National Challenges as drivers for research

“Now it is time to have a great dream in life, dream transforms into thoughts and thoughts result into action. In the environment of Amity University, I was thinking when you complete your education, you have to take different assignments in different institutions in the country. Many a times you have to take the leadership position also after acquiring experience.”

by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

Technology is a non-linear tool
for societal transformation

(August 13, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) I am delighted to address and interact with the Students and Faculty Members of the Amity University in this beautiful educational environment. My greetings to the Vice Chancellor, Faculty Members, Staff and Students. I would like to discuss on the topic “National Challenges as drivers for research”.

During the last 9 months, I have visited and interacted with students and faculty members of 19 foreign universities (10 in America, 6 in Europe and 3 in Asia). During these visits, I found that all these universities are concentrating on research. For example, Waterloo University, I saw a solar powered car developed by the students which has been driven many parts of the world. The famous Black Berry is the product coming out of Waterloo research. Carnegie Mellon University had developed a robotic car which has participated in an International Competition. Arkansas University and Rice University have realized a solar photovoltaic cell using carbon nano-tube in the laboratory with 50% efficiency against the present 20%.

The research and development in these universities has enriched the quality of teaching and the quality of teaching is enriching the research and development. Wherever I went, I saw that research teaching research each is re-enforcing the other. I am sure, these example will be emulated by the faculty members and students of Amity University.

Knowledge

While I am with you, I would like to talk about knowledge. Knowledge has four components, creativity, righteousness, courage and indomitable spirit. That the combination of these characteristics can generate enlightened citizens. Let us look at the first component creativity:

“Learning gives creativity
Creativity leads to thinking
Thinking provides knowledge
Knowledge makes you great”

The next component of knowledge is righteousness. The power of Righteousness is described in a divine hymn, which is as follows:

Righteousness

"Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
There is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world".

It is a beautiful connectivity between heart, character, nation and the world. In a society we have to build righteousness among all its constituents. For the society as a whole to be righteous we need creation of righteousness in family, righteousness in education, righteousness in service, righteousness in career, righteousness in business & industry, righteousness in civil administration, righteousness in politics, righteousness in government, righteousness in law and order, righteousness in justice. In addition to righteousness in multiple dimensions in the society, indomitable spirit is essential for realizing the vision of developed India.

The third component is courage, which is defined as follows:

Courage

"Courage to think different,
Courage to invent,
Courage to travel into an unexplored path,
Courage to discover the impossible,
Courage to combat the problems
And Succeed, Are the unique qualities of the youth.

As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all the missions".

Hence friends, now you realize, knowledge is equal to the equation: Knowledge = creativity + righteousness+ Courage Now the teachers and educators may like to see the real knowledge can be imparted to the students.

Dear friends, as I am with the young students in the process of shaping the vision of your life at this point, I thought of sharing with you some incidents in the life of few great human beings. That will be beneficial in your thinking and in your actions. I would like to share the uniqueness of five great minds, all of them Nobel Laureates, each one having unique traits such as cherishing the Value of Science; undertaking Science as a Life time mission; treating Science Borderless; Birth of Creativity in a difficult situation and Scientific Magnanimity. Certainly I believe this will enable you to imbibe confidence and vision in your life.

The traits of Nobel minds

Value to Science: Let me start with an incident about Sir CV Raman –a Nobel Laureate in Physics for discovering Raman Effect. Raman gives the view that the color of sky is blue due to molecular diffraction, which determines the observed luminosity and in great measures also its color. This led to the birth of the Raman Effect. Raman was in the first batch of Bharat Ratna Award winners. The award ceremony was to take place in the last week of January, soon after the Republic Day celebrations of 1954. The then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Raman inviting him to be the personal guest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when Raman came to Delhi for the award ceremony. Sir CV Raman wrote a polite letter, regretting his inability to go. Raman had a noble reason for his inability to attend the investiture ceremony. He explained to the President that he was guiding a Ph.D. student and that thesis was positively due by the last day of January. The student was valiantly trying to wrap it all up and Raman felt, he had to be by the side of the research student, see that the thesis was finished, sign the thesis as the guide and then have it submitted.

