The IUCAA Story, Part 8: The Eightfold Way

Blending Research, Education, and Public Wonder Through Architecture and Outreach.

The Project Report of IUCAA, which I had submitted to the UGC, was centred around an “Eightfold Way” of what the Centre should do. Apart from being a Centre for Excellence in basic research to help academics from universities upgrade their work, IUCAA was expected to conduct several pedagogical activities like schools and workshops, guiding Ph.D. students, etc. Additionally, IUCAA was to guide university users in using national and international facilities in observational astronomy. The SAC-IUCAA was to play an important role in this programme. Last but not least, I also initiated a science popularization programme for schoolchildren and the general public.

After Phase II of IUCAA’s building programme was completed, we continued with Correa as our architect for Phases III and IV, involving a 500-seat Auditorium and a Recreation Centre. All along, I felt that instead of a formal structure with long corridors of monotony, the IUCAA buildings should be architecturally pleasing and carry scientific information for the casual view. The idea resonated with Charles, and many such items were identified. For example, having seen the original pendulum installed by scientist Foucault in the Pantheon building in Paris, my wife Mangala suggested installing a Foucault Pendulum in a central place in IUCAA. This was done, and the dedication of IUCAA started symbolically with the pendulum.

The Foucault Pendulum at IUCAA

To bridge the gap between science and society, exhibits like these have a role. Some of them may be mentioned: larger than life size statues of four scientists (Aryabhata, Galileo, Newton and Einstein), an authorized descendent of Newton’s apple tree, Sierspinski’s gasket as an example of fractals, a small scale replica of the maze in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace near London, Penrose’s design of flooring with irregular shaped tiles and, of course, several models in IUCAA’s Science Park.

The fractal garden (left), Prof Richard Ellis planting the apple tree (center), and the Penrose tiling at the Chandrasekhar Auditorium (right)

Prof Dadhich showing the Science Park to a visitor, and (right) the author demonstrating the "sympathetic swings" to the UGC chairperson Dr Armaity Desai

The public-oriented activities of IUCAA have established a reputation that prompted the literary couple, the late P.L. Deshpande and Sunita Deshpande, to donate funds that UGC or other government grants cannot support.

The author with P.L.Deshpande at IUCAA (left), the Pulastya building that houses science related activities (centre), and Mrs Sunita Deshpande planting a tree after the inauguration of the Muktangan Vidnyan Shodhika complex (right)