Prof. Ramanatha Subramanian
-- Excerpt from an interview with the pioneer of science museum and planetarium in India
In the early years of the 1950s, four Great Indians took a keen interest in establishing Science Museums in the country. They were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India, Shri G.D. Birla, a renowned industrialist, Prof. K.S. Krishnan, a world-renowned physicist and Dr B.C. Ray, a renowned physician and the then Chief Minister of West Bengal. With their support and under the leadership of Shri Ved Prakash Beri, Shri Ramanathan Subramanian and Shri Amalendu Bose, three science museums, namely, Birla Museum (1954) at Pilani; Science Museum of National Physical Laboratory (1956) in New Delhi and Birla Industrial & Technological Museum (1959) in Calcutta, were opened, respectively.
Prof. R. Subramanian, Director General of the M. P. Birla Planetarium, in an interview with the present author, had revealed that a few years before all those endeavours, while working as a Research Scholar at the Madras Government Museum, in 1950, he had set up a modest Science Museum cum Planetarium for the benefit of local student community. He also narrated the contribution of some great leaders in their respective fields, in establishing early science museums and planetariums in India. The interview was conducted in two parts on 13 January 2013 and 29 June 2013.
Prof. Ramanatha Subramanian
Dr Jayanta Sthanapati: Sir, let us begin our conversation by asking you to please give us a brief account of your origin and family background?
Prof. Ramanatha Subramanian: I was born on 17 February 1927 at Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. My father Late Shri Ramanatha Iyer was Headmaster of a school. My mother, Late Smt. Lakshmi Devi was a homemaker. We were five sisters and five brothers. We are a family of orthodox Brahmins of the Sarma group. We sometimes use the title Sarma and sometimes Iyer. My parents were devout Hindus and very religious minded with weekly temple visits for pujas.
My father was a great Tamil scholar and also a great historian. He had a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s degree in Art & Literature. He was a close friend and classmate of late Sir S. Radhakrishnan, President of India. He had exchanged letters for several decades with Sir Radhakrishnan who was Vice-Chancellor, Benaras Hindu University and when he was Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion in Oxford.
My father was very broad-based in his approach to caste and was the first Headmaster of the school to admit Harijans into school classes. In fact, he had instructed me to sit in the classroom next to a Harijan student. My Mother was the most loving and affectionate mother and had not used one harsh word on me or the other children throughout her life.
Both my parents were very much keen that all the children should receive the best coaching and training in education and they were following the progress in the teaching of the children on day to day basis. They always had a great regard and respect for language, history, literature and things like that. They taught us to appreciate great people who have given their mark, in the various fields, whether music or literature or stuff like that.
Dr Jayanta Sthanapati interviewed Prof. Ramanatha Subramanian in his office in M.P. Birla Planetarium in Kolkata.
Sthanapati: Please tell us about your school and college education.
Subramanian: I had my schooling in board high school in Krishnagiri, Hosur and Dharmapuri all in Salem District. Sometimes my father himself is to be the headmaster of that school. Sometimes, somebody else; when he was transferred to some other school. One school teacher whom I liked the most was one C.B.A. Subramanian. He frequently gave anecdotes as he was teaching mathematics on the blackboard and easily participated with the students in the jokes and stories.
In 1942, I took admission in American College in Madurai. I did my intermediate in science first and then B.Sc. there. I essentially studied Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry with a little bout of religious instructions.
It was during the Second World War. An American Professor was the Principal of American College, a very broad-minded neutral type of American, who used to assemble all the students and say “Whatever way you want to condemn the British you condemn, I do not mind. But you have to condemn that within this campus. Then only, I will be able to give you protection. If you go out, I will not be able to protect you. But I don't mind students trying for their country's independence and praying for it, working for it, in a positive direction. I am an American; I know my sentiments”.
I then moved to Presidency College in Madras and received a Master’s degree in Physical Science in 1948. During college days broadly I aimed to become a scientist or an engineer, more towards a scientist.
Sthanapati: What did you do after completing formal education?
