M.P.BIRLA INSTITUTE OF FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH, BANGALORE
Centre for Research and Education in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Introduction
The M.P.Birla Institute of Fundamental Research has been established as a Society for undertaking research in streams of natural and applied sciences in various disciplines of science, engineering and technology.
The Society was founded solely for educational and academic purposes, with the main aim being, to set up and maintain suitable infrastructure for organizing and carrying out fundamental research work.
The Society, registered under the West Bengal Societies Act 1961, has its Head Office at Kolkata.
The Bangalore Centre
With a view to broaden the scope of its activities in other parts of the country, the Society opened a Center at Bangalore in the year 2000 under the name of “M.P. Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore” with the main aim of teaching and conducting research work in Astronomy, Astrophysics and other related fields.
The Institute at Bangalore is presently located in the 2nd floor of the M.P Birla Research Centre in the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan campus on the Race Course Road with convenient logistic connections from all parts of Bangalore. The Institute consists of a well equipped and air conditioned class room, office accommodation and a good library.
The Institute at Bangalore is now recognised as a Centre for Research, by the Bangalore University as well as by the Dept. of Scientific and Industrial Research, Govt. of India.
Activities undertaken at the Institute
The teaching and academic programmes which are presently taken up at the Bangalore Institute are given below:
100-Hour Certificate Course in Astronomy and Astrophysics designed for students of under graduate level and above.
This course provides an in-depth exposure of the technical intricacies involved in the study of Astronomy and Astrophysics to such students who are found to possess an aptitude for the subject. It is also expected to set a platform for those students who would eventually be seeking higher studies in the subject and aspiring for further research work in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Duration : A time period of 100 hours spread over 5 months ( as Week-end classes)
consisting of 36 hours of theory classes, 30 hours of field trip inclusive of practicals and another 34 hours dedicated to dissertation writing.
Course Module : Class room interactions, Practical Sessions, Trips to astronomical observatories,
Quiz, Dissertation and Seminar
Time of the year : August - December
Eligibility : Undergraduate / Graduate / Post Graduate students
Certificates with grades based on the dissertation and overall performance will be awarded to the students on successful completion of the course.
A total of 15 batches of the 100-hour certificate courses, comprising of nearly 450 students from the undergraduate level of B.Sc. and B.E. streams have so far been completed. These students have gone through class room sessions, dissertation writing along with individual seminar lectures and also could visit the Radio Astronomy Centre at Gauribidanur as well as the world famous Vainu Bappu Observatory at Kavalur as part of their curriculum. The students have also been given the rare opportunity of visiting the Satellite Launching Station of ISRO at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Some of the former students who passed out through this course have been able to obtain admissions for higher studies in several universities abroad. The certificate of this course had a substantial role to play in their admissions into such Universities.
Summer School in Astronomy and Astrophysics for students of class VIII, IX and X.
The primary aim of the course is to create awareness among the high school level students about the stars, galaxies and the universe. The course also aims at addressing some of the basic concepts in this subject and makes an attempt to satisfy the curiosity of the young minds.
Duration : 12 sessions of 120 minutes each, spread over 2 Weeks for each batch
Time of the year : April and May
Course Module : Class room interactions, Practical Sessions, Trip to an astronomical
observatory, Quiz and Assignment.
Eligibility : 8th, 9th and 10th class students
Certificates with grades will be awarded to students on successful completion of the course.
17 batches of Summer schools comprising of about 500 students from VIII, IX and X class level, have so far been conducted over the past 8 years.
Short Term Course in Astronomy and Astrophysics for students of II PUC level.
The main aim of the course is to provide an exposure to the basic concepts in the subject of Astronomy and Astrophysics and to initiate the interested students in the pursuit of extending their knowledge in this subject.
Duration : 15 sessions of 90 minutes each, spread over 3 Weeks (either evening classes or
Week-end classes)
Time of the year : June - July
Course Module : Class room interactions, Practical Sessions, Trip to astronomical observatory,
Quiz, Assignment and Seminar
Eligibility : Pre-University students
Certificates with grades based on overall performance will be awarded to the students on completion of the course.
3 batches have so far been completed.
An introductory course on Astrobiology for Life Science Undergraduate students.
This course is designed for catering to the students interested in the field of Exobiology. Topics like Life on other planets of our solar system, General conditions for the existence of life, Probability of life on Mars, Origin of life, Evolution of intelligence, Information Bio-molecules, Biogenetic carriers, Extinction of Dinosaurs, Panspermia, Building blocks of life in Deep Space, SETI update, Impact of global warming, Kyoto Protocol, Super Eruption, Astrobiology in education, etc will be addressed.
This is the only institute in India which offers such an introductory course in Astrobiology.
Duration : 12 sessions of 90 minutes each, spread over 3 Weeks (Evening Classes)
Time of the year : October / November
Course Module : Class room interactions and Assignment
Eligibility : Life Science Students at Undergraduate level (and also others having interest)
Participation certificates will be given to the students on completion of the course.
3 batches of courses in the subject of Astrobiology have so far been conducted and were found to be quite popular.
General Astronomy for all ( irrespective of age and academic background ).
This course is designed for drawing the attention of the general public to the beauty and grandeur of the Universe. An attempt is made to provide an exposure to the basics of observational Astronomy under the night sky during the course.
