A.K. Singh of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Science and its innovative applications have significantly contributed to the advancement of human civilization, and it is further perceived to play critical role in providing sustainable solution for tackling many of the world’s emergent grand challenges. In this context, creation of new scientific knowledge through multidisciplinary and integrative approach together with smart technological innovation becomes indispensable. Since universities and colleges are the principal locus of scientific research and creation of new knowledge and innovation, it is obligatory on them to align their science education and research activities along the growth and development trajectories of the twenty-first century. Rapid developments in science and technology (S&T) together with ever-changing societal needs and expectations are impacting education and research as never before. The challenges faced today in many cases, however, are fundamentally different from those in the past. This has opened new playing fields and new opportunities in increasingly competitive and interconnected world. One of the most important developments has been the relationship of natural sciences to other disciplines of S&T, also including humanities and social sciences. For instance, the natural science of biology is increasingly taking a fundamental approach of building molecular level understanding of biological systems and processes, and as it does so it gets closer and closer to other disciplines of S&T. Quest for performance molecules, smart materials, new linkage of physical, chemical and biological sciences with computer science for prediction of chemical and biochemical outcomes, etc. are just few other examples of amplified interaction of natural sciences with other disciplines. With such amazing complexities and ever widening utilities, the boundaries of various disciplines of S&T have surpassingly expanded, and to the extent that the very nature and role of these as separate disciplines appear to be blurred. Consequent to this apparent multidimensionality, a number of challenges and opportunities in education, research, and practice of S&T have emerged, warranting education in these areas to be progressively multidisciplinary, with major changes in priorities, approaches and practices. Advancement in sustained quality research, and adopting and practicing integrated and amplified research-driven education and multidisciplinary research collaborations have become inescapable.

This talk would uncover the above-mentioned aspects and discuss the essentiality of upgraded and amplified education and research needs of S&T education today. Illustrations will be drawn from endeavours and experiences of multidisciplinary teaching and research, in particular related to molecular basis of photobiological sensory and energy transductions, design and development of novel functional biomaterials, photoswitches for biomolecular caging, green chemical technologies for various purposes, bioprivileged molecules as a new paradigm for the production of chemicals and chemical products, etc. The talk will conclude by accentuating on finding mechanisms for creating new inter-linkages and evolving an intertwined ecosystem for coalesced advancement.

Email:

Address:Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India, 400076

Jonathan Crabtree of Founder Podometic Bharatiya Maths

Have you ever noticed how 0 sits to the right of 9 on your keyboard? The reason is simple. It is sitting in the wrong place because it is the 'nothing' 0 or 'place-holder' 0. The whole point of zero is it sits surrounded by ones. On a map, unit distances sit both West and East of our origin called zero. So, West and East are on opposite sides of our origin zero. Similarly, opposing unit distances also sit North and South of our origin zero. We can see how lines of unit lengths extend from 0.

West ⇐...1←1←1←1←1←1←1←1←1←0→1→1→1→1→1→1→1→1→1... ⇒East

To make things easy and know how far we have travelled at any point on our lines we label them with unique counts of unit distances.

West ⇐...9←8←7←6←5←4←3←2←1←0→1→2→3→4→5→6→7→8→9... ⇒East

In 1685 a British man John Wallis moved 5 yards East from 0. Then he moved 8 yards West. Upon arriving at3on our map, he strangely said he had "advanced 3 yards less than nothing". Thus, for centuries maths students have wrongly been told negative are less than zero. Fast-forward to 2021 and we know the universe is comprised only of quantities of matter and energy. These universal building blocks are measured with magnitudes and multitudes of units. It is impossible to have any quantity of energy or matter measuring 'less than nothing'. It is also impossible to have any magnitude that is 'less than nothing'.

Just two years after John Wallis, another British man, Isaac Newton, noted that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Newton also wrote “In Geometry, if a line drawn any certain way be reckon’d for affirmative, then a line drawn the contrary way may be taken for negative: As if AB be drawn to the right; and BC to the left; and AB be reckon’d affirmative, then BC will be negative”.Similarly, today we also know 1 negative electron and 1 positive positron cancel each other out and sum to 0.Put simply, despite the science of astronomers and physicists, arithmetic evolved from Ancient Greek foundations missing zero as a mathematical concept mediating equal and opposite quantities. More than 50 years ago I began noticing how the elementary maths lessons of the British Empire never made sense. So, in 1983, I decided to rebuild maths education, so it agrees with both common sense and our known laws of physics. My guru is the astronomer Brahmagupta from Ancient Bharat (India) who documented 18 Sutras of Symmetry in his Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta. Sadly, his laws of maths for negatives, positives and zero from 628 CE were not transmitted to the Middle East. That meant Renaissance Europe, including England, never got to understand Bharat's zero and how to use it to make maths simple. Because of this unknown history, for centuries, many explanations and definitions mathematics education professors have been giving student teachers have been totally illogical and plain wrong. To make sure equations ended up having the correct numerical answer, many laws and rules were invented. Publicly, I would describe many rules and laws taught today as workarounds and bug-fixes. Privately, I would describe them as child-abuse. I should know. As a child, I hated maths because it kept on being explained in ways that made me believe I was stupid. Over the years, billions of people have disliked their maths education and these billions of brains have been telling teachers to change. Yet, instead of listening to children, teachers failed to explain maths and made the children feel like failures for life. How could I have once failed maths at school yet also be in the top 1 per cent for verbal logic and mechanical reasoning? For most of my life, I felt stupid until I began to rebuild maths to make is super simple to both understand and teach. So, I invite you to watch my upcoming talk to see the symmetry of the universe with your own eyes and learn how maths really works. Then, you too will realise that the era of Arithmetic is over, and the age of Podometic Bharatiya Maths is just beginning!

Email:

Address:12 Bath Road, , Glen Iris Victoria, Victoria, Australia, 3146