Guwahati, Nov. 8: The 10th biennial conference of the Physics Academy of North East (PANE) will be held at St Anthony's College in Shillong with a three-day programme from Thursday.

While Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju will attend the inauguration programme as the chief guest, renowned physicist J.N. Goswami, the principal scientist of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, will deliver the Bipin Pal Das Memorial oration as the keynote speaker.

"A large number of participants from all across the Northeast and other parts of India are going to attend the conference. About 137 participants have confirmed their participation," said P.K. Dhar, publicity secretary of the academy.

"The fact that different biennial conferences of PANE are being funded by various national funding agencies, and that a large number of participants are being registered in each biennial conference, including its Shillong conference, is perhaps an indication that the academy has been able to earn the faith and confidence of the physics community," said Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the general secretary of the academy.