Space. Life. Matter. by science journalist Hari Pulakkat is a post-independence comprehensive account of Indian science. Published by Hachette India, the book offers a peek into promising scientific projects while bringing forth the struggles and triumphs of the science community. Pulakkat, in an interview with The New Indian Express, talks about his interest in the project, research aspects, and challenges, while reporting on science in India.
What led you to write this book?
I started reporting on science and technology in 1994, and I wanted to understand more about the journey of Indian science before this year. I wrote the book proposal for the whole of the 20th century. After working for a year on the project and a discussion with my agent Kanishka Gupta, I reduced the period to 1947-2000 as I found it to be most interesting.
Take us through some projects, which thrived irrespective of the poor funding.
Radio astronomy is the most visible. It is visible because astronomers and engineers led by Govind Swarup created two world-class telescopes, one in Ooty and the other near Pune. The project funding - Rs 58 lakh for the Ooty telescope was low by world standards, but salaries were low in India, and Swarup's team did almost everything from scratch. However, low funding also meant compromises had to be made, which were done without too much effect on quality.
Chemical engineering is another area that thrived despite poor funding. At the University Department of Chemical Technology in Bombay, MM Sharma and his colleagues popularised the term, 'idea-based research'. They could afford very little modern equipment, yet they converted the institution into one of the best departments in the world. However, there are always limitations to this kind of research.
Take us through your first-hand experience with some projects mentioned in the book.
Seeing the Ooty telescope was an extraordinary experience. Descriptions do not do justice to the telescope, which was four times larger than any other radio telescope built at that time. The GMRT near Pune is also an extraordinary sight.
But it is not a single telescope, it is an array spread over a large area. Astrosat (India’s first multi-wavelength satellite) is up in space, and so I could not see it. In chemistry, I did not see much as it all happened long ago, and chemistry does not leave relics like a telescope.
Tell us about your research process.
I went through the archives that existed in India. The main ones were at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the Indian Institute of Science, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). I went through annual reports of laboratories wherever they existed. However, the bulk of the research was through personal interviews with key scientists and their colleagues and family. I interviewed close to a 100 people.
At present, what are the key issues faced by Indian scientists, which need immediate attention?
Timely funding is the most important issue that Indian scientists continue to grapple with. Since fighting Covid took away a lot of resources, poor funding is likely to remain a problem for some time. The other are rules that slow down work and often put constraints on what scientists can do. A third, and important issue is the lack of a big scientific equipment industry in the country. A new piece of equipment still has to come from the West, and it takes away precious time.
As a science journalist, what challenges do you encounter in this beat?
Science journalism is dependent on the quantity and quality of science in that country. The Indian scientific establishment is still not big enough to sustain a large crop of science journalists. However, most publications do not take the beat seriously and they do not publish many important science stories in the national media. It is difficult to choose science journalism as a career because only a few publications want to employ you full-time.