Tips for kids: Prof. C.N.R. Rao at the lecture (Picture by Sanat K. Sinha)

What is the basic requirement for learning science? You just need to have a curious mind to study Nature and not hesitate to ask questions, said Prof. C.N.R. Rao of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, while delivering the third Bengal Science Lecture, a series on ?Learning Science?. The lecture was jointly organised by the science and technology council, government of West Bengal, and the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum. The talk was meant for nearly 1,000 school students who had gathered at the main auditorium of Science City in Calcutta.

According to Rao, a curious mind not only encourages science learning but grooms a budding scientist. All the great minds that made groundbreaking scientific discoveries were fuelled by an endless spirit of enquiry. ?From Albert Einstein to Srinivasa Ramanujan, all of them asked such innocent questions which turned out to have vital answers,? he said. ?These great scientists were keen observers of Nature since childhood.?

The vast expanse of space piqued the interest of Einstein, whereas the magic of numbers intrigued Ramanujan. ?Einstein gave us the theory of relativity which changed our perception about the Universe forever,? Rao commented. ?Ramanujan, on the other hand, wrote theorems that enriched mathematics.?

Rao argued that the recipe for learning science remains incomplete if you don?t have perseverance. He cited the discovery of aluminum as an example. On February 23, 1886, in the woodshed behind his home, Charles Martin Hall produced globules of aluminum metal. ?Hall?s achievement was the culmination of several years of intensive work on aluminium extraction,? Rao pointed out, reminding the youngsters at the auditorium that simply a bright academic career may not make one a great scientist. ?Michael Faraday started out as a bookbinder,? he said. ?Ramanujan, a college dropout, went on to become one of the greatest mathematicians of the world. Even Einstein was not so bright a student in his school days. The key to these scientists? success lay in their ability to let their imagination wander beyond the confines of bookish knowledge.?

According to Rao, the golden age of science began in the early 20th century. ?In the first half of the last century, scientists deciphered the structure of atoms and invented X-ray,? he said. ?Gradually, they discovered the subatomic particles like protons, electrons and neutrons. The emergence of the quantum theory gave birth to the computer and biomolecular revolutions.?

In 1948, scientists at the Bell Laboratories, US, discovered transistors which led to the modern computers. Soon after this, using X-rays, James Watson and Francis Crick unravelled the structure of the DNA, which cracked many puzzles of life. ?Since then it has been a roller-coaster ride for scientists,? commented Rao. ?We now know that the Universe is 15 billion years old, while the planet earth is 4.6 billion years old.?

After remaining lifeless for more than half a billion years, this planet heard the first murmur of life, Rao pointed out. ?Then another 3 billion years elapsed before the earth began to teem with life,? he said. ?Humans are relative latecomers on earth.?

Biplab Das