CHENNAI: Deep in the confines of the Guindy Institutional area, in one of the many chambers located amid labs where many a concoction of hypothesis have been experimented, a queer group of youngsters and the middle-aged gather for a meeting.
On a lazy Saturday morning when the Sardar Patel Road is abuzz with traffic, the serene CLRI campus plays host to a bunch of ‘science artists’. It is the 153rd meet of the monthly Science Club and the group discusses painting and sculpting, dog rearing, and krav maga. One might wonder that these subjects are so odd that they cannot be pooled together, but there is something common in everything the club discusses – science. Since 2001, the Science Club has been religiously going on, whether rain or shine, discussing science behind anything and everything, including arts.
Each session has a series of speakers –from scientists to school children –presenting a research finding or a chosen topic and the science behind it. While some days see a paltry attendance, certain occasions are packed with enthusiastic attendees, but there is no dearth of questions after the presentations. When the session is drawn to a close, the deliberations continue over lunch.
Started by T Ramasami, former director of CLRI, the objective was to make science an informal subject. M R Sridharan, convener of the club and senior principal scientist at CLRI, took over in 2004 and makes sure this platform is not dissolved. “Science in a classroom is boring. Informal sessions make it interesting,” he says with a twinkle. The venues of the sessions rotate between CLRI, Guindy Campus of University of Madras, IIT-M and Institute of Mathematical Sciences, while a faculty from each of these institutions is one of the conveners of the club.
There is no dearth of topics and the club had discussed topics like astrophysics, gynaecology, polymers in plastics, mathematics in social sciences, alternate systems of medicine, etc. Every year Nobel Prize winning research is discussed as soon as it is announced and a special session commemorating Teachers’ Day is conducted every September.
“It is the 100th year anniversary of World War I and a session on wars is imminent. The 100th year of films in India also calls for a discussion on modern techniques of filmmaking. The several air mishaps that have been happening recently also make for interesting subjects of a scientific debate”, Sridharan adds.
Apart from a bunch of people who attend the sessions regularly, several make an appearance every once in a while. Over the years the mailing list of the club has grown to over a thousand three hundred, some of whom have even moved to other countries, but attend whenever they are in town.
The Science Club meets every third Saturday of the month. To attend their meetings or make a presentation, send an email to scienceclub2001@gmail.com.