Bonjour India’s Science Beyond Borders exhibition will be inaugurated at BM Birla Science Centre, on 3rd June at 11 am. The exhibition is open to all and will remain on view until 26th June, 10:30 am to 8 pm, at the BM Birla Science Centre (except Mondays). Science Beyond Borders is part of Bonjour India, an artistic, cultural, educational, and literary initiative by the Embassy of France and its cultural service, Institut Français en Inde, the Alliance Française Network, and the Consulates of France in India.
During the inauguration, there will be three round table discussions on three germane topics: aviation, visual analytics, and data and development. Shri Jayesh Ranjan, the Principal Secretary of the Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments of the Telangana government, Mr Thierry Berthelot, Consul General of France in Bangalore, and Mr KG Kumar, Director of BM Birla Science Centre will be present at the inauguration. Padma Shri Gnana Gandhi Vasudevan will be the Special Guest.
The exhibition will showcase the shared scientific history of Indo-French scientific collaboration. The initiative will take visitors through some rare snippets of the prized Tata Central Archives, give them a peek into Airbus’ geospatial digital platform, bring to the fore some illustrious records from the Institut Français de Pondichéry, a repository of international research in cultures, environments and societies in South Asia, and delve into the experiences, memories, testimonies of many distinguished personalities from India and France.
Unbeknownst to most in India, the history of scientific collaboration between India and France runs deep. A meeting between Jacques Blamont, the founder of the French Space Agency (CENS), and Mr. Vikram Sarabhai, founder of the Indian space programme, served as the launching pad of the Indian space programme. India’s nuclear programme was also a collaboration with France. On 17th January, 1950, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, then Chairperson of the French CEA (Atomic Energy Commission) offered, during a meeting with Homi Bhabha held in Delhi, to share technical information on the purification of uranium, graphite reprocessing, and designs of a low power reactor in exchange for India’s export to France of thorium, beryllium, and uranium.