Here was a scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony associated with the highest honour, because he felt that his duty required him to be by the side of the student. It is this unique trait of giving value to science that builds science. Next, let me highlight how science becomes a life time mission for Chandrasekhar Subramanyan.

Science as a Life time mission: Chandrasekhar Subramanyan’s most famous discovery was the astrophysical Chandrasekhar limit. The limit describes the maximum mass (~1.44 solar masses) of a white dwarf star, or equivalently, the minimum mass for which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star or black hole following a supernova. The limit was first calculated by Chandrasekhar while on a ship from India to Cambridge, England. The Chandrasekhar Limit led to the determination of how long a star of particular mass will shine. In 1983, Chandrasekhar Subramanyan got the Nobel Price for this discovery.

Two of Chandrasekhar's students in 1947 were the doctoral candidates Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang in Particle Physics research. Even though Chandrasekhar Subramanyan maintained his office at the Yerkes Observatory in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, he would regularly drive the one hundred miles to Chicago to guide and teach Lee and Yang and others, many a time in difficult weather conditions. In 1957, these two of his students won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in particle physics research. This also brings out Chandrasekhar Subramanyan’s commitment to science and there by to his students. Science indeed is a life time mission for Chandrasekhar. It is this characteristic which makes youth to become passionate towards science.

Science is Borderless: Prof. Bert Sakmann - a German medical doctor and a research scientist who in 1991, together with German Physicist won the Nobel Prize for medicine for research into basic cell function and for their development of the patch-clamp technique. This technique conclusively established the existence of characteristic set of ion (+ve and –ve) channels in cell membranes, that in turn established the role it plays in diseases like diabetes, cardiac, epilepsy and certain neuromuscular disorder.

Prof Bert Sakmann who did his elementary education in a rural background had a passion for Physics and Engineering in school days. The seed of inter-disciplinary research was firmly rooted in him in a very young age. He got interested in Cybernetics in the final year school, since he realized that living organisms could be understood in engineering terms. He enrolled himself for medical education. After foundation courses in bio-chemistry and physiology, he did his doctoral thesis in electro physiology. He attended medical schools in Freiburg, Berlin and Paris. As a doctoral student, he worked on electro-physiological basis of pattern recognition. For this, he closely worked with electrical and computer scientists. He learnt the basic mechanism of vision. Later, he ran his own laboratory in physiology in close collaboration with physio-chemical and bio-chemical departments. In his own words, he enjoyed working with fellow scientists on scientific adventures. Now, here we can find a doctor and a researcher with the capability of working in multiple laboratories simultaneously and becoming a team scientist, sharing the research, sharing the work and sharing the rewards too. He is the real example for “Science is borderless”.

Birth of Creativity in a difficult situation: Mario Capecchi had a difficult and challenging childhood. For nearly four years, Capecchi lived with his mother in a chalet in the Italian Alps. When World War II broke out, his mother, along with other Bohemians, was sent to Dachau as a political prisoner. Anticipating her arrest by the Gestapo, she had sold all her possessions and given the money to friends to help raise her son on their farm. In the farm, he had to grow own wheat, harvest; take it to miller to be ground. Then the money which his mother left for him ran out and the age of four and half years, he starting wandering on the streets. He headed south, sometimes living in the streets, sometimes joining gangs of other homeless children, sometimes living in orphanages and most of the time hungry. He spent the last year in the city of Reggio Emelia, hospitalized for malnutrition. He wanted desperately to escape. Scores of beds lined the rooms and corridors of the hospital, one bed touching the next. No sheets, no blankets. That was where his mother found him on his ninth birthday after a year of searching. Within weeks, the Capecchi and his mother sailed to America to join his uncle and aunt.

