Her father then “propped her up” in front of the TV and gave a running commentary of the momentous occasion. Nicky grew up to become Dr Nicola Fox—only the second woman after astronaut Mary Cleave to be head of science at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). And, it comes as no surprise that she credits her father for her passion in space science.
Fox, who was appointed associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD)-NASA headquarters last February, was on her first visit to India this March. She was in Bengaluru to celebrate the partnership between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation on the soon-to-be launched NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), an advanced radar imaging system that will provide an unprecedented and detailed view of earth. A day prior to her visit to ISRO’s U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, Fox, who studied in an all-girls school, visited Maharani Lakshmi Ammanni College for Women along with NASA’s Earth Science director Dr Karen M. St Germain. The two women spoke their minds during ‘Space Talk with NASA Women Scientists’, organised by the US Consulate General, Chennai.
During the interaction, Fox took the audience through the functions and pursuits of the six divisions at NASA’s SMD—planetary science, joint agency satellite, astrophysics, biological and physical sciences, earth science and heliophysics—that have an annual funding of $8 billion. Exhorting students to pursue careers in space science without any selfdoubt, Fox said the key to being a scientist is to love asking questions. If you are fascinated about how and why things work, you are already a scientist, she said.
Denne historien er fra March 24, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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Denne historien er fra March 24, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
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RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI