As part of activities in connecting science with society, a lecture series on Science & Society has been started by Mantaqi Centre for Science & Society, Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Awantipora.
According to a statement by the varsity, the first talk held online titled Astronomy: An Exciting Science, was delivered by Prof Naseer Iqbal, Professor of Physics & Registrar, IUST on 11 January 2021. The talk was organised in association with Directorate of Internal Quality Assurance (DIQA), IUST, Awantipora.
“Prof. Naseer at the beginning gave a brief overview about the activities IUST is taking in reaching out to the society. During his PowerPoint presentation, he gave an overview of the origin of Universe and various features and components of Astronomy. He mentioned that universe is everything around us, both visible and invisible. While correlating many other sciences with astronomy like biology, chemistry, physics, he deliberated that astronomy is an oldest, entertaining, non-threatening and accessible science. He threw light on many aspects of astronomy and cosmology like cosmic evolution, space, time, matter, supernova, black hole, big bang, energy, dark matter, etc. He connected astronomy during ancient times when there were no telescopes and other technological gadgets with the modern astronomy equipped with high end technologies and facilities. Prof. Naseer highlighted the occurrence of astronomical evidences from many places of Kashmir like Burzuhama. There are many challenges in studying the science of astronomy and more initiatives with focused research needs to be taken in this direction, he said,” the statement reads.
Dr. Aijaz Ahmad Qureshi, Research Officer and Organising Secretary who at the beginning gave a brief profile of Prof. Naseer Iqbal, presented vote of thanks. He thanked Vice Chancellor of Prof. Mushtaq A. Siddiqi for his encouragement and DIQA, Public Relations, Directorate of IT& SS, media houses, participants, supporting staff, IUST fraternity, and others for their support in successfully organizing the event. At the end, there was a question and answer session.