Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik

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Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik
Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik.jpg
Pattnaik speaking during FUEL GILT Conference 2014, Pune.
Born
NationalityIndian
CitizenshipIndian
Alma mater Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (M.Tech)
University of Chicago (PhD)
Spouse Puspashree Pattnaik
Scientific career
Fields Biochemistry, Popular Science

Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik is an Indian scholar, scientist, and science author. He obtained a PhD from the University of Chicago in Biochemistry. [1]

Contents

Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik speaking during FUEL GILT Conference 2014, Pune

Early life

Pattnaik was born in Cuttack in the Indian state of Odisha. [1]

Marriages

Pattnaik was married to Puspashree Pattnaik.

Academic career

Pattnaik obtained Master of Science (Chemistry) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1971 and PhD (Biochemistry) from University of Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1976. [1]

Travel to United States in 1970s

Pattnaik traveled to Chicago for research at the University of Chicago. He worked with activity-based science education and extracurricular science activities with studies and research in political realism, youth based scientific research, and building science related educational systems. He worked as a Biochemistry research scientist until 1991.

Return to Odisha

In 1983 Pattnaik returned to Odisha and he started working with Eklavya foundation and Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. He launched "Bharat Gyan Bigyan Jatra", a campaign with the theme 'people's science' using folk art as the medium to simplify science.

Foundation of Srujanika

In 1983 Pattnaik founded Srujanika, a science education and research non-profit in Bhubaneswar. The philosophy behind Srujanika's work has been "learning with things around" which promotes science activities for children with readily available material. Groups involved in the "Bharat Gyan Bigyan Jatra" campaign started a science journal "Bigyana Taranga". [1] In 2004 Pattnaik supported "Project Rebati" at Srujanika for creating awareness for Linux and Open Source software, and Oriya language localization. Pattnaik also initiated the project "Open Access to Oriya Books", building low-cost tools for digitizing old Oriya books and periodicals, and open source processing software in collaboration with National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and Pragati Utkal Sangh. [2] This project resulted in digitizing the Purnachandra Ordiya Bhashakosha, a seven-volume, 9,500-page, four-language lexicon compiled by Gopala Chandra Praharaj. In addition to the digitization of other 1,300,000 pages from sixty-one old and rare magazines and editions of fourteen newspapers published between 1850 and 1950, [3] Oriya dictionaries published between 1811 and 1942 were digitized and compiled as the three-volume collection "Odia Bhasa Sadhana". [4] Pattnaik has authored the Oriya adaptation of The Man Who Knew Infinity on the life and work of Indian mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan. [5]

Publications

Pattnaik has authored several technical papers, compilations, and one guidebook.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odia language</span> Indic language

Odia is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the official language in Odisha, where native speakers make up 82% of the population, and it is also spoken in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Odia is one of the many official languages of India; it is the official language of Odisha and the second official language of Jharkhand.

Patnaik/ Pattnaik/ Pattanayak/ Pattanaik / Pattnayak is a native Odia surname native to Odisha, its a wealthy and most popular castes of northeastern districts of Odisha and southern districts of West Bengal in India. This surname mainly found among the Karan caste. This is a highly acclaimed surname with powerful people in the group

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuttack</span> City in Odisha, India

Cuttack, is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of the Odia and Sanskrit name Kataka which literally means The Fort, a reference to the ancient Barabati Fort around which the city initially developed. Cuttack is known as the Millennium City as well as the Silver City due to its history of 1000 years and famous silver filigree works. The Orissa High Court is located there. It is the commercial capital of Odisha which hosts many trading and business houses in and around the city. Cuttack is famous for its Durga Puja which is one of the most important festivals of Odisha. Cuttack is also the birthplace of Indian nationalist & freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose from Bengal. The city is categorised as a Tier-II city as per the ranking system used by Government of India.

