Meet Indian woman who captivated Oppenheimer's attention, the father of atomic bomb, she worked as..., her name is...
Growing up in a traditional family in Kerala, Radha broke the traditional barriers set around women; she overcame obstacles to get to one of the world's greatest institutions — the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA — the same institution that was home to the legendary physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, also known as the 'Father of the Atom Bomb.'
Thayoor K. Radha started her journey in a traditional, male-dominated environment. In rural India, there was hardly any precedent for women entering the scientific world. Radha was born in 1938 in Thayyur, a small village that did not even have basic electricity. Using kerosene lamps during her studies, she was determined to pursue education and push the limits that were placed on women's access to scientific education.
When she started her physics studies in Madras, it was a brave act for a woman to even be attending university. Radha got to work with the famous physicist Alladi Ramakrishnan, who was in the process of building India's first fully modern institute for theoretical physics — the Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Radha was one of an extremely small number of women who would ultimately be a part of the first initiative of that institute. She followed her passion and did not back down, while most of the students were men. Radha was bright, focused, and courageous, and it showed.
T.K. Radha's story is not only a reflection of her academic brilliance, but mainly of resolve, spirit, and resilience against gender stereotypes. Her journey inspires generations of women to dream big and pursue science careers — regardless of the hardships.
T.K. Radha is more than eighty, and she lives in Edmonton, Canada. A 21st-century archivist should be commended for the revival of Radha's inspiring story, rediscovered from forgotten letters, academic records and oral history.
It was 1960s by this time Thayoor K. Radha's pioneering work was achieving worldwide notoriety. Her proficiency in quantum mechanics and particle physics gained the attention of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father of the atomic bomb' and the director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In 1965, a pivotal letter arrived: an invitation to join an esteemed group of physicists in the United States, where the foremost scientists were shaping the future of the world. This was a significant milestone in Radha's career, allowing her to gain access to the world stage as a woman from a community not generally characterized by its access to international travel.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
43 minutes ago
- The Hindu
World's highest bird death rates at Thar Desert wind farms
In the first half of 2025, India added around 3.5 GW to the wind sector – an 82% year-on-year growth – taking the total installed capacity to 51.3 GW. Even so, India's wind power remains largely untapped. According to the National Institute of Wind Energy, India's gross wind power potential is 1163.9 GW at 150 m above ground level. At the Global Wind Day Conference in June, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi urged States to address land availability and transmission delays post-haste. India's ambitious climate goals and surging energy demands mean renewable energy development will continue to accelerate. Experts are concerned, however, that the addition of wind power capacity has been coming at the expense of avian welfare. Bird mortality at wind farms For years, researchers have raised concerns about the impact of wind turbines on fauna, particularly birds. A study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), published recently in Nature Scientific Reports, has estimated that bird mortality rates at wind farms are the highest in the world in India's Thar Desert. The study was conducted in a 3,000 sq. km desert landscape in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, home to around 900 wind turbines and 272 bird species, including the critically endangered great Indian bustard. Across seven multi-season surveys, WII researchers searched for bird carcasses within a 150-m radius of 90 randomly selected wind turbines and found 124. The estimated annual bird mortality per 1,000 sq. km came up to 4,464 birds after correcting for non-detection due to vegetation cover or carcass degradation during the survey and due to carcass scavenging before the survey. The researchers conducted similar surveys at 28 randomly selected control sites (between 500 and 2,000 m of any turbine) to account for the natural mortality of birds and found no carcasses. 'Very few studies have robust data to have accurate assessments that correct for detection issues and have controls for comparison,' Yadvendradev Jhala, one of the authors of the study, said. The WII study isn't the first to examine bird mortality in wind farms in India. A 2019 study documented bird deaths at wind farms in Kutch and Davangere. However, the estimate of 0.47 bird deaths per turbine per year at both sites now pale in comparison to the 1.24 bird deaths per turbine per month in the Thar Desert. 'It's quite a high estimate, but that's quite possible,' Ramesh Kumar Selvaraj, an independent consultant and author of the 2019 paper, said. '[Mortality rate] will vary depending on geography, season, and other factors.' Bird density, infrastructure density, and configuration are crucial factors, according to Jhala. The Thar Desert is part of the Central Asian Flyway — a major migration route for birds across Eurasia — and a prominent wintering destination. The desert mortality estimates also included bird collisions with power lines linked to the wind turbines. The Gujarat and Karnataka study didn't include this cause. Per both studies, raptors were the most affected group of birds, echoing findings worldwide. 'Raptors are long-lived species that lay fewer eggs, and any additional mortality can lead to population-level impacts,' Selvaraj said. 