In praise of Astronomy
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Astronomy came before all other sciences. So let us praise Astronomy.
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How the astronomer Tycho Brahe measured the positions of planets in the sky through his observations, how Kepler used Tycho's data to discover his laws of planetary motion, how Newton succeeded in using Kepler's laws and Galileo's revolutionary ideas on motion to discover the correct laws of motion and the universal law of gravity and showed how motion of bodies on the Earth and motion in the sky of planets and the Moon follow the sames laws of nature -- all these are very interesting stories. We shall look at these stories in a later essay.
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Any lecture on astronomy or the Universe draws huge crowds of listeners -young and old, educated and laymen. The mysterious Universe continues
to remain as a challenge to the human brain.
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Let me describe an experience of myself. What I saw through a college telescope determined the trajectory of my life. When I was studying in the intermediate during 1952-54, a friend of mine took me to look through the college telescope in the night.
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We wondered at Saturn's rings and the crescent shaped Venus. Then we looked at the Moon. The whole lunar surface was covered by huge mountains and deep craters. It was a good telescope. I felt as if I was standing at a height above the Moon and looking below at the mountains and craters. It was a frightening sight and for many nights after that I dreamt of Moon chasing me.
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I learnt that there are more things in the Universe that were not even dreamt of by me.
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"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy" - Shakespeare
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Science is the key to unlock these things and so I decided what I must do in my life.
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After that when I was in my home-town during vacation, news came that a big comet was coming near the Earth. At midnight 1 or 2 PM I went up
to our terrace and could see that comet. It spread its huge tail over most of the sky and presented a terrifying sight. I cannot forget that sight even now. My resolve became stronger.
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When I returned to the college, I began to read all the physics and astronomy books in the Daniel Poor Memorial Library. (Poor is the name of a person; not an adjective for the library. In truth it was a very good library.) The books that I read such as The expanding Universe by James Jeans and The life and death of the Sun by George Gamow increased my enthusiasm for Science much further. My first article in Science called
"The mysterious Universe" came out in the college magazine in 1953.
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The present epoch is a golden age for Astronomy. Research on the Cosmic Microwave Radiation has taken us to the very origin of the Universe.
The study of very distant supernovae has lead to the discovery of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. Gravitational waves emitted by the collision of two black holes millions of light years away have been detected on the Earth through fantastic instruments called LIGO. Further proof of Einstein's theory of General Relativity has been obtained through these observations.
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A large number of planets around other stars like the Sun have been discovered. Some or many of these planets may be harboring living beings. So, the day when life beyond our Earth will be discovered is not far off. This discovery will lead to a revolution in the thinking of humans about themselves and the Universe. That revolution will be comparable to the Copernican revolution that earth is not the center of the Universe and the revolution unleashed by Darwin's theory of evolution.
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In spite of such attraction and importance of Astronomy, students in India have not taken to Astronomy in sufficiently large numbers. This is a deplorable fact. The Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) constructed by Govind Swarup near Pune and the Ooty Radio Telescope constructed by him are discovering many things in astronomy. There are plans to install many more telescopes and LIGO (India) for the detection
of gravitational waves. For the success of these plans many researchers from the younger generation are needed. It is important for students and their parents to keep this in mind.
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IUCAA founded by Jayant Narlikar in Pune to encourage astronomy teaching in the Universities and Colleges is doing a great service. But much more effort is needed. One IUCAA is not enough for India.
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In most of our universities and colleges, Astronomy is not taught. This is a big mistake. In olden days Astronomy was taught as a part of Mathematics. Even now in some institutions, this outmoded practice continues. Astronomy is a part of Physics. Sometimes one talks about Astronomy or Astrophysics. Both are part of Physics.
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After my experience through the college telescope, my enthusiasm for Astronomy was the greatest. At that time, if there had been a regular degree course in Astronomy I would have gone for that. Since it was not there, I went for Physics as being nearest to Astronomy.
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In the M Sc (Physics) course, Astronomy must be taught as one of the subjects. Fifty years ago when I was working in Madras University, I tried to do this, but could not succeed. Many people must join together and do this. Among the 400 universities in the country, at least in 40 universities, Astronomy must be taught as an important subject. For the success of the many Astronomy research projects that have been started or being talked about, this is essential.