Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science

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Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Logo.svg
Seal of IACS
Other name
IACS Kolkata
MottoTo cultivate Science in all its departments with a view to its advancement by original research and with a view to its varied application to the arts and comforts of life.
TypeDeemed University
Established29 July 1876; 145 years ago (29 July 1876)
FounderDr. Mahendra Lal Sircar
AffiliationUGC
PresidentSrivari Chandrasekhar
DirectorTapas Chakraborty[1]
Location
2A & 2B Raja S C Mullick Road Kolkata-700032, West Bengal, India

22°29′54″N 88°22′07″E / 22.4983°N 88.3686°E / 22.4983; 88.3686Coordinates: 22°29′54″N 88°22′07″E / 22.4983°N 88.3686°E / 22.4983; 88.3686
CampusUrban
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.iacs.res.in Edit this at Wikidata
University and College rankings
Global – Overall
CWUR World[citation needed]1092 (2021)[2]
National – Overall
CWUR National[citation needed]19 (2021))[3]
Indian Association for the Cultivation Of Science (Raman Gate)

Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in basic sciences under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.[4][5] Established in 1876 by Mahendra Lal Sircar, a private medical practitioner, it focuses on fundamental research in basic sciences.[6] It is Asia's oldest research institute[7][8] Located at Jadavpur, South Kolkata near Jadavpur University, Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology it is spread over a limited area of 9.5 acres.[9] In May 2018, the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced that IACS[10] had been granted the status of Deemed University[11] under de novo Category under section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act 1956. Since then, it has been running its undergraduate (Integrated BS-MS) and postgraduate (Integrated MS-Ph.D.) and doctoral programs, which are unique of its kind in the country.

Academic programme[]

The institute is engaged in fundamental research in various fields of physics, chemistry and chemical biology. It is one of the most active research institutes in India and publishes on an average ~ 500 research articles in peer reviewed journals including top journals like Science, Nature, Physical Review Letters, Journal of American Chemical Society and Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Recent interests include research in energy, fuel cells, nano materials like graphene and carbon nanotubes.

Doctoral Degree Programs[]

The institute emphasizes Ph.D programmes, the degree being provided by IACS itself . There is also full-fledged Integrated PhD programme for post-Bachelor's students. From academic year 2005-2006 it started an integrated PhD programme in chemistry.[9] There are 8 departments in IACS, 4 units and 3 centres namely Materials Science, Solid state physics, Theoretical physics, Spectroscopy, Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biological Chemistry, Polymer Science unit, Energy research unit, Raman centre for atomic and molecular sciences, Centre for advanced materials, Center for Mathematical, Computational and Data Sciences, MLS Professor's unit and Director's Research Unit. After getting Deemed to be University status by UGC, the department structure has been replaced by School Structure. At present there are six schools namely School of Applied & Interdisciplinary Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, School of Chemical Sciences, School of Materials Sciences, School of Mathematical & Computational Sciences and School of Physical Sciences. There are about 70 working scientists in IACS. One important distinctive aspect of IACS is the presence of a majority of young scientist who are bringing new research areas and directions to IACS.

Bachelors and Masters Degree Programs[]

Starting 2018, IACS has introduced a 5-year Integrated BS-MS course for highly motivated students who have passed their 12th standard examinations and Integrated MS-Ph.D. programs for students who have passed their Bachelors level examinations. The cutoff for admission to these courses remains extremely high, given the very limited number of seats (usually not more than 60) and the students have to undergo a computer based test followed by an interview. Students with high ranks in JEE Main and Advanced /NEET UG and KVPY are eligible for direct interview. The 5 year integrated course is purely research oriented and aimed at producing world class scientists. The course is one of the most exhaustive of its kind and is suited only for the highly meritorious students. Given the vast number of applications received from all over the country and the very limited seat availability, the selection rate for this programme is lower even than that of JEE.

Significant Research Works performed at IACS[]

Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman did his groundbreaking work in Raman effect in this institute.[12] His work was first published in the Indian Journal of Physics, which is published by IACS.[13]

Apart from the works of C. V. Raman and K. S. Krishnan in Optics, IACS has produced several important paradigms in modern science. IACS has a very strong group in theoretical chemistry and quantum chemistry. Debashis Mukherjee developed the Mk-MRCC method to account for electron correlations in molecular systems which is considered as a "gold-standard" in computational chemistry. Another important discovery has been in the area of solvation dynamics of molecules and particular the dynamics of water molecules around the surfaces of membranes. These experiments performed by Professor Kankan Bhattacharyya have provided a fundamental insights into the behavior of water near biological surfaces and led to the coining of the word "biological water" in the physical chemistry community. Anirban Bandyopadhyay,[14] who did his PhD at IACS went on to do research on neuroscience, invented nanobrain,[15] developing artificial brain.[16] Later at the Japanese National Institute for Materials Science, Anirban detected quantum states in microtubules[17] that as per Orchestrated objective reduction play a key role in human consciousness.

Central Computing Facility[]

IACS has its own Super Computating facility. Cray Super Computer is installed at the Centenary Building of IACS. Cray serves the purpose of high end computing to the different users of IACS, associated with computational modelling, solid state physics, Quantum Mechanical Calculations etc. Apart from the Super Computer facility, central computing facility has some general purpose computing machines as well as some machines dedicated to providing high performance computing (HPC) facilities. With the advent of cheap and powerful workstations, many groups and users in IACS have their own facilities for computing.

Indian Journal of Physics (IJP)[]

Indian Journal of Physics was founded in 1926. It is published monthly.[18] Springer distributes print version of the Journal worldwide. The present chief editor of the journal is Prof. Subham Majumdar, who is a senior professor in the School of Physical Sciences, IACS.

Second Campus (Offshore Campus at Baruipur)[]

Union Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Harsha Vardhan unveiled the foundation stone of the Syamaprasad Mookerjee Advanced Research and Training (SMART)[19] campus of Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science(IACS) at Baruipur. It will have the facilities for cutting-edge research in multiple disciplines such as fundamental sciences, engineering sciences and medical sciences.[20]

Academic Divisions[]

Starting from 2018, after being declared as a deemed university by MHRD, for academic purposes, departments and centres in the Institute are broadly assigned to six major schools, each headed by a Chairperson (School Chair):

  1. School of Applied and Interdisciplinary Sciences (SAIS)
  2. School of Biological Sciences (SBS)
  3. School of Chemical Sciences (SCS)
  4. School of Materials Sciences (SMS)
  5. School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences (SMCS)
  6. School of Physical Sciences (SPS)

Apart from these 6 major schools, there are a few centers, designed to perform specific and cutting-edge research, by the institute administration:

  1. Centre for Computer Research, Education and Services (CCRES)
  2. Director's Research Unit (DRU)
  3. Technical Research Center (TRC)
  4. Central Scientific Services (CSS)
  5. Raman Centre of Atomic, Molecular & Optical Sciences
  6. Polymer Structural Unit
  7. Energy Research Unit

Administration[]

Office c. 1907

At its inception, the IACS was headed by a President, with the Honorary Secretary responsible for the day-to-day running of the Society. Until 1911, the office of President was de facto held by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, when the Lieutenant-Governor (Governor from 1912) became the co-patron of the Society alongside the Viceroy of India, whose office-holders were automatically Patrons of the Society until 1947.[21][note 1] Following India's independence in 1947, the administration of the IACS was reconstituted, with the designation of "Honorary Director" substituted for "Honorary Secretary."[22] The Director's prefix of "Honorary" was dropped in 1953.[23]

Presidents of the IACS (1876-present)[]

Secretaries and Directors of the IACS[]

Honorary Secretaries of the IACS (1876-1947)[]

Honorary Directors of the IACS (1947-1953)[]

  • Prof. Priyadaranjan Ray FNI (1947-1953)[22][23]

Directors of the IACS (1953-present)[]

Notable Alumni and Associates[]

Nobel Laureate[]

Bharat Ratna (Highest Civil Honor in India)[]

Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), London[]

Padma Vibhushan (Civil Honor in India)[]

  • C. N. R. Rao, former Chairman of the Review Committee of IACS and IACS Fellow
  • M. M. Sharma, former Chairman of the IACS Governing Council and IACS Fellow

Padma Bhusan (Civil Honor in India)[]

TWAS Prize[]

Alexander von Humboldt Research Award[]

Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS)[]

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ With the exceptions of Sir (later Lord) Antony MacDonnell (Lieutenant-Governor 1893-1895), Sir Charles Cecil Stevens (Lieutenant-Governor 1897-1898), James Bourdillon (Lieutenant-Governor 1902-1903), Sir Lancelot Hare (Lieutenant-Governor 1906) and Francis Slacke (Lieutenant-Governor 1906-1908).
  2. ^ Prior to 1970, the Indian National Science Academy was named the "National Institute of Sciences of India", and its fellows bore the post-nominal "FNI". The post-nominal became "FNA" in 1970 when the association adopted its present name.

References[]

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  5. ^ Bernhard Joseph Stern (1978). Science and Society. p. 84.
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  17. ^ https://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/discovery-of-quantum-vibrations-in-microtubules-inside-brain-neurons-corroborates-controversial-20-year-old-theory-of-consciousness
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External links[]

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