Astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana awarded Steacie

U of T astrophysicist wins prestigious Steacie Prize
Banner year for Ray Jayawardhana
By Sean Bettam, posted Monday, December 7, 2009
Astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana of U of T's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics is the recipient of the 2009 Steacie Prize, one of Canada's most prestigious honours for rising stars in science and engineering.

"I'm surprised, honoured and humbled," said Jayawardhana. "The Steacie Prize is a wonderful recognition of the frontline astrophysics research going on at U of T. It's been tremendous fun to be part of that endeavor together with the postdoctoral fellows and students in my group, and to share our discoveries with the public, especially during this International Year of Astronomy."
Holder of the Canada Research Chair in observational astrophysics, Jayawardhana explores the origin and diversity of planetary systems and the formation of stars and brown dwarfs. His discoveries have made media headlines on several occasions, including last year when he and his Toronto collaborators captured the first direct image of what is likely a giant planet revolving around a young sun-like star.

Pushing the limits of available technology is one of Jayawardhana's specialties. Working in a highly competitive area, his innovative research proposals win him coveted observation time on the world's largest telescopes.

"We're using the most advanced instrumentation on the world's premier facilities to push the boundaries of science," he said. "That way you get to do new things and discover new types of objects, and characterize them in ways that haven't been possible until now. It is fun to work on the edge."

Jayawardhana acknowledges that 2009 has been a bit of a "banner year" for him. In March, he received the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, one of Canada's premier science and engineering research awards, from Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a ceremony in Ottawa. In May, he was named as one of Canada's "Top 40 Under 40" by The Globe and Mail and Caldwell Partners.

Known as RayJay to colleagues, Jayawardhana looks forward to the powerful capabilities of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) now designed and ready for construction in Hawaii. "RayJay will be able to continue his leadership in the field with the TMT, which will open up the study of a vitally interesting class of extrasolar planets - including young Earths - by enabling observations of smaller, fainter planets closer to the parent star," said astronomy & astrophysics department chair Peter Martin. "For Canada, having top facilities like the TMT exploited by talented scientists of RayJay's calibre is a winning combination. It is very exciting to provide leadership in researching such profound questions."

Jayawardhana's lifelong enthusiasm about the cosmos is infectious, and he has received many accolades for his communications skills. Had he not become a researcher, he might have pursued a career as a science journalist. The latest of his many outreach efforts involved 3,000 ads that appeared in Toronto's buses, subways and streetcars for one month in early 2009, at the kickoff of the International Year of Astronomy, promoting a sense of wonder about the cosmos. "The idea was to reach literally hundreds of thousands of people, even for just 30 seconds, to highlight that we are intimately connected to the rest of the universe," he explained.

"Congratulations to Professor Jayawardhana on this prestigious honour," said Professor Paul Young, vice president (research). "The Steacie Prize is one of the most coveted forms of recognition for a young Canadian scientist. This is a true testament to Ray's outstanding innovation in astronomy research and science in general."

The Steacie Prize, with a value of $10,000, is awarded annually in recognition of exceptional contributions by a scientist or engineer aged 40 or younger. Winners are selected by a panel appointed by the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fund, a private foundation dedicated to the advancement of science and engineering in Canada. Recent University of Toronto recipients of the Steacie Prize include Stephen Scherer (Molecular Genetics, 2003), Jerry Mitrovica (Physics, 2001), Ian Manners (Chemistry, 2000), Lewis Kay (Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, 1999) and Sajeev John (Physics, 1996).

Inspiration for Life - Shammi (Dr. McSteamy)

Yahoo mantra
At 78, battling health problems, the legendary Shammi Kapoor lives it up every moment. He shares 10 dos and don’ts for a happier life with Indu Mirani
By Indu Mirani
Posted On Friday, October 30, 2009 at 02:52:58 AM
It’s just impossible to keep the irrepressible Shammi Kapoor down. He’s wheel-chair bound and dialysis dependent three days a week. But that doesn’t bog down the Junglee actor, who believes life is meant to be lived to the fullest, by developing passions and forming close bonds with loved ones. Here are his mantras to do just that.

1. Don’t crib. Take life for what it is. There’s no point thinking that uske paas Mercedes gaadi hai aur mere paas nahi hai. You’ve got to enjoy the car that you have. I enjoy driving, I have a Mercedes S class 350. But I would be stupid if I cribbed that Amitabh Bachchan has a Rolls Royce, why don’t I have one? C’mon, enjoy your Merc, you never had a Merc to begin with!

