Gandhinagar: Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) will hold the second edition of the Seminar Series on Indian Scientists on November 21, 2020. This edition will have two online seminars on the lives and works of Harish-Chandra and C V Raman. Both talks will cover a few technical aspects as well as deal with the historical and social contexts in which those pioneers worked, so as to appeal to faculty and students across a wide range of disciplines.

Prof C S Aravinda, from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) CAM, Bengaluru, will deliver a lecture on “Harish-Chandra: The Mathematician and the Artist”. This will be a non-technical talk on the life of Prof Harish-Chandra, mainly focusing on his singular evolution as one of the most impactful mathematicians of the last century. In the second talk, Prof Rupak Banerjee, from IITGN, will speak on “The life, works and legacy of Prof C V Raman”, highlighting the early life, works, and legacy of Prof Raman, in an attempt to understand how science and art coexisted in his mind.

The Seminar Series on Indian Scientists was launched by IITGN in 2019 to honour the contributions of the often half-forgotten pioneers of modern Indian science. Each seminar in the series brings a mix of speakers from within and outside IITGN. The late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century witnessed a great renaissance of modern scientific thinking in India. The father figures of modern Indian science from this era contributed significantly to contemporary scientific advances. Simultaneously, they also motivated and led the national movement to create scientific institutions in India.

The seminar series is curated by IITGN faculty Prof Sudipta Sarkar and Prof Michel Danino. Students and faculty members from all institutions are welcome to attend this seminar through a free but mandatory online registration by November 19, 2020:  http://shorturl.at/yPUV4