Nagarjuna G.

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Nagarjuna Gadiraju
Gn-panaji-goa.JPG
Nagarjuna G. at an OLPC Workshop in Goa 2010
Born (1960-08-03) 3 August 1960 (age 62)
NationalityIndian
Other namesgnowgi, gn
Alma mater IIT Kanpur
OccupationFaculty at HBCSE, TIFR, Chairperson of Free Software Foundation of India
Known for Free software movement, Gnowsys
Website

Nagarjuna G. (Nagarjuna Gadiraju) works in the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. His major research interests include Science Education, Cognitive Science, History and Philosophy of Science and Structure and Dynamics of Knowledge. As an activist he focuses on promoting free knowledge and free software and serves as the chairperson of Free Software Foundation of India.

Contents

Biography

Nagarjuna was born in 1960 at Nagarjuna Sagar, in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Education

Nagarjuna did M.Sc. in Biology and M.A. in Philosophy from Mumbai and Ph.D. in Philosophy of Science from IIT Kanpur.[ citation needed ]

Work

Some of his areas of interest are semantic web, knowledge organization, AI, philosophy of science, biological roots of knowledge and modelling complex systems with specific interest in cognitive development. He is the author of a specification and implementation of a distributed knowledge base called GNOWSYS. [1] He is an architect of gnowledge.org, a community portal, which was launched on 2 February 2007. He contributed as a core developer and architect of SELF Platform. He is currently guiding four research scholars in the area of science education at HBCSE, TIFR. During the pandemic, Nagarjuna was part of the Collaboratively Understanding Biology Education program at the Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), which supported student learning at home through CUBE Home labs.

Free Software Foundation

Nagarjuna is an active member of the Free Software Foundation in India. He is one of the speakers for the FSF. [2] He is a founding member, current chairperson and the member of the board of directors for the Free Software Foundation of India. [3]

History and Philosophy of Science

Nagarjuna has interest in History and Philosophy of Science. He has created an illustrated exhibition on History of Science at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. [4] He also teaches graduate courses in History and Philosophy of Science at Homi Bhabha Centre for science Education and Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences. [5]

Related Research Articles

GNOWSYS is a specification for a generic distributed network based memory/knowledge management. It is developed as an application for developing and maintaining semantic web content. It is written in Python. It is implemented as a Django app. The GNOWSYS project was launched by Nagarjuna G. in 2001, while he was working at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE).

Homi J. Bhabha Indian nuclear physicist

Homi Jehangir Bhabha, was an Indian nuclear physicist, founding director, and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Colloquially known as "Father of the Indian nuclear programme", Bhabha was also the founding director of the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) which is now named the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. TIFR and AEET were the cornerstone of Indian development of nuclear weapons which Bhabha also supervised as director.

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Public research institute in Mumbai, India

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is located at Navy Nagar, Colaba, Mumbai, with an affiliated campus in Serilingampally near Hyderabad. TIFR conducts research primarily in the natural sciences, mathematics, the biological sciences and theoretical computer science.

M. G. K. Menon Indian physicist

Mambillikalathil Govind Kumar Menon also known as M. G. K. Menon, was a physicist and policy maker from India. He had a prominent role in the development of science and technology in India over four decades. One of his most important contributions was nurturing the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, which his mentor Homi J. Bhabha founded in 1945.

Anil Kakodkar Indian nuclear physicist

Anil Kakodkar is an Indian nuclear physicist and mechanical engineer. He was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India and the Secretary to the Government of India, he was the Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay from 1996–2000. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, on 26 January 2009.

Homi Bhabha National Institute

The Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) is an Indian deemed university established by the Department of Atomic Energy, which unifies academic programmes of several of its constituent institutions. Deemed universities in India have been divided in three categories by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and HBNI has been placed in category 'A', highest of the three categories. Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai and its Constituent Units are the institutions of excellence as per section 4(b) of "The Central Education Institutions Act, 2006".

Dorabji Tata

Sir Dorabji Tata was an Indian businessman of the British Raj, and a key figure in the history and development of the Tata Group. He was knighted in 1910 for his contributions to industry in British India.

The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust was established by Sir Dorab Tata, the elder son of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata. Founded in 1932, it is one of the oldest non-sectarian philanthropic organisations in India.