2. Keep yourself occupied. As they say very correctly, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. Mere father ek sher sunaya karte the, mujhe woh sher yaad nahi hai but I know the meaning. “Arey kuch na kuch kiya kar. Aur nahi to kapde udhaad kar siya kar.” If you don’t have anything to do, then break a plate and try putting it together again

.3. Have a passion. For instance, I have a passion for driving. And despite being on a wheel-chair, when I get into a car, I am okay. I make myself comfortable and then go for long drives.

4. I am fascinated by good movies. I can’t go to the cinema so I watch them on DVDs. I have a fabulous collection of old movies right from the black and white era, of actors who ruled the roost then, whom you might not have even heard of. I have Ronald Colman’s Random Harvest and another movie called Double Life for which he got the Oscar. Then I have Good Bye Mr Chips and Gaslight starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer; they are all Oscar-winning movies. I watch them over and over again. Every time I see them, I enjoy the films even more.

5. I am a sports-oriented person. As a child, I indulged in a lot of sport. Now, I have a passion for watching football, cricket, tennis and golf. I have played a lot of golf too.

6. Stay connected. Always. The net is such a beautiful platform to take off from. You are always in the sky, you are always roaming around. You meet friends and a lot of beautiful girls also! You must always have an eye for a beautiful girl. It keeps you alive. You should be a lover of beauty. (Does this go for Dr. McSteamy too?)

7. Keep friends and family near you. Family is foremost. They are the nearest people who care for you, friends come after them.

8. Party. You must enjoy going to parties and throwing parties too. Lots of people only attend parties. That’s not the right attitude. You must also host bashes.Also learn to enjoy good food — cooking and eating. I used to do a lot of cooking during my heydays when I used to go for shikaar. In the jungles you learn survival. You learn to light a fire and cook a meal with your prey. I was a smoker, so I always had a lighter. Since I am also a drinker, I always had a flask. That is all that you need — to cook yourself a meal in the forests. Some meat, some fire and some brandy to cook it with. I can prepare a good meal.

9. Have a passion for spending money. That’s the best way of enjoying your money instead of it lying and collecting dust in the bank. I spend on a lot of things. I spend on music — a passion which has always been manifest in my movies. I splurge on DVDs, TV and stuff. Moreover, I never think twice before spending money on friends.

10. Have a passion for your wife...however old she is, however she looks. She is the person who really looks after you without asking for anything in return.

India and the Commonwealth Games 2010

India receives Commonwealth Games baton from the QueenPTI 29 October 2009, 05:05pm IST
LONDON: Hit by organizational delays and controversies, the formal countdown to the 2010 Commonwealth Games began on Thursday with the launch of


Britain's Queen Elizabeth II presents President Pratibha Patil with the baton to launch the XIX Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games outside Buckingham Palace in London.

Queen's baton relay, which saw India's President Pratibha Patil making history by becoming the first Head of a State to attend such a ceremony. ( Watch Video )

The brief ceremony, held at the majestic Buckingham Palace showcased India's rich tradition through a cultural show before Queen Elizabeth II handed over the glittering baton to Patil amidst thunderous applause.

The Queen placed her message into the baton after receiving it from Commonwealth Games Federation Michael Fennell as a host of dignitaries watched the proceedings beamed live in India.

President Patil passed on the baton to Sports Minister of India MS Gill, who handed it over to Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi.

From Kalmadi baton reached the hands of first baton-bearer Abhinav Bindra, India's only Olympic Gold medallist.

With Indian music playing in the background air rifle shooter Bindra began the relay-run and handed over the baton to legendary middle-distance runner Lord Sebastian Coe, waiting just outside the gates of the Palace.

Coe is also Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 2012 London Olympics.

The baton passed through the hands of legendary cricketer Kapil Dev, the most successful female tennis player Sania Mirza, flying sikh Milkha Singh, Olympic bronze medal winners -- boxer Vijender Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar -- and England's first Sikh cricketer Monty Panesar among other Indian sports personalities.

The Queen's Baton for the 2010 Commonwealth Games is a delicate mix of aesthetics and technology with an in-built location tracking system and a camera capable of sending images to the Games website.

After travelling to different member countries of the Commonwealth, the Baton will enter India through Wagah Border along Pakistan, 100 days before the start of the Games.

It will then be taken to all state capitals of the country before reaching the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi for the opening ceremony of the Games on October 3, 2010.

Earlier, dance, dresses and drums from different parts of India virtually turned the majestic Victoria Memorial into a mini-India at the start of relay.

A bunch of British students joined the celebrations chanting the Sanskrit verses from ancient Rig Veda.

