My Journey in Earth Sciences and Creation of Physics Department in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar

Abstract

Before venturing into Earth Sciences (Geochronology, Geochemistry and Geophysics), I tried my luck for a while to enter the domain of radiation biology. For this purpose, I participated in a four weeks Summer School organised in April, 1974 by the doyen of Biophysics, G.N. Ramachandran, who was a hot candidate for Nobel Prize in Physics those days in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. I found Biology and Biochemistry contents of the course a hard nut to crack. I collaborated with Dr. Bhagat Singh of Botany Department in Punjabi University, Patiala and undertook to investigate the chromosome aberrations in barley seeds exposed to neutron and gamma radiations. We wrote a joint project for funding by the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) which was not approved; hence my honeymoon with radiation biology was short-lived.