Astro_Roamer

The annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI) was held recently in Guwahati and I had the honour of being one of its Scientific Organising Committee (SOC) members. This year marked a record participation, with close to 800 applicants, and we had the Herculean task of selecting 600 for oral presentations and about 200 posters. These were distributed among research institutes, universities, technical institutes and foreign universities. We also selected 14 speakers for plenary talks and 14 thesis presentations, covering various topics: solar physics/exoplanets/astrobiology, stars/interstellar medium/astrochemistry, galaxies and cosmology, high energy phenomena/fundamental physics, facilities/technologies and data science as well as education/outreach/heritage. We also ensured a good gender balance in all the categories.
During the meeting, we also had to take up responsibilities such as poster jury and session chairs. It was nice to see our contributions being appreciated by the participants, and particularly the plenary sessions which had excellent presentations.
I am thankful to all my co-members of the committee, in particular Dr Anandmayee for her guidance. I learned a lot from the experience and happy to have got the opportunity to serve my country 😊

This happened today! A wonderful discussion session organised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), putting three women astrophysicists from IUCAA in spotlight. All from three different career stages: Assistant Prof Rajeshwari Dutta, Associate Prof Chandreyee Maitra and myself as Professor. All three faculty members come from three different fields (theoretical, observational and experimental) in Astrophysics, breaking the glass ceiling in male dominated STEM disciplines. The discussion was wonderfully moderated by young postdoctoral researcher from IUCAA, Dr. Susmita Das, co-chair of the IAU Junior Members working group.

The entire session was a nice conversation spanning our career paths, challenges, interests beyond academia, work-life balance and beyond. It was good to hear things from different perspectives and to learn how similar our paths have been, despite the different backgrounds. We also has a chance to interact with the audience and answers questions on career guidance.
The event was specially organised ahead of Feb 11, which marks the International day of women and girls in science. This was a nice example how women can support women and inspire others to claim their space in such male dominated fields. Deeply grateful to IAU and Susmita for this opportunity and memorable experience!

A couple of weeks back, I was invited to participate in the India Science Festival for a short docu film shoot. The festival was held at IISER (Indian Institute for Science Education and Research) Pune this year. The two day festival hosted many interesting science and scicomm events, workshops and booths.
One such workshop was organised by the Nukkad Theory , an innovative scicomm concept through performing arts. During the festival, they shot an interview with me and a few other scientists, and overnight came up with a brilliant fun short film "Khoj". 🎥🎬 It was a great pleasure for me to watch the screening of the film at the festival, which was extremely well appreciated by the audience 😊
I had great fun meeting up with fellow scientists and scicommers during the festival 😀 It was also a nice platform for exchange of ideas and to learn about innovative projects, startups and initiatives across the country. Looking forward to stay connected with those I met and looking forward to more such festivals in future. 🙌🏻
Great to see you all there ☺️
mathur

I have recently been offered an Honorary Professorship at the Indian Centre for Space Physics in Kolkata, based on my academic achievements. During my recent visit to the institute, it was a pleasure to have a long discussion with the Director himself, renowned astrophysicist Prof Sandip Chakrabarti. Our conversation went beyond Fundamental Physics, as he shared many anecdotes from his illustrious academic journey, such as his interactions with his mentors and colleagues such as S. Chandrasekhar, Kip Thorne, Remo Ruffini and so on. Looking forward to more interactions with ICSP faculty and students in future. 🌠🔭
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The highlight of the visit was the guided tour of the unique space museum by the Director himself, which houses a large collection of memoribilia of astrophysics and space sciences, most of which comes from his own private collection. It included autographed documents from many renowned astronauts and astrophysicists, including the diary of Prof Meghnad Saha, calculations by Prof S N Bose and much more. It was inspiring to learn about many unknown facts about the history of space science and astrophysics in Kolkata. If you are in Kolkata, do not miss a chance to visit this museum! I heard that I barely missed the chance to meet Indian astronaut Subhrangshu Shukla, who was here some days ago to inaugurate the pavillion dedicated to him. 👨‍🚀🚀

A wonderful week in Mumbai - the city of dreams 😍 The last few days, I participated in a multimessenger astronomy conference at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as inviter speaker and panelist. National conferences like this one give a nice opportunity to reconnect with my colleagues working in institutes across India. The beautiful TIFR campus with a seafront is a nice place to unwind and interact with many people. I also had the occasion to hang out with the young students from different institutes in and around Mumbai, and also science communication enthusiasts. Thanks to the organisers for the flawless and wonderful arrangements. 😊

It is not easy to be a woman scientist, particularly in Theoretical Physics. I have had to deal with abuse, harassment, violence, bullying, racism, sexism, depression and micro-aggressions on a daily basis..as have many other women. But giving up is not an option for a scientist. I learned to speak more than 7 languages fluently, trained myself in combat sports and mountaineering, and most importantly learned to stand up for myself against all odds. I did not quit until I became a Professor, at IUCAA (the first in its 37 year history) in India. My life's motto is to break "glass ceilings" and the existing prejudice and clichés associated with the role of women in society, through science outreach and as an ambassador for diversity, equity and inclusion. 🙌🏻

I am deeply grateful to the international journal Nature for featuring me in their series "Changemakers in Science". I hope my story will inspire others, in particular young women in India and beyond, to claim their space in such male-dominated fields. 💪🏻

My heartiest gratitude to Kanika Sharma, Anuradha Mascarenhas, Elodie Chabrol for giving me the opportunity and voice to express myself. I am also deeply thankful to my family, close friends and colleagues, who have supported me throughout my journey ❤️🙏🏻

We are celebrating, and for a good reason 🥂😊 In the past month, there were 7 articles from my research group that were accepted for publication in high impact factor journals, of which 3 in MNRAS, 1 in JCAP (Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics), 1 in Physical Review D, 1 in Nuclear Physics A, 1 in Physics of the Dark Universe, where all my past and present PhD students have contributed 🎉

I am proud of and happy for my students 😊.. In my group we all work together with perseverence and passion for Physics. 🤓💜
Missed my students who were not here, but we did have a drink on your behalf 😌😉

Last month, I stopped over briefly in Germany to give a seminar and to discuss with my close colleagues and collaborators. The brainstorming sessions, coffee chats, group meetings and social events always fill me with new enthusiasm for science and for life 🥰
Thanks to my hosts for their kind and generous hospitality, for always making me feel as a part of their group and for their support and motivation throughout my academic journey 🇩🇪🖤♥️💛😊

Just got to know that I have been featured in the Stanford ranking of top 2% scientists in the world. ✨️ Although it is true that it is difficult to measure contributions and achievements in Fundamental Science with any index, it is heartening to have some recognition for our research. It motivates us to work harder with more passion and dedication. 😊
Thankful to Times of India for sharing the news and for the feature, to Stanford University and Elsevier for their evaluation, and of course deeply grateful to my students, colleagues and collaborators worldwide for their support and contribution 🙏🏻