HT Correspondent
JORHAT, May 14: Padma Shri PS Goel, FNA, FNAE, former secretary of the Union ministry of earth sciences, has delivered a lecture on the topic ‘Future of engineering sciences’ at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST).
The lecture was organised to mark the ‘National Technology Day’ on Monday.
A CSIR-NEIST official informed that Goel in his lecture delivered at the Dr JN Baruah Auditorium of the institute, presented a whole gamut of opportunities for future engineers, scientists and innovators in various disciplines of science and technology. He explained that while science understands the nature of a concept, engineering applys scientific knowledge for the benefit of the society.
Goel delved deeper on discussing the evolution of modern science way back from the discovery of decimal system, zero and trigonometry by mathematicians and astronomers such as Aryabhatta, Bhaskara-I and Bhaskara-II to the discovery of gravity, laws of motion, molecular structure and quantum mechanics by scientists like Isaac Newton, Bohr and Richard Feynman.
Talking about the future of engineering sciences, he encouraged the scientists, engineers and innovators to adopt the power of visualization and said that most scientific and technological evolutions are based on visualization and having the audacity to dream big.
He spoke in detail about futuristic technologies for human habitat on Mars, air taxies based on battery/fuel cell, green hydrogen, quantum computers and quantum communication, gene therapy, large adaptation of artificial intelligence and machine learning, etc. He observed that everybody cannot be a scientist or an engineer, but everybody can be an innovator.
Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan, managing director of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited, who was the guest of honour at the programme, discussed the various challenges of oil and gas sector with the intention to ignite young minds to come up with solutions.
“Sustainable aviation fuel is one global challenge where many countries are currently working on”, Phukan stated.
He also informed that oil demand in the country will continue to grow till 2040 and further highlighted that some of the major challenges faced by NRL are sustainability and achieving Net Zero emission by 2038.
Earlier, Virendra M Tiwari, director of CSIR-NEIST welcomed the gathering and mentioned that the day symbolises the immense contribution of indigenous science and technology in the country’s progress. Tiwari appealed to all to take this day as an inspiration to contribute to the country’s development by inculcating the spirit of innovation and developing need-based technologies.
In the programme four entrepreneurs of the state shared their individual experiences in terms of the challenges faced in setting up of their enterprises, and their association with CSIR-NEIST for acquiring the technology licenses for its product marketing.
They were Alokananda Sengupta, proprietor of Sewali Home Enterprise in Jorhat, Raghubir Singh Nagi from Nagi Trade and Industries in Tinsukia, Pankaj Sharma from an NGO in Jorhat and Sanjeev Baruah from a self-help group in Titabar.
The programme was largely attended by guests, entrepreneurs, school students and teachers besides the CSIR-NEIST fraternity.
The National Technology Day is celebrated on May 11 every year to commemorate the country’s successful nuclear tests conducted in Pokhran, Rajasthan on May 11, 1998.
