First and foremost I welcome Professor Amitava
Raychaudhuri as the new Director of the Institute. He comes here from Kolkata
University, where he holds the Sir Tarak Nath Palit Professorship in Physics.
Previous occupants of the chair in physics include Sir C.V. Raman, Meghnad
Saha, and C.K. Majumdar. Amitava was appointed to this chair at a young age
of 44 in 1996. In fact he also holds an Adjunct Professorship in Physics
at HRI. I understand that three of his students working on their doctorates
are likely to join HRI, and he wishes to maintain his research/teaching/mentoring
programme in full swing. His appointment at HRI significantly strengthens
our group in High Energy Physics. I welcome him warmly, and wish him success
in his new job.
Let me take this opportunity, on behalf
of all of you, to recall Professor H.S. Mani, the Director of HRI before me.
We all know, he put his heart and soul in building up this Institute literally
brick by brick. It required a great deal of energy, imagination, and patience.
He and I have become good friends in the last 4 years. As many of us know,
Prof. Mani has gone back to research and teaching, first at the S.N. Bose
Center at Kolkata, and now at the IMSc in Chennai. He was to come here on
this joyous occasion. But he wrote to me that due to some prior commitments
he could not make it.
As for myself, at the moment, I feel a sense
of relief in handing over the responsibilities of directorship in the able
hands of Prof. Raychaudhuri. The authority invested in such a position is
intertwined with a lot of restrictions. So for the past four years I often
had a feeling of sitting in a pavilion and watching the game. Now I feel that
I am back in the field!
Let me take this opportunity to thank many
people who have helped me in my director's role in the last 4 years.
First, in my absences from Allahabad, many
faculty members worked as interim directors. These include Professors Passi,
Rao, Gandhi, Panda, Naik, Mukhopadhyaya, Adhikari, and Ramakrishnan.
All these people and I know Prabhatji, who
has been with the former MRI, now HRI, since 1993. He is always available,
even on Saturdays and Sundays, always calm and cheerful, and competently making
necessary arrangements for various meetings, and other work as needed by
the Director and the Registrar.
It is a particular pleasure to thank Shri
Kashalkar and Dr. S.N. Rai. We are really fortunate to have Shri Kashalkar
as a Registrar with wide-ranging knowledge of office work as well as law.
He is competent, versatile, has flair for Hindi and English, and totally unexpected
field the expertise of which is not easily found in a Registrar, namely,
music. Dr. Rai has been with the former MRI, now HRI, from its very beginning
through all its ups and downs. His savvy about social/political life in Allahabad
has been very helpful to directors of HRI.
I really need to thank many people in the
administration and technical staff. Only a few of them come in direct contact
with the director, but without whom the Institute would not run. I can only
mention a few who came in direct contact with me.
Gulatiji brings his superb competence as
an AO with a smiling face, knowing full well that it is difficult to be popular
as an AO.
V.R. Tiwariji similarly brings his superb
competence as a librarian. I know, he really enjoys and takes pride in his
job.
Amitji has helped me a great deal in setting
up and maintaining the affairs of the HRI Welfare Trust. Although officially
delinked from HRI. I think, the HRI Welfare Trust is a good development. When
we are in happy times, we should share our happiness, and try to wipe out
a tear in somebody else.s eye, so that when sad times hit us, we deserve help
from others.
Manish Sharmaji, and Ajay Srivastavaji in
their quiet, yet effective, manner are providing their engineering skills
in the civil and electrical sides respectively.
Sanjai and Anju Vermaji are managing the
computer services. We really need one more person in this area. Somehow the
appointment of a person in this area made three years ago did not work out
well. So we have to try again. We need to find some innovative solution for
the problems in this area.
R.P. Sharmaji looks after our guest house
with dedication. The number of visitors to HRI from within India and abroad
has significantly increased. This number is only going to grow further. So
maintaining a good guest house in terms of food, service, and a fair competence
in English are very important for us.
Archanaji and Seemaji are the first persons
one comes to know when one visits HRI. Many visitors have personally remarked
to me the helpful nature of these two ladies.
V.P. Tiwariji brings his energy and enthusiasm
for the Rajbhasha programme with dedication, enough to learn latexing in English.
Last but not the least, Yashpalji manages
to bend both the roads and buses without breaking, carrying the people to
their desired destinations.
