Padma Bhushan Dr. P Balaram,
Former Director, of the Indian Institute of Science
Department of Computer Science (PG), Kristu Jayanti College hosted the 47th Edition of Vichaarmanthan – An Interaction with Global and Indian Visionaries’ on Thursday, September 29, 2022. The topic for the lecture was ‘Reflections on Science in the age of the coronavirus’. The resource person of the event was Padma Bhushan Dr. P Balaram, Former Director, of the Indian Institute of Science for the 47th edition of Vichaarmanthan.
Dr. P Balaram addressed the gathering about the advent of the coronavirus in December 2019 in the world and in mid-March 2020 in India and how it had turned our lives upside down for two years. He explained the brief history along with the evolution of coronavirus across the world and explained coronavirus as a force of nature.
The Former IISC Director emphasized the world to observe nature using tools such as the telescope discovered by Galileo which opened the field of cosmology while the other tool was the microscope which discovered the world of microbiology. Through his presentation, he also showed a highly microscopic image of the coronavirus. He gave a very fascinating quote by Willian Osler which said ‘soap and water and common sense are the best disinfectants’.
Talking about the origin of coronavirus, Dr. Balaram pointed out, “When this virus was first discovered in 1967 it was not called the coronavirus it was just a new virus previously unknown. It was Dr. D. Hamre who discovered the coronavirus, who was a lady. Her research paper on the virus was a detailed explanation of the virus”. On researching more about Dr. Dorothy Hamre he got to know that she had also gotten her Ph.D. and died in a place called Ouray in Colorado. Dr. P Balaram then with all the information published an article about the same and which was later recognized by a newsletter called “Historians” in America.
“D. Hamre and David Terryl are the actual scientists behind the discovery of the coronavirus because we could develop a vaccine in less than a year after the world was affected by this deadly virus,” he added. “In 2002-2003 a new disease erupted in Vietnam which came from southern China and was reported to WHO disease which was not recognized before. It was then recognized as Sars Covid 1 which was the first reported case of coronavirus. It was more of a localized epidemic in Vietnam at that time,” explained Dr. Balaram.
He emphasizes the importance of chemistry by saying that matter is all around us and the matter is made of atoms. “To know the virus we need to understand the atomic structure of the virus to understand how to take care of the virus. The pillars of modern biology are genetics and evolution which are linked with chemistry. We also learned about the different mutations of coronavirus such as delta, alpha, and omega in which omega mutant caused the highest damage,” Dr. Balaram added.
Emphasizing the importance of nature and science, Dr. Balram added, “Though the arrival of the corona virus is still in the debate it is left for mankind to come out of it. The lessons we learn from the pandemic are that nature periodically reminds mankind of human arrogance. Nature also demonstrates that the frontiers of science are truly endless and more mundane. Biology assisted with the chemistry of molecular variation is a formidable force of nature”.
During the question-and-answer session, Jithin, a student from Computer Science (PG) asked if the human body can adapt to more infections provided it is now adapted to covid 19. Dr. Balaram replied that modern life is very much different from the old traditional lifestyle and so we always have to be updated and omicron has now been living with us in peace.
The session ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Shilpa R, Student coordinator, department of computer science followed by the Jayantian anthem.