journal of science education

Back Issues

Information and Announcements

Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
formerly
Mehta Research Institute of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics

A Brief History of the Institute

The Harish-Chandra Research Institute (known as the Mehta Research Institute of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics until October 2000) came into existence in 1975, with a donation of some land and Rs. 40 lakhs from the B S Mehta Trust in Calcutta. With the aim of converting it into a top-class research Institute in the country, the Department of Atomic Energy took over the reins of the Institute and in January, 1992, H S Mani was appointed as the Director and its charter was changed to include theoretical physics as well as mathematics. In January 1996, the Institute moved to its current location on the banks of the Ganga, just beyond the Sangam, in Jhusi. Thus, although, the Institute celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 2000, in its new incarnation at Jhusi, it is not even five years old.

Within a very short time since its inception, the Harish-Chandra Research Institute has established itself as a leading research Institute in the country in the fields of mathematics and theoretical physics. It is a young and vibrant Institute and is currently in the expansion mode with new faculty with research experience in the latest upcoming fields, joining every year.

Academic Activities at the Institute

The aim of the Institute members is to carry out research and add to the body of international knowledge at the frontiers of their subjects in the fields of mathematics and theoretical physics. What are these subjects and why are the Institute members (as well as scientists elsewhere) interested in studying them? We try to briefly answer this question below for the subjects represented at HRI.

A. Mathematics

A good definition of mathematics is `the study of mental objects with reproducible properties'. The main subdivisions of mathematics include geometry, algebra and analysis. Geometry is a study of a space M made up of points with various sorts of structures, analysis involves functions and its derivatives, and algebra is a study of a set of things with a law of composition. HRI scientists mainly work on algebra, with particular emphasis on number theory. There are also a few who work on algebraic geometry and analysis (Box1).

B. Physics

In physics, the general aim is to understand the material world _ what everything around us is made of and what causes them to behave as they do. The main areas of research here in HRI are high energy physics or elementary particle physics, string theory, condensed matter physics and astronomy and astrophysics (Boxes 2-5).

Quality of life in the campus

HRI is housed in one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. It is situated on the banks of the Ganga, just beyond the confluence of the Ganga and Jamuna (Sangam), near the village of Jhusi in the outskirts of Allahabad. The idyllic surroundings with walks through the woods, multi-coloured flowers blossoming in all seasons, and mynahs, peacocks and myriad exotic birds, makes it a naturalist's paradise.

HRI also has an excellent library, a very strong visitor's programme and state of the art computer facilities, with a local network connected to the internet via both VSAT and VSNL links, and with personal high end desk-top computers on every desk. But besides these facilities, HRI also offers an extremely informal academic atmosphere conducive to learning, with perfectly free interactions between the faculty and the students.

On a day-to-day level, life in the campus is extremely comfortable. Faculty, students and post-doctoral fellows live within the campus which has all the facilities needed for normal needs, such as a shop, a bank, a post-office and a medical centre. The campus also has a recreational centre equipped with sports facilities like badminton, table tennis, and (in the near future) swimming. As for other activities, the natural beauty of the terrain, allows plenty of scope for amateur photography and art, besides gardening and bird-watching. The Institute also boasts of a movie club which screens regular commercial and non-commercial movies. Other recreational activities also include occasional music programmes and plays from the city of Allahabad performed at the local community centre housed in the campus.

Recruitment of students

HRI runs a regular graduate programme leading to a PhD degree in both mathematics and physics. Students are called from all over the country, based on an initial screening test called the JEST, to appear for a written test and interview at the Institute. The selected students are then initiated into course work for about a year, in order to prepare them for the research work for their PhD.

The Institute is currently in an expansion phase and is actively looking for young students and post-doctoral fellows, who would like to pursue research in physics and mathematics. The kind of students that are needed are those who are intensely curious about their subjects, highly motivated and hard-working, and who would like to spend their lives satisfying their

curiosity. Since, HRI is a purely theoretical research Institute, the need is for students with some amount of mathematical aptitude as well as the aptitude to innovate and think. HRI students are expected to go for post-doctoral fellowships after they graduate with a PhD and expected to eventually end up in academic positions. Hence, HRI is interested in students who enjoy learning new things and finding new things to learn about and want to spend the rest of their lives doing just that!

Sumathi Rao
Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Chhatnag Road,
Jhusi, Allahabad 211019, India.

Middle East Synchrotron, Jordon

A synchrotron light source is an exceedingly powerful source of light generated by circulating charged-particle beams. It has become an important tool for scientific research and technological progress. Currently there are about fifty synchrotron light sources located in about twenty nations. Jordan will be the first country from the Middle East to join this elite list of nations possessing a synchrotron light source. This is due to the generous gift of the BESSY-I Synchrotron by the German Government [Nature, pp.507-508 (10 June 1999)]. BESSY-I a 800 MeV machine and its successor BESSY-II a 1900 MeV machine are located in Berlin.

Some related articles are at

ICFA Beam Dynamics Newsletter, Vol.22, pp.6-7, (August 2000). http://www-acc-theory.kek.jp/ICFA/icfa.html http://www.pd.inf.it!khan/sow.html

Contact: Sameen Ahmed Khan, khan@pd.infn.it - http://www.pd.infn.it/simkhan, khan@imsc.ernet.in - http://www.imsc.ernet.in/simkhan

Indian Academy of Sciences
C.V.Raman Avenue, Post Box No. 8005,
Sadashivanagar Post
Bangalore 560 080