Ep 319: Jahnavi and the Cyclotron
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
A Manuscript
Hema Bhattisain was born in a village in what is today Bangladesh, but Bengal basically in about 1860. At the age of 10, she was married off to a 40 year old widower and her early memories are that they're not even memories or non-memories. And then every day she is a journaling for a significant part of her adult life. When she dies, this manuscript, her autobiography, lies at the bottom of a trunk for 80 years until it is discovered and then published.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone possessed of an obsession will run into the forces of inertia. Jahnavi Phalkey joins Amit Varma in episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her history of nuclear physics in India, the men who brought a cyclotron to Chandigarh to study the world -- and her own quest to make common people love science. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Jahnavi Phalkey on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 2. Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth-Century India -- Jahnavi Phalkey. 3. Cyclotron -- Jahnavi Phalkey (Password: cyclotron_2020). 4. Science Gallery Bengaluru. 5. Re:Collect India. 6. CV Raman, Meghnad Saha and Homi Jehangir Bhabha. 7. Because the Night -- Patti Smith. 8. CBGB. 9. Venus -- Television. 10. Just Kids -- Patti Smith. 11. Patti Smith's Instagram post on Tom Verlaine. 12. Ward Morehouse on Wikipedia and UMass Amherst. 13. Rahul Sankrityayan on Wikipedia and Amazon. 14. A House for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 15. Satyajit Ray's Oscar acceptance speech. 16. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 17. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 18. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 19. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 20. Scum Manifesto -- Valerie Solanas. 21. The History Boys — Alan Bennett. 22. Children are Topple. 23. Yuganta — Irawati Karve. 24. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne (on Wikipedia and YouTube). 25. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 29. Ursula Le Guin, Mary Oliver, Mark Strand and Tom Waits. 30. The Sopranos and The Wire. 31. Binaca Geetmala. 32. Tumhe Ho Na Ho -- Runa Laila. 33. Diva -- Annie Lennox. 34. Dire Straits, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Patti Smith on Spotify. 35. Kishori Amonkar and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 36. Tosca — Giacomo Puccini — performed at Arena di Verona. 37. Vissi d'arte -- From Tosca by Puccini, performed by Maria Callas. (And the lyrics.) 38. Gloria -- Patti Smith. (And the Van Morrison/Them original.) 39. Horses -- Patti Smith. 40. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 41. Leviathan and the Air-Pump -- Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer. 42. The Moomin books by Tove Jansson. 43. Lawrence and His Laboratory -- JL Heilbron and Robert W Seidel. 44. A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes -- Rodrigo Garcia. 45. Ironic -- Alanis Morisette. 46. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 47. Behave — Robert Sapolsky. 48. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 49. $800,000 to Zero – The FASCINATING History of DaVinci Resolve — Alex Jordan of Learn Color Grading. 50. Justice with Michael Sandel. 51. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 52. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz. 53. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 54. Falsifiability. 55. The Logic of Scientific Discovery -- Karl Popper. 56. Merchants of Doubt -- Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway. 57. Priyanka Pulla on Twitter and LinkedIn. 58. The Ultimate Pocket Camera: Insta360 X3! -- Marques Brownlee. 59. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 60. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Volumes 1 to 98. 61. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 62. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Hortus Malabaricus. 64. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 65. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 66. In a Silent Way -- Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 67. Raymond Carver on Amazon. 68. Cathedral -- Raymond Carver. 69. Joseph Epstein on Amazon and Wikipedia. 70. Wisława Szymborska on Poetry Foundation, Amazon and Wikipedia. 71. The Foundation Series -- Isaac Asimov. 72. Abbey Road -- The Beatles. 73. The Man Who Sold the World -- David Bowie. 74. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro — Kundan Shah. 75. The 400 Blows — Francois Truffaut. 76. Delicatessen -- Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. 77. La Haine -- Mathieu Kassovitz. 78. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan:1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. 79. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Void Stares Back’ by Simahina.
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