As the sanskrit prayers speaking of unity and humanity of these students from St James school reverberated in the forecourt of the Buckingham Palace, the crowd joined in with encouraging cheers and claps for their effort.

The students provided perfect icing on the function by performing Indian classical dance forms Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi and folk dances like Bhangra and Dandia in front of Queen Elizabeth II and President Pratibha Patil.

Nobel Winner Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009
"for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"
Photo: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Credits: Michael Marsland/Yale University
Credits: Micheline Pelletier/Corbis
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Thomas A. Steitz
Ada E. Yonath
1/3 of the prize
1/3 of the prize
1/3 of the prize
United Kingdom
USA
Israel
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge, United Kingdom
Yale University New Haven, CT, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot, Israel
b. 1952(in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India)
b. 1940
b. 1939

Telephone Sanskrit?

Whitby and Toronto Sanskrit class participants can now phone into to a teleclass every Sunday at 7pm. If you are interested, you can still participate by emailing me at

speaksamskrit at yahoo dot com

There is a small registration fee of under a $1 per class for 40 classes throughout the year. Pretty good deal! The class is 1 hour long.

Better Learn Sanskrit if you want to Discover India!

Samskrit in the Modern World

The use of Samskrit in modern world

By Chamu Krishna Shastry

More than 60 per cent of the vocabulary of most of the Indian languages is derived from Samskrit. Their underlying grammar too has its source in Samskrit. India’s Constitution mentions that the vocabulary of the official language of India should mainly be drawn from Samskrit. Hence Samskrit is complementary to all Indian languages. Samskrit can help in preserving the regional languages of India in their undiluted form.

Samskrit has been the vehicle of our culture and thought from time immemorial. Samskrit is the fountainhead of the Dharma, Sanskriti and Darshan of the land that is Bharat. Culture and language are inseparable. They go together. Hence, reviving Samskrit is rejuvenating our culture, rejuvenating our culture is reviving the Samskrit language. Other Indian languages are also cultural languages, but Samskrit is the common cultural language of the common man of India. Since other Indian languages are regional in nature, Samskrit is the Pan-Indian cultural language of India. Bringing Samskrit back to everyday life is just like bringing culture back to everyday life. Samskrit is inevitable to pass on-or transmit, communicate, or give-our cultural heritage to our next generation, and to ensure its continued passage from generation to generation. People say that they need rice, not paddy. Good. But if the husk is removed, then the paddy will not last long and it cannot be reproduced. Rice is culture, and the husk is Samskrit. Samskrit is the husk that protects and enables our culture to grow and nourish itself. Milk cannot be served without a cup. Culture is like milk, and Samskrit is the cup.

We need Samskrit today more than ever before to preserve our cultural moorings, to stay connected to our roots. It is the ‘anti-virus software’ to protect our ‘systems’ from external attacks/soft-threats. Samskrit is the best tool to engender the cultural renaissance of Bharat.

Samskrit is very much essential to understand the essence of our culture. Without Samskrit, we cannot understand the very meanings of the names given to our people, our practices, our Gods, our philosophical concepts, etc. There are no equivalents in English for words such as Punya, Abhishekam, Teertham, Naivedyam, Prasada, Dharma, etc.

Translation can rarely communicate the original meaning. Translation is translation. For example, the phrase ‘Herculean Task’ will be understood only by those who have studied English literature. The phrase can be explained, but it cannot be translated. In the same way, the translation of Bhima Parakram, Govardhanagiridhari, Pitambaradasa in English will not be effective at all. Leave alone the unpublished works of Samskrit, not even 1 per cent of the published Samskrit literature has been translated into other languages. Mantra Shakti is the power of the Samskrit language, and translation cannot possess that Shakti.

Opportunity for new knowledge creation/dissemination

Samskrit literature is a phenomenal repository of knowledge. It contains hundreds and thousands of ancient works pertaining to every branch of knowledge. Teaching the Samskrit language is like providing the key to the treasure house of knowledge. Every individual strives for three things - Knowledge, Prosperity and Happiness. Samskrit is the ideal instrument to access them all.

The word-generating power of Samskrit is unparalleled. It can create/coin an infinite number of words by using about 2,000 roots, 22 prefixes and about 200 suffixes. No other language in the world offers such phenomenal versatility.

It is estimated that there are at least five million manuscripts-most of them in Samskrit-are lying neglected and unattended all over India and in several corners of the world. Knowledge retrieval from them is impossible without Samskrit.

