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Electromagnetic radiation: Its influence on fundamental research and Society

Date: 14th March, 2024

Time & Venue: 5:30 pm, UG Block LH, Permanent Campus

Speaker: Prof. Bhas Bapat, IISER Pune

Title: Electromagnetic radiation: Its influence on fundamental research and Society

Abstract: Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is ubiquitous in Nature and today this phenomenon seems to be generally known, albeit in some fuzzy form, even to the layperson. However, what is not recognised or well known, outside the small circle of physicists, is that the prediction, the discovery and control of EMR have been phenomenal intellectual achievements. From the point of its discovery EMR has shaped not only fundamental research in physics spanning virtually all areas, but also has had technological fallout that impacted economics, politics, wars and the society in general. In this talk I will present an overview of the milestones in science and technology that were influenced by our knowledge of EMR, the multi-faceted impacts of EMR, and some of the challenges that exist even today. I will also make a case for giving EMR greater attention in UG teaching than it generally gets.

About the Speaker: Prof. Bhas Bapat obtained his PhD from TIFR Mumbai in 1997, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship from Fakultät für Physik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany till 2000. He was a visiting scientist at the Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, before joining PRL Ahmedabad as a faculty member in 2001. He joined IISER Pune as an associate professor in 2014 and is currently a Professor and Dean (Academics) at IISER Pune. His Research Interests include Atomic Collisions, Molecular Fragmentation (Experiments), and instrumentation. He has been involved in developing an Ion Spectrometer for the recently launched Adiya-L1 Space Mission by ISRO.