Odia literature is literature written in the Odia language, mostly from the Indian state of Odisha. The modern Odia language is mostly formed from Tadbhava words with significant Sanskrit (Tatsama) influences, along with loanwords from Desaja, English, Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu), Persian, and Arabic. Its earliest written texts date from around 1000 CE. The earliest Odia newspaper was Utkala Deepika, first published on August 4, 1866.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Odisha</span> Indian Odia language film industry

The Odia cinema, colloquially known as Ollywood, is the Odia language Indian film industry, based in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack in Odisha, India. The name Ollywood is a portmanteau of the words Odia and Hollywood.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gopala Chandra Praharaj</span> Indian writer and linguist

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Ramesh Chandra Parida is an Indian chemist, academic and writer. He was a professor of chemistry at the College of Basic Science and Humanities. He has authored over 90 Popular science books in Odia and English.

Dr. Nikhilanand Panigrahy is a popular Indian Science writer and columnist from Odisha, who popularized science in the Odia language. He has been contributing regularly to a variety of prominent Oriya news papers and magazines since 1973.

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Prafulla Kumar Jena was an Indian metallurgist who served as director of the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Bhubaneshwar. He previously held the TATA Chair for the Distinguished Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subrat Kumar Prusty</span>

Subrat Kumar Prusty is an Indian Odia-language scholar, activist, social entrepreneur, literary critic and author. He is Member Secretary of the Institute of Odia Studies and Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He was instrumental in preparing the research documents, advocating the awarding of Classical Language status to Odia, forming Central Institute of Classical Odia, Odia University and implementation of the Odisha Official Language Act, 1954. He was awarded the Presidential Certificate of Honour and Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman – 2019 for Classical Odia.

Kumudini Mohapatra (1930–2006) was an Odia-language Indian author and translator from the state of Odisha. Her travelogue Americara Ghara O Gharani and science fiction Chandra Abhimukhe Abhijaan are a few of her popular works. Mohapatra was married to Gokulananda Mahapatra. She was active in Science-writing during 1947–1948.

Srujanika is an Indian nonprofit organisation headquartered in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It works for research and innovation in science, education and development with a focus on Odia language. It has published a popular science books, and periodicals like Bigyan Tarang since 1988-89 that has 17 volumes and 105 issues. The organization was founded in 1983 by a couple Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik and Puspashree Pattnaik. It scanned a large volume of public domain and other books including 26 Odia dictionaries, all the 105 issues of Bigyan Tarang and other publications of their own. Srujanika collaborated with National Institute of Technology, Rourkela Pragati Utkal Sangha to create an Open Access repository called Open Access to Oriya Books that contains 561 digitally scanned books. On 12 November 2017, Srujanika launched their brand new website odiabibhaba.in containing digitised books, dictionaries, magazine and newspaper archives, reference material, language methods and other information.

Odisha Bigyan Academy is a non-profit organisation in the Indian state of Odisha. It was established by professors and academics in science and technology to popularize scientific ideas and technological innovations among students and general public along with encouraging scientific research activities in the State under one umbrella. It encourages students to pursue science as a career and academics to excel in the field of science and engineering research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puspashree Pattnaik</span> Indian Odia-language science author

Puspashree Pattnaik is an Indian educator, popular science author, activist and archivist. She is known for her contribution to the fields of science education, popular science, environmentalism, and archiving. Exploring Nature is one of her notable books. She co-founded nonprofit Srujanika that focuses on research and innovation in science, education, and development with an emphasis on the Odia language, along with her husband Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik. Pattnaik co-founded the children's educational initiative Integral Education Centre at Srujanika and co-edited the organization's magazine Bigyana Tarang. The Odisha Bigyan Academy awarded her the Pranakrushna Parija Popular Science Award for the book, Kahinki Bhai Kahinki in 1997.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rath, Deepsha (1 September 2013). "The digital book binder". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  2. "Open Access to Oriya Books - Project OAOB" . Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  3. Singha, Minati (3 February 2013). "150-year-old Odia magazines, newspapers digitized". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  4. "Generously borrow words from other languages". The New Indian Express. 10 August 2009. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  5. "Speakers presenting at FUEL GILT Conference 2014". FUEL Project. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.

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