the goan I network
PANAJI
Acclaimed scientist Dr Vithal Tilvi, best known for discovering the furthest galaxy in the universe, who was appointed professor of research, development and innovation for the State Higher Education Council under the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) in August, on Friday said that the Council was much needed to take research in the State forward.
As far as his field, Astronomy, is concerned, Tilvi encourages students studying in engineering colleges in Goa to design instruments to go on rockets to Mars.
Tilvi, who is currently working on two NASA-funded projects from his hometown in Marcel, said that the aim of setting up the council was to develop the research capacity in Goa, introduce research projects, and take research to the next level in all fields, not only Science.
“We are not doing that well in research. Our knowledge here is based on the material that comes from textbooks, rather than research,” Tilvi told The Goan.
“ISRO is launching rockets at a crazy rate, which you couldn’t imagine ten years ago. ISRO too is encouraging college students to design certain instruments which will go on these rockets,” the astronomer said.
Tilvi, who has gone to speak to students of around 50 educational institutes in the State over the last year, has been encouraging students to get actively involved in such projects.
When asked how the
reception of Goans was to his discovery, and whether they understood the magnitude of it, Tilvi says that for the general public, it’s just a discovery, which has no direct impact on their lives. “It’s sort of attractive for them because the words “most distant galaxy” are attached to the discovery, but other than that, people don’t realise its magnitude, simply because we are not into that culture. Only once you realise that this is the scale of the universe, and this is the effect of the discovery in future research, you can understand the magnitude of the discovery,” Tilvi said.
Speaking of how Astronomy can impact daily lives, Tilvi explained that although he’s an astronomer, he is also interested in blood diagnostics. “The reason is that the techniques we use for astronomy, can also be applied to blood diagnostics. It is inter-disciplinary research. After all, you don’t just want to do Astronomy which will be used after 50-100 years. If you use the same techniques in medicine, it can be applied immediately. Already, professional astronomers are collaborating with doctors. We’ve done a pilot project here in Goa and have demonstrated how if someone is affected by cancerous cells, you can take a digital sample and run a computer algorithm and find out what is the percentage to which they’re affected,” he said.
