02 - Young Scientists Summer Program Lecture - 25 July 2006

Yash Pal

Back and Forth Between the Intimate and the Cosmic

Listen [MP3 43:07]

Lecture Summary

Professor Yash Pal shares his passions and fears for the world through fragments about his life, science and education.

He explains his joys of the world with numerous scientific explanations about every day events: Why can you still hear your voice even when your ears are closed? After learning to ride a bicycle, why do you not fall off? When heating water on a cooker, why does a thin film of water appear on the outside of the saucepan?

He also outlines his fears for the world. The moments of madness of suicide bombers on seven trains in Mumbai in July. The desperation of Indian farmers who are committing suicide more than ever before. And the nonsensical economy that prefers to produce bottled water but fails to clean up the world's rivers for all people to enjoy clean water.

But he argues that maybe we can change the world. We could design a new way of living by acting more as children and reawakening our curiosity and observing the world free from social constraints. After all, he says, it was our children that taught our species to talk.

Speaker Biography

Yash Pal, born in 1926, obtained his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His area of research includes cosmic rays and high energy physics. He was the Director of the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad from 1973-1981; and Secretary General of the second United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in 1981-1982.

More recently, some of his many professional positions include Chairman of the University Grants Commission and National Research Professor, India. He is now also a National Mahatma Gandhi Fellow.

Yash Pal has won numerous awards for his contribution to science and space technology, science popularization and educational communication.

Professor Yash Pal’s CV

Responsible for this page: IIASA Publications Team
Last updated: 03 Apr 2009