He started his 3rd grade schooling afresh over there and started his education, interested in sports, studied political science. But he didn’t find interesting and changed into science, mathematics graduate in 1961 with a double major in Physics and Chemistry. Capecchi never took a Biology class; he learned about biology in the labs. For his practical experience, he worked several terms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Although he really liked Physics, its elegance and simplicity, Capecchi realized from his lab experience that everything we learned [in Physics] was only up to the 1920s. He knew he would switch to molecular biology in graduate school, on the advice of James D Watson. Watson taught him that he should not be bothered about small things, since such pursuits are likely to produce only small answers.

His objective was to do gene targeting. The experiments started in 1980 and by 1984, Capecchi had clear success. Three years later, he applied the technology to mice. In 1989, he developed the first mice with targeted mutations. The technology created by Doctor Capecchi allows researchers to create specific gene mutations anywhere they choose in the genetic code of a mouse. By manipulating gene sequences in this way, researchers are able to mimic human disease conditions on animal subjects. What the research of Mario Capecchi means for human health is nothing short of amazing, his work with mice could lead to cures for Alzheimer’s disease or even Cancer. The innovations in genetics that Mario Capecchi achieved won him the Nobel Prize in 2007. Noble laureate Capecchi life indeed reveals: -

“When you wish upon a star,
Makes no difference who you are----”

Scientific Magnanimity: Now, I would like to narrate an incident which took place during a function conferring Nobel Laureate Prof. Norman E Borlaug, a well known agricultural scientist and a partner in India’s first Green revolution, with Dr. M S Swaminathan Award, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on the 15th of March 2005. Prof. Borlaug, at the age of 91, was in the midst of all the praise showered on him from everybody gathered there. When his turn came, he got up and highlighted India’s advancement in the agricultural science and production and said that the political visionary Shri C. Subramaniam and Dr. M S Swaminathan, pioneer in agricultural science were the prime architects of First Green Revolution in India. Even though Prof Norman Borlaug was himself a partner in the first green revolution, he did not make a point on this. He recalled with pride, Dr. Verghese Kurien who ushered White Revolution in India. Then the surprise came. He turned to scientists sitting in the third row, fifth row and eighth row of the audience. He identified Dr. Raja Ram, a wheat specialist, Dr S K Vasal, a maize specialist, Dr. B. R. Barwale, a seed specialist. He said, all these scientists had contributed for India’s and Asia’s agricultural science. Dr. Borlaug introduced them to the audience by asking them to stand and ensured that the audience cheered and greeted the scientists with great enthusiasm. This action of Dr. Norman Borlaug, I call it as “Scientific Magnanimity”. Friends, if we aspire to achieve great things in life, we need Scientific Magnanimity to focus the young achievers. It is my experience that great mind and great heart go together. This Scientific Magnanimity will motivate the scientific community and nurture team spirit and attract young towards science.

With this background of unique traits of great minds, dear friends, I am sure you will think big. Now it is time to have a great dream in life, dream transforms into thoughts and thoughts result into action. In the environment of Amity University, I was thinking when you complete your education, you have to take different assignments in different institutions in the country. Many a times you have to take the leadership position also after acquiring experience. At this point of time, I would like to share with you, the technological and leadership challenges to be taken up by you during the next two decades. Five technological challenges await you when you enter in your professional career.

Information and Communication Technology

India has to become “Knowledge System Powerhouse” instead of software powerhouse. Also to achieve global operations, we have to consider introduction of virtual platforms for development of knowledge products based on national experience in engineering design of multiple systems leading to a business volume of US$200 billion by 2012 from the present business volume of US$60 billion.

Energy

When I addressed to the nation in 2005, I have set a goal of realizing Energy Independence (coming out of fossil fuel) by the year 2030. When our population may touch 1.4 billion people, demand from power sector will increase from the existing 130,000 MW to about 400,000 MW. This assumes an energy growth rate of 5% per annum. Electric power generation in India now accesses four basic energy sources: Fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal; Hydroelectricity; Nuclear power; and Renewable energy sources such as bio-fuels, solar, biomass, wind and ocean. We need a major thrust in solar energy and wind energy for generating over 120,000 MW by 2030 through these two renewable energy sources. Similarly, it is essential to harness over 65,000 MW from hydro power sources and 50,000 MW from nuclear energy sources. One of the important research areas will be to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells from the existing 15% to 50% within the next three years and make the commercial version available in five years time.

