Human genomes are almost identical to one another, except for some variations. The differences could be as small as few hundred locus specific variations between identical twins to as large as a few millions of nucleotide replacement to deletion or reshuffling of a chunk of genome which is mostly heterochromatic, non-coding or repeated DNA. Extensive genome duplication provides significant biochemical differences between individuals. Some specific mutations in given genes, lead to major dysfunction of physiological process in a human being. Therefore, one cannot ignore but say that we are all born with certain deterministic genetic consequences, which happen stochastically during the process of fertilization. This only means that a genome is a static state of information. The dynamic state of information processing depends extensively on the environment. Therefore, when we ask a specific question like—“Is scientific temper innate in individuals or is it acquired?”, it is no different than asking—“Is scientific scholarship innate or acquired?”
This age old debate of nature versus nurture has kept the geneticists divided into two schools. Today, in the post human-genome-sequencing era, the two schools have come to a compromise, stating that while some events are genetic the rest are epigenetic. Drawing an analogy, I would like to take a stand and say that the extent of innate scientific temper in an individual is decided by the point of time when the given individual’s growth is measured. At birth, every child is a genius scientist, exploring the world, trying out new things, challenging his/her surroundings and finding a place for oneself. The curiosity to know, to learn and to understand is at its peak. However, the expression and development of this huge curiosity with which a child is born, into scientific temper depends on the environment it gets. The more answers a child gets to the questions he/she raises, the more opportunities of explorations the child is provided, the more experiments the child tries, the more is the acquired scientific temper. This may look like an innate quality of the individual at a later stage of life. Therefore as an adult, every individual has different levels of innate scientific temper. To modulate this and to develop a higher scientific temper post adulthood requires an extraordinary effect from the environment and the influence of transforming individuals—the teachers, who can make a difference.
Therefore I often say, one has to be lucky enough to be at the right place, at the right time. I have had the extraordinary advantage of being taught by some of the outstanding teachers of Chemistry during my undergraduate and postgraduate years. Due to shortage of marks, I could not get admission to M.Sc IIT Kanpur, which my friend Prabir Dutta got. But in the process, we got a chance to exchange our notes and I had the enormous privilege of learning from seven legendary chemistry teachers of India, namely Asima Chatterjee, Sadhan Basu and Mihir Chaudhuri of Calcutta University and C.N.R. Rao, D. Balasubramanian, S. Ranganathan and M.V. George of IIT Kanpur. As a PhD student, I was again privileged to be trained under Prof. G.N. Ramachandran and Prof. Sasisekharan and subsequently, follow them as models. As I mentioned in my
second blog post:
“Foremost is the recollection of the sense of intellectual freedom that IISc gave me; the free rein to experiment; to seek and find answers; the endless debates over cups of coffee at midnight…….”
Learning from life’s experiences
Hence, I believe that inquisitive minds, recognized early and provided the right nurturing environment will promote the kind of scientific temper that can transform India and Indian science for decades to come. And for this to happen, we have to recognize and reward teachers at all levels of educational institutions. Only excellence can recognize excellence.
This blog is dedicated to all the great teachers and mentors on this teacher’s day – 05th September 2014.
SKBlog-04
Comments
Post a Comment