Symposium on nuclear physics concludes at Cotton University

GUWAHATI: The DAE Symposium on Nuclear Physics 2022 (SNP-2022) jointly hosted by Cotton University and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), and sponsored by the Board of Research in Nuclear Physics (BRNS), Government of India concluded successfully.

Several distinguished and luminary scientists in the field of nuclear physics from abroad as well as from BARC, IUAC, TIFR, VECC, IITs and different universities of the country; faculty members, research scholars, and academicians among others took part in the symposium. This symposium, which was held during from December 1 to December 5, after a gap of three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was a platform for the nuclear physics community of the country, including scientists, engineers and researchers where they interacted, presented and discussed about frontier research in the field of nuclear physics.

During the inaugural event, Education Adviser to the Government of Assam and the chief guest of the inaugural programme, Prof Nani Gopal Mahanta said, "A new technology for cancer therapy called ADBNCT (Accelerator Driven Boron Neutron Cancer Therapy) has been developed which is a target treatment without destroying the healthy cells of the patient. The present radiation of chemotherapy has lot of side effects. This device can access all organs of the body. Northeast India in general and Assam in particular has the highest number of cancer patients in the country. This kind of device can go a long way in ensuring treatment for the needy people of the region."

Meanwhile, Dr A K Mohanty, Director of BARC, in his address highlighted that in the current era of mega science, the concern is not only electricity production. In today''s context, there is a need for high-temperature production. For all these, energy is needed which can be procured from nuclear reactors which are sources of heat.

The same day, in the evening, Cotton University organized a cultural programme which included performances by the current students and alumni of the University for the delegates and participants. State Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu inaugurated the souvenir of the 66th DAE Symposium and then addressed the delegates and participants of the symposium. In his address, he beautifully explained how technology enters in medical practice, from clinical diagnosis to modern state-of-art techniques for diagnosis, including nuclear medicines for critical treatment. He stressed nuclear energy for development and peace. He also opined that higher education should be research oriented. "Such a symposium will certainly motivate students to go for research in higher education, an arena where the north-eastern region of India is particularly lagging behind," he said.

The five-day DAE symposium saw scientific deliberations in the form of plenary talks, invited talks, evening talks, seminars, and contributory papers. In addition, there were talks delivered by the selected Young Achiever Award (YAA) nominees, and presentations of Ph.D. theses, poster presentation of accepted contributory papers, and oral presentation of research papers in seven major themes of nuclear physics.

There were awards for 10 best poster presentations and the Indian Physics Association (IPA) Award for best thesis presentation in the symposium. Moreover, the symposium introduced a new award titled the 'Young Achiever Award' for motivating bright young researchers of the country. Dr Pratap Roy, VECC, Dr Sanat Kumar Pandit, BARC and Dr Amaresh Jaiswal received the Young Achievers Award, and Dr Sushant Kumar Singh, VECC received the Best Thesis Award during the symposium.

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