Physics Academy Programme in Don Bosco College, Tura : Report
Date :: September 1, 2018

Physics Academy Programme in Don Bosco College, Tura on September 1, 2018

Physics Academy of North East (PANE) organized a day-long programme on Physics in Don Bosco College, Tura in Meghalaya on September 1, 2018. Prof. Saurabh Basu of IITG delivered the PANE lecture on this occasion on the topic 'A Tale of Superconductivity: The Indian Connection’.

In this lecture, Prof. Basu discussed the basics of superconductivity. He described in a lucid manner how resistance vanishes in a material below a certain transition temperature together with expulsion of magnetic field (Meissner effect) and the use of a field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC ) protocol to characterize the superconducting state.

A brief introduction of the potential applications of superconductivity like MRI machines, electric power transmission, particle accelerators and magnetic fusion devices were discussed. He also talked on magnetic levitation trains as an interesting application of superconductivity.

Further, he reviewed the discoveries of different superconductors over the last three decades. Then he laid a special emphasis on the recent interesting discovery of superconductivity in Ag-Au nanostructures at ambient temperature and pressure by a team of Indian scientists. He analyzed thoroughly the claim of this tremendous potential discovery reported in the last week of July and its ramifications on the future prospects.

Prof Basu said that a large number of materials undergo normal to superconducting transitions at low temperatures and/or high pressure. He described how something very interesting happened recently when a two-member team, led by Professor Anshu Pandey from IISc, observed superconductivity in nano-sized films and pellets made of silver nanoparticles embedded in a gold matrix at minus 37 degree Celsius. Though the resistance observed was not fully zero but the resistance seen was extremely low, much lower than any metal.

He said the pre-print findings have been reported in the ARXIV and if proved true after re-verification of the claim by the observation of any evidence of such superconductivity, then achieving such a transition at ambient temperature and pressure will definitely have immense significance.

Physics Academy Programme in Don Bosco College, Tura on September 1, 2018

There was great interaction between the speaker and the audience which comprised of large number of PANE Life-members from different parts of North East, students as well as faculty members of different institutions including Tura Government College and the Don Bosco College, the host institution. After Prof. Saurabh Basu’s talk, on request from the audience, Prof. Bipul Bhuyan discussed shortly on BaBar and DUNE experiments of particle physics.

He explained how IIT, Guwahati is playing a pivotal role as a collaborator for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Dr. Bhuyan, who is leading the collaborating projects of DUNE in IITG, also informed how the team is slowly gearing up to build a part of the detector in the IITG campus. The session was chaired by Dr. Pijush Kanti Dhar of Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati.

There was a scientific poster competition among students of different institutions with the theme ‘Use of Technology in energy conservation’.Good number of students from Don Bosco College and Tura Govenment College took part in the competition. Roster Marak, Dritumay Saha and Minibirth Marak, all belonging to Physics Major classes of Don Bosco College came out as the winners. The latest issue of PANE e-newsletter edited by Dr. Subhaditya Bhattacharya of IIT, Guwahati was also released on this occasion at Don Bosco College.

Earlier, the programme was inaugurated by Father Bivan Mukhim Rodriques, Principal of Don Bosco College, where he described how the arrangement of such programme comes out to be extremely helpful for the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

Dr. Arindam Ghosh, Convener of the programme thanked the invited speaker and other members of PANE who stepped into Don Bosco College to make the programme a grand success.

Prof. Bipul Bhuyan, General Secretary, PANE, in his welcome address described how PANE is spearheading the ‘vibrant Physics movement’ to bring Physics education to the grassroots level in every nook and corner of the North East and appreciated the splendid arrangement done by Physics Department of Don Bosco College for the day-long programme.

The vote of thanks was given by Dr. Mahidhar Rajbongshi, HOD of Physics of Don Bosco College.

It may be mentioned that PANE is an umbrella organization of different educational Institutes of North East including IITG and Gauhati University.

Dr. P.K.Dhar
Publicity Secretary, PANE
Associate Professor,Department of Physics
Arya Vidyapeeth College,
Guwahati-781016, Assam