25 as a
watchmaker; and, after following that
profession for several years he made over his
concern (before 1816) to his friend, one Mr.
Grey, under whose roof he led his bachelor
life till his death on June 1, 1842 at the age of
sixty-seven. Instead of returning to his native
country, like the rest of his countrymen, with
the competence he had acquired, he adopted
for his own the country of his sojourn, and
cheerfully devoted the remainder of his life
to the one object dear to himself, namely, the
spread of Western education, for which he
spared neither personal trouble, nor money,
nor influence.”
From his autobiography we know that he
used to be ridiculed by his classmates in Hare
School. To quote Ray: “When my class-mates
came to know that I hailed from the district
of Jessore, I at once became their laughing-
stock and the butt of ridicule. I was nick-
named Bangal and various faults of omission
ascribed to the unfortunate people of East
Bengal began to be laid at my door. A Scotch
rustic or a Yorkshire lad with his peculiar
brogue and queer manners, when he suddenly
found himself in the midst of cockney
youngsters, a century ago, was I suppose
somewhat in a similar predicament. At that
time even the very germs of what is known
as the national awakening did not exist, and
a very few people cared to know that my
native district had begotten and sheltered in
its bossom two great warriors (Raja
Protapaditya and Raja Sitaram Ray), who had
raised the standard of revolt against the Great
Moghul, or his Viceroy….” In fact two other
luminaries namely Madhusudan Datta, the
great poet (regarded as Milton of Bengal) and
Dinabandhu Mitra the then greatest living
dramatist hailed from his district. It is
important to take note of Ray’s observation
because even today in India people of one
region are ignorant of historical and cultural
background of the other regions. This kind of
ignorance is a stumbling block in the way of
national integration. Ray did not stay long in
this school. A violent attack of dysentery not
only forced him to leave the school but made
him to interrupt his regular study for two
years. However, he fully utilized this time by
reading English classics and the literary and
historical writings in Bengali. During this
period Inner quadrangle of P.C. Ray’s ancestral
house he also learnt Latin and Greek. Ray was
a voracious reader. To quote him: “The
prescribed text-books never satisfied my
craving. I was a voracious devourer of books
and, when I was barely 12 years old, I
sometimes used to get up at 3 or 4 o’clock in
the morning so that I might pore over the
contents of a favourite author without
disturbance…History and biography have even
now a fascination for me. I read Chambers’
Biography right through several times. The
lives of Newton, Galileo - although at that
time I did not understand or realize the value
of their contributions - interested me much.
Sir WM. Jones, John Leyden and their linguistic
attainments deeply impressed me as also the
life of Franklin. The answer of Jones’ mother
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to his interrogations “read and you will know”
also was not lost upon me. Benjamin Franklin
has been my special favourite ever since my
boyhood…The career of this great
Pennsylvanian - how he began his life as an
ill-paid compositor and by sheer perseverance
and indomitable energy rose to be a leading
man in his country - has ever been an object-
lesson to me.”
In 1874 Ray resumed his regular study but
not in Hare School. He joined the Albert
School of Keshab Chandra Sen the founder of
Brahmo Samaj. In 1879 he passed the
Entrance Examination from Albert School. He
took admission in the First Arts (FA) Class of
the Metropolitan College (now named
Vidyasagar College), founded by Pandit
Iswarchandra Vidyasagar. One of the reasons
for taking admission in this colleges was the
low tuition fees. Because by that time Ray’s
father’s financial situation had considerably
deteriorated. In fact he had to close down his
Calcutta establishment and return to his
native village and his sons started living in
lodges. But then the financial situation was
not the only consideration. In the
Metropolitan College, Ray came under the
influence of Surendra Nath Banerjee, widely
regarded as the father of Indian nationalism.
Surendra Nath, who used to be regarded as
an ‘idol’ by the students of Bengal, taught
English literature in the Metropolitan College.
Ray, while explaining the reasons for taking
admission in this college, wrote: “I took my
admission into the Metropolitan Institution
of Pandit Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, the
College Department of which had recently
been opened. This was the first bold
experiment in India of making high education
as cheap as secondary education. The fee in
the College was same as in the school, namely
three rupees. More than one reason
determined my choice of Vidyasagar’s College.
In the first place the Metropolitan Institution
was a national institution and something we
could look upon as our own; in the second
place Surendranath Bannerjee, who was
almost the god of our idolatry, was Professor
of English prose literature and Prasanta Kumar
Lahiri, a distinguished pupil of Tawney (of the
Presidency College, a learned Shakesperean
scholar) was Professor of poetry. I took care,
however, to attend lectures on Chemistry in
the First Arts Course and both Chemistry and
Physics in the Bachelor of Arts Course in the
Presidency College as an external student.
Chemistry was then a compulsory branch in
the F.A. Course. Mr. (afterwards Sir Alexander)
Pedler was a first-rate hand in experiments;
his manipulative skill was of a high order. I
began almost unconsciously to be attracted
to this branch of science.” Ray even tried to
perform some experiments himself. Thus he
wrote in his autobiography: “Not content with
merely seeing the experiments performed in
the class-room, myself and a fellow student
set up a miniature laboratory in the lodgings
of the latter and we took delight in
reproducing some of them. Once we improved
an oxyhydrogen blow-pipe out of an ordinary
thin tinned sheet of iron with the aid of a
tinker. With such crude apparatus the leakage
of oxygen into the hydrogen tube could not
be prevented and a terrible explosion took
place when the mixture was lighted.
Fortunately, we escaped unhurt. Although
Roscoe’s Elementary Lessons was the text, I
took care to have about me and go through
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as many works on Chemistry as I lay my hands
on.”
Ray’s father Harish Chandra used to
harbour an ambition to send at least one of
his sons to England for higher education. As
his economic situation deteriorated he had no
scope to realize his dreams. However, Prafulla
Chandra knew about his father’s dreams and
decided to prepare for the Gilchrist
Scholarship — a scholarship awarded by the
Edinburgh University, which was open to
students all over the world. While the
examination for the scholarship was
equivalent to the Matriculation standard of
the London University, it required knowledge
of at least four languages. It is said that
though being ridiculed by his classmates, Ray
continued with the preparation for the
examination. Ray came out successfully in the
competition. He was one of the two winners
of the Scholarship from India. The other
candidate was one Bahadurjee from Mumbai.
They were the first Gilchrist Scholars from
India. Ray’s parents were too glad to give their
consent for his going to England. And so armed
with the Scholarship Ray sailed for England
by S.S. California in the middle of 1882. Ray
was received in England by Jagadis Chandra
Bose, who had already been a student of the
Cambridge University for about couple of
years. Cambridge was expensive and it was
meant for the elite. Both Bose and Ray
became great friends for the rest of their lives.
In England he joined the University of
Edinburgh as a student in the B.Sc. class. He
was taught by Alexander Crum Brown (1838-
1922).
While a student in B.Sc. Ray decided to
take part in the essay competition announced
by the Lord Rector of the Edinburgh
University. The title of the essay to be written
was “India before and after the Mutiny”. The
essay was very critical of the British Rule in
India. In those days it required a lot of
conviction and courage to write such an essay.
It demonstrated Ray’s patriotic vigour. Ray did
not get the prize. In his autobiography he
wrote: “The prize was awarded to a rival
competitor, but my essay as well another’s
was bracketed together as proxime
accesserunt (nearest approach to the best).”
In his essay Ray wrote: “…The English
people has yet to be roused to an adequate
sense of importance of events which are now
taking place in India. Thoughts and ideas
which pervade the upper strata of society, are
now percolating through the lower; even the
masses are now beginning to be moved and
influenced. The latter element, it would no
longer do to treat as une quantite negligible.
England unfortunately now refuses to
recognize the hard and irresistible logic of
facts and does her best to strangle and
smother the nascent aspiration of a rising
nationality… Between the ideal and actual,
he (i.e. an Indian) sees a gulf intervening; he
finds it difficult to reconcile the practice of
British statesmen with their
profession…Compromises, half-measures and
halting policies have been tried elsewhere
with signal failure. Fifty years of concession
to Ireland have only served to embitter her
feelings against Great Britain. Will the lesson
which the sister island has taught us be lost
upon India?”
Ray distributed copies of his printed essay
among the University students and the
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general public. The October 28, 1886 issue of
The Scotsman remarked: “It is most
interesting little volume and we do not profess
to wonder in the least that it has earned a
considerable amount of popularity. It contains
information in reference to India which will
not be found elsewhere, and it is deserving of
the utmost notice.” Ray also sent a copy of
his Essay to John Bright, the great
parliamentarian. Bright not only
acknowledged the receipt but also stated that
he agreed with the views expressed by Ray in
his essay. A summary of Bright’s letter flashed
by Reuter is quoted below: “I regret with you
and condemn the course of Lord Dufferin in
Burma. It is a renewal of the old system of
crime and guilt, which we had hoped, had
been for ever abandoned. There is an ignorance
on the part of public in this country and great
selfishness here and in India as to our true
interests in India. The departures from
morality and true statesmanship will bring
about calamity and perhaps ruin, which our
children may witness and deplore.” It was
published in all the leading newspapers of
England under the head-line “John Bright’s
letter to an Indian Student”. The letter was
hotly debated in the political circle of England.
In 1886 Ray published his “Essay on India” in
the form of a booklet.
In 1885 Ray obtained his B.Sc. degree and
in 1887 he was awarded the D.Sc. degree of
the University of Edinburgh in recognition of
his work on “Conjugated (gepaarte) Sulphates
of the Copper-magnesium Group: A Study of
Isomorphous Mixtures and Molecular
Combinations.” He was awarded the Hope
Prize Scholarship which enabled him to stay
one more year in England. He was also elected
Vice President of the Chemical Society of the
Edinburgh University.
After spending about six years Ray
returned to India in 1888. His aim was to
pursue his researches in Chemistry and share
his knowledge with others, to be in a
Chemistry class or a laboratory. But in those
days Indian science was at its infancy. In
Chemistry there was not much career
prospects. Moreover it was extremely difficult
for an Indian to secure a berth in the
Educational Service. The situation was aptly
described by Ray himself. Ray in his
autobiography wrote: “Chemistry was
obtaining slow recognition as an important
branch of study in our colleges; but the
Presidency College was the only institution
where systematic courses of lectures
illustrated with experiments were given.
Private colleges were few in number and their
resources being limited could not afford to
open Science Departments. Students from
these colleges were, however, allowed to
attend the lectures at the Presidency College
on payment of nominal fees. The Indian
Association for the Cultivation of Science,
founded by Dr. Mahendralal Sircar in 1876,
also made arrangements for courses of lecture
in Chemistry and Physics and as these were
open to public, Dr. Sircar, I believe, made a
representation to the Government requesting
it to discontinue allowing students from
private colleges to attend lectures at the
Presidency College as otherwise the Science
Association lecture benches could be more or
less empty. This is no reflection on the Science
Association but rather on the mentality of the
average Indian youth; unless a subject is
prescribed for examination no one would care
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to have anything to do with it. The
Government also would have compelled to
adopt this course on its own initiative as
admissions where getting larger year after
year and B. Course (Ccience) growing to be
popular. In the eighties of the last century
Chemistry had made gigantic strides and it
was realized that the mere delivery of
elementary courses of lecture would not be
adequate to cope with the requirements and
that special arrangements must be made for
practical and laboratory teaching. Peddler had
on these grounds written to the Director of
Public Instruction to move the Bengal
Government for the sanction of an additional
Professor. It was at this psychological moment
that I returned from Edinburgh as an applicant
for a post.”
Whatever opportunities were available in
the educational institutions were mostly for
Britishers. The existing situation was
described by Ray in the following words:
“Indians of approved merit and sometimes
aristocratic ‘noodles’, were drafted into the
Civil Service who would draw two-thirds the
pay of the grade. The competitive examination
in England was to be thrown open only to
Britons (including ofcourse the Irish). These
regulations also permeated the Educational
Service. Jagadis Chandra Bose, who had
returned home three years before me, after a
brilliant career at Cambridge and London, and
who had to encounter untold hardships in
entering the Higher Service in the land of his
birth, was only allowed to cross its threshold
on condition that he should waive his claim
to the full pay of the grade and draw on the
two-thirds scale. It was only in rare cases that
the children of the soil were admitted to the
Higher Services, which made darkness more
visible. As a rule Indians of even approved
merit could only enter the subordinate branch
of the service. Agitation in India as also in the
British Parliament by friends of India against
the virtual exclusion of Indians could no longer
be ignored. The government of Lord Dufferin
under instructions from the Secretary of State
appointed the “Public Service Commission”
with a view to devise means for finding
extended employments for Indians. The
recommendations of the Commission were of
the nature of a compromise; whatever might
be done to satisfy he aspirations of the
Indians, every care must be taken to safeguard
the interests and privileges of the dominant
race. Two distinct services were created—one
the Imperial and the other the Provincial. The
former was meant to be reserved for Britishers
and the latter for the Indians; in the former
again the average emoluments worked out to
nearly double that of the latter.”