I think, I have covered most people in administration
whom I have come to know in the last 4 years. Any omission is unintentional.
Now let me come to the academic side, which
as an academic myself, is closer to my heart. Without the help of the people
in administration, complemented by the academics as well, it would have been
impossible for me to achieve whatever little I have been able to achieve.
As you well know, I have first hand contacts
with the mathematics community in the US, Europe and Asia extending over thirty
years. I was also visiting India from time to time. The connection with HRI
provided to me a welcome opportunity to bring together the mathematics communities
in the US, Europe and Asia. During my tenure, I have fully encouraged, and
myself contributed to developing such contacts.
I summarize four such initiatives below:
Already two month-long schools, one in IIT (Bombay) and the other at HRI have taken place. The third one is currently going on in IIT (Bombay). Fourth and Fifth will take place in Pune and Kolkata respectively in December 2005.
One volume edited by Adhikari, Balasubramanian and Srinivas has already come out. Two or three more are in the pipeline.
A related project is the "Collected Works" series. The Collected Works of Minakshisundaram, and Hansraj Gupta, are in the pipeline. I fervently hope that in a year or two we shall be able to bring out at least some of these works. This will be an important service to the cause of development of mathematics in India. True, mathematics knows no national boundaries. Yet it is important to have the role models, whom we can easily relate to.
Besides these initiatives, I have tried
to build up the academic programme at HRI. One consistent desire has been
to bring mathematics and theoretical physics together.
A joint Mathematics/Physics HRI colloquium
was established in 2001. It has brought in many distinguished visitors, national
and international. I request Prof. Raychaudhuri to continue the tradition.
In order to bring in some distinguished
faculty for an extended period, we have established Adjunct Faculty positions.
These include Profs. Indranil Biswas (TIFR) in Mathematics, and T. Padmanabhan
(IUCAA), S. Mukhi (TIFR), A. Raychaudhuri (Calcutta U), Diptiman Sen (CTS,
Banglore) in Physics. In addition there are three Faculty Associates in Mathematics:
Prof.s Katre (Pune U), Manickam (Vivekananda C, Chennai), and Bhandari (PU,
Chandigarh).
The HRI faculty have represented HRI at
many international meetings. HRI provides support for about one-and a half
international travel every two years. This support is in addition to the support
a faculty member may receive from his/her host institutions, or other funding
agencies such as DST, NBHM etc. During my first year as a Director we managed
to increase the support for international travel from Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 85,000
for a two year period. So practically every faculty member has been able
to make at least one international trip almost every year. Also practically
every research fellow has been awarded an opportuniety to make one international
trip at least once during his/her doctoral studies at HRI. May we say, this
is truly a globalization of higher knowledge! In concrete terms, this globalization
is reflected in the research output, the number of Ph.D.s produced, the number
of conferences conducted (at HRI), the citations indices and impact-factors,
the number of prestigious awards and honors won by the faculty and students,
etc.
Here are some statistics:
During 2000-2004, the number of faculty
increased from 9 to 11 in Mathematics and from 17 to 24 in Physics. During
the same years the total number of publications in refereed journals is 78
in Mathematics and 216 in Physics. During the same years, the number of research
scholars increased from 9 to 16 in Mathematics, and from 12 to 23 in Physics.
The number of Ph.D.s produced during these years is 4 in Mathematics and
10 in Physics. Among the major honors during the same years include:
Padmashree, D.Sc. (Kolkata University),
and S.N. Bose Medal to Prof. Ashoke Sen; S. S. Bhatnagar awards
to Profs. D. Prasad, and B. Mukhopadhyaya; Swarnajayanti fellowship
to Prof. Debajyoti Choudhury, Distinguished Service Award from the Mathematical
Association of India, and Indian National Science Academy Senior Scientist
Position to Prof. I. B. S. Passi, Fellowship of Japan
Society for Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) for Dr. Debashis Ghoshal, and Alexander
Von Humboldt Fellowship for Dr. Srubabati Goswami.
DAE is providing us a generous support.
Yet, a major technical problem is to find support for international travel
of distinguished visitors from abroad. In this regard, we are grateful that
one New York-US-based organisation, the Foundation for the Advancement of
Arts and Sciences from India (ARSI), and the Infosys Foundation from Bangalore,
India provided us support in the amounts of $8000 and Rs. 6 lakhs respectively.
