Pale Blue Dot
Pale Blue Dot is the Public Lecture Series IIT Palakkad jointly organises with the Palakkad District Library and Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. The series aims to promote scientific inquiry and critical thinking in our community by organizing talks by prominent thinkers from around the world on diverse topics. The title of our public lecture series is inspired by the phrase coined by the inimitable Carl Sagan to describe the iconic photograph of planet Earth from distant space taken in 1990. ‘Pale Blue Dot’ serves as a powerful reminder of both the beauty and fragility of this place we all call home. It symbolizes the humanising power of Science and is a strong reminder of the importance of building perspectives based on rational thinking that scrutinises new ideas and established wisdom alike. We are committed to using the Pale Blue Dot platform to foster strong relations with educational institutions in our neighbourhood. Our goal is to make Pale Blue Dot a community space where we can relish the beauty of science, and the power of critical thinking, a space where we can wonder at the possibilities of technology, where we can ask questions and share the joy of discovery.
Lectures
Lecture 8 | October 25, 2024
Venue: Agora , IIT Palakkad
Title: "Information design for positive social outcomes"
Speaker: Prof. Rajesh Sundaresan, IISc Bengaluru
Abstract: There are many interesting day-to-day examples of how good information design elicits positive social outcomes. Examples include information design at traffic lights, in ride-hailing apps, in online ratings of e-commerce products and services, and in fund-raising drives. We will discuss the modeling and the simple analyses behind some of these and will demonstrate how mathematics can positively impact social systems.
Lecture 7 | March 18, 2024
Venue: Agora , IIT Palakkad
Title: "Public Engagement and the History of Science "
Speaker: Jahnavi Phalkey, Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru
Abstract: Seen to be at the vanguard of the STEM to STEAM movement, Science Gallery is the world’s first university-linked network dedicated to public engagement with science and art with galleries in Atlanta, Dublin, London, Melbourne, and Monterrary. Science Gallery Bengaluru is the first such gallery of the network in Asia with the mandate to deliver a global mission. In this talk, Jahnavi Phalkey will introduce the form and structure of the new institution, and explore with us the ideas that inform the shape of Science Gallery Bengaluru through her journey to answer one question: what does it mean to go beyond science communication towards an engagement with science, and what does history of science have to do with it?
Lecture 6 | July 27, 2023
Venue: Agora , IIT Palakkad
Title: "Astronomy’s new frontiers "
Malayalam Title: “ഗലീലിയോ മുതൽ ഗുരുത്വതരംഗങ്ങൾ വരെ “
Speaker: Dr. Ajith Parameswaran, ICTS Bangalore.
Abstract: Modern astronomy started four centuries ago with Galileo’s invention of the astronomical telescope. In the past century, astronomical observations using different wavelengths of electromagnetic waves revolutionised our understanding of the Cosmos. Recently, observations using subatomic particles such as neutrinos and cosmic rays also have emerged as powerful means of probing the Cosmos. The newest frontier of astronomy is observations of gravitational waves — the elusive ripples in spacetime predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago. This lecture will take a walk through the different frontiers of astronomy.
Abstract in Malayalam: നാലുനൂറ്റാണ്ടുകൾ മുൻപ് ഗലീലിയോ നിർമിച്ച ടെലിസ്കോപ്പിലൂടെയാണ് ആധുനിക ജ്യോതിശാസ്ത്രം ജനിക്കുന്നത്. കഴിഞ്ഞ നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൽ ജ്യോതിശാസ്ത്ര നിരീക്ഷണങ്ങൾ വ്യത്യസ്ത തരംഗദൈർഘ്യങ്ങളിലുള്ള വൈദ്യുതകാന്തികതരംഗങ്ങളെ ഉപയോഗപ്പെടുത്തിത്തുടങ്ങി. ഇവ പ്രപഞ്ചത്തെപ്പറ്റിയുള്ള നമ്മുടെ ധാരണകളെ മാറ്റിമറിച്ചു. കഴിഞ്ഞ കുറച്ചു ദശാബ്ദങ്ങളിൽ ന്യൂട്രിനോകൾ അടക്കമുള്ള സബ് ആറ്റോമിക കണങ്ങളും ജ്യോതിശാസ്ത്ര നിരീക്ഷണങ്ങളുടെ ഭാഗമായി. ജ്യോതിശാസ്ത്രത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും പുതിയ വിപ്ലവം ഗുരുത്വതരംഗങ്ങളുടെ നിരീക്ഷണമാണ്. ആൽബർട്ട് ഐൻസ്റ്റൈൻ മുന്നോട്ടുവച്ച പൊതു ആപേക്ഷികസിദ്ധാന്തം ഗുരുത്വതരംഗങ്ങളുടെ നിലനിൽപ്പ് ഒരു നൂറ്റാണ്ടുമുൻപുതന്നെ സൈദ്ധാന്തികമായി പ്രവചിച്ചിരുന്നുവെങ്കിലും 2015 ലാണ് ഇവ ആദ്യമായി നിരീക്ഷിക്കപ്പെട്ടത്. ആധുനികജ്യോതിശാസ്ത്രത്തിൻ്റെ നാൾവഴികളുടെ ഒരു സംഗ്രഹമാണ് ഈ പ്രഭാഷണം.
