Research should be on problems facing mankind: CNR Rao

Bharat Ratna-designate and eminent scientist C N R Rao today asked the premier educational institutes and other research institutions to focus on the problems faced by the mankind such as water and energy, among others.
"IITs and other institutions are not spending enough time over problems faced by the mankind such as water, energy, etc. They can focus on hydrogen, fuel cells, solar, batteries," Rao said.
Delivering the first 'Institute Lecture' at the IIT Madras here on 'Celebration of Science', the 80-year-old Rao said, "We also need to explore other sources of energy. Nuclear (contribution) is not more than five or eight per cent (of the total energy in the country)."

The structural chemistry expert observed that he was presently researching on water splitting, thermal water splitting and semiconductor nanostructures.
Quoting Jules Verne from 'The Mysterious Island,' Rao said water would be the coal of the future.
Holding that the main problem facing Indian scientists was choosing an easy and safe topic for research, Rao said research and science was not about being safe.

"You need to be able to pick a problem. The act of picking a problem is the challenge to Indian students," said the founder of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.
Listing out a list of noted physicists and chemists who won or missed the prestigious Nobel prize, since its inception, the Bharat Ratna-designate said in a lighter vein, "For those of you, who are Nobel aspirants, you must live very long to be able to win a Nobel."

Addressing the IIT Madras' Student Activities Centre packed with school children, students and teachers, he said, "You have to understand the developments in your field. Don't expect prizes all the time. Because researching is exciting and doing is exciting."
He also opined that English scientist Michael Faraday, who contributed to electromagnetism and electrochemistry, was the greatest of all scientists.