Khagol 121

Subhadeep De Dipanjan Mukherjee Subhadeep De, who has joined IUCAAin December 2019 as a faculty member (Associate Professor), obtained his PhD on Laser Cooling and Trapping of Barium, in 2008 from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He worked as a post-doctoral research associate during 2008-2012 at the Joint Quantum Institute, Maryland, USA, which is a joint institute between National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, and University of Maryland. He worked on Degenerate Mixtures of Bose and Fermi Gasses. Since 2012 until he joined IUCAA, Subhadeep De was a faculty member at the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, where he was developing optical atomic clock for time and frequency metrology. His research interests are precision measurements for fundamental studies and developing quantum enhanced technologies for quantum information processing. For this purpose, he is on the process of setting up an advanced Atomic-Molecular-Optical experimental facility at IUCAA namely, Precision and Quantum Measurement Lab. DipanjanMukherjee, who has joined IUCAAin December 2019, as a facultymember (Assistant Professor), did his PhD at IUCAA in 2014, on Magnetic Field Structures onAccreting Neutron Stars. Then he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, on Simulations of Relativistic Jets from Super-massive Blackholes and their Impact on Galaxies, and followed by another post-doctoral position at the University of Torino and the Observatory of Torino, Italy, on Simulations of Relativistic Jets and their Emission Processes. His broad areas of research interest are: Topics of high energy astrophysics and simulations of astrophysical fluids over a diverse range of scenarios. A strong emphasis is on developing numerical techniques to be used in large scale simulations, which are then compared with observational data. Some of the current topics of his interest are: Galaxy evolution over cosmic time and the impact of outflows from supermassive blackholes, physics of relativistic jets from blackholes of all scales, and physics of accreting compact objects such as neutron stars and stellar mass blackholes. Contd. from page 1 New Core Faculty for IUCAA Dr.VijayRaghavan posited that ‘knowledge has always been the key that opens the door to power, but today fewer and fewer people share that key’. In this backdrop, he first guided the audience through a number of basic concepts in computing and data science and how these impact human existence. He emphasised that raw data is distinct from information, which itself must be converted to knowledge in order to be relevant. Finally, only when knowledge is transformed to understanding in a broader conceptual framework does it lead to reasoned action. Next, Dr.VijayRaghavan gave a fascinating overview of the origins of human intelligence, pointing out that our current levels of intelligence are largely the consequence of a series of cosmic accidents starting from the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs and allowed mammals to flourish, to the emergence of the opposable thumb, the invention of fire and subsequently the development of a relatively oversized brain. All of this has led to humans becoming extraordinary engineers of nature and now, with the advent ofAI, entering the age of ‘Big Data' where data is generated and processed at ‘warp speed'. In this context, Dr.VijayRaghavan argued that we must be cautious to interrogate all data to ensure its ethical provenance before using it to our benefit. The vastness of the data sets now available for various purposes also means that the conversion of data into understanding is an increasingly challenging task. One must also guard against the threat of the misuse of data to disempower classes of society by denying them access to the fruits of this data. The road forward for India, he argued, must involve spreading awareness and understanding of what lies behind the complexities of big data, by educating our youth in the fundamentals of mathematics and computer science. The Lecture ended with a lively discussionwith audience. No. 121 - January 2020 2