Science Congress begins with rural development theme

The 107th Indian Science Congress (ISC), the country’s largest science event, opened at the University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, in the city on Thursday.

The summit, organised by the Indian Science Congress Organisation, will be held from January 3 to 7.

Organisers said the five-day science festival — which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate at 10 am on Friday — will offer deep insights into various research.

As per the registration data, the congress will see the attendance of 73 resource-persons from 16 countries, who will present papers under different topics. Among them are 37 Americans, 10 Japanese and 5 Chinese.

The event will also showcase ongoing research and discoveries in about 14 disciplines.

Several prominent scientists are expected to take part and present their views on various subjects. Among them are two Nobel laureates — Professor Stefan W Hell of Germany and Professor Ada E Yonath of Israel.

Hell (58) won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2014 for his work in developing a super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. Yonath (80) won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". On Thursday, a 'Vigyan Jyoti' was held at the GKVK campus.

The programmes will be conducted in 27 halls and spread over eight sessions a day. A separate dining hall capable of accommodating more than 5,000 people has also been set up. Expert chefs and cooks assistants have already commenced their work adjacent to the Dr Babu Rajendra Prasad International Convention Centre, where the conference will be held.

The major events of ISC are the Science Communicators Meet, Children Science Congress, Science Exhibition and Women’s Science Congress. The focal theme of the congress is 'Science and Technology: Rural Development'.

The ISC Association has released an android application — ISC 2020 UASB — for easy navigation of programmes, dates and venues regarding the congress, which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.