The Infosys Foundation has also provided us support of Rs. 6 lakhs towards
support for our research scholars.
Considering that HRI is an apex research
institute in Mathematics and Physics, I feel that a lot more can be done to
attract support from the Mathematics and Physics communities in the West,
and also a very sizable community of people of Indian origin abroad and from
the Foundations such as the Infosys Foundation within India. I strongly suggest
to the new Director and the Council to make conscious efforts in this regard.
I would also like to add that I made a determined
effort to get the missing back-volumes of journals (especially in mathematics),
and the Collected Works of eminent mathematicians and physicists. At present
the HRI library is perhaps the best library for mathematics and physics in
northern India.
In my mathematics career extending over
three decades I have spent about a quarter of my time at the research institutes
and the rest in research/mentoring/
teaching positions at the universities. With such life-experiences, I have
come to value research as well as mentoring/ teaching. I do believe that
these activities are intrinsically contributing to each other. Barring some
isolated geniuses who made their singular contributions and died at a young
age, a vast majority of the top research scientists are involved in mentoring/teaching,
and fairly excel in it.
A significant difference between the research
institutes in the West, whose working I know, and the DAE-aided institutes,
which I have come to know in the last 4 years, is that the Western research
institutes do not support students towards their doctoral degrees. There are
very few, and very distinguished, permanent members in the Western research
institutes. They are recruited in their mid-or later-careers. They have long-time
appointments without a formal teaching load. But many (like Harish-Chandra)
continue to hold weekly seminars, or (like Milnor, Borel) involve themselves
in large-scale seminar activity.
In the DAE-institutes we admit students
for doctoral degrees. Yet when I started as a director, I noticed that the
mentoring/teaching was not expected from the faculty, nor was it a part of
the reward system.
When I came to HRI, I found that the actual
teaching programme was not at par at all with those in the good universities
in the West. The number of students was very small. The arrangements with
the universities to get them doctoral degrees were really in a poor shape.
With the TIFR getting for itself a deemed
university status, and the rest of the DAE-aided research institutes in the
process of constructing the Homi Bhabha National Institute, which has received
a deemed university status, we see that slowly a paradigm shift is taking
place.
Initially, a lot of my energy was spent
in trying to solve these problems in the context of HRI. Prof. Raghunathan
introduced me to Prof. H. P. Dikshit, Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU. He was very
co-operative. I am happy to say that the faculty also accepted the idea, despite
the fact that their formal teaching responsibilities have increased. All
the faculty contributed to making up of the syllabus, and constructing a
structure. But special mention must be made of Professors Passi and Adhikari
in Mathematics and Sen and Gopakumar in Physics.
The HRI-IGNOU Integrated Prorgamme is now
established and is operating in its second year. This year, in all 12 courses
in mathematics, and 16 courses in physics have run. The projected numbers
in the next few years are about 20 courses each in Mathemathetics and Physics,
and in addition two experimental courses in physics.
Now the Homi Bhabha National Institute,
a deemed university has also become a reality. HRI is a constituent institute
of HBNI. As yet HBNI does not allow us to admit students with a bachelor's
degree. But it is expected that this will be possible after the relevant bodies
are constituted. This process may take six months to a year. Then it is mostly
up to us whether to join HBNI or continue with the present integrated doctoral
programme. It is likely, we shall be in the HBNI in about a year's time.
But the basic structure is already on paper. The HRI may well be able to
contribute significantly to the development of HBNI.
The number of visitors from abroad, and
our faculty's and students. Visits abroad have substantially increased. The
total faculty strength is now 35, close to the sanctioned strength of 40.
The number of students has substantially increased to about 40, and is likely
to go up to 50 when the new students join. It is projected to go between 80
to 100 in 3 to 5 years. So it is time to start building a new student hostel!
Now I would like to share some of my concerns.
I have already raised this question with the Council, and also the Council has said: let it be left to the new director to assess the situation, and come up with a recommendation.
After this expression of these concrete
concerns let me take up a philosophical point which is very close to my heart.
I wish to speak to everybody but especially to the young research scholars
and pdfs.