Subramanian: My career plan after passing Master’s degree was to become a scientist. I thought of one line, which was the study of metal alloys of an ancient civilization. It was called Archaeological Chemistry. A little earlier a laboratory for such study was established in British Museum in London. Harvard University also had a laboratory for studies in chemical archaeology. In India, one Dr Paramasivan and I took the first initiative to introduce the study by convincing the Tamil Nadu Govt. to set up a laboratory on the campus of Madras Museum. We started our work to examine what metals and trace elements the ancient Indians used for bronze images and things like that.
However, while working at Madras Museum, I developed a fascination for all India Services. So, I took my turn in that and was allotted the Audit and Accounts Service in Bombay. There, I was doing endless calculations, checking and all that. I also had gone through and passed accounts test, audit test, and the tests related to postal audit, pension audit, defence audit and so on. At that time I thought of Sir C.V. Raman, who stood first in Indian Audit Service and was allotted Calcutta. As he was working, he met Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee and others, who saw a great genius in him. They asked him, whether he will prefer to leave the job if a scientific post is given. Very interestingly he accepted that. He left the job which was a great thing in those days.
After a short stint of one year at Bombay Accountant General’s office, I decided to resign. When I opened this of wanting to quit, all my friends and relatives got upset. I was married to Smt. Tripura Sundari at that time. So, I thought only way was not to tell them, resign and come away once for all and announce that. This is what I did and returned to Madras.
In Madras Museum I met the Director and expressed my desire to work in archaeological chemistry once again. He said, “We would love to have you in the laboratory, as you have worked here earlier”. But the post was filled up by some after I went to Accountant General’s Office in Bombay. He, however, said, “At the moment really speaking I am helpless, you keep waiting, the successor of you also seems to be trying for other jobs elsewhere. If he leaves, you will be the first choice. But even then I cannot automatically take you. You have to apply to the employment exchange and fill up your card. When we ask for candidates, they will send your name also. Then you have to undergo a formal interview”.
Well, I had no alternative, I agreed for that. I waited for some months. As the Director had predicted, the gentleman took up some other work in Delhi. I appeared for interview and got back my previous post. I started working with Dr Paramasivam again. At this stage, we came in touch with Dr Rutherford Guttens, who was working in the same field at Harvard University.
In Madras Museum we had collections of ancient glass pots, which the Romans had used during the first two centuries. These articles were brought to India near Pondicherry due to some trades. We did the systematic analysis of these collections and published our results in the ‘Current Science’ journal in 1951.
Sthanapati: Did you set up a modest science museum cum planetarium in Madras Museum in the early 1950s?
Subramanian: In 1950, while working as a research scholar in Madras Museum, I noticed the existence of a shed behind my laboratory. A part of it was filled with archaeological sculptures, and a little empty space was available there. I told the management, if you can give me some space there, I will set up minimally, some physical science exhibits and a small planetarium. With the permission of the management, I installed some models on physics there. One day I spotted a simple table model planetarium in a curio shop in Madras. Perhaps it was a second-hand instrument from a foreign traveller, but it was in perfect condition. I remember I paid twenty-five rupees at that time for the planetarium. But still, you can turn it on the latitude in the northern hemisphere, it had more than forty constellations, very schematically very properly put up and also you can turn it to suit, it can be set up to Chennai, it can be configured to Calcutta, it can be adjusted to Delhi and so on. With all that I set up a modest science museum cum planetarium, which was occasionally visited by invited school groups.
Sthanapati: I understand you moved to the United States soon quitting assignments in the Madras Museum. How did that happen? Where in the US did you meet Prof K S Krisnan?
Subramanian: Yeas, in the early 1950s, I received a fellowship from the American Philosophical Society and a Fulbright travel grant to conduct research at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D C. I was engaged in analyzing some materials collected from the Dead Sea and vis-Ã -vis studies in low-temperature spectroscopy, chromatography, etc. I also served as an Assistant Professor at the University.
While working in the United States, once I heard that Sir K. S. Krishnan (1898-1961), the then Director of the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi had come to Washington D. C. for giving some lecture and would visit Baltimore to see the Tulip Flower Show at Sherwood Garden. Prof. Krishnan was an associate of Prof. C. V. Raman while working at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta and had significant contribution in the discovery of Raman Effect.
I thought I would also like to be there, and if possible meet Sir Krishnan, that will be a privilege for me. So I went. He had come with some scientists in the flower show. I met him and casually so many things were talked. Sir Krishnan had a keen interest to see that India set up some science museum like the ones in London and Munich. I spoke to him and told him that in India both Calcutta and Madras have already celebrated centenaries of natural history museum, art museum and things like that. But in India, although we are a great civilization, there is no museum still on Sciences or Engineering. He asked, “Do you have interest in that?” “Yes, I have interest in that.” He said, “I have been thinking that idea in Delhi. When you go back to India, after your work is over, be in touch with us. If something happens, I will call you also. If you are interested and we are possibly able to take you, we will take you”.
Meeting with Prof. K. S. Krishnan was a turning point in my life. That is how there was a change again, from the US laboratory I switched to Sir K. S. Krishnan in NPL.
Sthanapati: What assignment did Prof Krishnan give you in National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi?
Subramanian: Primarily to set up a science museum. In 1955, I was appointed at the NPL as a Scientific Officer for the Science Museum project. I was allotted a floor area of about 550 square meters, distributed on the ground floor and a mezzanine level floor for display of science exhibits. To start with, thirty exhibits were set up to highlight important activities of leading research laboratories. A closed-circuit television set was used for educational purposes. A varied collection of minerals, ores and crystals, gifts made to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, during his visits abroad, were also exhibited. The museum further displayed a set of physics exhibits which were fabricated by our own technical staff.
The UNESCO had a General Conference in 1956 in Delhi. A large ‘India and Science’ exhibition was set up to coincide with the session of the conference. Two UNESCO travelling science exhibitions titled ‘Energy and Its Transformation’ and ‘Our Senses and the Knowledge of the World’ were on display. Leading planetarium manufacturer, Zeiss had also participated in the exhibition. They donated a planetarium instrument to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who passed it on to NPL to Sir Krishnan, who in turn passed it on to me. I immediately set it up for the demonstration before invited school groups.
Sthanapati: Was there any foreign consultant to guide you through the project?
Subramanian: Dr W. T. O’Dea, a Keeper of London Science Museum, was brought to the Science Museum project at National Physical Laboratory under a UNESCO grant as per the recommendation of Sir K S Krishnan to the Govt. of India. He worked along with me on new ideas of setting up working scientific exhibits and had also helped in getting replicas of early scientific and engineering machines and transportation models.
Sthanapati: Did you get any formal or informal training on setting up science museum and planetarium?
Subramanian: I did not have any formal training on setting up a science museum or planetarium because such institutes did not exist in our country then. However, I had carried out informal studies of science museum exhibits at the Science Museum, London; Deutsches Museum, Munich; Palais de la Decouverte, Paris; Tekniska Museet, Stockholm; Technical Museum, Vienna and Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. I also visited with great interest the Fels Planetarium of the Franklin Institute and the Hayden Planetarium attached to the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Sthanapati: We have heard that the science museum and planetarium at NPL became inoperative after the demise of Prof Krishnan. Is that true?
Subramanian: The museum and planetarium at NPL were having up and down situations. People were not too much interested. In fact, some of them were always criticising museum and planetarium coming up amongst priority areas of physics and chemistry and things like that. You always see science museums and planetariums had only a step-motherly treatment in the Govt. from all angles. Anybody, you talk either in the Secretariat or within the scientists. This is not a priority area.
Prof. Krishnan passed away in 1961 at the age of 62. He was quite active at that time. Suddenly one night he died. You see, he had a great soft corner for the sub-staff. If they made any complaint to him, it would never go unheeded. One day, it was a hot day, it was June, some of the sub-staff complained to him that no administrator, no scientists are going towards their quarters and looking after their interests and all that. One Mustafi was the Administrator. He was an IAS man. Later, I am told he became a Secretary of the CSIR. So he called Mustafi and said, “What is it there?”” Sir, they will complain many things. I will take you one of the days”. “No, no, no. I want to go now”. “Sir, it’s a hot sun, where are you going?”” No, no, give me an umbrella. I will go with you”. They walked that distance all the way to the quarters. When he came back, he was very tired due to the heat of the sun. That night he passed away. So, the science museum and planetarium lost their importance in the NPL.
Sthanapati: What compelled you to move from NPL Museum, New Delhi to Birla Planetarium, Calcutta?
Subramanian: In 1961, the great planetarium here (in Calcutta) was coming up. It was a dream project of Shriyukt Madhav Prasad Birla.
Then I was wondering, Sir Krishnan my mentor, my Guru, my God has passed away. I thought what I should do? I was still in the Govt. So, I was thinking about the planetarium. I went to CSIR to ask them, whether they will release me on lean for two years to go to Calcutta, which has been a seat of many activities, always a taking the first place, whether it is a museum or University. Both Chennai and Calcutta used to be competing in each and everything.
There was one Deputy Secretary in CSIR, I think his name was Agarwal. He asked me “What is the matter”? I said “I have come from NPL, I have a substantive post there. But this (planetarium in Calcutta) is coming up, can you possibly give me lean for two years to go there?” “You are in a Govt. body here, sponsored Govt. body. You want to go to another institution there, how is it possible? It is not possible”. I came back to NPL.
Next day morning the same Agarwal telephoned NPL to connect me. I was on the line. “Yesterday you came to me for going to Calcutta”. “Yes, but you said it is not possible. So I dropped the idea and dropped it from my mind also”. “No, no, no, don't do that”.
Mr M. P. Birla and Prof. Humayun Kabir, a Cabinet Minister at that time, were close friends. So he told Kabir, “I am setting up this big planetarium. I don't see anybody in this country. There is one man who is working at NPL, why don't you spare him”? So Prof. Kabir wrote a note to Prof. M. S. Thaker, DG CSIR at that time. “What is delaying Subramanian's departure?” This was the note. He did not say what and where and when. The moment the note came, they tried to find out who is this Subramanian. What is he doing? Finally, the Secretariat people located me and this man said, “You come, I want to talk to you”. “What is the use of coming?” “No, no, you come to me”. When I went, he said, “Whatever conditions you want for the lean you jot down and give me. I will get it signed by the minister. Immediately you go to Calcutta”. That is how I came here for two years on lean.
Sthanapati: Sir, you had worked with Syt M P Birla for many years, tell us something about his industrial ventures and philanthropic activities.
Subramanian: Syt. Madhav Prasad Birla (1918-1990) was born in Bombay. He was universally and affectionately called Shri M. P. Babu. His uncle, the legendary Syt. G. D. Birla inducted him into business at the early age of eighteen. As was the practice in the Birla family, he was given a small fledgeling company known as Birla Jute & Manufacturing Company Ltd., which he built by sheer dint of dedicated hard work and enterprise, into a multi-product industrial giant encompassing products like jute, cement, calcium carbide, synthetic yarn and others. A man of great enterprise, Shri M. P. Babu, set up a host of other companies like Universal Cables, Vindhya Telelinks, Hindustan Gum & Chemicals, Digvijay Woollen Mills, Indian Smelting etc., all leaders in their own fields, manufacturing quality products. His contribution to the banking sector was equally significant as Chairman of the United Commercial Bank till its nationalisation.
Syt. Madhav Prasad Birla
Shri M. P. Babu will also be remembered as a great philanthropist. Devoid of ego, and instinctively averse to self-advertisement, he gave profusely and generously to charitable causes spread over the length and breadth of the country. He gave to it the Birla Planetarium, Kolkata one of the finest in Asia and the Belle Vue Clinic & Nursing Home, Kolkata one of the best equipped medical institutions in this part of the country. He established the M. P. Birla Foundation in fulfilment of his deep commitment to furthering progress in the fields of education and medicine. The Foundation has also set up and operates a modern 60-bedded hospital at Birlapur in West Bengal, with a second hospital running, at Satna in Madhya Pradesh. Shri M. P. Birla was also intimately associated with the famous Birla Institute of Technology and Science at Pilani.
