Society & Culture
Prajval Shastri is an astrophysicist of nearly four decades. She got her PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and after post-doctoral research positions in the University of Texas at Austin, University of California at Berkeley and the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics she was a faculty of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics for 23 years. In her research she specialises in the investigation of giant black holes that are found in the centres of distant galaxies using telescopes at frequencies ranging from radio to x-rays. She is extremely passionate about science outreach, believes that the cultivation of scientific thinking is for everyone and uses astrophysics as a vehicle to engage lay audiences of all ages with these questions. She is also deeply concerned about the gender disparity in the sciences. She is the founder and past Chair of the Gender in Physics Working Group of the Indian Physics Association. In addition to her research publications, her published work includes popular articles on astrophysics, and on the subject of science and society.
Books mentioned in the podcast-
Chendru: The Boy and the Tiger By Astrid Bergman Sucksdorff,
Biographies of people in science- Marie Curie (by Eve Curie), Dorothy Hodgkin, Einstein.
Books by Walter Warwick Sawyer about Mathematics
Andromeda (novel) by Ivan Yefremov
The Girl's Guide to a Life in Science (https://zubaanbooks.com/shop/the-girls-guide-to-a-life- in-science/)
Links to Prajval Shastri’s work-
YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTyvZHxXhxZRKgbI11dyOxA
Links to her writings and work can be found here- www.prajvalshastri.wordpress.com
Conceptualised and Produced by: Kavita Kabeer (Find me here- @qabiran on Instagram)
Theme Music by: Aakash Aazad
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