Under the circumstances described above
Ray could not think of a bright prospect. From
England he had brought a letter of
recommendation from his teacher Crum
Brown. He had also obtained assurance of
assistance from Sir Charles Bernard, Member,
Indian Council, in securing a position. Sir
Bernard also introduced Ray to B.H. Tawney,
the Principal of Presidency College, the
premier college of Kolkata, who was on leave
in London. Tawney, who happened to be a
relation of Sir Bernard, wrote to Sir Alfred
Croft, the Director of Public Instruction,
recommending the case of Ray. Tawney wrote:
“I am sure Dr. Ray would prove a valuable
acquisition to the Department if he could be
taken in.” After coming to Kolkata Ray met
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Alfred Croft, Tawney and Sir Alexander Pedler,
the then Professor of Chemistry in the
Presidency College. He also tried to get an
audience with the then Governor of Bengal,
Sir Stewart Bayley. Finally he was given a
temporary appointment as Assistant Professor
of Chemistry at the Presidency College on a
monthly salary of Rs. 250/- under the
Provincial Educational Service. Unlike his
friend Jagadis Chandra Bose, Ray accepted
the appointment and took up his duties at the
Presidency College in July 1889.
So for about a year that is from August
1888 to June 1889 Ray was without any
occupation. To know how he spent the time
we quote Ray: “During this period I was mostly
under the hospitable roof of Dr. and Mrs.
Jagadis Chandra Bose and I spent the time in
reading chemical literature and in botanising.
I collected and identified several specimens
of plants round about Calcutta with the aid
of Roxburgh’s Flora Indica and Hokker’s
Genera Plantarum.” Ray retired from the
Presidency College in 1916 as Professor and
Head of the Department of Chemistry.
After retiring from the Presidency College
Ray joined the University College of Science.
As early as in 1912 Asutosh Mookerjee had
invited Ray to join the University College of
Science as the first University Professor. In
his invitation letter, Mookerjee wrote: “It may
be in your recollection that on the 24th
February last, when the question of the
establishment of University Professorships
was before the Senate you expressed your
regret that no provision was made for a Chair
of Science. I assured you, on the spur of the
moment, that a Chair of Science might come
sooner than you expected. You will be pleased
to hear that my prophecy has been literary
fulfilled and that what was your ambition and
my ambition has been realized. We have
founded two Professorships, one of
Chemistry, the other of Physics. We have also
decided to establish—at once a University
Research Laboratory. All this we are able to
do by reason of the munificence of Mr. Palit,
supplemented by a grant of two and a half
lacs from our Reserve Fund. The whole
position is explained in the statement I made
before the Senate last Saturday; a copy is
enclosed herewith. I have now great pleasure
in inviting you to be the first University
Professor of Chemistry, and I feel confident
that you will accept my offer. I need hardly
add that I shall arrange matters in such a way
that you be not a loser from a pecuniary point
of view. As soon as you return, we shall, with
your assistance, prepare plans for the
proposed laboratory and begin to build as early
and as quickly as practicable. It would be an
Ray was a staunch patriot. In many ways he was connected with themovement for India's independence. Being a Government servant hecould not directly participate in politics. He subscribed whole-heartedlyto the policy of constructive work formulated by the Indian NationalCongress during the Non-cooperation Movement. He was in regularcontact with the top leaders of the Indian National Congress, whichwas spearheading the freedom struggle
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advantage, if before your return, you could
make time to see some of the best
laboratories in Great Britain or on the
Continent.” Ray received the letter in England,
where he had gone as delegate of the Calcutta
University to the Congress of the Universities
of the British Empire and also to the 250th
anniversary of the Royal Society. In response
to Asutosh Mookerjee’s letter Ray wrote to
the following effect: “I look upon the proposed
College of Science as the realization of the
dream of my life and it will not only be my
duty but a source of gratification to me to
join it and place my humble service at its
disposal.”
In 1936 Ray retired from his service in the
University College of Science but he
continued as Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
till his death.
Ray was a staunch patriot. In many ways
he was connected with the movement for
India’s independence. Being a Government
servant he could not directly participate in
politics. He subscribed whole-heartedly to the
policy of constructive work formulated by the
Indian National Congress during the Non-
cooperation Movement. He was in regular
contact with the top leaders of the Indian
National Congress, which was spearheading
the freedom struggle. It was Ray who took
initiative to bring Mahatma Gandhi for the
first time to Kolkata. Here we quote Ray on
his association with Gopal Krishna Gokhale
and Mahatma Gandhi. Ray wrote: “Sometimes
in 1901 Gopal Kirshna Gokhale came to
Calcutta to attend the session of the viceregal
council. One fine morning Dr. Nilratan Sarkar
called on me and asked me to be at once ready
to accompany him to the Howrah station to
receive the eminent statesman. Gokhale used
now and then to see me in my little retreat at
premises No. 91, Upper Circular Road in which
was also located the office and factory of the
Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works
then in its infancy. He took particular delight
in calling me a “scientific recluse.”…Gokhale
was several years junior to me in age and I
naturally in accordance with oriental ideas
used to take liberties with him.” Ray’s
patriotism reflected in his saying: “Science can
wait but Swaraj cannot.”
On his association with Mahatma Gandhi
Ray wrote: “I was thus in a manner responsible
for Mr. Gandhi’s first appearance on a Calcutta
platform…The frequent conversations which
I used to have with Mr. Gandhi made a deep
and lasting impression on me. He was earning
as a barrister several thousand rupees a month
but he was utterly regardless of worldliness
— ’I always make it a point to travel third class
in my railway journeys, so that I might be in
close personal touch with the masses—my
own countrymen—and get to know their
sorrows and sufferings.’ “Even after the lapse
Ray conducted systematic chemical analysis of a number of rare Indianminerals with the object of discovering in them some of the missingelements in Mendeleev's Periodic Table. In this process he isolatedmercurous nitrite in 1896, which brought him international recognition,as it was a compound, which as not known then.
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of thirty years, these words still ring in my
years. Truth lived is a far greater force than
truth merely spoken” Ray published about 120
research papers mostly in research journals
of international repute. Ray conducted
systematic chemical analysis of a number of
rare Indian minerals with the object of
discovering in them some of the missing
elements in Mendeleev’s Periodic Table. In this
process he isolated mercurous nitrite in 1896,
which brought him international recognition,
as it was a compound, which as not known
then. Describing this event Ray wrote in his
autobiography : “the discovery of mercurous
nitrite opened a new chapter in my life.” The
discovery of mercurous nitrite was an
accidental one. Ray wanted to prepare water
soluble mercurous nitrate as an intermediate
for the synthesis of calomel, Hg2Cl2. Ray first
published his findings in the Journal of Asiatic
Society of Bengal and which immediately
noticed by Nature, the famous international
science journal. This discovery of mercurous
nitrite led to many significant publications.
Another notable contribution made by Ray
was the synthesis of ammonium nitrite in pure
form. Before Ray’s synthesis it used to be
believed that ammonium nitrite (NH4NO2)
undergoes fast thermal decomposition
yielding nitrogen (N2) and water (H2O). Ray
presented his findings in a meeting of the
Chemical Society of London. William Ramsay
was greatly impressed by Ray’s findings.
Commenting on Ray’s scientific achievements
Professor W.E. Armstrong wrote: “In type of
Sir Prafulla Ray is perhaps more like a
Frenchman than an Englishman in his
receptive habit of mind : the nearest
comparison I can make is to contrast him with
Berthelot, not only a many-sided chemist but
also an agronomist, man of letters and
politician. Let me say frankly, Ray is not great
as a chemical specialist nor was Berthelot: he
has been occupied in too many directions, too
much kept aloof from the field of chemical
discovery and its masters, to have lost himself
in the contemplation of the maze of chemical
experience to the extent necessary to be
entirely overcome by the magic and immunity
of its problems. None the less, he is the
founder of the Indian chemical school.” Similar
sentiments, were voiced by Priyadaranjan Ray:
“one must not, however, lose sight of the
important fact that Ray’s real contribution to
the development of chemical research in India
rests not so much on his own personal
research publication as on his inspiring and
initiating a generation of young workers, who,
dedicating themselves to a scientific career
succeeded in building up what is now known
as the Indian School of Chemistry.”
The first volume of Ray’s celebrated work,
The History of Hindu Chemistry, was
published in 1902. The second volume was
published in 1908. It was Marcellin Pierre
Eugene Berthelot (1827-1907), who inspired
Ray to undertake this monumental work. In
the preface to the first edition Ray wrote:” …I
was brought into communication with M.
Berthelot some five years ago – a
circumstance which has proved to be a turning
point, if I may so say, in my career as a student
of the history of Chemistry. The illustrious
French savant, the Doyen of the chemical
world, who has done more than any other
persons to clear up the sources and trace the
progress of chemical science in the West,
expressed a strong desire to know all about
the contribution of the Hindus, even went the
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length of making a personal appeal to me to
help him with information on the subject. In
response to his sacred call I submitted to him,
in 1898, a short monograph on Indian
alchemy; it was based chiefly on Rasendra
Samgraha, a work which I have since then
found to be a minor importance and not
calculated to throw much light on the vexed
question as to the origin of the Hindu
Chemistry. M. Berthelot not only did me the
honour of reviewing it at length but very kindly
presented me with a complete set of his
monumental work, in three volumes, on the
Chemistry of the Middle Ages, dealing chiefly
with the Arabian and Syrian contributions on
the subject, the very existence of which I was
not till then aware of. On perusing the
contents of these works I was filled with the
ambition of supplementing them with one on
Hindu chemistry.” Ray’s Hindu Chemistry was
immediately recognized as a unique
contribution in annals of history of science.
Berthelot himself wrote a 15-page review in
Journal des Savant in its issue of January 1903.
Renowned international journals like Nature
and Knowledge wrote very highly of the book.
In 1912 the Vice Chancellor of Durham
University, while conferring the Honorary
D.Sc. degree on Prafulla Chandra Ray, noted:
“…his fame chiefly rests on his monumental
History of Hindu Chemistry, a work of which
both the scientific and linguistic attainments
are equally remarkable, and of which, if on
any book, we may pronounce that it is
definitive.”
Ray started his Bengal Chemical and
Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. (or Bengal
Chemical as it is popularly known) in 1892
with a view, that it would create jobs for the
unemployed youth. To establish it, he had to
work under the most adverse circumstances.
But he worked hard. To quote him: “Every
afternoon on returning from the college (4:30
pm) I used to go through the previous day’s
orders to see that they were executed
promptly. The migration from my college
laboratory to the pharmacy laboratory was to
me a recreation and a change of occupation. I
would at once throw myself into my new ̀ job’
and work at a stretch from 4:30 pm to 7 pm
and clear the file. When work is coupled with
a keen sense of enjoyment it does not tell
upon your health; the very idea of locally
manufacturing pharmaceutical preparation,
which hitherto had to be imported, acted like
a tonic.”
Sir John Cumming in Review of the
Industrial Position and Prospects in Bengal in
1908 observed: “The Bengal Chemical and
Pharmaceutical Works Ltd., is one of the most
go-ahead young enterprises in Bengal. Dr.
Prafulla Chandra Ray, D.Sc., FCS., started it
as a small private concern in Upper Circular
In 1912 the Vice Chancellor of Durham University, while conferring theHonorary D.Sc. degree on Prafulla Chandra Ray, noted: “…his famechiefly rests on his monumental History of Hindu Chemistry, a work ofwhich both the scientific and linguistic attainments are equallyremarkable, and of which, if on any book, we may pronounce that it isdefinitive.”
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Road about 15 years ago and made drugs from
indigenous materials. About six years ago it
was made into a limited liability company,
with a capital of two lakhs. Many of the
leading chemists are share-holders. It has now
a well-thought out and well-managed factory
with about 70 workmen, at 90 Maniktala Main
Road. Babu Rajshekhar Bose, the Manager, is
an M.A. in Chemistry. The variety of
manufacturers of laboratory apparatus, which
requires skilled craftsmen in wood and metal,
has been taken up. The latest development is
in perfumes. The enterprise shows signs of
resourcefulness and business capacity, which
should be an object lesson to capitalists of
this province.”