Speaker bio: Ajith Parameswaran is an astrophysicist at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore. His research spans various aspects of gravitational-wave physics and astronomy. He has been a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration since 2004. Ajith has been a Ramanujan Fellow, a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar, and the head of the Max Planck Partner Group on Astrophysical Relativity at ICTS. As a member of the team that discovered gravitational waves, he is the recipient of the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and the 2016 Gruber Cosmology Prize. Recently he was awarded the TWAS-CAS Young Scientist Award for Frontier Science by the World Academy of Sciences.
Lecture 5 | January 27, 2023
Venue: Agora , IIT Palakkad
Title: “My Adventures in the Ribosome”.
Speaker: Prof. Venky Ramakrishan, Nobel Laureate 2009
Abstract: The ribosome is the ancient and enormous molecular machine that reads genetic information on mRNA to synthesize the proteins that are essential for all life. I will talk about my own efforts to determine the structure of the ribosome, and what we learned from it. I will also talk about my career path, which involved living on three continents and switching from physics to biology.
Speaker bio: Prof. Venki Ramakrishnan is a group leader at the Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, UK and is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome".
Lecture 4 | 08 October 2022
Venue: Victoria College Auditorium, Palakkad
Title: Taking Chances; Making Decisions
Speaker: Dr. Manjunath Krishnapur, IISc Bangalore
Abstract: Like basic arithmetic, basic skills to read and interpret data is essential to survival in the modern world where surveys, polls, statistics from scientific studies, sports figures, economic data, etc. are thrown at us all the time. We take many half-real half-made-up situations to illustrate correct and incorrect ways to do this. The level of mathematical sophistication required will be kept at the high-school level, and an attempt made towards a relaxed lecture, just short of putting the audience to sleep.
Speaker bio: Dr . Manjunath Krishnapur is a Mathematician at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. He has made outstanding contributions to the field of Probability Theory. His discoveries have been published in the most reputed Mathematics journals, including the Annals of Mathematics, as well as in reputed Physics journals because of their relevance to Statistical Physics. He is also a favourite "Math teacher" to many Math and non-Maths students of IISc.
Lecture 3 | 17 July 2020
Venue: Webinar
Title: LEARNING ONLINE: Opportunities and Challenges
Speakers: Shri. K. Anvar Sadath,
Chief Executive Officer, Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) ,
Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, IIT Madras
National MOOCs Coordinator for National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) in the Swayam project of the MHRD.
Abstract: A conversation between two flag-bearers of online education in India: Shri. K. Anvar Sadath, Chief Executive Officer, Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) and Prof. Andrew Thangaraj (IIT Madras), a National MOOCs Coordinator for National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) in the Swayam project of the MHRD. The moderated conversation will be preceded by brief individual presentations by both speakers. While Shri K Anvar Sadath will focus on how Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has accelerated digital education in Kerala, particularly school education, Prof. Thangaraj will discuss the formidable role and experience NPTEL has had in making online college education unprecedentedly mainstream in the country. Prof. Thangaraj will also talk about IIT Madras's new online diploma and BSc degree in programming and data science. Their interaction will provide valuable insights on both the opportunities and challenges that this new pedagogy presents to learners and teachers.
Lecture 2 | 29 February 2020
Venue: Surya Resmi Convention Centre, Palakkad
Title: Global Climate Change: Causes, Concerns and Commitments
Speaker: Dr. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan,
Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.
Abstract: In this talk, I will be discussing the basic physics of climate changes, past and future climate change scenarios, how we use climate models, what are the impacts of climate change and what are our concerns? and what are the commitments made by India to cope up with climate change. I will be specifically talking about the long term climate trends over Kerala and Western Ghats and about the recent extreme weather events over Kerala including the 2018 and 2019 floods.
Lecture 1 | 24 January 2020
Venue: Surya Resmi Convention Centre, Palakkad
Title: Why evolution is central to both biology and our lives
Speaker: Prof. Amitabh Joshi
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru
Abstract: Evolution is often considered a topic of only academic interest and few if any applications. It is also, unfortunately, a rather neglected field in India despite the fact that some of the most significant Indian contributions to the growth of biological knowledge have come from our small community of ecologists and evolutionary biologists. There is also a tendency in many quarters to dismiss evolutionary biology as "merely a theory" and fundamentally flawed. In this talk I will address some of these misconceptions about evolution and show that (a) evolutionary biology is a very well established and verified body of scientific knowledge, and (b) an evolutionary perspective is not just central to biology as a discipline, but is crucial to how we address many pressing societal problems. I will also mention some of the significant Indian contributions to the development of evolutionary thinking over the past three decades or so.