'Their flight altitude and soaring flight behaviour means they are more vulnerable while manoeuvring rotating wind turbines.' Organisations like Birdlife International have proposed several mitigation measures to reduce bird collisions with wind turbines, including painting one of the turbine blades to increase visibility and shutting turbines down at a certain time of day or season. However, Selvaraj said he believes the most crucial step in mitigation is to carefully select the site of a wind farm. Avian Sensitivity Tool for Energy Planning (AVISTEP) is an open-source platform developed by Birdlife International that helps developers identify and avoid sites where renewable energy could affect birds. Selvaraj, previously with the Bombay Natural History Society, coordinated India's map for AVISTEP. 'The whole of India, including offshore areas, have been divided into different categories of avian sensitivity such as 'low', 'moderate', 'high', and 'very high',' Selvaraj said. 'While AVISTEP can serve as a guide, ground-level studies are crucial before installing wind farms,' he added. However, onshore wind energy projects in India aren't mandated to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) before installation. From land to ocean Offshore wind farms are emerging as a valuable renewable energy resource worldwide. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, operational offshore wind capacity worldwide is currently around 83 GW. India has also turned its attention offshore and aims to install 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. In June, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy launched offshore wind energy bids totalling 4 GW in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The primary motivation is to look beyond land-based resources, which are becoming increasingly 'complex' and 'time-consuming' to procure for renewable project development, Disha Agarwal, senior programme lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), New Delhi, said. With a coastline stretching across 7,600 km and exclusive economic zones covering 2.3 million sq. km, India has considerable offshore wind energy potential. According to CEEW research, the addition of offshore wind to the renewable energy pool in Gujarat will benefit power system operations in the State. 'We saw that offshore wind will aid in system adequacy and help meet reliability requirements during peak load hours,' Agarwal said However, despite the growing interest, there has been limited research on the environmental consequences of offshore wind farms. Offshore wind energy is a complex infrastructure asset that requires detailed marine spatial planning exercises to assess environmental and social impacts, according to Gopal K. Sarangi, head of the Department of Policy and Management Studies at the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi. 'As observed in other countries, there are numerous environmental risks for offshore wind farms,' Sarangi said. 'They could disturb marine biodiversity, create noise pollution for marine habitats, and pollute the ocean water at various stages of project development.' According to the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy, unlike other renewable energy developments in the country, EIAs are essential for offshore wind energy. The rapid EIA report of the proposed offshore wind farm in the Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat documented five marine mammals, including dolphins and sharks, and a reptile within the study area. While the report recognised that increased turbidity and noise levels during the construction phase of the wind farm may drive away highly sensitive species, it deemed the noise and vibrations during the operation phase to be 'limited'. Selvaraj said he doesn't agree with the report's inference that there are very few bird species passing through the study region. 'Gujarat and its coasts are a key area within the Central Asian Flyway and the African-Eurasian Flyway,' according to him. Per AVISTEP as well, the proposed location has a high avian sensitivity score. Thus, Selvaraj urged a longer, more thorough study to understand how migratory bird species use the area and the possible effects of wind farms on these birds. Nikhil Sreekandan is an independent journalist.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Simpler tests could slash biosimilar costs, widen patient access
Most of the drugs that we consume are called 'small molecule drugs'. Their chemical structure is reasonably simple. Disprin, for instance, has a molecular weight of around 180 daltons. There is another breed of drugs that are very large, complex molecules. For instance, the molecular weight of insulin is around 5,800 daltons and that of the monoclonal antibody remicade, about 150,000 daltons. (One dalton is equal to one-12th the mass of a carbon-12 atom.) Small molecule drugs also tend to have fixed structures that do not change for the duration of their use. In contrast, the complex molecules, which we call biologics, are produced in biological systems and therefore during their production slight variations in the structure may arise. However, these variations may have no impact on the stability of the molecule, its efficacy or its side effects. When a company produces a small molecule drug for the first time, it seeks patent protection for that drug. That is, no competitor may make that drug for several years. It is only when the drug goes 'off patent' that competitors may make it. In the absence of competition, the originator company can price the drug very high. Once there is competition, the competitor companies produce generics, which are copies of the original drug. They don't undertake the research and development to make the drug and they may not spend as much on marketing and sales, so the costs of generics are also much lower. Most of the drugs that you and I take are generics and are priced very cheaply compared to the originator drug. A good example is Sovaldi, a drug used to treat hepatitis C: it originally cost $84,000 for a 12-week course in the US but that dropped to $1,000 once Indian generic firms started making it. Largely it is generic drugs that keep us in India alive and well. Since biologics made by a generic firm will be produced by different biological systems, they may not be identical to those made by the originator company. Thus they are called biosimilars, not generics. For many years, a debate has raged over how much proof is required for a manufacturer to prove that a given biosimilar will work as well as the original biologic drug. Therefore, whereas much simpler testing was required to show that a generic small molecule was working like the originator molecule, there are more elaborate and expensive tests for biosimilars. Major drug regulators such as those of the US, the UK, and in Europe have been working to determine how they can simplify the requirements for approving a biosimilar, in view of the availability of modern analytical techniques. For example, the UK has removed animal trials and the US has planned to replace them with more human-relevant methods (like using organoids). In India, this requirement has not yet been updated although there is a proposal to waive animal studies on a case-by-case basis. Some have also argued that India should follow the practices of the UK and the US. The same holds for the more expensive clinical trials, which in the UK are currently required only in certain cases. Biosimilars need to be made less expensively while ensuring efficacy and minimal adverse effects. The larger the number of affordable biosimilars, the more options we will have for our patients. Gayatri Saberwal is a consultant at the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Preserving the past: Ancient manuscripts in a race against time
1 2 3 4 5 6 Patna: Preservation of ancient manuscripts is an act of cultural reverence. Each brittle scroll and weathered folio is a portal to the past, where inked symbols became vessels of science, scripture and philosophy. But these treasures of knowledge, once passed hand to hand by sages and scribes, now face a race against time and nature. " Manuscripts are vulnerable to many threats – humidity, temperature shifts, exposure to light, chemical reactions – all of which accelerate their decay. And the act of handling them, no matter how gentle, only adds to their fragility," said a senior academic engaged in manuscript conservation. As the physical forms grow delicate, the mission to preserve what they hold becomes all the more urgent. Conservationists employ a mix of traditional and modern techniques – fumigation to repel infestations, controlled environments to manage temperature and humidity and increasingly, digitisation to ensure universal access. "Digital preservation allows these rare texts to reach anyone, anywhere," said a conservator involved in digitisation efforts. "Once online, a manuscript from 10th-century Mithila or ancient Nalanda becomes a resource for the world," he added. Yet, beyond methods lies the medium itself – the materials once used to create these manuscripts tell their own story of civilisational ingenuity. Jayadeo Mishra, former head of ancient Indian history and archaeology at Patna University, pointed to the world's earliest plant-based writing surface: papyrus, used in Egypt as far back as the third millennium BCE. "In India, palm leaves and tree bark were the principal writing supports before the introduction of paper in the 11th century," he said. These writing supports were as diverse as the ideas they carried: Tal-patra: Palm-leaf manuscripts strung like necklaces – bundles of 50 to 100 leaves, evenly cut and pressed between carved wooden covers. Some rare scrolls even span a metre in length, midribs intact, rolled like ancient carpets of thought. Bhoja-patra: Thin, crisp folios made from the bark of the Himalayan birch. They were sheathed between wooden boards or wrapped in cloth, holding centuries of poetry, law and devotion. Hansi-pata: Crafted from the bast fibre of the Agaru tree, these were slender, stackable folios rarely bound, often stored with reverence between wooden slats Handmade paper: Often folded into books or kept loose, these manuscripts mark the transition to more accessible formats, yet still retain a rustic elegance. Manufactured paper: As industrial methods took hold, folios on factory-made paper entered the scene. Some were bound; others remained loose, but each was a sign of evolving archival practices. One of the most evocative media, however, remains birch bark, the velvety, flexible skin of Himalayan birches. In ancient India, it was the parchment of choice for high knowledge. Mishra said, "Birch bark was used for Buddhist scriptures, classical Sanskrit texts, medical treatises and even scientific documents. These were living repositories of human understanding." Among the most famous birch bark texts is the Bower Manuscript, dating back to the 4th–6th century CE. It contains Ayurvedic medical knowledge, offering insights into early Indian treatments and formulations. Birch also hosted sections of the Mahabharata, Patanjali's grammar, and Buddhist canons such as the Dhammapada and Mahayana sutras. Even early astronomical charts and mathematical calculations found home on its soft, fibrous surface. Ashok Kumar Jha, physics teacher at Patna University and assistant director of the university's central library, said manuscript preservation was a delicate balance of traditional wisdom and modern science. "We often use natural deterrents like neem leaves, peacock feathers or even snake skin placed between the pages to prevent insect damage," he said. To guard against wind and humidity, manuscripts are stored in airtight wooden boxes, where bundles of herbs such as acorus and karpoora are tied in small pieces of cloth and tucked inside to maintain a controlled environment. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Friendship Day wishes , messages and quotes !
