Vigyan Adda

This is a forum through which academics from ICTS and other similar institutes and universities can explain their scientific work to broader audiences, or engage with the public on scientific and mathematical topics of interest.

Target Audience: Undergraduate and graduate students of science, and/or members of the public with a basic background in science.

Contact: outreach @ icts . res . in

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Past Talks
Experimental evolution
Christian Schlötterer (Institute of Population Genetics, Vienna)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Thursday, 30 May 2024
Online
Abstract: Ever wonder what your life would be like if you'd made a different choice? Those "coin toss" moments happen all the time, not just for us, but for entire populations of living things! This can make it tricky for scientists to tell if something is changing a species on purpose (like...more
Some tales of universality from the world of probability
Riddhipratim Basu (ICTS-TIFR)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Thursday, 13 July 2023
Online
Abstract: The phenomenon of universality, where many complex systems share large scale features despite differing in microscopic details, is often observed in nature. Explaining this phenomenon in various contexts of mathematical models is one of the important topics in contemporary research in...more
Dynamics of quantum entanglement
Sthitadhi Roy (ICTS-TIFR)
4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Thursday, 02 February 2023
Online
Abstract: Quantum entanglement is one of the central tenets of quantum mechanics. In fact, it can be understood as the notion that distinguishes what is truly quantum from classical about the state of a system. Loosely speaking, entanglement between different parts of a system can be thought of as...more
Branching Random Walks: Two Conjectures and a Theorem (online)
Parthanil Roy (ISI - Bengaluru)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Sunday, 05 June 2022
Livestream via the ICTS YouTube channel
Abstract: - Branching random walk is a system of growing particles that starts with one particle. This particle splits into a number of particles, and each new particle makes a displacement independently of each other. The same dynamics goes on and on, and gives rise to a branching random walk,...more
The finite part of infinity (ONLINE)
Joseph Samuel (RRI & ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Sunday, 24 October 2021
Livestream via the ICTS YouTube channel
Abstract: - Ramanujan's notebooks contain the equation 1+2+3....= - 1/12. While this seems to go against common sense, there is deep mathematics behind this assertion. I will try to explain in what sense this must be understood. Such mathematical interpretations of divergent series have had an...more
Steven Weinberg: The Physicist and his Physics (ONLINE)
Rohini M. Godbole (Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Thursday, 02 September 2021
Livestream via the ICTS YouTube channel
Abstract: - Prof. Steven Weinberg, one of the greatest theoretical physicists of this century, passed away recently. This talk will try to give a glimpse of the vast canvas of theoretical physics to which he contributed, starting from his ideas on unification of electromagnetic and weak...more
Heading towards turbulence (ONLINE)
Rama Govindarajan (ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Thursday, 15 July 2021
Livestream via the ICTS YouTube channel
Abstract:- Fluid flow is laminar, or turbulent, or something in-between. Honey normally flows in smooth laminar fashion but a volcanic eruption is fierce and turbulent. Laminar flow is efficient and turbulence is wasteful. But turbulence has its uses, like when we want sugar to mix into our tea...more
Phases of (Quantum) Matter (ONLINE)
Subhro Bhattacharjee (ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Livestream via the ICTS YouTube channel
Abstract:- Materials that surround us occur in different phases that make them useful to us. Everyday we come in contact with several sophisticated phases of matter beyond the simple classification of structural phases-- solids, liquids and gases. Most of them are different electronic phases such...more
Hundred Years of Gravitational Lensing (ONLINE)
Parameswaran Ajith (ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Sunday, 28 February 2021
Livestream via the ICTS YouTube channel
Abstract:- Gravitational bending of light was the first observational test that heralded the remarkable success of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. In the last few decades, gravitational lensing of light has emerged as a powerful tool for astronomy. Gravitational waves (GWs) are also...more
Vigyan Adda Talk: Black Holes and the Reversibility of Time
Suvrat Raju (ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru)
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Tuesday, 22 December 2020
Livestream via the ICTS YouTube channel
Abstract: A central tenet of physics is that time evolution is reversible. Given the complete state of a system at any point of time, one can predict both its future and its past. This is true of simple ballistics problems in introductory physics, and of the very complicated systems that physicists...more