 French Science Today
The Alliance Francaise of Madras and the Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre, with the support of the French Embassy in India, are presenting 'French Science Today 2004' on 26th & 29th October 2004 at the Birla Planetarium.
For the sixth consecutive year, the network of Alliances Francaises in India and the Scientific Co-operation Section of the French Embassy in India, are organising in 13 major Indian cities a programme entitled French Science Today, with the aim of sharing the latest trends in science in France.
Through the encounter that this programme hopes to bring about between researchers, students and the general public, French Science Today aims at sharing with the Indian public the specificities of the world of research in France and its position on subjects of importance to the scientific community the world over.
More than ever, researchers are questioning the impact of their works and discoveries: formal mathematics applied to computer science, the realm of bacteria, optics and biosciences, anti-matter in the universe, or the applications of particle physics to cosmology and medicine, crucial issues on which each one needs to form an opinion of his own.
Through this series of lectures around the country by the best specialists in the subjects, the 2004 edition of French Science Today hopes to bring to the Indian public a panorama of the contributions of the scientific community in France, and enable a genuine international dialogue on these questions of universal importance.
In Chennai, the AFM has organised the lectures in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Science and technology Centre. The series was inaugurated on 26th October by Michel Seguy, Consul General of France in Pondicherry followed by a lecture on Bacteria by Jean-Marc
Reyrat.
On 29th October, Richard Taillet, a second-timer to Chennai, will deliver a lecture on Antimatter in the Universe.
Dr. Jean-Marc REYRAT obtained his PhD from CNRS-INRA, University of Paris. During the past years, he has had the opportunity to work at the Pasteur institute (Paris) and INSERM. He is also a PhD supervisor at university of Paris VII.
Dr. Reyrat, from the Faculty of medicine Necker-enfants Malades (Paris), is working as a group leader in the 'Avenir' programme at INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research). His research laboratory is involved in a genomic scale analysis of the mycobacterial cell wall using modern mycobacterial genetics (site-directed and random mutagenesis) combined with several in vitro read out, and is currently characterising from a functional point of view the genes involved in the biosynthesis of the various actors of the mycobacterial cell wall, an important attribute of the mycobacterial virulence.
Summary of the lecture: "What do we know about bacteria?"
Bacteria are living organisms of very small size, composed of a single cell. These animalcules have been present on Earth for more than 2 billion years and have colonized more or less all the ecosystems. Bacteria, with their numerous properties, can be the best and the worst friends of human beings. Indeed, the nitrogen fixation property that is a bacterial privilege is absolutely indispensable to human life on Earth, while the propagation of some infectious diseases such as tuberculosis is due. to some virulent species. We will see how the combination of both genetics and genomics help us understand what distinguishes a 'good' from a 'bad' bacterium.
Dr Richard TAILLET is an assistant professor at the University of Savoie since 1998, and a researcher at the Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and High Energies of Paris (LPNH) and Laboratory of Theoretical Physics in Annecy-Ie-Vieux (LAPTH) where he obtained his PhD about 'Searching for galactic dark matter: globular clusters and diffuse gas'.
His research activity during his 10 years' experience has mainly concerned the so-called 'dark matter' problem, at the galactic scale. His work focused first on brown dwarfs (planet-like objects, just not heavy enough to ignite fusion reactions in their tore and thus failing to become stars) on the astrophysical side, and then on particle physics. A large part of his work consisted in estimating the possibility to detect new particles through their indirect signature (other common particles produced by collision), which led to collaboration with experimental groups (CELESTE, HESS, EROS, SNLS) and participation in several observation campaigns in the ESO observatory located in La Silla (Chile) and at the CFH telescope (Hawaii). This work led to the publication of 20 papers in international journals.
Finally, in what he considers one of his important social roles, he gives several general-public oriented lectures every year, either about his specific work or about more general aspects of physics (relativity, dark matter, cosmic rays, antimatter), and he had the occasion to participate in several radio/TV
programmes.
Summary of the lecture: 'Antimatter in the universe':
Antimatter is often referred to as a mysterious notion, involving badly understood aspects of science. It is actually completely wrong, as antimatter is known to exist since the 1930s and its properties have been thoroughly studied since then. It has even proven successful in some applications, like medical imaging.
This lecture will give a simple introduction to the notion of antimatter and relate the salient aspect of its history. It will then concentrate on the importance of antimatter in astrophysics and cosmology. Antimatter detected in space, in the vicinity of Earth as well as on a larger scale, in our galaxy, and its origin will be discussed.
The question of antimatter also has some connections with cosmology, and is related to the question of the origin of matter in our Universe: why does our Universe seem to be made mostly of matter and not antimatter? This question raises deep connections between cosmology and high-energy physics, which will be introduced in a simple way. Finally, connections will be made with more speculative physics, black hole evaporation and annihilation of dark matter. One should not be scared by these complicated words, as the corresponding notions will be explained during the lecture...
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