Automobile industry

Future Automotive systems will have characteristics such as Improvement in Combustion Efficiency, Improvement in Diesel Engines, systems using Alternate Fuels and Hydrogen powered fuel cells, systems operated using CNT based solar cells for higher efficiency and design and development of robotic cars which obey traffic laws, merge into moving traffic, avoid obstacles, and negotiate intersections. The robotic technology is indeed taking shape and we may see in this decade Robotic Cars in many parts of the world. We have to aspire to work towards increasing the business volume of Indian automobile industry to US$200 billion by 2016 (with an export component of at least US $ 50 billion) from the present US$45 billion.

Aero space field

In the area of space, India has to work for Low cost access to space bringing the cost per kg from the present $20,000 per orbital kg to $2,000. This will eventually lead India to take part in many mass missions for earth applications and interplanetary exploration for industrial base and second habitat. India has to work for 70 seater aircraft which should be so designed that with only change in fuselage length should be able to vary the passenger capacity to 50 or 90. With the technology available through various programmes, design development and leading to production of 70 seater passenger aircraft before 2020 is possible. This will lead to a business volume of US$15 billion.

PURA Mission

PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) envisages economic empowerment to a cluster of villages through the provision of physical connectivity, electronic connectivity and knowledge connectivity leading to economic connectivity. The theme of PURA, apart from concentrating on reinforcing agriculture, will emphasize on agro processing, development of Rural Craftsmanship, dairy, fishing, silk production, so that the non-farm revenue for the rural sector is enhanced, based on the core competence of the region. Also the rural economy will be driven by renewable energy. In this approach, the aim is to make sustainable development using the core competence of the rural sector. These PURA will be technology driven. The entire country will have 7000 PURAs (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) encompassing over 600,000 villages. As bio-technologist, all of you will have enormous opportunity for contributing in increasing agricultural production, agro-processing and packaging, development of medicines and drug delivery systems. Young friends, you prepare yourselves for chasing these challenges in your professional life.

Conclusion

Dear friends, I have seen three dreams which have taken shape as vision, mission and realization. Space programme of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), AGNI programme of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) and PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) becoming the National Mission. Of course, these three programmes succeeded in the midst of many challenges and problems. I have worked in all these three areas. I want to convey to you what I have learnt on leadership from these three programmes.

1. Leader must have a vision.
2. Leader must have a passion to transform the vision into action.
3. Leader must be able to travel into an unexplored path.
4. Leader must know how to manage a success and failure.
5. Leader must have courage to take decisions.
6. Leader should have Nobility in management.
7. Every action of the leader should be transparent.
8. Leader must work with integrity and succeed with integrity.

In order to achieve excellence in any area or in any institution, what we need is creative leadership. Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect. I am sure, Amity University will generate such leaders for participating in our national development mission.

I am happy that Amity University has just started new courses such as Space Science and Technology, Aerospace Engineering, Avionics Engineering, Integrated BA – LLB, Post-Graduate Diploma in Clinical Management and Master of Film and Cine Production. My best wishes to all the members of Amity University for success in the mission of developing quality human resource with value system backed by our civilizational heritage.
____________________

I would like to recommend five books for your reading.

1 Howard Gardner: Five Minds for the future
2 Daniel J. Boorstin: The Discoverers (a history of man’s search to know his world and himself)
3 Denis Waitly: Empires of the mind (Lessons to lead and succeed in a knowledge based world)
4 James Lovelock: The Revenge of Gaia (Why the earth is fighting back – and how we can still save humanity)
5 G. Venkatraman: Microcosm to Macrocosm
6 Prof. CNR Rao, Nanotubes and Nanowires,
7 Nanotechnology – A Future Technology with Visions Appin Labs, 2007

(The writer is former President of India)

- Sri Lanka Guardian