Future of country depends on Science and Technology: Bharat Ratna Rao

Speed Post News Network

Bharat Ratna Professor C N R Rao, 85, on January 4, 2020, said that the future of the country depended on science and technology and the future of science lay on the children who with their hard work and sincerity can work wonders in science. He was addressing the inaugural session of the Rashtriya Kishore Vaigyanik Sammelan (Children’s Science Congress), a part of the ongoing 107th Indian Science Congress, at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Eminent Scientists from India and abroad called on the children gathered at the event to be determined, believe in themselves, and be prepared for unexpected results in their pursuit of science.

Professor Ada Yonath from Israel, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009, advised the young children that in science everything would not go the way they want and that they should be prepared for the unexpected. “Even if things do not go your way, believe in yourselves and do not look for advice from others,” she added.  She recalled that as a child she wanted to pursue science as a hobby and had set up her experiment to measure the height of the ceiling of her balcony.

She referred to the inspiration which she received from Professor G N Ramachandran, Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS), who was known for the formulation of the Ramachandran plot for understanding peptide structure and for proposing the triple-helical model for the structure of collagen. “I had thought that I had lost the first experiment as a scientist, but that experiment was later presented by my guide at a conference in India and appreciated by Professor Ramachandran,” she said, according to a PIB release.

The Rashtriya Kishore Vaigyanik Sammelan (Children’s Science Congress) was inaugurated by the Nobel Laureate Prof. Ada Yonath and Bharat Ratna Prof CN R Rao in the presence of Dr. Akhilesh Gupta, Head, NCSTS, Department of Science and Technology (DST), and other dignitaries.

During the event, Infosys ISCA Travel Award 2020 was also given to top 10 students for their best write ups for innovations in the field of Science & Technology.