Sthanapati: Was the planetarium in Calcutta, conceptualised by Syt. M. P. Birla?
Subramanian: Syt. M. P. Birla essentially mooted the concept to set up this unique institution. He had been seeing, visiting various planetariums in Europe and America. He thought at some stage to have a planetarium in India, and as one who spends more time in Calcutta than in any other place, their primary interest is on the Calcutta scene. So he wanted to set up a planetarium in Calcutta.
Sthanapati: Birla Planetarium was a non-governmental project. What support did Syt Birla get from the local or central government?
Subramanian: Syt. M. P. Birla had intensive interaction with late Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882-1962), a doctor par excellence, an educationist and the Chief Minister of West Bengal. M. P. Birla was very keen to B. C. Roy that this place, where we are now, should be given for the planetarium. It was becoming difficult for Dr Roy to allocate that. However, this vantage plot of land of two acres, in Calcutta Maidan, was allotted by State Government on a lease. Dr Roy used to visit the planetarium in the making but was not present when it became operational on 29th September 1962. He had expired earlier on 1st July in the same year. I remember, M. P. Birla was almost in tears when he heard that Dr B. C. Roy had passed away.
Sthanapati: Was there any building, trees, road, etc. on the land allotted for the planetarium?
Subramanian: Two big old trees were there. The trees were felled. As the felling was taking place, there was a lot of uproar in the press – ‘Vanishing Maidan’. There was a lot of protest from the public. But finally, when it came, people realised a new type of institution for this country is coming for the first time here and hugely. So, they forgot about the trees.
Sthanapati: Who were the architects and constructors of the planetarium building?
Subramanian: M/s Ballardie, Thompson & Mathews were the architects. Mr G. K. Gora was the chief architect, and he was another man very meticulous in work. He will ask M. P., Sir you come with me and see what I have done and tell me where you want me to change?
The architecture of the planetarium building was based on Sanchi Stupa. Somebody was asking, why a Buddhist Monument was chosen? I would not be able to answer this, because never have I probed M. P. Birla, either directly or indirectly to find out why he chose that? But one thing is clear, that Sanchi Stupa has a beautiful dome, a big dome, so that fit well.
The construction was carried out by M/s M. L. Dalmiya & Co. Ltd. With a hemispherical dome measuring 23.2 meters in its inner diameter, it was the largest in Asia at that time.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru delivering Inaugural Address at Birla Planetarium
Sthanapati: When was Birla Planetarium inaugurated?
Subramanian: Planetarium started working on 29th September 1962. It was formally inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India on 2nd July 1963. Birla Planetarium was later renamed as M. P. Birla Planetarium.
Pandit Jawaharlal signed the Visitors’ Book after inaugurating Birla Planetarium
Sthanapati: It seems our Prime Minister, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru had interest in all initiatives to establish science museums and planetariums in India at that time.
Subramanian: Pandit Nehru had significant contribution in the establishment of Birla Museum (1954) at Pilani, Science Museum at NPL (1956) in New Delhi, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (1959), Calcutta and Birla Planetarium (1963), Calcutta.
Sthanapati: The Planetarium instrument has been surviving for more than 50 years. Could you elaborate?
Subramanian: The primary instrument is the universal planetarium instrument, which is available for any latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere. It can be set for any date, past or future and the planets are all linked up with that. When I say, planets are linked up, that itself is a sort of precise analogue system so to say.
Carl Zeiss manufactured the instrument at Jena in East Germany. As you might have known, Carl Zeiss Germany at Jena split into two parts after the Second World War. Some of the engineers and scientists moved over to the West Germany, to a place called Oberkochen, and set up another Zeiss factory called Carl Zeiss AG. Now both of them enjoy equal status. But our equipment was from East Germany because we had some rupee trade agreement with some of the countries. We imported it in 1960.
