Coordinator: Dean's Office
Elective Course:
Course Number: SCE606.2
Instructor: Dr. Shweta Naik
Course Day and Time: Tuesday and Thursday (2 PM to 4 PM)
Starting from August 26, 2025
03Mon
Coordinator: Prof. Ankush Gupta and Dr. Deepa Chari
https://badal.vigyanpratibha.in/index.php/s/Qp3wCZZyNaitNnk
04Tue
Coordinator: Dean's Office
https://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/outreach/vgk-memorial-lectures/2025/vgkl-2025-s.pdf
Science in Art & Art in Science - An Astronomer’s Perspective
Prof. Ajit Kembhavi, Professor Emeritus, The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India
There is much beauty in the natural world which the artist and the scientist interpret differently. The artist is concerned with colour, line and form, while the scientist tries to understand the laws of the physical ad biological world, the underlying symmetries and mathematics. These two seemingly different interpretations are in fact quite interdependent. The scientist and mathematician need an artistic sense of beauty to be able to discover the deepest underlying ideas. Similarly, the artist is knowingly or unknowingly dependent on the underlying scientific and mathematical concepts to produce ever new artistic interpretations of the world perceived through our senses. In my talk, I will provide some examples of art in science and science in art, with particular reference to astronomy.
Ajit Kembhavi is a Professor Emeritus and former Director at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India. Prof. Kembhavi has held distinguished positions as the Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union, President, Astronomical Society of India and President of the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation. He has been a member of the Space Commission of the Government of India and is presently a member of the ISRO's Apex Science Board and the Chandrayaan National Committee. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India. Prof. Kembhavi's primary research areas are galaxies, quasars, and high energy astrophysics. Presently he is interested in applying AI to diverse problems in astrophysics. He was Chair of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance, and led the Virtual Observatory-India project for fifteen years, which has made important contributions to data management, analysis, visualisation and the development of tools for statistical analysis. He also headed a Big Data project supported by the National Knowledge Network. He has led the Pune Knowledge Cluster, which works on projects related to environment, sustainability, health, big data & AI. Apart from being a distinguished researcher, Prof. Kembhavi is an inspirational speaker and author of several books published in English and Marathi.