A new research from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai have developed a cost effective method of measuring the deformations in geotextiles-- a type of fabric generally used in the soil, using a common digital camera.
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While the readers picked their choice of stories published on the website for 2017, here are the editors’ pick. Hope you enjoy them!
Dr. Lalji Singh was born in the small village of Kalwari in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh on 5th July 1947, to a farmer and head of village, Suryanarayan Singh. With no higher education facilities in his village, Lalji strived for an education early on, travelling to a nearby village to complete his schooling and joining the reputed Banaras Hindu University.
Pushpa Mittra Bhargava was born in Ajaymeru in Rajasthan on 22nd February 1928, to Ram Chandra Bhargava, a medical doctor, and Gayatri Bhargava. He was homeschooled until about the age ten, by his grandfather, after which he was directly admitted to class 9 in Varanasi.
C V Vishweshwara or “Vishu” as he was known to all, was born on 6th March 1938, in Karnataka. He finished most of his schooling in Bengaluru and then his graduation in Mysore University. For his PhD, he moved to Columbia University and later to University of Maryland in USA, to work on general relativity.
Dr. U R Rao was born on 10th March 1932, at Adamaru in the state of Karnataka. After completing his undergraduate at Anantpur, Rao moved to Banaras HIndu University for his Masters and then to Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad to complete his PhD under the guidance of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.
Dev Raj Sikka was born on 1st March 1932, in Jhang Maghiana in the undivided Punjab. After completing his M.Sc in physical chemistry from Agra University with a first rank, Sikka began his career in the Indian Meteorological Department in 1954.
Born on 26th November, 1926, in Jhang, in undivided Punjab, Dr. Yash Pal was an Indian scientist, educator, science communicator and educationist. After completing his M.Sc. degree in Physics from Panjab University, he moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his PhD. His areas of specialisation included cosmic rays.
Whizzing and whirring past us are these insects that most of us remember as ‘helicopters’ of our childhood. Often subjected to our harsh fascination, these winged beauties were tied a string to their bodies, and flown around. Dragonflies and damselflies, collectively known as Odonates, were once as interesting to us as dragons and damsels of stories.
Thickness of ice is one of the key indicators of global warming, but it is difficult to take these measurements accurately as direct methods can not be used on a large scale. An international team of scientists make an effort to standardise these measurements and evaluate the various current models.