Ray had great fascination for rural life and
he had a deep concern for the people living in
rural areas. He used to frequently visit the
houses of poor peasants and took interest in
their agricultural pursuits. He wrote:
“Although I instinctively avoided the society
of those who used to frequent my father’s
drawing room, I threw off reserve when in the
company of unsophisticated rural folk. I often
would visit them in their thatched homes. In
those days there were scarcely any grocer’s
shops in the village, Sago, arrow-root, and
sugar candy which have so largely entered into
the dietary of the sick could not be had for
love or money and I always took particular
pleasure in distributing these and laying my
mother’s stores under heavy contribution, but
she gladly used to second me in my
ministration.” Ray is remembered for his part
in the Bengal famine of 1922. A correspondent
for Mancnester Guardian wrote: “In these
circumstances, a professor of chemistry, Sir
P.C. Ray, stepped forward and called upon his
countrymen to make good the Government’s
omission. His call was answered with
enthusiasm. The public of Bengal, in one
month gave three lakhs of rupees, rich women
giving their silk and ornaments and the poor
giving their garments. Hundreds of young men
volunteered to go down and carry out the
distribution of relief to the villages, a task
which involved a considerable amount of hard
work and bodily discomfort in a malarious
country. The enthusiasms of the response to
Shri P.C. Ray’s appeal was due partly to the
Bengal’s natural desire to scare off the foreign
Government, partly to genuine sympathy for
the sufferers, but very largely to Sir P C. Ray’s
remarkable personality and position. He is a
real organizer and a real teacher. I heard a
European saying: ̀ If Mr. Gandhi had been able
to create two more Sir P.C. Ray, he would have
succeeded in getting Swaraj within this year.”
Ray wrote extensively on a variety of
subjects both in English and Bengali. He wrote
a book on Zoology titled Simple Zoology in
1893. For writing this book he not only studied
many authoritative books on Zoology but also
visited museums and zoos. It has been
reported that he even went to the extent of
dissecting a few carcasses with the help of
Nilratan Sarkar, the famous physician. Ray
wrote a series of scholarly articles on
Shakespeare in Calcutta Review during 1939-
41. Ray frequently contributed article in many
Bengali periodicals like Basumati,
Bharatbarsha, Bangabani, Banglarbani,
Prabashi, Anandabazar Patrika, Manashi etc.
Ray gave away most of his earnings in
charity. According to one estimate Ray spent
nine-tenths of his income on charity. In 1922
he made an endowment of Rs.10,000 for an
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annual prize in chemistry, named after the
great Indian alchemist Nagarjuna. He also
made an endowment of Rs.10,000 in 1936
for a research prize in Zoology and Botany
named after Asutosh Mookerjee. He
supported many poor students. At the time
of his retirement Ray donated Rs.180,000 to
the Calcutta University for the extension and
development of the Chemistry Department.
He did not accept any salary from Bengal
Chemicals, which he donated for the welfare
of the workers. Ray died on June 16, 1942 in
his living room in the University College of
Science of the Calcutta University surrounded
by his students (whom he loved most), friends
and admirers. Ray’s philosophy of life was
beautifully summed up by Professor F.G.
Donnan of the University College of Science,
London on the occasion of Ray’s 70th
birthday. Donnan wrote: “Sir P. C. Ray,
however, has been throughout his life no
narrow laboratory specialist…His ideals have
always been hard work and practical good in
service of his country. Though devoted to the
cause of pure science, he has never been
unpractical dreamer in the clouds. But he has
never asked much for himself, living always a
life of Spartan simplicity and frugality—Saint
Francis of Indian Science. I hope that future
ages will cherish his name as one band of self-
denying and devoted men who received and
handed on the flame that once burnt so
brightly in India, the search for truth and
hidden mysteries of things.”
For Further Reading
1. Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist (Vol. 1 &
2) by P.C. Ray, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, 1996
(first published in 1932)
2. Prafulla Chandra Ray by P. Ray in Biographical
Memoirs of Fellows of the National Institute of
Sciences of India (Vol.1), New Delhi, 1966.
3. P.C. Ray by J. Sen Gupta, National Book Trust, India,
New Delhi, 1972.
4. A History of Hindu Chemistry (Vol. 1 & 2) by P.C.
Ray, Kolkata (The first volume was published in 1902
and the second volume in 1909. A new revised edition
was published by Priyadaranjan Ray in 1956)
5. Acharya Ray 70th Birthday Commemoration Volume,
Calcutta Orient Press, Kolkata, 1932.
6. Acharya Prafulla Chnadra Ray : Birth Centenary
Souvenir volume, Calcutta University, 1962.
7. Acharya Prafulla Chandra at the College of Science,
by Gurunath Mukherjee, Resonance, January 2001.
8. Chemical Research of Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray by
Sreebrata Goswami and Samaresh Bhattacharya,
Resonance, January 2001.
9. Prafulla Chandra Ray by Animesh Chakravorty,
Resonance, January 2001.
Dr. Subodh Mahanti
Vigyan PrasarC-24, Qutab Institutional Area
NEW DELHI – 110 016 E Mail: [email protected]
: "Sir P. C. Ray, however, has been throughout his life no narrow laboratoryspecialist…His ideals have always been hard work and practical goodin service of his country. Though devoted to the cause of pure science,he has never been unpractical dreamer in the clouds. But he has neverasked much for himself, living always a life of Spartan simplicity andfrugality-Saint Francis of Indian Science
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It was again anengineer-cum-administrator Sir M.Visweswarayya whohad worked out the firstever development planfor the country aselaborated in hiscelebrated book on"Planned Economy forIndia" published in1934.
ON SOMECRUCIAL S&TISSUES INCONTEMPORARYINDIA :SomeThoughts
Dr. A.D. Damodaran
PA
RT
XV
Give me the courage to change the things
I can, and the things I can’t; and the
wisdom to know the difference”. So said a
great philosopher as an abundant caution.
Another great one of the same tribe said, “The
philosophers have only interpreted the world,
the question is how to change it”. In essence,
conscious social-cum-national development
means ultimately the adoption and
implementation of a policy framework to bring
about changes within a carefully orchestrated
strategy, in turn resting on adequate
understanding of ground realities and
challenges.
Our history is also fortunately enough
replete with descriptions of the early urges of
our leaders and statesmen championing the
cause of national development based on
modern science and technology. Totally
inspired by the German scenario, the veteran
industrialist JN Tata identified steel, electric
power and what he called Industrial Science
as three pillars of modern techno-economic
development; and accordingly he established
the steel plant at Jhamshedpur, hydroelectric
power station at Kapolei near Bombay and a
dedicated trust with the then government of
India for an advanced research centre for
industrial science which eventually developed
to what is now Indian Institute of Science in
Bangalore. It was again an engineer-cum-
administrator Sir M. Visweswarayya who had
worked out the first ever development plan
for the country as elaborated in his celebrated
book on “Planned Economy for India”
published in 1934. An elder statesman, a
distinguished administrator and a highly rated
engineer by profession, Visweswarayya had
formulated his plan resting on the following
basic premises: (a) Tremendously impressed
by the results of the Fist Five Year Plan in
Soviet Union - he called it ‘the first plan’ in
the world which was ‘developed openly and
put into execution on a nation-wide basis’ and
‘embracing every phase of national life –
political, economic,
social and cultural’
(b) ‘The Indian plan
should avoid
c o m m u n i s t i c
tendencies; its
basic policy should
be to encourage
c o l l e c t i v e
effort…more or less
on the lines
followed in the
United States and
in Turkey’. He put it
explicitly thus, “It is
safe for this
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country to proceed along the lines practiced
in such capitalist countries as France and the
United States. We have yet to build up some
measure of moderate industrial prosperity, and
for the present, capitalism is best suited for
that purpose. Only the monopolies incidental
to capitalism should be minimized; and
wherever they are inevitable, a watch should
be maintained and special modifications made
by legal enactments and otherwise, in the
direction of service to the public”, (c) All the
heavy industries and all other industrial,
agricultural or other projects are to be in private
sector, with the role of the state more or less
confined to coordination as well as giving of
subsidies, and (d) He approvingly quoted Stalin
for making ‘the main link of the FYP as heavy
industry and its core, machine construction
because only heavy industry was capable of
reconstructing industry as a whole, and transport
and agriculture, and of putting them on their
feet. Unless we have industry, unless we restore
it, we cannot build up any industry, and without
it we shall perish as an independent country’.
He accepted that the approach of Stalin and
Lenin was relevant and applicable to India as
well. His ‘picture of a reconstructed India’ was
one ‘which will have been industrialized in the
sense that the USA, Canada, Japan and Soviet
Russia are today’. In working out such a strategy,
he had surveyed what he considered to be
‘important developments’ taking place in
capitalist countries including United States
where ‘a new kind of state socialism’ is being
tried on a gigantic scale under Mr Roosevelt’s
National Recovery Act, providing for higher
wages and shorter working hours to dethrone
the unrestricted individual entrepreneur and to
make the group the country’s economic and
social audit.
When Jawaharlal Nehru had taken over as
Chairman of Congress Planning Committee
in late 1930s, the said plan plus many more
ideas worked out by a Bombay group of
industrialists were already before him. Due to
other political exigencies of the time, Nehru
could not complete his task though much of
the prevailing views got incorporated
subsequently into the well known Tata-Birla
Plan. In essence, the then political leaders
headed by Jawaharlal Nehru had at the time
of independence itself in front of them a
possible development plan, quite unlike many
other newly emerging countries in the world.
It was realized that India did not possess
either capital goods or technical know-how;
it needed both these from advanced countries
abroad.
Since atomic energy was identified to be
totally under the state sector due to unique
techno-political nature, its known specialist
leaders were asked to work out a strategy best
suited for developing the sector. This was the
national political milieu under which Homi
Bhabha could formulate his “Growing Science”
model as a follow up of his pioneering efforts
in establishing the Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research with support from Sir
Dorabji Tata Trust, having been convinced and
motivated since 1944 that “when nuclear
energy has been successfully applied for
power production in say a couple of decades
from now, India will not have to look abroad
for its experts but will find them at home”.
Through this column earlier it was
highlighted that “It is within such a context
that one is tempted to attempt a revisit of
the “Growing Science” model formulated by
Homi Bhabha, the great scientist-engineer for
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India’s Atomic Energy Program and who
championed it for the nation itself. The
essence of the Growing Science model (Ref:
“Problems of Science Development”
International Council of Scientific Unions,
Bombay, January, 1966) and the strategy
worked out by Bhabha for nuclear technology
under the “growing science” approach had
the following major elements: (a) Evaluation
of the technology gap in the field between
India and advanced countries in all aspects,
including the nature of Intellectual Property
Rights related to it, (The nuclear reactor was
patented in 1945 itself by Fermi and Szilard
in an extensive US patent!), (b) Importation
of appropriate technology wherever feasible
without any pre-conditions and thereby
utilizing the opportunity to get a quick “
assisted take-off”, (c) Systematic
development of the appropriate indigenous
S&T infrastructure to assimilate the “ know-
how and know-why “ of designs, equipments
and systems, and (d) Providing adequate legal/
administrative policy umbrella support for
implementing the indigenous development
program, including support measures to
overcome issues connected with Intellectual
Property Rights. Suffice here to say that the
Indian Atomic Energy Act 1962 had
incorporated all the essential requirements for
implementing the DAE program as envisaged.
Thanks to such a farsighted strategy, DAE was
able to execute its task with great success,
in spite of many a major set-backs not unusual
in assimilating such an ‘unforgiving
technology’. This was despite the most
rigorous international non-trade barriers –
such as embargoes of large number of items
including those belonging to the so-called
‘dual use’ category from the advanced
countries – due to which its programs had to
suffer for over a decade through delay in
achieving the projected targets delay.
It is in this context that we reproduce here
the relevant extracts from Nuclear India, Nov-
Dec 2008, brought out by DAE as a tribute to
late Homi Bhabha and Jawaharlal Nehru
described therein as “The Architects of Atomic
Energy Program in India”. The early history and
the subsequent formation of the full fledged
AEC/DAE, an independent Department in any
field of science and technology for the first
time in India, has been made public recently
through a series of letters exchanged between
Nehru and Bhabha as early as between April
26, 1948 and January 9, 1962 as part of the
Bhabha Birth Centenary Celebration
documents. Salient features of the same are
given as below:
(a) It is ‘reasonable to believe that within
the next couple of decades atomic energy
would play an important part in the economy
and the industry of countries and that, if India
did not wish to fall even further behind the
industrially advanced countries of the world,
it would be necessary to take more energetic
measures to develop this branch of science
and appropriate larger sums for the purpose.
(b) An immediate objective should be the
setting up of a small atomic pile…The quickest
and most desirable way of developing atomic
energy in India would be to come to an
agreement with the governments or atomic
energy agencies of one or more countries such
as UK, France …on mutually advantageous
terms involving the exchange of raw materials
used (since India has so far not been able to
locate any large reserves of uranium
resources) in the generation of atomic energy
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and the pooling of scientific and technical
information.
