About ESES

We know that knowledge is power. It comes through learning the truth. 

There is no shortcut to learning; the process is very long and arduous. However, this process begets sublime joy to the learner and benefits to mankind. Joy of learning is universal. The discipline of Physics is dedicated to the quest of knowledge and truth through experiments and quantitative measurements. In this endeavor the mankind has achieved fascinating progress and capabilities.

What was the time when the formal study of physics had begun? 

This question may take us far back into the history. As an example, when the first atomic explosion was triggered at Navada, Oppenheimer, the architect of the nuclear bomb was awed by its might and splendor from the distant viewing station. His spontaneous response to the spectacle of the ultimate truth had come through citation from the Gita 

“If a thousand suns appeared simultaneously in the sky their light would dimly resemble the splendor of that omnific being.”

We compare the mass-energy equation of Einstein ie E=mc2 with the above citation. However, the mass energy equation of Einstein is Physics, but the Sloka is not. This is because the latter is not supported and verified by quantitative measurement and experimental observations. Anything that does not fulfill this requirement is not Physics and therefore, is not true in spite of merits.

So, what made the beginning of Physics?

This is again a difficult question. Perhaps Galileo ( 1564 ) was the person who made a quantitative observation to support his work on motion conforms to the basic requirement of Physics .His experiment on how far a ball rolls down an inclined plane in a series of given intervals of time was a milestone of Physics .This was a very difficult experiment at the 16 th century .The Pendulum was yet long away and of course there was no clock for marking the time and record the positions of the ball as it moves through the points of fixed interval marks. Therefore, Galileo used his heart beats, that is his pulse, for marking time while another person had to mark the position of the ball at a certain count of his heart beats ! Crude though, he found through this experiment that if we count time intervals from the moment of the release of the ball on the platform as 1 2 3 4 …etc, its position at counts will be proportional to 1 4 9 16 etc.

That was physics!

Now a days any student of Physics would say or write that distance traversed by a moving body in time “t” is

S∝t2

Galileo`s difficulties with measurement of time was a serious problem from the point of view of Physics in that, it gives rise to several questions., one was:

What is time?

Well, we may define time in various ways. But, his difficulties were on the measurement of time, not with “time”. For this purpose his choice was his heart beat, an event that repeats itself regularly, that is it is periodic. But is it regular? No, it is qualified .In those days a regular periodic event was difficult to pinpoint.

An alternative choice was occurrence of day and night that is periodic, though we have long days with short nights or a long night and short day. However, on the average a day and night occurs regularly in about 24 hours. Of course, someone had to do this difficult experiment. When this task was performed; we could define an hour and divide it into minutes and seconds. Thus we had defined a standard of time that is the “second.” We knew that it is a qualified standard but it served our purpose. Now we have the pendulum to measure intervals of time to large fractions of second, but below such intervals we have to go for electronic and parametric oscillators, which are not mechanical as the pendulum. Electronic or parametric oscillators are electromagnetic in nature. Electromagnetic oscillators may be used for time measurement upto 10^-13 sec. but after this mark the going will be difficult because em radiations greater than frequencies of 10¹³ Hz are dangerous. So, when we go for measurements of smaller intervals of time, it will be necessary to change the technique of measurement as well as our definition of time. One such technique is to measure the lifetime of a sub nuclear particle such as the π° meson for example, which lives for only 10^-16 second. Note that in this case it was necessary to discard the concept of periodicity , we have introduced a different definition of measurement of time which was defined for our convenience and limited to our reference frame. Now, with this revised definition it is possible to measure small intervals of time as 10^-24 sec.

The other end of Galileo`s difficulty with time measurement reveals similar stories. Now it is possible to measure time intervals of 10⁹ years.

After the stage of 10^-9 sec. we face the uncertainty with the time interval itself. Through this story, the process of measurement of time intervals from Galileo`s days we have acquired a great volume of knowledge and truth and therefore Physics of matter, the calculus, the experimental methods and engineering.

Second part of Galileo’s rolling ball experiment is that we can now measure distances as vast as 10⁹ light years as also distances as small as 10^-15 meters. Mankind has learnt enormous volumes of truth information and technology in this quest.

Now we know that result of measurement of time and distance is not absolute, it is qualified. Two moving observers will not see distance or experience time when they measure what appears to be the same phenomenon. We also know that we cannot measure a distance Δx smaller than

Δx=h/Δp

Δt=h/ΔE

Where ΔE is the error in our knowledge of the process whose time period we are measuring.

With this very brief exposition I have tried to focus on the point that the process of learning is not a kind of horse race or memorizing the answers to a bank of questions for securing a profitable target. I believe that websites, simulations and virtual laboratories etc. may work as supplementary learning aids because these tools do not address the basic stimulant processes of mind that go for a fundamental breakthrough. Such engines cannot make a Galileo a Newton an Einstein or a Bardeen-Brattain -Shokley group.

Learning is joy forever.

President

ESES

• The ESES was founded at a time when the electronics laboratory and workshop machinery of the department of Physics Gauhati University were organized and installed with relatively new systems. Thus, need for a modern style of program of teaching and involved laboratory practices was realized by the members and a sense of void was felt by them. Thus, on this background a special platform for such training was conceived resulting to the formulation of the Electronic Scientists and Engineers Society at the Department of Physics of Gauhati University in 1984.

  This initiative of forming such a platform was also backed by the first Summer School in Physics introduced at Gauhati University. This Indo-US program on Physics teaching was designed with an emphasis on the fundamental methods of learning and teaching the subject in place of the popular custom-built practices followed in contemporary institutions. With this aim, this department received new style books and do-it-yourself lab kits for the implementation of a new style program of teaching and laboratory practices. As a few of us were seriously involved in that program, the above concept and methods had cast deep marks and a sense of inadequacy. This realization also culminated in the foundation of the Electronic Scientists & Engineers Society (ESES).

  The society at first aims at the promotion of work culture by learning Physics and Engineering through grassroots practices. Activities of this forum started with lectures, and workshops in various institutions. The first practical venture of the society was the establishment of the Electronic Hobby Centre through a grant from the Assam Government. This program was supplemented by another grant for buying technical books on Electronics. In addition to this process, the society had written some technical books in the Assamese language for the benefit of academically weak young persons besides teaching them to make simple electronic machines that would generate self-employment capacity.

  Following the Electronics Hobby Centre, the ESES founded the School of Professional Studies with an enlarged purview of its ambit of activities primarily targeting youths with weak academic backgrounds. Here, the choice of a professional course could be from weaving to areas of computer applications for example. The Hobby Centre and the SPS had also designed programs for the infusion of motivation to academically strong young persons.

  Lately, the Society has expanded the areas of eligible qualification to membership of the Society to other disciplines of learning because applications of knowledge in a specialized field have spread to all walks of modern life.

  The ESES further adopted a concept of a “Flagship Centre” of the Society where an institution of a village as a center of activity is formed where it introduces its scientific and technological programs and follow up with resources of the Society and cooperation of the associated members.

  Read more also at the About US