This type of instrument has a lot of testimonials so to say, and we have been running that from the very beginning, since 29th September 1962. All these years, it has been running, it is also a proof of the quality and the engineering accuracy of the Zeiss machines.
Carl Zeiss Planetarium project being operational in M P Birla Planetarium since 1962
Sthanapati: With how many staff the planetarium started functioning?
Subramanian: The planetarium started performing with 3 Lecturers, 1 Instrument Engineer, 1 Assistant Engineer and 2 staff members to handle complete AC plant, a host of mechanics, 4 Ushers, 3 Darwans and 2 Gardeners. The planetarium had the necessary administrative and accounts staff apart from the ticket sales staff.
Sthanapati: To whom would you give maximum credit for keeping the planetarium projector functional for such a long time?
Subramanian: Our Engineer Mr D. K. Roy, had been sent and trained in Jena Works itself for six months after he was employed by us. He was in England when he was employed. So he was asked to proceed to Jena and be under training and then come here. Afterwards, he had taken full charge here. He was very meticulous in his work, very careful in observations. He had also maintained all that link with Carl Zeiss and interacted with them periodically, whenever they came here or happen to be in India.
We never needed to close down the planetarium, even for a day because of some problems with the instrument. Occasionally, because of Holi we might have closed, not otherwise. Every show was done. Even if some problems were there, even during a show, quickly, we will manage it, continue the show and finish it. Whatever was needed later on we tried to improvise it from local markets with an equivalent product, which may not always be Zeiss product, but which will serve our purpose.
He felt the instrument and the planetarium his responsibility, to see that everything goes on well. In 1969 or so there was a big crowd in the maidan, where the police employed lathi-charge, and things like that and thousands of people rushed towards the planetarium, they were breaking the glasses and all that. Seeing the crowd coming rushing, I called Roy, told him “Shut up all the machines and send out the people, close the planetarium, I will also escape with the crowd, you also escape to your quarters”. Roy went to the central part of the auditorium and stood at the centre where the instrument is there, from the platform with folded hands, “You damage all the planetarium, I will not report anything bad about you to my management. But, please, please don't put your hand on the instrument. If the device cracks, Calcutta will lose this unique instrument; which has been set up by the first planetarium”. The crowd although so big, understood the meaning of that statement and did not harm the planetarium instrument.
Many a time D. K. Roy would say, “Sir when you retire, at that point I will also retire”. But he passed away due to some cerebral problem. Ever since he passed away, still I am without one limb, as it were. That is how my mental makeup is because he had a type of dedication which was unique.
Birla Planetarium in the late 1960s
Sthanapati: Did you ever set up an Astronomical Observatory in the planetarium?
Subramanian: Till now we do not have an observatory as such. Some 20 years ago, I had moved for procurement of Celestron C14 telescope, which is manufactured in the USA. I wrote several times to them, on some excuse or the other, they were not giving me the quotation. Then I wrote to some German firm, who immediately responded. That is how I imported it, though American equipment from Germany. It has got several attachments. Filters are there. It is also computerised. You can set the coordinates, and it will chase it. It was established on the terrace of the M. P. Birla High School in Kolkata, where we had used a sliding roof type of observatory. Mr Piyush Pandey, Assistant Director, at that time had taken a lot of interest in that kind of thing.
Sthanapati: Kindly tell us briefly on the Planetarium’s Graduate Diploma Course and Research activities in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Subramanian: We had introduced the Post Graduate Diploma Course in Astronomy in 1998. It was possible due to the sincere cooperation of two eminent personalities of Kolkata, Prof Mrinal K. Dasgupta, former Director of Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, and Prof. Amalendu Bandyopadhyay, former Director of Positional Astronomy Centre. I had developed course materials in collaboration with them, which we are still continuing with some modifications on the topics. We award the diploma. It is not linked up with any university. About twelve years ago, we recruited Dr D. P. Duari, who had earlier worked with Dr Jayant V. Narlikar in IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics), Pune. As Director of Research, Dr Duari has been conducting research in Astrophysics from our planetarium.
