BITM honours women scientists with busts, unveils new science galleries
Times of India | 5 December 2024
123 Kolkata: Birla Industrial & Technological Museum (BITM) is set to unveil busts of 10 leading women scientists, ushering in gender parity at the country's first science centre, where men of science have dominated its lawns for several years now. BITM will also inaugurate a new gallery on the evolution of television and a National Science & Technology Digital Archive for the collection and preservation of the intellectual legacy of Indian scientists, engineers, technology pioneers, and medical researchers.
Life-size fibreglass-reinforced busts of Engineer Rajeshwari Chatterjee, Biologist Kamal Ranadive, Organic Chemist Darshan Ranganathan, Botanist Archana Sharma, Physicist Bibha Chowdhuri, Chemist Asima Chatterjee, Meteorologist Anna Mani, Anthologist Irawati Karve, Physician Kadambini Ganguly, and Plant Cytologist E K Janaki Ammal have been installed before the BITM lawn.
BITM director Subhabrata Chowdhury acknowledged that the recognition of the women scientists was long overdue and is an inspirational way for the young girls visiting BITM every year to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). "This exposition is a step forward to change the perception that science is a male-dominated field," he said.
Earlier this May, Science City carried out a similar course correction to rectify a gender bias, showcasing 10 remarkable women of science.
"India has had several distinguished women scientists. But the busts of scientists at all science centres in the country are those of men. We wished to correct this gender bias and recognise the women who have done pioneering work in science. The start has been made in Kolkata," said NCSM director general A D Chaudhuri.
BITM will also inaugurate a new gallery on the evolution of television as a medium of personalised household entertainment through 20 state-of-the-art interactive exhibits, models, dioramas, and artefacts in an educative and informative ambience. Among the exhibits will be a working model of TV with AI-generated talking imagery of John Logie Baird, Stopmotion Animation Kiosk and a Virtual Makeover Station.
A National Science & Technology Digital Archive will also be inaugurated for the collection and preservation of the intellectual legacy of Indian scientists, engineers, technology pioneers, and medical researchers. The collection encompasses a broad range of material collected from scientists, medics, engineers, and inventors, including manuscripts, letters, diaries, photographs, notebooks, scientific publications, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings. The project, to begin with, includes nationwide contributions of 70 scientists like Birbal Sahni, Homi J Bhabha, Dilip Mahalanbis, Vikram Sarabhai, M V Visvesvaraya, and others.
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