Popular Science Lecture on "The Science and Arts of Chaos"
Thursday, the 29th March 2007: 3.00 to 5.00 pm, Auditorium I in Gujarat Science City
The Gujarat Science City is announcing the popular science lecture on the topic "The Science & Arts of Chaos" to be delivered by Dr. Amita Das, Associate Professor, Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar on the Thursday, 29th March 2007 at 3.00 pm in Auditorium I.
The lecture is ninth in its series titled as "SCIENCE MATTERS" that aims to bring awareness among the young students, parents, teachers and the media persons about the fascinating world of basic sciences and its promising future. The series deals with topics on frontier areas of science and technology for the spreading of new knowledge and awareness among the students as well as the public at large.
Almost three centuries ago Sir Isaac Newton provided the basic laws of evolution of a mechanical system. That enabled the prediction the motion of mechanical systems. For example, the motion of pendulum, falling objects under gravity, rocket and missile trajectories, satellites and also heavenly bodies etc., can be determined at any later time knowing their present positions. However, such a long term prediction is not possible in the context of a variety of other situations. For instance, weather cannot be predicted even a week in advance.
The lecture will describe the essence of difference in the two situations. Even though the governing laws are deterministic, the extreme sensitivity on initial condition renders prediction impossible in certain situations. This gives birth to the science of chaotic dynamics. The talk will explore how scientific knowledge is diffused into society through the medium of scientific visualization, taking the late eighties phenomenon of Chaos Culture as an example.
Dr. Amita Das is a senior faculty member in theoretical science group in the Institute for Plasma Research in Gandhinagar. A Doctorate from IIT Kanpur, She has a long lasting research career in plasma science with number of scientific publications in national and international journals. Her work on "Study of Plasma Turbulence" brought her the recognition from the Department of Atomic Energy - Science Research Council (DAE-SRC) as Outstanding Research Investigator award in 2006.
The lecture will provide an insight about philosophy of science as well as introduce the steps for logical and analytical thinking.
All are cordially invited to attend the programme at Auditorium I in the Science City.
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