Just in the last couple of days Prof. Passi
sent us an e-mail drawing our attention to a recent issue of Current Science
with several articles on the role of mathematics in sciences including, in
particular, physics. As I have said earlier, I have consciously tried to
bring together mathematics and theoretical physics at HRI. Let me add that
this was exactly one of the suggestions made by Professor Atiyah in his recent
review of the School of Mathematics at TIFR. In concrete terms, it means
bringing out the role of differential geometry in Astrophysics and String
Theory. Also the role of Lie groups, Lie algebras, and their representations
in High Energy Physics. Also the role of complex analysis and Riemann surfaces
in many branches of physics.
In more abstract terms: space, number, and
symmetry are basic categories of mathematical thought. In the same way, space,
time, and matter are the basic categories of physical thought. The space,
time, and matter categories are expressed in terms of space, number, and
symmetry categories . A slight change in the interpretation of space-time-matter
in terms of space-number-symmetry categories entails major revision in the
formulation of the theories in physics. The Einstein.s theory of special
and general relativity is one such example. Similar comments apply to the
role of mathematics in other sciences.
I truly believe that mathematics represents
something close to what we call divine. In Vedantic terms, the divine is experientiable
but cannot be fully captured by words or sounds. The Platonic-Cartesian formulation
does not allow this possibility. No matter to which school of thought one
feels close to, mathematics remains a common thread. It is the highest art
and science of all communicable knowledge.
We all have heard the story of Prahlada,
Hiranyakashipu, and Narasimha. In the final episode, the proud, egotistical
Hiranyakashipu asks Prahlada: "if God is everywhere, show me your God. Is
It in this pillar?". Prahlada says "yes". As Hiranyakashipu breaks the pillar,
Narasimha appears and kills Hiranyakashipu, or rather, his separate ego.
The allegories apart, the deeper meaning is revealed in Prahlada's ode in praise to Narasimha. It is a less known but a fantastic piece of philosophical poetry. In that poem, Prahlada poses the question: if God is everywhere, why do people not recognize It? He himself answers:
``From the seed the tree sprouts and manifests
in the form of a trunk, the leaves, and the fruits. But our mind gets entangled
in the leaves and fruits. One has to make special efforts to go back to the
seed."
That is exactly the mathematical process
of theory-building.
So the unified field theory is not some
platonic bird sitting over there, and we are going to catch it in some clever
way. From a cognitive viewpoint, the theoriser, the data and the experiments,
and the process of theory-building form a unified whole.
The divine spark lies in each one of us.
The only thing is that it is like a light shining in a dark room whose door
is closed. The role of a teacher is just to open the door and let the student
enjoy the light. Eventually, the student becomes the teacher's teacher!
So at HRI, we shall do cutting edge research,
but also participate avidly in increasing the awareness of mathematics and
physics in the society at large.
My best wishes to Prof. Amitava Raychaudhuri,
that under his leadership may HRI attain greater heights.
Finally, I would like to take the opportunity
to inform the Council of the specific activites of the Institute and events
which took place during the last one year.
Faculty joined : Dr.s Tapas Kumar Das and
Anindya Datta joined the Institute as Fellow E, Physics.
Faculty retired : Dr. S.N. Rai, Professor
Maths and Dean (Administration).
Like the previous year, the Institute has
made good progress in attracting research scholars.
The Institute hosted the following major scientific meetings :
HRI Colloquia :
Visitors to the Institute :
Profs. Probir Roy, TIFR, Mumbai, Tom Theuns,
UK, Amitava Raychaudhuri, Calcutta University, Marc Bourdon, University of
Lille, Gautmi Bhomik, University of Lille, Indranil Biswas, TIFR, Mumbaii,
Amiya Mukherjee, ISI, Kolkata, A.W. Hales, USA, W.J. Harvey, Kings College,
London, J.V. Narlikar, IUCAA, Pune, M.S. Narasimhan, TIFR, Denis White, University
of Ohio, USA, T. Padmanabhan, IUCAA, Pune, Frank Neumann, University of Leicester,
U.K., Siddhartha Gadgil, ISI, Bangalore and Urmie Ray, France were visitors
to the Institute.
A special feature of this year is that a large number of Lecture-Series were delivered:
during Dec. 04 . Jan. 05.
Academic Honours and Special Awards :
Other Activities and Events Organised :
Dated : 19th July, 2005 Ravi
S. Kulkarni
Director