CHEM FIESTA 2011

 IYC 2011 celebration approved by official celebration committee(IUPAC and UNESCO)

On the eve of International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011),the Department of Chemistry of Darrang College, Assam celebrated Chemfiesta 2011 on 26^th November. Chemfiesta 2011 is a day long chemistry festival celebrating the journey of chemistry from laboratories to the industry and from the industry to the society.

2011 has been declared as the International Year of Chemistry by UNESCO and IUPAC commemorating the hundred years of the Chemistry Nobel Prize to Marie Curie(1911) for her pioneering works in the field of radioactivity that lead to the discovery of Radium(Ra) and Pollonium(Po). IYC 2011 celebrates the contribution of women to science. The International Year of Chemistry 2011 is a worldwide celebration of the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind under the unifying theme “Chemistry—our life, our future,”.The goals of IYC2011 are to increase the public appreciation of chemistry in meeting world needs, to encourage interest in chemistry among young people, and to generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry.  2011 is also the 100th anniversary of the founding of the International Association of Chemical Societies, providing a chance to highlight the benefits of international scientific collaboration.

The IYC 2011 which is an initiative of IUPAC, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, involves chemical societies, academies, and institutions worldwide, and relies on individual initiatives to organize local and regional activities. Chemfiesta 2011 is our small endeavour towards this end. The main attractions of Chemfiesta 2011 were popular talk, Chemical Magic Show and Science Quiz.

Session-I Inaugural Session:  Chairman: Dr A.K. Sharma

The programme started by a song of Dr Bhupen Hazarika performed by the students of the Department of Chemistry. The invited guests and guest of honours were then felicitated with a traditional gamocha and escorted to the dais by Dr B.C Paul and Prof. B. Kakoty. Dr D.K Sharma anchored the event and requested Dr A.K. Sharma, the honourable President of the Governing Body of Darrang College to Chair the inaugural session. Prof. P.K. Bora, the HOD of Department of Chemistry then gave the welcome address and explained the objective of Chemfiesta 2011. Next on the agenda was felicitation of two eminent chemist and academician Prof N. Sharma and Prof. S.N Roy. Highlighting their contribution in the field of popularizing chemistry even after their retirement from the Department of Chemistry, Dr D.K. Sharma described them as true chemist and dedicated academician and an asset of the region. Finally Chemfiesta 2011 was officially inaugurated by Dr Gopal Phukan, Honourable Principal of Dudhnoi College, Goalpara, Assam.

Session II: Chemical Magic Show

The star attraction of Chemfiesta 2011 was the Chemical Magic Show by Dr Palash moni Saikia. The show started with Genie in the bottle demonstration and with loud applause from the audience white smoke from a bottle filled the venue as soon it was opened. Dr Saikia captivated the audience with the demonstration of rainbow coloured flames from different salts. Next was the elephant tooth paste in which huge foam spirals from a glass cylinder popped up to the delight of the audience. Other  magical demonstrations includes the change in colour of a solution from red, blue, green, orange and yellow on its own, the trick of magical writing in which the colours of a hand written sentence changes with various chemicals, chemical volcano, fire without match stick, instant photo developer, invisible ink etc. Every demonstration was a thrilling experience for the spectatators and  every one enjoyed the show.

Session-III: Speech from the invited guest and Popular Talk

In his inaugural speech Dr Phukan highlighted the role played by Madam Marie Curie at a time when science was considered a subject of the elite class and female patronage was strongly condemned. Curie struggled against all odds of a male dominant scientific society and unfortunate family relationships to became the first women Nobel laureate and the first person to be honoured with the Nobel Prize both in Physics (1903) and Chemistry(1911). Her dedicated works in the field of radioactivity and discovery of Radium has immortalized the role of women in science. Speaking on the occasion Dr J.Hazarika, honourable Principal of Darrang College said that it is just impossible to survive today without Chemistry. Starting from our toothpastes, the toilet soap and shampoo, the shaving cream, the hair oil, the facial cream and body lotion, the colourful fabric, the tyres of our cars, the PVC insulations, the plastic furnitures to the medicines, the life saving drugs, the anesthetic agents and the petrochemicals are all contribution of Chemistry. It is high time that this Royal Subject should be celebrated and targeted to eliminate the problems of pollution and diseases from earth. The Chairman finally requested Dr Mausumi Ganguly, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Cotton College, Assam to deliver the popular talk on the topic ‘Journey of Chemistry: from Milestones to Crossroads”. Dr Ganguly who is an eminent Chemist of the region enthralled the audience with her bewitching speech. In a very simple and captivating style she highlighted the progress of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Modern form. Starting from the quest for Philosophers stone, discovery of elements, systematic classification of elements to the synthesis of compounds, polymers and composites, the milestones and crossroads in the journey of Chemistry was successfully presented in a lucid and simple manner. The role of modern day marvels of Chemistry like fullerenes and graphenes, conducting polymers and composites, drug delivery vehicles and quantum dots in the well being of the mankind was highlighted. She also raised before the August gathering the greatest challenges of Chemistry in the 21^st century. It was a wonderful talk that captivated the students and the guests. The Chairman praised Dr Ganguly for her bewitching speech and highlighted the role of Prafulla Chandra Ray in establishing Chemical Industry in India. In his speech Dr A.K.Sharma said that the life and vision of Madam Curie and Prafulla Chandra Ray, the father of Indian Chemistry will inspire the budding scientist and chemist and guide them to work for the betterment of mankind. In between his speech he felicitated Dr P.M. Saikia for being selected as the top ten undergraduate chemistry teacher of India by Indian Association of Chemistry Teachers (IACT) and Tata Chemicals. Finally the session ended with the vote of thanks by Prof. B.K.Kakoty. It was followed by the tea break.

Session –IV: Quiz Competition

Another attraction of Chemfiesta 2011 was a State level Quiz Competition conducted by Quiz Master Dr Palashmoni Saikia. Altogether 32 teams from different parts of the State participated in the event. The first round was a screening round in which the teams are to answer a set of twenty five questions. From the screening round six teams were selected for the grand final. The selected teams are from Darrang College, Tezpur University, Army School and Akash Institute. They were named as Bohr, Curie, Mossaerbaer, Dalton, Fermi and Einstein. It was a multimedia Quiz show with variation in rounds and questions. There were seven rounds of Quizing which includes a subject round called Choiceometric in which the teams must chose a subject, a connection round called Konectia in which the teams must connect pictures, names, movies and songs, a audio-video round and mixed bag rounds. There were also questions for the audience and instantaneous jackpot questions with prizes. After a nail bitting finish Darrang College emerged as the champion and Tezpur University became the runners up. Akash Institute clinched the third slot.

Valedictory session:Finally Chemfiesta 2011 lowered its curtain with a valedictory function chaired by Dr K.Borkakoty ,Honourable Vice Principal of Darrang College. The winning teams of the Quiz competition were awarded cash prizes, gifts and certificates. All the prizes were sponsored by Dr P.M Saikia in memory of his father Late Tilok Chandra Saikia. In this session certificates of State level Chemistry Olympiad were also distributed to the winners. Finally the Chairman declared the closing  of Chemfiesta 2011.

DR PALASHMONI SAIKIA

SECREATARY,CHEMFIESTA 2011,

 MOB: 09435082506,

EMAIL:palashms@rediffmail.com,

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