Department of Atomic Energy Department with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is a department with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. DAE was established in 1954 by a Presidential Order. DAE has been engaged in the development of nuclear power technology, applications of radiation technologies in the fields of agriculture, medicine, industry and basic research. DAE comprises five research centres, three industrial organisations, five public sector undertakings and three service organisations. It has under its aegis two boards for promoting and funding extramural research in nuclear and allied fields, mathematics and a national institute. It also supports eight institutes of international repute engaged in research in basic sciences, astronomy, astrophysics, cancer research and education. It also has in its fold an educational society that provides educational facilities for children of DAE employees. The important programmes of the DAE are directed towards:

National Institute of Science Education and Research Higher education institution in Bhubaneswar, India

The National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) is an autonomous premier public research institute in Jatani, Odisha, India under the umbrella of Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India. The institute is a constituent institution of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI). The prime minister, Manmohan Singh (2004–2014), laid the foundation stone on August 28, 2006, establishing the institute along the lines of the IISc in Bangalore, and its seven sister institutions, the IISERs, established at Kolkata, Pune, Mohali, Bhopal, Berhampur, Tirupati and Thiruvananthapuram in India.

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Science research centre in Mumbai, india

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) is a National Centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India. The broad goals of the institute are to promote equity and excellence in science and mathematics education from primary school to undergraduate college level, and encourage the growth of scientific literacy in the country. To these ends it carries out a wide spectrum of inter-related activities, which may be viewed under three broad categories:

Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences

Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences is an autonomous institute with an affiliation to the University of Mumbai. It was set up in the University of Mumbai by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in collaboration with the university. This institute offers undergraduate science education and research opportunities. It aims at improving the quality of basic science education in the country at the undergraduate level and developing a pool of scientists for the various scientific works of the country. The Institute was inaugurated on 17 September 2007 by Dr R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. In 2016, the institution was granted the status of "Aided Institution" under the Department of Atomic Energy by the Government of India.

Shashikumar Madhusudan Chitre FNA, FASc, FNASc, FRAS was an Indian mathematician and astrophysicist, known for his research in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The Government of India honored him, in 2012, with Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the sciences.

Jayashree Ramadas is an Indian educationist. She was the Centre Director (2011–2016) of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), a National Centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, India. In her capacity as a professor she teaches graduate courses related to cognition and science education. She is also a member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and International Committee on Physics Education. Ramadas was appointed Dean, HBCSE, in November, 2008, and in June 2011, was appointed the Centre Director. She is currently Professor at the TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Hyderabad.

Rangaswamy Narasimhan was an Indian computer and cognitive scientist, regarded by many as the father of computer science research in India. He led the team which developed the TIFRAC, the first Indian indigenous computer and was instrumental in the establishment of CMC Limited in 1975, a Government of India company, later bought by Tata Consultancy Services. He was a recipient of the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1977.

National Institute of Advanced Studies

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Badanaval Venkatasubba Sreekantan was an Indian high-energy astrophysicist and a former associate of Homi J. Bhabha at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). He was also a Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore.

Krishna Balaji Sainis is an Indian immunologist. He is a former senior professor of Life Sciences at Homi Bhabha National Institute and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India. Since 1999, he has served as the Indian representative on the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for his contributions to medical sciences in 1994.

Arvind Kumar is an Indian physicist and educationist. He was Centre Director, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai, during the period 1994-2008. For his contributions in the field of science education, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 2010. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, and is the recipient of several other honours and awards, including the TWAS regional award for Science Education.

Anil Sadgopal is an Indian educationist and activist, known for the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme and for advocacy related to the Right to Education (RTE) Act. He is a recipient of several awards and honours, including the Jamnalal Bajaj Award for 'Application of Science and Technology for Rural Development'. He was instrumental in setting up Eklavya foundation in 1982. For over a decade, he was Professor of Education at Delhi University, and headed its Department of Education during 1998-2001. Since 2004-2005, he has been campaigning for changes in the RTE Act, which he believes is flawed.

References

  1. "GNOWSYS: A Kernel for Semantic Computing".
  2. "GNU and Free Software Speakers - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation".
  3. "Free Software Foundation of India - Free Software, Free Society".
  4. "History of Science".
  5. "Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences".