Pune: CSIR-NCL Celebrates Its 72nd Foundation Day
Pune, 6th January 2021: CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Pune, celebrated its 72nd Foundation Day on January 3, 2022. On the occasion, Subroto Bagchi, Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Authority, and co-founder MindTree, delivered the CSIR-NCL Foundation Day Lecture on “NCL at 100: Building Memories for the Future.”
Bagchi’s talk was focussed on the concept of “memories for the future.”
“Human brain essentially is a memory device. And most of the memories are about the past. Memory implies the collective remembrance of the past. But it is also possible to build memories for the future. The synaptic activity of the brain is related to the past. When we look at the unfolding events or unscripted events that have never happened, there is no memory of the past and hence the brain confronted with alternate choices tends to pick up the one that would smoke earlier. The speculation is that while thinking about the future that doesn’t exist, we train our brains to sight with something that looks submitted. So in many ways, it is humanly possible to build memories for the future and build those memories for us to create the future in which we and others tend to live. He shared his life lessons picked up from his personal experiences of working with the scientific institutions, scientists and geeks, and what he called the “alternate life forms, and microbes.”
Bagchi said that all greatness is fundamentally weird. He shared the idea of existential thinking. The minds of the innovators actually innovate by emulating the knowledge. The body of knowledge remains the same and exists for everybody. But how people relate to the same body of knowledge first is essential. At the bottom of this knowledge body is the technical layer, and then comes the experiential layer and at the highest is the existential layer. The highest level is the level of innovation. At the existential layer, you have to step into the customer’s shoes and creep into their minds. Existential thinking is the domain of wonder. He underlined that if you look beyond your own body, you go into the order of the universe. Then you begin to realise the actual width of the universe, and finally, you are the one with the identity of the universe, and that is the moment where the innovation begins.
Dr Ashish Lele, Director, CSIR-NCL, in his welcome remarks, highlighted the glimpses of the past and significant contributions made by the laboratory during the last seven decades of service to the nation. He asserted that the current decade would be very crucial for us. He shared his ideas to go forward talking on “NCL Beyond 72: Planning for the Next Decade.” He pointed out the four guiding principles for CSIR-NCL to function, namely, focusing on Global context, National Context, Strengths of the laboratory, and the expectations from the Stakeholders. It is essential to understand these four pillars to perform better and play an important role in the coming decade.
Dr Shekhar C. Mande, Director General, CSIR, in his remarks highlighted the power of working together and how it has made a difference for society while sharing a few examples.
Earlier, Dr Sarika Bhattacharyya, Sr. Principal Scientist, introduced the chief guest Shri Subroto Bagchi to the program’s audiences virtually and in person.
The former directors of CSIR-NCL, including Dr R. A. Mashelkar, Dr Paul Ratnasamy, Dr S. Sivaram, Dr Sourav Pal, Dr Vijaymohanan K., Dr Ashwini K. Nangia, attended the program. They put up valuable suggestions and pieces of advice to move forward on the path of development in their remarks.
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