(c) Absolute secrecy will have to be
observed and ensured with respect to any
secret information given to us by a foreign
atomic energy agency. This requires that the
development of atomic energy should be
entrusted to a very small and high-powered
body... with executive power and answerable
directly to the Prime Minister without any
intervening link. For brevity, this body may be
referred to as the Atomic Energy Commission.
The present Board of Research on Atomic
Energy cannot be entrusted with this work
since it is an advisory body which reports to
the Governing Body of the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research, composed
of 28 members including officials, scientists
and industrialists. Secret matters cannot be
dealt with under such bodies.
(d) The same reason requires that Atomic
Energy Commission have its own secretariat
independent of the secretariat of any other
Ministry or Department of the government,
including the envisaged Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research.
(e) A sum of Rs 50 lakhs will be required
…to build a small pile while an additional equal
amount for purchase of raw materials like
uranium, heavy water, etc., the total sum
being apportioned within four years.
(f) Vide his letter dated July 11,1954,
Bhabha submits details of his Work Plan itself
to the Prime Minister. This includes setting
up of an AEET as the premier R&D Centre at
Trombay, systematic survey for atomic
minerals especially uranium, beneficiation of
the low grade ores to workable concentrates
and then going all the way to production of
nuclear pure Uranium metal, plants for heavy
water, setting up of power reactors through
import, plutonium extraction plant, setting up
of production plants for other nuclear
materials like zirconium, titanium, beryllium,
etc and, last but not the least “to train and
develop the necessary scientific and technical
staff”.
And so on. It is now part of history that on
August 3, 1954, a separate Department of
Atomic Energy was created in the direct
charge of the Prime Minister. In order to
ensure complete autonomy for the
Department in matters of staff, construction,
supplies, and finance, the Department was
vested with powers (i) to make its own
appointments without reference to the Union
Public Service Commission, (ii) to carry out
all civil engineering work through its own
Division without reference to CPWD and (iii)
to make its own purchases of materials,
equipments and supplies without reference
to the DGSD. Atomic Energy Commission
itself was enlarged and reconstituted in 1958
as the true apex body, with Chairman, AEC
concurrently also Secretary, Department of
Atomic Energy. Thanks to the great far sight,
administrative prowess and the willingness to
change structures to meet the new
requirements, the Nehru-Bhabha duo
implemented for the first time a new model
for S&T governance.
All the same time, it must be remembered
that Prime Mister Nehru was equally clear as
to who held the upper hand on policy matters!
In a letter dated July 29, 1956, Nehru
amplified clarified the matter as follows: “I
have not seen your note about the
composition of the Indian delegation to the
International Conference to consider the draft
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statute of the International Atomic Energy
Agency. I shall await that. Meanwhile, the
question that arises is as to how far this
Conference will consider political questions
or purely technical and scientific ones. I find
that some of the other major countries are
sending non-technical people as leaders of
their delegations. It would probably be
advisable for you and your scientific
colleagues not to get mixed up too much with
the political aspects”. It was well known that
India under Nehru was championing for a
democratic structure for IAEA reporting to the
US General Council whereas the Big Powers
saw to it that IAEA would report only to the
Security Council instead! No wonder that over
the decades IAEA had transformed itself more
as a nuclear policing body rather than as its
originally cherished aim of serving as a
technological platform for spreading the
Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy!
Under the Nehru-Bhabha leadership, the
AEC/DAE structure was ready for a fast take-
off by mid-1950s itself. The short and long
term strategies were worked out, so also the
detailed break-up into concrete elements.
Based on a generous offer from the United
Kingdom to provide the required enriched
uranium fuel elements, DAE commissioned its
first swimming pool research reactor Purnima
at Trombay in August 4,1954. This was
followed by the 40MWt CIRUS reactor with
Canadian assistance by July 10,1960 and so
on for advanced studies and research. The
Trombay Research Establishment became the
research centre for all nuclear research
activities, including the first ever S&T HRD
effort through the Training School from
1957itself.So also the facilities for producing
uranium metal, reactor fuels, reprocessing,
and so on in quick succession based on
indigenous efforts complemented through
friendly foreign supports wherever possible
under terms ‘favorable to our country’. By the
mid-1960s, permission were obtained to go
for setting up a 400MWe atomic power
station based on US technology at Tarapur and
another one of equal capacity at Rajasthan
based on Canadian technology.
To summarize very briefly, the DAE
strategy was based on the brilliant twin
strategy of selective foreign support and
intense efforts on building concurrently the
indigenous capability.
Dr. A.D. DamodaranFormer Director
Regional Research LaboratoryIndustrial Estate P.O.
PappanamcodeThiruvananthapuram – 695 017
E Mail: [email protected]
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SCIENCE OF THE MONTH
JUNE 2010N.S. Arun Kumar
June1: A large number of star-forming areas
in our Milky Way galaxy, previously unknown
to astronomers, have been discovered. These
newfound regions are providing astronomers
with important information about the galaxy’s
structure and are yielding new clues about the
process of galaxy evolution. In a separate
study, the discovery of enormous hydrogen
clouds in portions of the Milky Way will also
help astronomers better understand the
process of galactic evolution.
June 2: The World Science Festival begins at
New York City. Renowned physicist Stephen
W. Hawking will be honored in the function.
The event will last upto June 6. In conjunction
with the opening ceremony, the Kavli
Foundation announced the winners of this
year’s Kavli Prizes, which honor researchers
in fields that didn’t exist as organized
disciplines when the Nobel Prizes started:
Astrophysics, Neuroscience, and
Nanoscience. The prizes are handed out every
other year, and were first awarded in 2008.
June 3: China’s newly installed Nebulae
supercomputer at National Supercomputing
Centre in Shenzhen (NSCS) in Shenzhen, has
become the world’s second fastest, just
behind Jaguar, the world’s fastest located at
National Centre for Computational Sciences
in United States. Jaguar is used by the US
department of energy for calculation and
simulation in areas like climate modelling,
renewable energy, materials science, fusion ,
and combustion.
June 4: Climate scientists have expressed
surprise at findings that many low-lying
Pacific islands are growing, not sinking. The
findings, published in the journal Global and
Planetary Change, were gathered by
comparing changes to 27 Pacific islands over
the last 20 to 60 years using historical aerial
photos and satellite images. Auckland
University’s Associate Professor Paul Kench,
a member of the team of scientists, says the
results challenge the view that Pacific islands
are sinking due to rising sea levels associated
with climate change.
June 5: India’s first home made swine flu
vaccine was launched by Health Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday. It will hit the
markets on today. Named Vaxiflu-S, it has
been manufactured by pharmaceutical major
Cadila Healthcare and is an egg-based, single
dosed vaccine. It’s priced at Rs 350.Over the
next few months, another three drug
companies will come out with their own
versions of the vaccine. It’s a vaccine that
promises to change the way India will tackle
swine flu.
June 6: Astronomers claim to have found
hints of life on Saturn’s moon Titan which is
much too cold to support even liquid water
on its surface. According to the ‘New
Scientist’, the two potential signatures of life
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on Titan were found by Cassini spacecraft, but
scientists have pointed out that non-
biological chemical reactions could also be
behind the observations. Cassini
measurements also suggest hydrogen is
disappearing near Titan’s surface, according
to a study by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore.
June 7: Scientists taking a genome-wide view
of ancestry have traced the genetic roots of
seven Jewish groups. Each of the Jewish
groups (Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Italian, Turkish,
Greek and Ashkenazi) has its own genetic
signature but is more closely related to the
other Jewish groups than to non-Jewish
groups, the researchers found. The research
was lead by New York University School of
Medicine. The study is published in the online
issue of American Journal of Human Genetics.
June 8: An UFO was seen moving through the
sky just before Saturday’s sunrise by people
across eastern Australia. The people who have
seen the flying object described it as a
“lollipop-type swirl”. It hovered for a while
before gradually moving in an eastern
direction until it was out of sight. Those who
saw it said photos do not reflect how large it
actually was. However scientists say that a
bright spiraling light spotted in the sky was
probably a satellite, space junk or a rocket
(Photo above).
June 9: Impressed by the global popularity of
saffron produced in Jammu and Kashmir,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that a
national mission to promote research and
production of the valuable spice will be set
up in the state. Saffron from the Jammu is
famous world over for its use in enhancing
the taste of food and for its medicinal
properties. He was speaking at the
convocation of Sher-i-Kashmir University of
Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
June 10: The Trappist telescope (TRAnsiting
Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope),
the new robotic telescope designed to study
planets around other stars has taken its first
image. Although based in Chile, the Trappist
telescope is operated by the European
Southern Observatory (ESO) organisation,
which oversees the La Silla facility and the
Very Large Telescope (VLT), which is also in
Chile. As well as detecting and characterizing
so-called exoplanets, Trappist will also study
comets orbiting our Sun.
June 11: The user trials of laser-guided bombs
developed by the Aeronautical Development
Establishment (ADE) were conducted on
Wednesday by Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft
over the Pokhran range in Rajasthan. The ADE
is a unit of the Defence Research and
Development Organization (DRDO). A DRDO
press release said the flight tests had
demonstrated the accuracy, reliability and
performance of these precision air-launched
bombs.
June 12: A perfectly preserved shoe, 1,000
years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in
Egypt, has been found in a cave in Armenia.
The 5,500 year old shoe, the oldest leather
shoe in the world, was discovered by a team
of international archaeologists and their
findings will publish on June 9th in the online
scientific journal PLoS ONE. The oldest known
footwear in the world, to the present time,
are sandals made of plant material, that were
found in a cave in the Arnold Research Cave
in Missouri in the US.
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June 13: A Swiss solar innovator has been
awarded the Millennium Technology prize for
his research into the way that plants turn light
into energy. Professor Michael Gratzel of the
Lausanne Federal Technology Institute
received the £660,000 prize in Helsinki.
Michael Gratzel said India stands to benefit
significantly from a new technology on solar
power as it is cheap, green and efficient. Solar
cells can also provide energy for water
purification. Solar panel is now already capable
of charging your mobile phone, he said.
June 14: A vast mountain range that rivals
the Alps in majesty buried underneath the ice
of Antarctica - is revealed by scientists. They
are buried beneath solid ice more than a mile
(1.6 kilometers) thick, deep within
Antarctica’s eastern interior. The existence of
this mountain range, called the Gamburtsev
Mountains, shocked the Russian scientists
who first discovered it more than 50 years ago.
At the International Polar Year conference in
Oslo, Norway, scientists unveiled new radar
images of the area.
June 15: A capsule thought to contain the first
samples grabbed from the surface of an
asteroid has returned to Earth. The Japanese
Hayabusa container hit the top of the
atmosphere just after 1350 GMT, producing a
bright fireball over southern Australia. The
Hayabusa mission was launched to asteroid
Itokawa in 2003, spending three months at
the space rock in 2005. The main spacecraft,
along with the sample-storage capsule,
should have come back to Earth in 2007, but
a succession of technical problems delayed
their return by three years.
June 16: An international meeting has given
the green light to the formation of a global
“science policy” panel on biodiversity and
ecosystem services, viz., Intergovernmental
Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services (IPBES). More than 230
delegates from 85 nations backed the
proposals at a five-day UN meeting in Busan,
South Korea. The international panel is
expected to be formally endorsed in 2011.
It is expected that the IPBES will be modelled
on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC).
June 17: Australian researchers calculate that
Southern Ocean sperm whales release about
50 tonnes of iron every year. This stimulates
the growth of tiny marine plants -
phytoplankton - which absorb CO2 during
photosynthesis. The process results in the
absorption of about 40,000 tonnes of carbon
- more than twice as much as the whales
release by breathing, the study says. The
researchers note in the Royal Society journal
Proceedings B that the process also provides
more food for the whales, estimated to
number about 12,000.
June 18: The world’s oldest known example
of a fig wasp has been identified from the Isle
of Wight. Dating back 34 million years, the
fossil wasp looks almost identical to the
modern species, suggesting the specialized
insect has remained virtually unchanged for
at least that long. Steve Compton, a fig wasp
expert at the University of Leeds in England
says that molecular evidence shows that fig
wasps and fig trees have been evolving
together for over 60 million years. The
research will be published this week in Biology
Letters.
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June 19
June 20
June 21
June 22
June 21
June 22
June 23
June 24
June 25
June 26
June 27
June 28
June 29
June 30
N.S. Arun KumarCPIi/64, Crescent Apartments
ChelambraMalappuram district – 673 634
E Mail: [email protected]
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A Book For Your Home LibraryProf. V.P.N. Nampoori
With this issue of Science India we introduce a new feature, introducing ascience book, most suitable to add to your home library - Editor
The Strangest Man – The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac,Quantum Genius
By Graham Farmelo, Published by Faber and Faber(Available in Modern Book Centre , Trivandrum, Kerala)
Students and those who love science
should read history of science since it
describes the methodology of the
development and evolution of ideas and
concepts giving birth to theories and birth of
new knowledge leading to the development
of technologies and thereby creating even a
paradigm shift in the lifestyle of the society.
