Illuminati- A Physics, Astronomy and Space Science Club

14/10/2025

07/07/2020

Webinar on "Challenges and Rewards of Experimental Cosmic Ray Physics" by Dr. S. Gupta (GRAPES 3 Experiment, TIFR Cosmic Ray Laboratory, Ooty) . Hosted by HBNI Mumbai 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Indian Standard Time on Wednesday, Jul 8 2020 Link:

Simple, modern video meetings for everyone on the world's most popular and trusted collaboration platform.

27/01/2020

https://phys.org/news/2020-01-hottest-planet-major-meltdown.amp

In the scorching atmosphere of exoplanet KELT-9b, even molecules are torn to shreds.

23/01/2020

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/meet-isros-vyommitra-womanoid-of-gaganyaan/articleshow/73547958.cms?utm_campaign=andapp&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=native_share_tray

India may not send women to space as part of its first human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan slated for 2022, but the humanoid Isro hopes to send earl

03/05/2019

Bring your classmates, colleagues, friends, and family to our booth at Vigyan Samagam - a multi-venue, mega-science exhibition.

➡️ presence: 27th May – 2nd June (Monday to Sunday)
➡️ Timings: 10:00 to 18:00 IST
➡️ venue: Nehru Science Centre Mumbai
ℹ️ Visit: https://vigyansamagam.in/vigyam-samagam/venues-and-schedule/

Watch this page for more updates.

is jointly organised by the Department of Atomic Energy, India (DAE), the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (DST), and National Council of Science Museums-NCSM.

13/04/2019

🚀 Happy International Day of (12 April)!

👨‍🚀👩‍🚀 Pictured in 1963, Yuri Gagarin and Valentino Tereshkova, the first man and woman in space!

➡️ Space science and technologies can be used to support most, if not all, the SDGs (2030 Sustainable Development Goals)!
🌏 To understand how space-related technologies have benefited and continue benefiting all humanity, visit: http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/benefits-of-space/sustainable-development.html

UNOOSA United Nations

10/04/2019

For long, - the guzzling annihilators, have been considered as UNSEEABLE, UNPHOTOGRAPHABLE... Until 10 April 2019! ⚫

Back in 2015, using an extraordinarily sensitive detector ( ), scientists heard the "sound" of a pair of stellar-mass black holes merging to create . The awe-inspiring image released today of the supermassive black hole in the centre of the galaxy M87 adds "light" to that sound. Gone are the days of using illustrations and imagination to visualise a black hole!

Event Horizon Telescope, Congratulations on this remarkably massive feat! 👏

14/03/2019

Manasadevi P Thirugnanasambandam on driving sustainable and inclusive growth.

“As a scientist at IUCAA, I primarily work for the upcoming mega-science project, LIGO-India. My expertise is in lasers and applied optics, and my efforts contribute towards building and running the gravitational-wave observatory that will detect some of the most interesting astronomical events invisible to conventional telescopes. Apart from scientific research, I enjoy reading science fiction, exploring different cuisines, and spending quality time with my family.

I have had a passion for scientific research from early childhood. I enjoy devising new experiments and particularly enjoy working on problems motivated towards technological advancement. So, after exploring the different choices I had, I chose to do experimental physics. Also, the fact that many people think experimental physics is not for women sounded like an inviting challenge and a notion to be proven wrong!

While we have more women enrolling for PhDs, the harsh fact is that many STEM-trained graduates do not remain in the workforce, and this is a major concern. The further I progressed in my career, I saw the number of women reduce significantly. Most of the time, I was the only woman in the room beyond postgraduate education. Institutions have an obligation, both for themselves and for the country’s economic growth, to develop, retain, and fully utilise the nation’s creative talent.

To bring in more women, institutions should strive to implement strategies that combat gender bias in the hiring process and in institutional policies. There should also be an effort to organise workshops on gender bias literacy so as to increase awareness and eventually overcome implicit biases. To retain women in science, family-friendly programs implemented in the West should be considered as these have shown to immensely improve the career-life balance women seek. Such changes made by institutions can make a big difference in attracting and retaining women in STEM.

