journal
of science education
Editorial
One of the stamps I treasured as a young philatelist was the Indian stamp issued in 1951 showing a picture of ‘Stegodon ganesa’. It was the first postage stamp in the world to have featured a prehistoric animal on it. I puzzled though over the connection between the large elephant like creatures and the words ‘Geological Survey of India’ printed on the stamp. I had thought of geology as something to do with only rocks.
It was much later that I learnt of the Siwalik fossils and the role of early Indian geologists in discovering them, and even much later I learnt that it was someone named Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia who had discovered the longest tusk (10 feet) of Stegodon (‘the roof-toothed one’) ganesa from the Siwalik region. Following more on these tracks, I also got to know that this person was responsible for uncovering a number of geologically interesting aspects of the Himalayas.
As India began to rediscover itself after the arrival of modern science on its shores, the science of geology did not receive as much attention as it deserved for a country whose geology was as diverse as its people and geography. Fortunately for India, it found in Wadia an eminent geologist of its own, who would enthuse generations of Indian geologists. To say that he was energetic and hardworking is perhaps an understatement; one found him clambering up and down the Nanga Parbat area of the Himalayas, at the height of twelve thousand feet, when he was fifty. An article in this issue on his contributions to Indian geology describes in detail the legacy left behind by him.
One of the guiding principles for physicists, especially in the last century, has been that of symmetry in nature. An article in this issue discusses the ultimate symmetry in the world of elementary particles, between fermions and bosons. We also have the second article in the series on evolutionary biology and a variety of other articles.
Indian Academy of Sciences
C.V.Raman Avenue, Post Box No. 8005,
Sadashivanagar Post, Bangalore 560 080
Tel: 91-80-3612546, 3614592, 3612943
Fax: 91-80-361 6094
email: resonanc@ias.ernet.in
URL: http://www.ias.ac.in