Yoga, Ayur Veda, Gita, Vedanta, Vaastu, Jyotisha, etc. are making a comeback all over the world today. People who are initiated into these subjects are not satisfied by reading the translated texts of these subjects. They want to read the original works, and in their original language. Hence they have started studying Samskrit. Samskrit is the gateway to the heritage of scientific knowledge in ancient India. A good basis in Samskrit will ensure that one gets independent and direct access to the primary sources of that knowledge.

Today, in the context of such terms as the ‘knowledge society,’ ‘knowledge economy,’ ‘knowledge industry,’ ‘knowledge-driven globe,’ etc., it is important to understand the meaning of the Samskrit word ‘Bhaaratam’. Bhaa means light, knowledge; ratam means immersed. A person or a society, immersed in knowledge is Bhaaratam. Until today, Samskrit literature was mostly considered as religious and spiritual literature, which is partially true. But if the Vedas, Shastras and other works in Samskrit are studied from the science point of view as well, if science-and technology-related Samskrit texts are studied, and if they are properly decoded, then there would be nothing short of a "knowledge explosion."

Knowledge of Samskrit will enable people to understand the prayers they perform in Samskrit. Samskrit would also go a long way in revitalising Hinduism and Hindu temples.

One of the reasons for the decline of Ayur Veda is the neglect of the Samskrit language. Today, even though Ayur Vedic medicine is becoming increasingly popular, the Ayur Veda Shastra itself is not growing. In the same way, the neglect of Samskrit is being reflected in the scant attention paid to the Yoga Shastra, the Vedanta Shastra, etc.

While Samskrit allows us to access an infinite fountain of knowledge and wisdom, it is nevertheless important to ask the question: "What can we do to maintain and nourish such a language?"

Vehicle for social harmony

Samskrit has been the great unifying factor of India. Prayers like Gange ca yamune caiva, godavari sarasvati, narmade sindhu kaveri, jalesmin sannidhim kuru, and masterpieces such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Gita, in Samskrit have bonded India together. Down the ages, Samskrit literature has always projected and depicted all of Bharat as one nation. It has never promoted regional or sectarian feelings, unlike some other languages.

Self-esteem is essential for the development of an individual or of a society. Self-esteem comes by understanding our past achievements and inheritance. Providing Samskrit to our younger generation is like empowering them with the much-wanted self-esteem and pride.

Samskrit literature promotes and propagates an All-Inclusive Ideology-on the lines of "Unity in diversity", Ekam sat, Viprah Bahudha Vadanti, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, etc.-which could constitute the foundation for global peace and harmony. Samskrit is the torch-bearer of Vishwa Dharma, a concept that represents far more than it’s usually accepted meaning of "Universal Code of Ethics".

Samskrit is an effective instrument of social harmony in India. The dalits and other neglected sections of Hindu society have long been deprived of learning Samskrit. As Swami Vivekananda put it, the knowledge of Samskrit can give them the power and prestige, and it can elevate them culturally. Samskrit can be a major tool for social transformation, given its ability to eradicate differences of caste, sect, gender and region.

Means of understanding our national heritage

More than 60 per cent of the vocabulary of most of the Indian languages is derived from Samskrit. Their underlying grammar too has its source in Samskrit. India’s Constitution mentions that the vocabulary of the official language of India should mainly be drawn from Samskrit. Hence Samskrit is complementary to all Indian languages. Samskrit can help in preserving the regional languages of India in their undiluted form.

Samskrit is not just a language. It is a Jeevan Darshan. It reminds us of a great tradition of both spiritual and material wealth. Learning and speaking Samskrit gives you a sense of belonging to a great heritage. It gives you power and confidence.

The knowledge of Samskrit alone can lead to a complete and authentic study of Indian art, sculpture, music, science, history, political science, etc.

As Mahatma Gandhi rightly said, "Without the knowledge of Samskrit, the education of every Indian is incomplete."

Experience shows that while most of the Hindus living abroad are usually divided by the Indian regional languages, Samskrit is the language which brings them together and instills in them the sense of unity and harmony.

Learning Samskrit is our duty-our national duty.

Opening up new dimensions

We must enrich, empower, enlighten and elevate ourselves through Samskrit. We must empower our younger generation with the most superior tools of self-management.

Samskrit language is considered to be the only suitable natural language for computers. Software is being developed for the machine translation of Indian languages with Samskrit as the intermediate language.

A research article titled "Sanskrit and Brain Function" by Dr. Travis, showing that the physiological effects of reading Sanskrit are similar to those experienced during the transcendental meditation technique, has recently been published in the International Journal of Neuroscience.

(The writer is General Secretary Samskrit Bharati and can be contacted at krishnashastry@hotmail.com)