According to me, the key ingredients to succeed in science is perseverance, curiosity, creativity, and self-confidence. Gender does not and should not determine success in any field. Science may seem like a boys’ club but needs gender diversity as much as any field - if not more. Unless young girls take a step forward to pursue their passion, we will experience a stunted growth in science and technology."

IUCAA SciPOP Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics Asi Poec Department of Science and Technology, Government of India Department of Atomic Energy, India Working Group on Gender Equity, Astronomical Society of India

09/03/2019

Srishti Tiwari (Research Scholar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) on encouraging and engaging young minds.

“The twin LIGO observatories in the U.S. detected gravitational waves right at the time when I was looking for projects (as part of my graduate studies in TIFR, Mumbai). It caught my interest, and I started working with Prof. Gopakumar Achamveedu. My growing fascination and Prof. Gopakumar’s expert guidance motivated me to choose the field of gravitational-wave physics for my PhD. My routine involves developing gravitational waveforms for celestial big guns - merging black holes and neutron stars, engaging in discussions with my social group in TIFR, and keeping myself physically active.

Gender imbalance in STEM is way apparent. To highlight this issue, in a class of 25, I was the only girl to join the physics graduate school. I believe, the problem doesn’t lie in the selection procedure adopted by our institutions, rather it lies in the manner in which these subjects are taught in our schools and universities. It’s all formulae and numericals; seems more intimidating than interesting! For this very reason, many students - girls more often, end up despising these subjects. STEM education needs to be more engaging and our classrooms more encouraging towards girls pursuing STEM.

Dear Girls, STEM is not gender-specific! Don’t be scared of thinking and questioning what you see. In fact, be intrigued by the beauty of nature and question everything. Science can not only offer you a great, respectful career but can also give you the joy and satisfaction of knowing how things work.”
Asi Poec Working Group on Gender Equity, Astronomical Society of India Department of Science and Technology, Government of India Department of Atomic Energy, India

28/11/2018

Be there. 7:30pm tomorrow.

**FACEBOOK LIVE ALERT**

Dr Jess McIver will be live on Facebook tomorrow 29 November 2018 at 1930hrs IST, for a mini-talk followed by a Q&A session.
She is a senior postdoctoral scholar in experimental physics at the LIGO Laboratory, Caltech and co-leads the international LIGO Detector Characterization group. She was at the LIGO - Livingston site during the first detection of gravitational waves (from the merger of two black holes)! After her talk, she will answer the questions you post in the comment section. You can even ask her questions about her time working at the LIGO-Livingston detector in the U.S! See you all tomorrow!

Talk Description: Large-scale interferometric detectors, including LIGO, sense gravitational waves (minuscule fluctuations in space-time) from the most extreme phenomena in the Universe. The LIGO detectors have already sensed gravitational waves from five binary black hole mergers as well as from the merger of two neutron stars, which resulted in a spectacular multi-messenger astronomy discovery. Dr Jess McIver will talk about the major outstanding challenges for the Advanced LIGO detectors, particularly searching for signals in noisy LIGO data that contain a high rate of noise artifacts or 'glitches'.

Visit: http://jessmciver.com/about.html

LIGO Scientific Collaboration EGO & the Virgo Collaboration OzGrav - ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery
Department of Atomic Energy, India Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

14/11/2018

This is a good program for undergraduate students in engineering and basic-sciences. As a part of it, I have spent a summer at Caltech in 2016. If you have any specific questions related to the program, please write in the comments, I would be happy to answer. - Aakash Patil

Applications invited for the LIGO-IndIGO Summer Students Program Published At: 2018-11-13 10:41 - LIGO Laboratory at California Institute of Technology hosts a 10-week summer student research program every year, called the LIGO SURF Program. In consideration of the upcoming LIGO-India project, LIGO....