BENGALURU: In 2017, when Jahnavi Phalkey, director of the Science Gallery Bengaluru, had to take a call about leaving her well-paid job in London to come to Bengaluru to ‘establish something new’, the choice was not easy. The decision surely made her ‘anxious’. But after much contemplation, she decided to take that leap of faith. Many hurdles later, including the pandemic, the gallery finally opened on Friday on Bellary Road.
Phalkey says after six long years, the idea finally took off. “When I started, it was a learning cliff. I came from a university teaching position. I had no idea about building an institution from scratch. I only knew I wanted a public space for science in India,” says Phalkey, who finally hopes to get a good night’s sleep.
For many, the name Science Gallery Bengaluru might sound intimidating, but Phalkey assures that it is for anyone who is ‘curious’. “The primary aim of various science centres is to teach principles of science through experiments. From there, the next aim was to bring existing research, art and artists together to see if something to engage the public could be created. That is the model we are looking at,” says Phalkey.
The current exhibition, which is all about carbon, starts with an anecdote about prominent scientist and Bengalurean, CV Raman. Only a few know that the Nobel laureate had a deep fascination for diamonds.
“Let’s think of carbon in a very holistic way. Many of us have been introduced to carbon from chemistry texts. In a way that could have intimidated us. So Bengaluru has a strong connection to carbon through CV Raman. He worked with it in the form of a diamond. He wasn’t just fascinated by diamonds, but also had a large collection of them,” explains Madhushree Kamak, head of the exhibition.
She further adds, “The Maharaja of Panna, who used to own Panna diamond mines, let Raman study his 52-piece diamond necklace. Raman’s collection came from the Maharajas.”
Meanwhile, there are experiments where people get to see live silkworms feeding on the leaf laced with carbon. “The nano carbon gets embedded in silk that comes out of the worms. Researchers found that this silk is three times stronger than regular silk, and is mostly used in parachutes and for medical purposes,”
Kamak explains about the current exhibition which has 36 exhibits.
(The gallery is open to the public between Tuesday and Sunday. Entry is free. Details at bengaluru.sciencegallery.com)