Eligibility : General Public irrespective of academic discipline and age (above 6 years)
Duration : 12 sessions of 90 minutes each, spread over 3 weeks (Evening Classes)
Time of the year : January - February
Course Module : Class room interactions, Practical Sessions, Trip to astronomical observatory.
Participation certificates will be given to the students on successful completion of the course.
A brief introductory course in Astronomy has been started for the general public irrespective of their age and educational qualification for the first time in the city in the year 2005. Since then a total of 6 batches have been conducted, comprising of nearly 180 participants. A notable feature of the programme is that the age of the participants has been in the range of 8 to 80 years having a variety of educational backgrounds. These participants have shown tremendous interest in learning the basic concepts of Astronomy and Astrophysics by meticulously going through the class room sessions and thoroughly enjoying the visit to the world famous Vainu Bappu Observatory at Kavalur as part of their curriculum
In addition, the Institute provides
Facilities for post graduate research scholars to conduct research work in Astronomy and Astrophysics leading to publication of research papers in scientific journals.
Along with the above courses the institute supports the interested students to carry out projects in various topics related to stellar spectroscopy, stellar photometry and computational astronomy at the institute .
Support for research programmes in Astrophysics leading to Ph.D. degree in Physics under the aegis of Bangalore University.
Apart from the popularization of this subject, the Institute also partly supports the research programmes in Astronomy and Astrophysics leading to Ph.D. MPBIFR is recognized as a research center by Bangalore University as well as by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Govt. of India.
Regular research work in topics related to stars, clusters of stars, Milky Way Galaxy and so on is being carried out by the Research Scientists of the Institute who are registered at the Bangalore University.
A total of 16 research papers have so far been published in the national and international journals and many scientific findings are presented at several National and International Conferences.
The Institute has already produced its first Ph.D., awarded by the Bangalore University and one more Ph.D. work is in the final stages.
This achievement assumes a significant credit by being the first Ph.D. degree from among the many users of the observational data from the Himalayan Chandra Telescope situated at an altitude of 15,000 ft in the Ladakh region of the Himalayas. This is indeed a notable beginning of the scientific achievements at this Institute.
Faculty
The faculty for this Institute consists of permanent teaching staff at the Institute as well as the Scientists and Professors from various scientific institutes and research organizations in and around Bangalore including the Professors from the Physics Department of the Bangalore University.
The in-house faculty consists of
Dr. Babu G.S.D., Director
Dr. Sujatha S., Scientific Officer
Dr. Sriraghavan S.M., Scientific Officer
Mr. Paul Vinjeet, Research Assistant
Ms Lalitha S., Research Assistant
The visiting faculty consists of Scientists and Professors from the following Institutions
Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore
Physics Department, Bangalore University
Indian Space Research Organisation, Bangalore
Raman Research Institute, Bangalore
Lectures for all theory classes are delivered at the premises of the Institute. Specific lectures related to observational aspects in Radio Astronomy and Optical Astronomy are delivered at the respective field stations, where basic practical exposure to the astronomical instrumentation and observational techniques are provided. As a part of each program there are field trips organised to various observational facilities such as Satish Dhawan Space Centre – SHAR ( Sriharikota), Vainu Bappu Observatory ( Kavalur), Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (Kodaikanal), Radio Astronomy Centre ( Gauribidanaur), Indian Space Research Organization – ISRO ( Bangalore).
Members of the permanent / visiting faculty provide guidance to the students in various academic activities, like dissertation work, research programmes and so on.
Advance Courses in specific topics
With this backdrop, Advance Courses in the subjects like Solar Astronomy, Radio Astronomy and Cosmology with the M.Sc. level syllabus are going to be started very soon.
Each course will be covered in about 24 hours of class room sessions and will be conducted as evening classes on week days during the months of October, November and December.
Certificates will be awarded at the end of the course based on overall performance and various tests.
Upcoming event
A short duration evening course in basic Astronomy will be conducted at M.P.Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore during the month of January 2009.
· This course is open to all.
· No restrictions on the academic background or discipline or age.
· Medium of instruction will be English.
· Classes will be conducted in the evenings (on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) from 6 January
to 29 January 2009.
Last date for the submission of the application form is 5 January 2009.
Interested students may contact the Institute on working days at the following telephones or through email.
General Astronomy Course
(Evening classes)
A short duration evening course in basic Astronomy will be conducted at M.P.Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore during the month of January 2009.
This course is open to all.
Basic requirement for admission is an interest in the subject of Astronomy.
No restrictions on the academic background or discipline or age.
The syllabus for this course is framed to cover the basics involved in understanding the astronomical concepts like identification of constellations, measurement of brightness and distances of stars, types of stars, celestial coordinates, optical telescopes, Galaxies, Astrobiology, etc. It also includes an exposure to the observational techniques and the usage of astronomical telescopes. Interactive lectures for all theory classes are delivered at the premises of the Institute. There will also be a field trip to Vainu Bappu Observatory at Kavalur in Tamilnadu.
The evening classes will begin on Tuesday 06 January 2009 and thereafter will be held on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until 29 January 2009. The classroom sessions will be of 90 minutes duration each from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Star watching sessions will also be conducted after the classes, subject to clear sky conditions. After completing the course, certificates will be awarded to the participants. Interested persons may collect the application forms from M.P.Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Campus, Race Course Road, Bangalore – 560001.
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