2-month mega science exhibition from July 29

BENGALURU: Aimed at answering several questions about the universe, a two-month mega-science exhibition--Vigyan Samagam will be held at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) from July 29. It is being jointly organised by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Department of Science and Technology (DST) and National Council of Science Museums (NCSM). India’s participation in eight mega projects being done in collaboration with several countries will be showcased at the event. 

Dr Praveer Asthana, head of Mega-Science Division, DST, said,” These projects are mega in terms of resources and are long-term. Scientists from all over the world representing these will be present.” The 1st edition of Vigyan Samagam happened in Mumbai earlier this year. After Bengaluru, it will move to Kolkata and Delhi. 

Madan Gopal, director, VITM said, “These projects will be able to answer several questions we have about how the universe was formed and evolved. It will have a number of working models and exhibits, informative audio-visual content and a unique exhibition pavilion developed at CERN that has been specially brought here.”
Eshwar Reddy, project head, TMT said,” We are building a 30-meter optical telescope along with Japan, Canada, USA and China. It will help us understand the universe’s evolution, observe wavelength range from 310 nanometers to 25 microns. It is nine times’ the size of today’s largest optical telescope (10 meters), can observe galaxies, stars, exoplanets, tiny celestial bodies, etc.”
While some of these projects are located abroad, LIGO and INO are homegrown.

“ LIGO will come up in Hingoli district in Maharashtra. LIGO uses lasers to measure movements smaller than the size of the atomic nucleus,” said Tarun, spokesperson for the project. Vivek, representing INO said, “This facility is being built in Tamil Nadu to detect neutrinos which are the lightest particles in the universe and hard to detect.”

Supriyo Das, representative of both CERN and FAIR, said, “How particles evolved from the energy released by the big bang is what CERN is trying to answer. In FAIR, the experimental activity will start in 2023. It is arguably the largest accelerator project that is multi-purpose, studying nuclear physics and particle physics as well.”

PROJECTS THAT WILL BE ON DISPLAY
Large Hadron Collider at CERN
Facility for Antiproton & Ion Research
30-meter telescope
India-based Neutrino Observatory 
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiments
Square Kilometre Array