It's been my pleasure of late that I'm getting opened to a very necessary scientific outlook, i.e, in the form of "seeing" physics in action everywhere. In this context I ran into several of the blogs of scientists{ students and Profs included} who have poured out their cynicism about the sorry state of science in India and teaching in particular, read and saw more about Feynman. Nevertheless, what I noticed in all, is their enthusiasm to do something "off the track" like us. Something not for the sake of it but for the love towards it.
To this end, I would like to draw your attention to this one of a kind Professor by name Prof Julius Sumner Miller. I don't know how many of you already know him but i ran into him only this day and thought that you ought to know him for his infectious love towards Physics. He has featured in cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate ads {which by the way, I -- guess that even you--would not have seen it}. I accidentally happen to watch his demonstration of Bernoulli's principle and went Eureka!! {not the Archimedes way!!!} So, I would request you all to watch his demonstration of Bernoulli's principle part 1 and 2 -- and a lot more--for the fun of it-- and to know how things work. You can find one of his cadbury ad here.
I hadn’t heard about Professor Julius Sumner Miller so far (I read that he was a student of Albert Einstein; he was instantly recognizable by his casual hair and horn-rimmed spectacles!!) – thanks for drawing our attention to this interesting person. I do agree that his “science popularization” programs propagate infectious enthusiasm! On the Bernoulli's principle, I fondly recalled wonderful (abstract though) mathematical formulation of “continuum mechanics and fluid dynamics” by my teacher Professor A V Gopala Rao at Mysore University, whose lectures have still remained as a source of inspiration to me! (I would like to know if one can work out the mathematical formulation of Bernoullis principle from bare minimum inputs!) When I was teaching BSc classes in Yuvaraja’s college Mysore during 1997, I had always wondered if I can manage to emphasize the beauty of abstract mathematical formalism, which one learns only at a higher level (and which had fired my imagination in the same infectious manner – just analogous to that after seeing demonstrations by Professor Julius Sumner Miller) -- and then I had always resigned to the fact that young undergraduate students would require more of “science popularization demonstrations” and they are not ready for abstraction yet (though this was my limited experience for only 1 1/2 years of teaching at that point of time). I do realize that I have strong prejudice about “science popularization” (it sounds like talking to little kids sweetly -- in the language they utter – but not with what elders are used to!) May be I am wrong here! While “science popularization” holds young budding scientists glued to learning and understanding science, I find that it is very essential that youngsters should be aware of the importance of scientific inventions, persuit of science. I think it would be better I post my own thoughts on “pursuit of science- – and its motivations” soon.
ReplyDeleteWill wait for the post that you have mentioned ma'am. I think that will be something that is central to the overall development of science and research.
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