[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2237″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Felicitation 26Aug2019
We have heard about a few in the history who have been legendary; we have known some great people who have been our inspiration and our mentors; and we at times work with a few who are great as human beings – Someone who comes under all these categories is the Jesuit Rev Dr Lourdu Yeddanapalli. He has been a legend who was innovative and who continues to motivate and inspire quite a few in teaching and research. He has been a pioneer in research and his research output was mainly for the good of people’s life.
Though he had earned his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Princeton, USA, and DSc from the University of Louvain in Belgium in 1930s, when he came back to India, he thought of relevant research for Indian scenario. He was the founder and pioneer in the field of catalysis in India. He motivated, monitored, coached, and mentored so many of his students. He realized the disconnect between teaching and research and so he turned his students and research schoalrs as transformational agents of society. So many, inspired by his commitment to people-oriented research, imitated him as society-oriented scientists, such as research in food protein, browning of milk etc.
On this day when we conduct the endowment lecture in his name and honour, we need to think about, as teachers and as researchers, how much we reflect the spirit of this great Jesuit in our own lives. The purpose of endowment lectures is to remind ourselves that we be propelled by the spirit of great people who made their lives and works meaningful and relevant to others they lived for. It is not only an occasion we remember great people and reflect on what we could learn from them but also how much we could reflect them in our own life and work.
I am glad to know that Dr K Balasubramanian, Professor Emeritus of Arizona State University in the USA, has been an alumnus of Loyola College. I am sure that his sharing of his thoughts on ‘Symmetry, Einstein and Periodic Table’ would give us insight into the complex reality surrounding us. I am familiar with Einstein as Physics student – Whenever I visit Zurich, in the Switzerland, I stay in the Jesuit Community that is just across the road from the University (ETH) where Einstein studied and the patent office, where he worked and where from he wrote the paper on Special Theory of Relativity, is just a few hundred meters from there. I was introduced to the periodic table first in my chemistry course right in his YD Hall and later I became familiar with it during my classes on atomic physics. I am just waiting to see how the concept of symmetry is going to connect and balance Einstein and the Periodic Table.
Often great scientists may not be captivating teachers – But I have heard that Einstein was a great teacher as well. I am reminded of the story of a dull student in a maths class. The teacher, in sheer exhaustion and utter desperation, told the child: Even if Einstein teaches you, you would not learn Maths. The girl told her mother and her mother enquired who Einstein was and learnt that Einstein was her neighbor. She approached him and requested him whether he could teach maths to her child. Einstein readily agreed. The result, at the end of the semester, the girl stood first in maths in the class. The astonished teacher asked her: What happened? And the innocent child calmly replied: Einstein taught me, Mam.
Teaching and research go together leading to the service of our fellow human beings. The Equity Salary Committee in the campus is at work right now – Among other things I have asked the committee to look at three aspects of an effective teacher:
- Effective and innovative teaching;
- Relevant research resulting in industrial consultancy; and
- Service rendered to the uplift of the society at large.
On this day let us become inspired by Fr Yeddanapally, who has dedicated his whole life for the welfare of the society. He might have become a legend but he should be resurrected and made alive through our imitating his research quality and spirit of doing good for all.
I thank the Department of Chemistry for thinking of Fr Yeddanapalli – He is one of the Jesuit scientists who made a difference in research. And I welcome all of you to become inspired by Fr Yeddanapalli. Have a meaningful interaction with Prof Balasubramanian.
Kindly excuse me as I would be leaving soon – I have interrupted the joint steering committee meeting at LICET with our academic partners ICAM Group from France.
Francis P Xavier SJ
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