Sthanapati: How did Dr Ramatosh Sarkar, a mathematician, help the planetarium in reaching its goals?
Subramanian: Dr Ramatosh Sarkar worked with us in Birla Planetarium as a Curator for more than 30 years. He was a very cooperative, very congenial, very knowledgeable person. Sarkar was with me almost from the beginning. At that time he was an M. Sc. in mathematics. We took him initially as a lecturer. He worked under me – in a sense, it’s not as a higher staff to a lower staff, very close. If he has a problem, he will come to me. Even if M. P. Birla created the problem, before answering him, he would come to me. As a matter of fact, once he wanted to go to Japan for a conference. He was short of money. He approached the Birla Group for some extra money. It was not forthcoming. He asked me, “They have said no. Shall I still try other sources and if I manage to get that balance of the amount shall I go?” “Yes you may go, but perhaps you may antagonise the big bosses. This is my suggestion only. But if you are convinced, proceed.” What I am saying is in all matters like this he would consult. Hierarchy of his discipline, everything was a much sacred to him as it was to me. I have been brought up and grown where authority matters a lot. But nowadays it is going off in various places, which is a part of the change that is happening.
Sthanapati: I believe, Dr B. G. Sidharth, founder Director of B. M. Birla Planetarium, Hyderabad had also worked with Birla Planetarium for many years.
Subramanian: Burra Gautam Sidharth was one of the few very bright students of our evening course on Popular Astronomy. He was with Birla Planetarium for about 15 years giving lectures. It was in 1966 or so. One day I asked Sidharth, “If I give you some part-time lecturing work, would you be able to take it”? “I don't think Sir, I don't believe”. He went away. He was a student in the Intermediate of St. Xavier’s College.
After two days, Sidharth came to me. “Sir, I have thought about the whole thing again, I will try Sir”. ‘OK, I am glad you are prepared to take”. That’s how I brought him, tried him and even when he was a student I gave him some part-time lecturing work, which he was doing well. He also moved up, M. Sc. and all that. Then he was getting employment in St. Xavier’s College. Then I said, “Would you take a job as a part-time lecturer”? “Yes”, he said. I made him a part-time lecturer. After sometimes I asked him whether he will become a full-time lecturer here and a part-time lecturer in St. Xavier’s College. He agreed. Here he was working on his doctorate. That also I encouraged him to work. Sidharth moved to great heights; probably he is in a position, bigger and higher than me. I am very happy for that.
Sthanapati: When was Birla Institute of Fundamental Research formed and how is it linked to M P Birla Planetarium?
Subramanian: The Birla Planetarium or M. P. Birla Planetarium was first set up by the Birla Education Trust, Pilani. Later it was shifted to the unit called Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, which was a new trust, set up about 30 years back under M. P. Birla Group. So, Birla Institute of Fundamental Research is the parent body of the planetarium.
Prof R. Subramanian not only adorned the position of the chief executive of M P Birla Planetarium over 50 years, but his dedication and vision also took the Planetarium to an institution of national and international importance. His association during these years have directly or indirectly benefitted many science museum and planetarium projects in this country. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, London in 1963. He was elected Vice-President of the International Planetarium Directors’ Congress in Moscow in 1987. Prof Subramanian became the President of the International Planetarium Directors' Congress in 1999 in Florida, a position he held until 2004.
He died in Kolkata on 26 May 2017 at the age of 90.
Note:
Based on the interview of Prof R Subramanian the author has published following two articles:
Sthanapati, Jayanta. “Beginning of Science Museums and Planetariums in India – Contribution of Ramanatha Subramanian”. Propagation 5 (2014) 19-27.
Dr Jayanta Sthanapati held positions like Director, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum; Director, National Council of Science Museums (Headquarters) and Deputy Director General, National Council of Science Museums. He was a Project Investigator from 2013 to 2016 to study the ‘History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India’, a research project sponsored by the Indian National Commission for History of Science of the Indian National Science Academy.
Shri K. K. Birla while discussing an issue with Shri V P Beri and Dr V N Dhaulakhandi (2008)
