Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) celebrated its 36^th Foundation Day on Tuesday, 19^th February 2019. Dr. R. Chidambaram, Former, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, Former Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Former Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India was the chief guest on the occasion. He delivered an engrossing and captivating talk on ‘Technologies for Future’.

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Dr. Chidambaram talked about technologies which can help India for economic growth and security. He nicely elucidated that energy security and climate change are the two biggest challenges that the world is facing today and explained how nuclear power is the answer to these challenges. He further went on to state that technologists and scientists in India should try to achieve self-reliance for enhancing India’s immunity against technology denials. He said we may need help from developed countries for short term only and but for sure developed countries will need us in the long term. He said that India’s nuclear programme is reliable and anti-fragile, which means it grows stronger under stress. He elaborated on the need of e-connectivity for Industry & knowledge sharing, whereby the National Knowledge Network (NKN) setup by Government of India is being used extensively for connecting grids for climate science, brain research etc. He urged scientists to use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning without fear of having machines overpowering human intelligence. He appreciated the work done in RRCAT and talked about the relevance of work done in RRCAT in the national perspective. Dr. Chidambaram congratulated scientists and engineers working in RRCAT for their accomplishments.

Dr. P. A. Naik, Director, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology presented a report on the major accomplishments of the Centre during the last one year. All staff member of the Centre were in attendance in the Homi Bhabha Auditorium, Convention Centre of Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology.

Dr. Naik informed that the national facility of Indus-1 and Indus-2 Synchrotron Radiation Source is in regular use by students and researchers from all over the country and number of experiments conducted using the facility has increased substantially during the last one year. Three more beam lines are now scheduled for commissioning in next few months, taking the total user beam lines to twenty two. Many technologies developed at RRCAT, including technology for laser based medical diagnostic instruments have been transferred to the industry.

Dr. Chidambaram also visited laboratories in RRCAT on 18th February 2019 and he was apprised about various activities of the Centre. He also inaugurated Agriculture Radiation Processing Facility (ARPF), which has been setup by RRCAT near Devi Ahilya Bai Holker Sabji Mandi. During his day long activities in the RRCAT campus he also inaugurated High Performance Computing Cluster facility and a small observatory.

Shri S. C. Joshi, Director, Proton Accelerator Group delivered the welcome address and Shri P. K. Kush, Director, Technology Development and Support Group proposed a vote of thanks. The program was conducted by Dr. Alpana Rajan, Head, Computer Centre.