Think of the way cellphones and internets
have transformed the whole world into a
global village. These luxuries of modern life is
due to the works of a handful of men who
struggled a lot during their life in the quest
of knowing the truth or the reality of nature.
In this context, autobiographies and
biographies of scientists are valuable tools in
understanding the science and its
development. Life and works of gifted
individuals are important as the 19th century
philosopher John Stuart Mill puts it (1896) “
The amount of eccentricity in a society has
generally been proportional to the amount of
genius, mental vigour, and moral courage
which it contained. That so few now dare to
be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the
time.”
The Strangest Man is the life story of a
genius in the same legion of Newton and
Einstein. Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, Erwin
Schrodinger and Werner Heisenberg were the
trio who developed the Physics of atoms and
molecules called quantum mechanics during
1920s. Dirac was instrumental in tying knots
between quantum mechanics
(theory describing the behaviour of atoms
and molecules) and theory of relativity (theory
describing the universe and its behaviour)
which gave birth to relativistic quantum
mechanics, which helped in understanding
the universe through the behaviour of
elementary particles like electron, proton and
field particles like photons. Purely with the
help of his insight and mathematical vigour
) " The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally beenproportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour, and moral
courage which it contained. That so few now dare to beeccentric, marks the chief danger of the time."
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Dirac predicted the existence of antiparticles
like positrons (antielectrons) and antiprotons.
This is an unparalleled example in which
beauty of mathematics guided in unveiling the
secret of nature. Positron is now with us in
everyday life through the medical imaging
technology called Positron Emission
Tomography (PET). Dirac shared Nobel Prize
in 1933 with Schrodinger and Heisenberg.
Dirac is the youngest Nobel Prize winner at
the age of 31.
Farmelo’s book “The Strangest Man”
uncovers the unknown side of Dirac not only
as a scientist but as a human being also. On
reading this book one has an experience of
being a cotravellor of quantum mechanics
during its developmental stage. This book is
also a valuable record for social scientists
studying how family shapes the future of
children. Samuel Butler says (1903) “A good
deal of unkindness and selfishness on the part
of parents towards children is not generally
followed by ill consequences to the parents.
They may cast a gloom over their children’s
lives for many years”. This book is of interest
to medical doctors ho will get introduced to
a genius probably suffered with a disorder
called autism. The life and work of Dirac are
always influenced by his painful family
experiences at home during his childhood.
Dirac never liked to remember his father . He
once said to an interviewer “In my life I owe
nothing to my father…”
The book in 31 chapters spread over five
hundred pages descibes Dirac the man and
Dirac the Scientist with an unusual gift of the
author in providing the readers with gists of
scientific theories like antiparticles, string
theory, atomic and nuclear phenomena with
contemporary political scene in the
watermark backdrop. This may influence the
interested readers to go for specialized studies
in the fields. Life of Dirac also reflects on the
life and works of his contemporaries which
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are brought to the readers’ attention without
breaking the continuity in the story telling
mode followed in the book. One will never like
to put the book down till the last sentence is
read – an unusual honor to a book of
biography dealing with Physics and a man of
Physics.
Dirac’s father Charles Dirac migrated from
Geneva to Bristol in UK and was a language
(French) teacher in a local school. In Bristol,
he married Florance Holten and settled in
Bristol for the rest of his life. An ardent lover
of French, Dirac ordered his children (eldest
son Felix, Paul and the daughter Betty) to peak
at home in native French. Weak in language,
Paul opted for not to speak at home and this
led to his trait of character of man of few
words. In conversation it is said that Paul Dirac
spoke one word per minute leading to a unit
of spoken word namely the Dirac unit. Charls
Dirac ill-treated his wife making her suffer to
that extent to get divorced. But for the sake
of the children she gathered her will power
and entangled with a marriage full of misery
and unhappiness. Paul once said that father
used mother just as a door mat. Against his
wish to study medicine, father ordered his
eldest son Felix to study engineering. He did
not have a successful career and committed
suicide at the age of about 30. The tragic
death of his brother further deepened the
agony of Paul. By his father’s interest Paul
also took an engineering degree but migrated
to take up Mathematics and Physics for his
future studies against the wish of his father.
Paul felt much comfort when he joined St
John’s College, Cambridge for his graduation.
Rarely Dirac visited home finding excuses of
all sorts like seminars and assignment works.
Throughout his educational career Paul
Dirac was the number one and at some rare
occasions number two. He was well ahead of
his classmates in Mathematics. His teachers
realized the gifted intelligence of Dirac and
tutored him privately on advanced topics in
Mathematics and Physics. Subjects like
Reimanian geometry and projective geometry
came to Dirac’s help in future when he was
unable to get a clue on some problem in
Physics . For Dirac Mathematics was the
language of Physics.
Unemotional, unattached and non-
sociable Paul Dirac has just one dimensional
track of investigating nature’s secret with the
help of mathematics . Dirac used to say that
God is a mathematician of the highest order.
Mathematical precision reflected in Dirac’s
character as well even in replying to his
fiancee’s letter. Following is an example of a
reply Dirac made to Manci’s letters.
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It is a wonder how their married life was
unbroken for over 50 years till the demise of
Dirac at the age of 84. Manci may be familiar
with Physicists’ curious ways and character
since she herself was the sister of the famous
Physicist Eugene Wigner, who also won Nobel
Prize in Physics. In fact Manci was Dirac’s
complimentary character to build a stable
family.
In 1955, Dirac was in India as a guest of
Homi Bhabha. He gave a public lecture on
quantum mechanics during Indian Science
Congress in Baroda on 5th January . He also
paid a visit to Nehru, the then Prime Minister.
To his question to Dirac about any
recommendation for the betterment of India,
Dirac replied, “A common language, preferably
English. Peace with Pakistan. The metric
system”.
Dirac descrbed Niels Bohr as ‘the Newton
of the Atom and is the deepest thinker that I
ever met’ For Bohr Dirac was ‘probably the
most remarkable scientific mind which has
appeared for a very long time’ and ‘a complete
logical genius’. Bohr further comments ‘ of all
people visited Copenhagen, Dirac was the
strangest man.’
The book is salted and peppered with many
of the Dirac stories emerging due to his verbal
economy, Mathematical precision and other
worldliness. Following are some of the
samples to taste.
In Cambridge Dirac responded to a
comment “It’s bit rainy, isn’t it? “ Dirac walked
to the window and leaned to outside and
came back to answer,”It is not raining now.”
Letter No Questions Answer
1 What makes me (Manci) so sad? You have not enough interests.2 Whom else could I love? You should not expect me to answer this question.
You would say I was cruel if I tried.
3 You know that I would like to see youvery much? Yes, but I cannot help it
4 Do you know how I feel like? Not very well. You change so quickly.
5 Were there any feelings for me? Yes, some.
During a seminar Dirac concluded his talk
asking whether there are any questions. One
professor in the front row said “Professor
Dirac, I do not understand the equation you
wrote on the top right hand corner” Noting
that Dirac is not responding, the chairman
requested Dirac for the answer. Dirac said “it
is not a question, it is only a statement.”
While visiting Niels Bohr in Copenhagen,
Bohr requested Dirac to help him completing
the manuscript of a paper. Dirac agreed. Bohr
will start a sentence and without completing
it he will alter it with different starting point
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of the sentence,.
Dirac said, Professor
Bohr, I was taught in
the school that never
start a sentence
without knowing how
to end it.”
Following is an encounter with Richard
Fynman.
Fynman : I am Fynman.
Dirac : I am Dirac (silence)
Fynman : It must have been wonderful to
be the discoverer of the equation.
Dirac : It was long time ago ( pause)
Dirac : What are you working on?
Fynman : Mesons
Dirac : Are you trying to find an equation
for them?
Fynman : It is very hard
Dirac : (concluding) one must try.
In Copenhagen Bohr took Dirac for an
exhibition of modern paintings. Seeing an
immpressenist painting of a boat with minimal
strike of lines, Dirac commented it as an
unfinished boat. On another picture he
remarked ‘I like that picture because the
degree of inaccuracy is same all over.’
Another interview with a journalist.
Q. Professor I notice you have few letters
in front of your name. Do they stand for
anything in particular?
A. No.
Q. You mean I can write my own ticket?
A. Yes.
Q. Will it be all right if if I say that P A M
stands for Poincare Aloysius Mussolini?
A. Yes.
Q. Fine. Now doctor will you give me a few
lines on your investigations?
A. No
Q. Good. Will it be alright if I put it
“Professor Dirac solves all problems in
Mathematical Physics, but is unable to
figure out Babe Rith’s batting average?
A. Yes.
The Strangest Man is a book which will be
loved by even those who have no knowledge
of quantum mechanics or Physics. To those
who know quantum mechanics, this book is
a treat to know the man in close-up whose
book “Principles of Quantum Mechanics”
published in 1930 is still regarded as the bible
of QM which entered into 4th edition in 1967
and reprinted several times. Freeman Dyson
sums up what made Dirac’s book so great:
“The great papers by other quantum pioneers
were more ragged, less perfectly formed than
Dirac’s. His great discoveries were like
exquisitely carved marble statues falling out
of the sky. One after the another. He seemed
to be able to conjure laws of nature from pure
thought – it was this purity that made him
unique. Dirac’s book is one of these statues
presenting quantum mechanics as a work of
art, finished and polished.. This book was a
constant companion of Einstein. For clearing
his doubts Einstein used to ask “Where is my
Dirac?”
To conclude, The Strangest Man is a
wonderful addition to our home library.
Prof. V.P.N. NampooriInternational School of Photonics
Cochin University of Science and TechnologyCOCHIN - 682 022
E Mail: [email protected]
August 2010
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SCIENCE INDIA QUIZSend the correct answers to Science India office or [email protected] latest by 20th August, 2010. A science bookas prize awaits you. If there are more than one correct entries, thewinner will be selected by draw of lots
- Editor
SCIENCE INDIA QUIZ NO. 10(General Clue: All answers begin with the letter ‘D”)
1. In an electric watch, the component corresponding to pendulum of apendulum clock is a -------
2. A plant cell has the potential to develop into an entire plant. This propertyof the plant cell is known as -------
3. The frequency of a tuning fork can be determined by a -------
4. The solvent used for dry cleaning of clothes
5. The blood which leaves the liver and moves to the heart has a higherconcentration of -------
6. Maximum rate of photosynthesis occurs in ------- light
7. Bird which can fly backwards
8. Chemical name of Phenol
9. The theory of 'Jumping genes' was propounded by -------
10. Karyotaxonomy is the modern branch of classification which is basedon ------
Answers to Quiz No. 7
1. Piezo-electric, 2. Copper, Zinc and Iodine, 3. Adrenal gland, 4.Carotenoids, 5. Ohm, 6. Tin, 7. Adrenaline, 8. Green, 9. Oology, 10. Tin
The winner is Kum. Rekha Chandran, Cotton Hill Girls high School,Thiruvananthapuram. CONGRATULATIONS !!!
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MUSIC:The Energy Source?T. V. Sairam
“Above all, do not analyze music, love it!”– Francis Poulenc
Energy depletion leads to fatigue, which
gradually leads to diseases or even death,
if it is not restored through nutrition. While
food and fodder nourishes the body, music
nourishes the mind. Music nourishes through
a regular pattern which when synchronized
with the irregular pattern of our mind gets
nourished and rejuvenated. In order to find
greater energy in our lives, we need to affirm
expansive and positive attitudes looking
beyond our selfish interests and attitudes.
Yogic practices like Pranayama or breath-
control, coupled with the absorption (not plain
hearing or listening) of musical pattern attune
us with the state of reality (super-conscious
state), the Great Whole to which we are all
parts and parcels. It has been found in all
traditions – including yoga and shamanism-
that in order to have more energy, one has to
affirm one’s oneness with its source.
It is also to be realized that energy is not
like the money we hoard. While the hoarded
money in the form of bank deposits may yield
dividends, in the case of energy, it is the
energy which we distribute makes us ‘alive
and kicking’! To love somebody you need more
energy than what you need when you hate. It
is easy to hate anyone on any grounds, but it
is difficult to love and be compassionate.
Therefore, one needs more energy to
recuperate. There is a mistaken notion that
all energies come from eating. It is not true.
Yoga recognizes immense transformation of
energy through kriyas Even yoga aims at
deriving energy from the very source that has
made our existence possible.
Faith and energy go hand in hand. Music
helps us in building faith in us, by re-orienting
our thinking processes from self-oriented to
universe-oriented, which gives us greater
confidence and conviction in ourselves. We
turn out to be people who can transmit lots
of positive energy (happiness) to every one
around us, despite of colour, creed, caste and
what not.
If one has deep faith in what one is doing
(like, for example, creating music), energy is
always highest. The greater one’s faith, the
greater is his will-power. The greater the will-
power, the greater is the energy-flow in him.
As music is the non-verbal affirmation (it can
be made verbal too by lacing it up with
affirming words!), by listening to music
frequently and intermittently, we end up
developing a habit of affirmations. In using
affirmations, we concentrate on positive
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qualities, which not only keep us healthy and
cheerful but also equally make others who
come across in our fold positive and cheerful.
All these need building up of our inner “power
installations”. Music can play the role of an
engineer – excavating our incongruities,
erecting faith, drilling away the negativities
and cementing the bonds of love and
fraternity, which ensure sustained flow of
energy – not only for us but also to all who
are our fellow-travellers.
Trance and ‘Musical Silence’
Silence which is interspersed in music can
be equated with our trance experience. Nada
yoga considers such a stage as anahata or the
“unstruck-sound” stage. It is a state of
consciousness, generally involving reduced
awareness of surroundings and external
events. Because trance is as natural as
sleeping and waking there is no danger in it.
We can not get “lost” or “stuck” while in
trance.
The Pro-trance Sounds
Sounds which help us reaching this
relaxing state of trance are in the nature of
love and compassion. Simple tones emanating
from the ripples of sounds called harmonics
in low decibels can enhance relaxation.
Basically they should be soothing tones or
proto-ragas, which do not invite our minds to
participate in the process of listening. For,
once mind enters, the relaxation would be
gone! It will even start questioning the quality
and origin of the loving tones in its own kinky
way! Therefore, in selecting relaxing tones or
proto-ragas, we should ensure that our mind
is s not incited. Rather mind should be curbed
by repeating monotones so that it is made
not to question anything and accept
everything as they come! The Pro-trance
sounds are necessarily to be simple but
mysterious – as the sounds emanating from
the Tibetan singing bowls or ek taras. The
ancient Indians have found that primitive
instruments such as conch-shells, damaru
etc. can produce similar effects in sweeping
our consiousness from alert-levels to relaxed
levels.
The Anti-Trance Sounds
Not-so-gentle bleeps, clips, and blips than
you can shake a stick at – in short, a noisy
concoction of sounds of changing decibels
with irregular beats can disturb the trance. In
the legendary stories of Ramayana,
Kumbhakarna who was known to his deep
sleep used to be woken up with relentless
drum programming and weirdo synth tones.
Our experience with the workshops
conducted at Lebenshilfe, an organization
devoted to 457 mentally retarded children at
Visakhapatnam (India) reveals that such
sound emanations help the severely retarded
children – at least temporarily- to wake up
from their deep slumber or inactivity.
For further reading:
Sairam, T.V. (2005) - ‘Transformation of the Sound” TheEternal Solutions December issue. 112.
Sairam, T.V. (2005) - “Raga Therapy- A New Horizon inthe Treatment of the Mentally Challenged” MyDoctor June issue. 31.
Sairam, T.V. (2005) - “Proto-ragas: A Boon for theMentallly-Challenged People” Ayurveda and All
August Issue. 35.
T.V. Sairam…..…..…..
E Mail: [email protected]
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The substantial variations in the earth’s
climate both globally and regionally and
its range from years to millennia may be called
as climatic change. Numerous types of
evidences including instrumental and historic
records and palaeo-climatic data are used to
infer past climates. Climatic change results
in fluctuations and changes in climate both
spatially and temporally due to changes in
solar radiation, atmospheric circulation,
sunspots, human activity etc.
During the last century, numerous theories
relating to climatic change have been
advanced. Sunspot cycle and quality of solar
radiation have often been cited as possible
causes of climatic change. The second theory
of climatic change is the astronomical theory
which denotes angle of ecliptic changes in the
earth’s orbit. The third point of view is volcanic
activity over the past years. The rise in
temperature is due to changes in the Sun’s
energy out put and changes in the earth’s
magnetic field have strong influence on
climatic change. Scientists have agreed that
climate change has a profound impact on the
planet from melting ice sheets and withering
rainforest to flash floods and droughts.
This article is an attempt to high-light
some of the major issues that India faces
today because of climatic change.
Scarcity of fresh water: Surface fresh-
water is a small fraction of global water. The
freshwater supply is unevenly distributed.
Climate change results to a frightening
scenario of global drying and rising salt
pollution. Growing demand for fresh water
due to drying rivers and streams and saline
intrusion creats the possibilities of permanent
global food deficit. In India the average use
of water for irrigation becames very high after
“Green revolution”. New varieties of rice,
wheat and maize produces tremendous yield,
but requires plenty of water. In India about
250 trillion litres of water are extracted for
irrigation every year, of which only about 150
trillion litres are replaced by the rain.
According to Climatologists , “wet parts
of the globe are likely to become wetter and
the dry parts drier”. Because of the same
reason soil could become drier. The “drought
index”, developed by climatologists regarding
rainfall and evaporation pointed out that the
land becomes drier. When the irrigation
Climatic change results in fluctuations andchanges in climate both spatially and temporally
due to changes in solar radiation, atmosphericcirculation, sunspots, human activity etc.
IndianAnxiety on
ClimateChange and
EconomyDr. T. S. Lancelet and Dr. J. Omana
August 2010
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system run dry or become contaminated, the
possibility arises of a permanent food deficit.
In his book , “When the rivers run dry”, Fred
Pearse, an environmental consultant, wrote
that the water we survive with today is a
result of borrowing from the future. With
high population, the shortage of drinking
water becomes acute in India.
Studies at the Indian Institute of
Sciences, Bangalore showed that excessive
rain had increased over vast areas of central
India in the latter half of the 20th century.
The excessive rainfall adversely affected the
production of rice, pulses, bajra, jowar and
fodder for livestock in different states. A
heavy shortage in food production has
Change in Indian monsoon pattern:
Studies show that monsoon pattern has
changed in the past few years in India and
this trend is likely to continue in the coming
years. Low lying areas are water-logged after
heavy rain. Monsoon flooding and related
disasters are very common in every year
particularly in Kerala. The uneven distribution
of rain, due to drastic change in monsoon
pattern, has to be viewed seriously.
reflected in the sharply rising prices of food
items, particularly pulses.
Reduction in food production: Climate
change affected summer monsoon rainfall
which resulted in failure of harvesting process
of paddy in time in South India. According to
agriculture scientists the warmer winters have
led to 16 fold fall in the decadal wheat
production after 1995.
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Retreat of many important rivers: As
a result of global warming, the polar ice caps
have shrunk and glaciers that feed many
important rivers have retreated. The major
Himalayan rivers in India may retreat in
future due to global warming. Retreat of
streams and rivers cause wipeout of hundreds
of freshwater species. Besides drinking
water the process of power generation,
irrigation facilities etc. also will face a
dangerous situation.
Sinking of coastal low lands: Average
global surface temperature have risen by
about 0.7 degree Celsius since 20th century.
IPCC has taken the view that average global
temperature could rise by a further 1. 4
degree to 5.8 degree by the end of this
century. Melting of ice in the poles affects
sea level rise and sinking of lowlands. Most
of the islands and coastal belts are under
the threats of sinking. In India, more than
35% of population are living in coastal belts,
which lies less than 10 M above sea level.
This leads to a type of forced migration from
the coasts.
Increasing natural hazards: During
monsoon, the number of depressions and low
pressure areas formed in the Bay of Bengal
and Arabian sea results in the intense rainfall
at different regions. Due to flood, cyclones,
land slides and drought, lose a lot of people
their life and properties. It will make a
huge economic insecurity to the society as
well as the nation.
Climatic changes are generating the
most intense cyclones in various seas.
According to oceanographers, there has been
a five-fold increase in the most intense
cyclones in the Arabian sea since 1995.
Cyclones with a wind speed of more than 100
km per hour are designated as most intense
cyclones.
Health impacts: The World Health
Organization estimated that about 150,000
additional deaths took place in 2003 owing
to the health impact of climatic change.
Changing climate may affect populations
resulting in weather diseases.
Coastal ecosystem especially estuarine
beaches and marshes are likely to be
eliminated due to rising sea level. So we must
have proper planning to meet freshwater
scarcity. There must be new protected areas
for species survival due to climate change and
promulgation of eco-tourism in selected
potential areas. Government must urgently
regulate the misuse of water and power. New
researches like identifying genetic material
which will survive in the enhancing
temperature are to be taken up urgently.
There must also be proper awareness
campaigns on the negative aspects of climate
change.
References
David H. Miller (1981) - Climate and Life. Academicpress, New York
Flohn Hermann (1969) - Climate and Weather, McGraw Hill Publishing House
Griffith (1976) - Climate and Environment, OxfordUniversity Press
Gribbin, J. (1978)- Climate change, Cambridge
University Press
Dr. T. S. Lancelet Department of Geography
OmanaDepartment of History
Sree Sankaracharya University Kalady, Kerala
E Mail: [email protected]
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Herbal medicines
The plant kingdom is an abundant and rich
source of many remedies for prevention
and cure of various human health ailments as
well as maintenance of health and normal
physiological activity. Our ancestors had
gathered knowledge over the years on
medicinal value of various plants and there
are great references also such as Charaka
samhita. Most of the ingredients used in
Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy
medicines are totally based on plant extracts.
The very effective drugs like Reserpine,
Digoxin, Morphine, Quinine etc. are plant
products. There are plant constituents whose
physiological impact makes them useful as
laxatives, expectorants, and anti-catarrhal,
anti-microbial, anti-diabetics, anti-cancer
agents etc. A mixture of such constituents
can be used as tonic or adaptogen and
immunomodulator. Traditional knowledge
acquired over the years gives documental
information on the various plants or their parts
used for treatment of various diseases. These
days the researchers are concentrating on
identification, isolation, purification and
characterization of plant bioactive
components and establish their utility as drug
as well as the pharmacological validation of
herbal extracts used for treatment of various
diseases, taking patents.
The cardio-tonic and cardio-protectant medicinal plants around us
Dr. K. Beena Anto
The range of plants would vary from area
to area depending on the local ecosystem.
Nowadays phytomedicines are increasing
world wide. This artic elaborate is an attempt
to study the medicinal plants growing wild in
our surroundings including the common
garden/vegetables and identify them to
categorize as cardio-tonic types. There are a
large number of medicinal herbal plants
around us which are very useful as cardio-
tonic and protect health without any side
effects.
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular diseases such as
hypertensive, coronary and rheumatic heart
diseases have become the major cause of
death in these days even in juveniles.
Hypertensive heart diseases include
arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis and
hypertension.
Arteriosclerosis is the hardening of arteries
and arterioles due to thickening of the fibrous
tissue and consequent loss of elasticity and
causes hypertension or high blood pressure.
Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of the arteries
and arterioles due to deposition of fats,
including cholesterol, on their linings leading
to high blood pressure due to the passage of
same quantity of blood through the narrow
tubes. Due to irregularity in the deposition of
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fats on the inner linings of arteries, there is a
chance of clot formation or thrombosis also.
Nervous tension and emotional stress also
cause contraction of the arteries, increasing
blood pressure. The persistent high blood
pressure is called hypertension and the heart
works harder to pump the required amount
of blood to various organs through narrowed
arteries. High blood pressure damages the
arteries in the kidneys,
causing a serious disease
called chronic nephritis. It
may rupture arteries in the
eye causing blindness, or in
the brain causing
temporary or permanent
paralysis called stroke.
Coronary heart
diseases include angina
pectoris and heart attack.
Angina pectoris means
pain in the chest. Due to
arteriosclerosis, required expansion in the
arteries can not be possible leading to
insufficient blood flow and oxygen deficiency
in the heart muscles which induce severe pain.
This is not a fatal condition.
Heart attack is characterized by severe
pain in the heart, breathlessness, restlessness,
nausea and vomiting. Formation of a clot or
thrombus in a narrowed coronary artery stops
the blood circulation. The muscle cells
without any blood circulation may die due to
the lack of oxygen and glucose and this
condition is called heart attack or coronary
thrombosis or myocardial infarction and this
may be fatal.
Rheumatic heart diseases are very
common in India under 20 years of age, due
to the repeated attacks of rheumatic fever in
childhood caused by Streptococcus bacteria.
Continuous bacterial infection may reach the
heart and the bacterial toxins affect the
auriculo-ventricular valves. Damage to the
heart valves is detectable by a modified heart
sound called murmur and such a heart is said
to be the rheumatic.
Smoking increases
blood pressure.
Adrenaline released under
the influence of nicotine,
a poisonous alkaloid in
tobacco causes tension
which constricts the
arteries result in angina
pectoris.
The common causes of
heart diseases are
a r t e r i o s c l e r o s i s ,
atherosclerosis, rheumatic
fever, hypertension, overweight, increased
serum cholesterol, infection of respiratory
tract, sedentary habit, heavy smoking,
malfunctioning of thyroid gland, overwork and
congenital defects in the heart etc.
The medicinal plants were collected from
their natural habitats of the locality
(Irinjalakuda municipality of Thrissur district).
Plants were identified to their respective
systematic groups. The habit, habitat, the
morphology of the plants etc. were recorded
along with the family, genera and species. The
details of useful parts and therapeutical uses
were noted with the help of literature
collected using authentic sources and as
noted the following in Table.
Smoking increasesblood pressure.
Adrenaline releasedunder the influence
of nicotine, apoisonous alkaloid in
tobacco causestension which
constricts the arteriesresulting in angina
pectoris.
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Slno. Common name Botanical name Family Morphology ofuseful parts
1 Sweet flag/Vayambu Acorus calamus Araceae Rhizome(herb)
2 Koovalam (tree) Aegle marmelos Rutaceae Leaves, Roots, Fruits
3 Garlic (herb) Allium sativum Liliaceae Bulb
4 Onion (herb) Allium cepa Liliaceae Bulb
5 Kiriyatha (herb) Andrographis paniculata Acanthaceae Whole plant
6 Irumpanpuli Averrhoa carambola Oxalidaceae Leaves, Fruits(Small tree)
7 Arya veppu (tree) Azadiarcta indica Meliaceae Barks, Leaves,Flowers, Seeds
8 Beet root (herb) Beta vulgaris Chenopodiaceae Tap root, Leaves,Seeds
9 Thazuthama/ Boerhaavia diffusa Nyctaginaceae Whole plantPunarnava(prostrate-herb)
10 Thuvara/Pigeon pea Cajanus cajan Fabaceae Leaves, Seeds(herb)
11 Erukku/madar (shrub) Calotropis gigantea Asclepiadaceae Whole plant
12 Chillies (herb) Capsicum annum Solanaceae Fruits
13 Uzhinja (herb) Cardiospermum Sapindaceae Roots, Leaves, Seedshalicacabum
14 Nithya kalyani/ Catharanthus roseus Apocynaceae Whole plantperiwinkle (herb)
15 Kudavan Centella asiatica Apiaceae Whole plant(prostrate herb)
16 Foxglove (herb) Digitalis purpurea Scrophulariaceae Leaves
17 Chemparathy (shrub) Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Malvaceae Roots, Leaves, Flowers
18 Adalodakam (shrub) Justicia beddomei / Acanthaceae Whole plantAdathoda vasica
19 Pavakka/bitter gourd Momordica charantia Cucurbitaceae Whole plant(tendril twiner)
20 Curry veppu Murraya koenigii Rutaceae Root, Bark, Leaves(Small tree)
21 Nut Meg (Small tree) Myristica fragrans Myrtaceae Seeds
22 Lotus/thamara Nelumbo nucifera Nymphaeaceae Flowers, Seeds(aquatic herb)
23 Pepper (Climber) Piper nigrum Piperacae Fruits
24 Guava (tree) Psidium guajava Myrtaceae Roots, Leaves, Fruits
25 Avanakku (shrub) Ricinus communis Euphorbiaceae Roots, Leaves, Seeds
26 Arjun (tree) Terminalia arjuna Combretaceae Dried stem, Bark
27 Harithaki/Kadukka Terminalia chebula Combretaceae Seeds(tree)
28 Fenugreek - Uluva Trigonella Fabaceae Seeds(herb) foenum-graecum
29 Karinotchi (small tree) Vitex negundo Verbenaceae Whole plant
30 Ginger (herb) Zingiber officinale Zingiberaceae Rhizome
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The Table 1 provides a list of plant extracts
mainly the aerial, leaf, bark, wood, seed, fruit,
rhizome, bulb or tuber that protect and care
heart. The chart showed a wide range of
families which have cardiotonic effects in our
surroundings. Cardiovascular diseases are
associated with elevated serum lipids. The
lipid-lowering properties of many plant parts
or products were noted and studied in detail.
For example Allicin extracted from garlic
showed a significant decrease in total serum
lipids, phospholipids and cholesterol in the
animals fed Allicin compared with control
animals.
Use of cardiotonic and cardio protective
medicinal herbs is rising among the health
caring people these days. Reactive oxygen
metabolites (ROMs), which include superoxide
anion (O2),
hydrogen peroxide (H2O
2) and
hydroxylradicals (.OH) have been implicated
in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular
diseases. Many of herbal medicines have
antioxidant properties and are very effective
and have beneficial effects against cardiac
injuries.
Conclusions
Quest for medicinal properties of plants
dates back to immemorial time. Plants have
shown great promise in the treatment of
cardiovascular diseases. Biochemical and
pharmacological studies on cardio tonic
effects of various medicinal plants showed
that about hundreds of plant species have so
far been identified to have effective activity.
The prime importance of manufacturing
phytomedicines, is the correct identification
of medicinal herbs to achieve the intended
purpose of efficacy in curing. This is a small
attempt to study the therapeutical uses of
medicinal plants growing in our surroundings,
the real boon given to us.
REFERENCES
The useful Plants of India (1986) - CSIRPublications and information Directorate, NewDelhi.
The Ayurvedic Pharmacopeia of India (1989) -Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dept.of Health, Govt. Of India. Part I, Vol. I.
The Indian medicinal Plants (1996) - Vol. 1-5Vaidyaratnam P.S. Varrier’s Arya vaidya Sala,Kottakkal. Orient Longman Ltd.
Wealth of India, Raw Materials (1986) - CSIRPublications and Information Directorate, NewDelhi
Farooq, S. (2005)- 555 medicinal plants: Field andLaboratory manual, Identification with itsphytochemical and in vitro studies data.Pharmaceutical Products Press, New York.
Miller, L.G., and W.J. Murray. (1998) - HerbalMedicinals. A Clinician’s Guide.
Sivarajan, V.V. and Balachandran, I. (1994)Ayurvedic Drugs and their plant sources. Oxfordand IBH Publishing co.Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi.
w w w . l i f e e x t e n s i o n v i t a m i n s . c o m /
cadico10thhfg,html.
Dr. K. Beena AntoDept. of Botany
St. Joseph’s CollegeIrinjalakuda
Thrissur Dt., Kerala.E Mail:…………..
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Solar photovoltaic field is getting high
priority nowadays due to heavy pressure
on conventional fuels, simplicity, direct
conversion of electricity, etc. The term
“photovoltaic” comes from the Greek “phôs”
meaning “light”, and “voltaic”, meaning
“electric”, from the name of the Italian
physicist Volta, after whom a unit of electro-
motive force, the volt, is named. The term
“photo-voltaic” has been in use in English
since 1849. The French physicist Antoine-
César Becquerel in 1839 discovered the
photovoltaic effect while experimenting with
a solid electrode in an electrolyte solution.
About 50 years later, Charles Fritts
constructed the first true solar cells using
junctions formed by coating the
semiconductor selenium with an ultrathin,
nearly transparent layer of gold. Fritts’s
devices were very inefficient, transforming
less than 1 percent of the absorbed light into
electrical energy. There are currently many
Organic solar cells –Organic solar cells –Organic solar cells –Organic solar cells –Organic solar cells –The future energy sourceThe future energy sourceThe future energy sourceThe future energy sourceThe future energy source
Siji Mathew and Dr. K.R. Haridas
Schematic representation of organic solar cell
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research groups active in the field of
photovoltaics in universities and research
institutions around the world. This research
can be divided into three areas: making current
technology solar cells cheaper and more
efficient to effectively compete with other
energy sources, developing new technologies
based on new solar cell architectural designs
and developing new materials to serve as light
absorbers, charge carriers etc.
Theory
Conventional solar cell: Modern solar cells
are basically just P-N junction photodiodes
with a very large light-sensitive area. The
photovoltaic effect, which causes the cell to
convert light directly into electrical energy,
occurs in the three energy-conversion layers.
The first of these three layers necessary for
energy conversion in a solar cell is the top
junction layer (made of N-type
semiconductor). The next layer in the
structure is the core of the device; this is the
absorber layer (the P-N junction). The last of
the energy-conversion layers is the back
junction layer (made of P-type
semiconductor).
Organic solar cell: Photons in sunlight hit
the solar panel and are absorbed by
semiconducting materials. Electrons
(negatively charged) are knocked loose from
their atoms, allowing them to flow through
the material to produce electricity. Due to the
special composition of solar cells, the
electrons are only allowed to move in a single
direction. Complementary positive charges,
called holes, are also created which flow in
the direction opposite to the electrons. An
array of solar cells converts solar energy into
a usable amount of direct current (DC)
electricity.
Organic photovoltaic materials
A common characteristic of both the small
molecules and polymers used in photovoltaic
is that they all have large conjugated systems.
A conjugated system is formed where carbon
atoms covalently bond with alternating single
and double bonds. The electrons in the pz
orbitals of carbon atoms in this conjugated
system delocalize and form a delocalized ð
bonding orbital with a ð* antibonding orbital.
The delocalized ð orbital is the highest
occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), and the
ð* orbital is the lowest unoccupied molecular
orbital (LUMO). The separation between
HOMO and LUMO is considered as the band
gap of organic electronic materials. The band
gap is typically in the range of 1-4 eV. When
these materials absorb a photon, an excited
state is created and confined to a molecule
or a region of a polymer chain. The excited
state can be regarded as an electron hole pair
bound together by electrostatic and lattice
interaction. In photovoltaic cells, excitons
may break up into electrons and holes by the
electric fields. Then the charge carriers may
transport by hopping from molecule to
molecule or from chain to chain after traveling
along the backbone in case of polymers. For
photovoltaic, the difference in electronic and
optical properties between small molecules
and polymers are not big. Some polymers and
small molecule used in organic solar cell are
given below.
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Applications
There is an extensive range of applications
where solar cells are already viewed as the
best option for electricity supply. These
applications are usually stand-alone and
exploit the following advantages of
photovoltaic electricity: There are no fuel
costs or fuel supply problems, the equipment
can usually operate unattended, solar cells are
very reliable and require little maintenance.
At the other end of the scale are grid-
connected systems which are now being
seriously considered to supplement the
conventional power generation in many
industrialised countries. Although they have
yet to become viable on economic grounds,
the participation of PV in large-scale power
generation is viewed with increasing
prominence as a means of halting the adverse
environmental effects of conventional energy
sources. Various other application of organic
solar cell are rural electrification, lighting,
ocean navigation aids, telecommunication
systems, remote monitoring and control,
cathodic protection, electric power generation
in space, PV power stations, quantum dots,
green plug, hand power, electronic paper etc.
Disadvantages associated with organic
photovoltaic cells are their low quantum
efficiency (~3%) compared to inorganic
photovoltaic devices. Real challenge in these
materials is to increase the absorption
efficiency which is a problem because of the
large band gap of organic materials. Other
important factors are charge transport and
mobility, which are affected by the presence
of impurities. Also the exciton diffusion
length, charge separation and charge
collection need to be taken into account.
Moreover stability of the device against
oxidation and reduction, recrystallization and
temperature variations also needs to be
considered.
Milestones
1839 - Photovoltaic effect (H. Becquerel)
1876 - Application in Selenium (selenium
produced electricity when exposed to
light)
1951 - Silicon solar cells
1958 - Design of PV for space applications
1970 - Commercial Si cells
1980 - Applications in devices, etc.
1989 - Electrochemical cells
Structure of the compounds commonly used for Organic Solar cellsA B
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1996 - Solid state devices (Organic solar cells)
2000 - Gel solar cells
2005 - Electronic paper
2007 - ‘Green’ solar cells
2008 - Nanomaterial solar cells
2009 - Tandem solar cells
References
1. Shirota, Y. (200) - Organic materials for electronic
and optoelectronic devices’, J. Material Chemistry,
10: 1.
2. Haridas, K.R., Ostrauskaite, J., Thelakkat, M., Heim,
M., Bilke, R. and. Haarer, D. (2001) - Synthesis of
Figure3: Photographs of devices made using from Organic solar cells A) electronic paper, B) in space,C) navigation, D) PV- power station.
A B
C D
low melting hole conductor systems based on
triarylamines and application in dye sensitized solar
cells’, Synthetic Metals, 121: 1573.
3. Jager, C., Bilke, R., Heim, M., Haarer, D., Karickal, H.
and Thelakkat, M. (2001) - Hybrid solar cells with
novel hole transporting poly(triphenyldiamine)s’,
Synthetic Metals, 121: 1543 .
Siji Mathew and Dr. K.R. HaridasSchool of Chemical Sciences
Kannur University, Payyanur campusEdat – 670 327, Kerala
E Mail: [email protected]
August 2010
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Most countries use a postal code
system to deliver mails. In India, the
Postal Index Number Scheme called PIN
code was introduced on August 15, 1972.
PIN code is a system of numerical
identification of a delivery post office.
PIN is a six-digit code allotted to all delivery
post offices in the country. Al l head post
offices and sub post offices which deliver
mails are scientifically allotted their own
six-digit numbers. Therefore PIN code
should appear in all the documents
connected with the transmission of mail.
How does PIN help in timely delivery of
mail? The PIN code digits from left to right
progressively pinpoint and locate the
geographical location of the post office. The
first digit represents a region in the country
and the second, a sub-region. The third digit
read with the first two digits indicates a
sorting district. In short, the first three
digits of a PIN code of the post office will
clearly speak in which state and sorting
district the post office is located. The last
three digits pinpoint the post office of
delivery within the district. Thus the six
digits, all taken together, identify an
individual post office as a delivery unit.
In a country with diverse language and
Science of PIN CodeK.K. Devis
scripts, the introduction of a digit code has
eased the problems of sorting mails.
Further, there are several post offices in the
country having the same name. The
addition of the PIN code after the address
enables the sorting personnel and
Automatic Mail Processing Centre (AMPCs)
functioning in Mumbai and Chennai to
identify the destination correctly, thereby
eliminating chances of missending and
consequent delay to the article. When you
add the PIN code it will reduce delay in
transmission and will ensure correct
delivery.
All should, therefore, make it a habit to add
PIN in their address. All letterheads, letter
pads, rubber stamps, receipts etc. should
bear the PIN code of the delivery post
office. When you set your signature in E
mail, please add the PIN code also. This
one-time exercise of adding your PIN of the
delivery pot office will have a telling effect
in timely delivery of your mail. For details
log on o www.indiapost.gov.in
K.K. DevisAssistant Superintandent (HQ)
Office of the SuperintendentRMS EK Division
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Pulsed Electric Field(PEF) technology –
A Breakthrough in mildTechnologies for
Preservation of FoodR. Yathavamoorthi, Dr. A. Surendraraj, Dr. K.H. Sabeena Farvin and N. Dhivya
India is the third largest producer of food in
the world covering a wide range of
agricultural produce. Hand in hand the
responsibility of distributing this produce
without much wastage is another vital task
of importance as most of them are highly
perishable. Processing these produces
enhances the shelf life, adds value and creates
employment by way of cleaning, sorting,
preserving, packing and distribution. Further,
growth of food processing is inevitable with
rising incomes, favourable demographic
transition and changing consumer pattern.
However, existing techniques of food
processing faces the challenges of meeting
the present day consumer requirements of
wholesome and healthy and more natural
processed food products. As a result, search
is on for food preservation technique which
causes minimal damage to the nutritional
wellness of foods. Non- thermal techniques
are emerging in this promising area and pulsed
electric field technology for preserving liquid
food products is a breakthrough showing
promising results.
Pulsed electric field (PEF) processing
It is a method for preserving foods by
means of brief pulses of a strong electric field
causing microbial inactivation and minimal or
no detrimental effects on food quality
attributes. PEF can be used for processing
liquid and semi liquid foods and holds
potential as a type of low temperature
alternative pasteurization process for
sterilizing food products. PEF processing offers
It is a method for preservingfoods by means of brief pulses
of a strong electric field causingmicrobial inactivation andminimal or no detrimental
effects on food qualityattributes. PEF can be used for
processing liquid and semiliquid foods and holds potential
as a type of low temperaturealternative pasteurization
process for sterilizing foodproducts.
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high quality fresh-like liquid foods with
excellent flavor, nutritional value, and shelf-
life. Since it preserves foods without using
heat, foods treated this way retain their fresh
aroma, taste, and appearance
History of PEF
Usage of electric field for food preservation
dates back to 1920s with the ‘ElectroPure’
process for milk production. Milk is heated to
70oC by passing it through carbon electrodes
using non pulsed 220 V AC there by thermally
inactivating Mycobacterium tuberculosis and
Escherichia coli. There were around 50 plants
using the ElectroPure system in the USA until
the 1950s. Another process called
Electrohydraulic process has evolved during
1950s which was believed to inactivate
microorganisms by forming highly reactive
free radicals when a shock wave generated
by an electric arc. There were very few takers
as the food got damaged by shock waves and
erosion of electrode which further
contaminated the food.
The concept of PEF was first proposed in
the 1960s. Scientific research followed in the
1980s, showing that microbial inactivation by
PEF was real and predictable. PEF is reported
to achieve more than 5 log reductions of
foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7,
Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes in
apple cider, orange juice, and dairy milk.
Technological development in the 1990s
moved this process from the laboratory to
readiness for industrial production
evaluations. The first commercial products in
the US, consisting of all natural PEF-
pasteurized fruit juices and mixes, were
successfully introduced 2005 in the Pacific
Northwest.
PEF processing system
An integrated PEF system consists of a
fluid handling unit, high voltage pulse
generator, PEF treatment chambers and
packaging machine. The fluid handling unit
delivers stable, uniform flow with sterilize-
in-place (SIP) and clean-in-place (CIP)
functions. The pulse generator supplies high
voltage pulses into foods flowing through PEF
treatment chambers. A PEF treatment
chamber consists of at least two electrodes
and insulation that forms a volume, i.e., PEF
treatment zone, where the foods receive
pulses. The electrodes are made of inert
materials, such as titanium. Treated foods are
packaged continuously.
Diversified Technologies Inc., Bedford, MA,
builds commercial PEF systems of processing
volumes ranging from 500 to 5,000 liters per
hour, with The Ohio State University supplyingPEF processing system
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the PEF treatment chambers. PEF is an energy
efficient process compared to thermal
pasteurization. The PEF processing would add
only Rs.1.50 to 3.50/L to final food costs.
Working of PEF system
PEF processing involves treating foods
placed between electrodes by high voltage
pulses in the order of 20–80 kV for a short
duration (usually 10 nano second to 20 micro
second). The applied high voltage results in
an electric field that causes microbial
inactivation. The electric field may be applied
in the form of exponentially decaying, square
wave, bipolar, or oscillatory pulses and at
ambient, sub-ambient, or slightly above-
ambient temperature. After the treatment,
the food is packaged aseptically and stored
under refrigeration. The pulses are so short
and frequent that all of the liquid in a pipe
can be treated as it flows through the
treatment chamber. By using multiple
treatment chambers to apply pulses to a
stream of fluid, kill ratios of 5-9 log is
achieved, similar to pasteurization without
any adverse impact on the taste or nutritional
value of the food .
Principle of preservation
PEF treatment has lethal effects on
various vegetative bacteria, mold, and yeast.
Efficacy of spore inactivation by PEF in
combination with heat or other hurdles is a
subject of current research. A series of short,
high-voltage pulses breaks the cell
membranes of vegetative microorganisms in
liquid media by expanding existing pores
(electroporation) or creating new ones
(electrical breakdown). Pore formation is
reversible or irreversible depending on factors
such as the electric field intensity, the pulse
duration, and number of pulses. The
membranes of PEF-treated cells become
permeable to small molecules; permeation
causes swelling and eventual rupture of the
cell membrane.
PEF processing involvestreating foods placed betweenelectrodes by high voltagepulses in the order of 20-80 kVfor a short duration (usually 10nano second to 20 microsecond). The applied highvoltage results in an electricfield that causes microbialinactivation.
Working of PEF system
Electroporation: In this, when a
microorganism is subjected to a high voltage
electric field, the lipid bilayer and proteins of
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the cell membrane of the microorganisms are
temporarily destabilized. Changes in the
conformation of lipid molecules are induced,
existing pores are expanded and structurally
stable hydrophobic pores which can conduct
current are formed. This leads to localised
heating that changes the lipid bilayer from a
rigid gel to a liquid crystalline form. Once the
semi permeable nature of the membrane is
impaired, swelling and eventual rupture of the
cell is induced.
Electrical Breakdown: The bacterial cell
membrane can be considered to be a capacitor
that is filled with a dielectric material. The
normal resisting potential difference across
the membrane (the transmembrane potential)
is around 10 mV. If an external electric field is
applied, this increases the potential difference
across the cell membrane leading to the
reduction in the membrane thickness. When
the potential difference across the cell
reaches a critical level (normally considered
to be around 1 V), pores are formed in the
membrane. Permanent damage of membranes
and ultimately microbial inactivation is
achieved when the electric field at the
membrane is in the range of 5–15 kV/cm.
Potential Applications of PEF
In general, the shelf-life of PEF-treated
and thermally pasteurized foods is
comparable. PEF pasteurization kills
microorganisms and inactivates some
enzymes and, unless the product is acidic, it
requires refrigerated storage. For heat-
sensitive liquid foods where thermal
pasteurization is not an option (due to flavor,
texture, or color changes), PEF treatment
would be advantageous.
Application of PEF technology has been
successfully demonstrated for the
pasteurization of foods such as juices, milk,
yogurt, soups, tomato juice, salad dressing
and liquid eggs. Application of PEF processing
is restricted to food products with no air
bubbles and with low electrical conductivity.
The maximum particle size in the liquid must
be smaller than the gap of the treatment
region in the chamber in order to ensure proper
treatment. PEF is a continuous processing
method, which is not suitable for solid food
products that are not pumpable.
Part of the potential utility of PEF is that
the properties of the electric field can be
modified to have differing effects on cells. The
PEF process holds promise as a more efficient
way of getting useful products out of cell
membranes. PEF is particularly well suited to
processing fruit and vegetable juices because
the enlargement of the cell pores makes juice
The PEF process holds promiseas a more efficient way of
getting useful products out ofcell membranes. PEF is
particularly well suited toprocessing fruit and vegetable
juices because the enlargementof the cell pores makes juice
extraction easier. PEF may beuseful in extracting sugar from
sugar beets and oils from oilbearing plants. PEF may have a
use in the developing field ofextraction of oil and other
products from microorganismssuch as algae. PEF also finds
application in reducing the solidvolume (sludge) of wastewater.
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extraction easier. PEF may be useful in
extracting sugar from sugar beets and oils
from oil bearing plants. PEF may have a use in
the developing field of extraction of oil and
other products from microorganisms such as
algae. PEF also finds application in reducing
the solid volume (sludge) of wastewater.
Limitations
PEF has limited effects on spores and only
appears to affect a few enzymes. Surviving
enzymes can lead to quality problems such
as sedimentation, discolouration and off-
odour in some products. The survival of spores
and enzymes means that products should be
refrigerated after passing through PEF
processing in order to slow the action of the
enzymes and keep pathogens from growing.
Another important process consideration is
prevention of post process contamination, so
filling should be an aseptic or clean room
environment and containers must be cleaned
and possibly sterilized.
The initial cost of installing the equipment
is higher than for thermal pasteurization,
although energy savings with PEF may
compensate for this up-front cost over time.
Assessments of this cost tradeoff are
complicated as it varies with the conductivity
of the food materials used. Fruit juices have
lower electrical conductivity than vegetable
juices, for example, and salted foods have
higher conductivity than unsalted foods.
Issues with PEF include the potential for
electrical arcs and a temperature increase on
the order of 30 degrees Celsius (54°F). In liquid
PEF processing gas bubbles tend to allow for
electric arcing between the electrodes which
will burn the substance being processed and
potentially generate unwanted materials,
such as carcinogens, in the processed
material. One solution to gas bubble formation
is to pressurize the liquid. In static PEF for
non-liquids there is a greater limitation on the
maximum voltage possible without electric
arcing through the air. This necessitates
transferring the solid to an oil filled chamber
before a high voltage PEF is applied.
R. YathavamoorthiCentral Institute of Fisheries Technology
Matsyapuri P.O., Cochin -682 029E Mail: ……………………
Dr. A. Surendraraj, N.Dhivya Institute of Food and Dairy Technology
TANUVAS, Alamathi P.O. Red Hills (via), Chennai – 600 052
Dr. K.H. Sabeena FarvinSection of Aquatic Lipids and Oxidation
National Institute of Aquatic Resources Technical University of Denmark
B. 221, Søltofts Plads Lyngby, Denmark.
Research at Washington State Universitydemonstrated that PEF could extend the shelf lifeof fresh apple juice and apple juice fromconcentrate to over 56 days and 32 daysrespectively when stored at 22-25 oC .
More recently, the shelf life of skimmed milktreated with PEF was reported to be 2 weeks at 4oC using a process of 40 kV/cm, 30 pulses and a2-µs treatment time.