India’s women physicists break barriers; head firms driving R&D growth

New Delhi: India has produced notable women physicists but female representation in academic physics remains low, however an increasing number of the country’s women physicists are making globally acclaimed contributions, a new report has said.

The report from Physics World highlighted a webinar which celebrated the contributions of female physicists in India, noting that these women physicists play significant roles in firms that drive the country’s R&D growth.

The webinar featured Kaveri Hukku, chief executive of ATOS Instruments Marketing Services, Asima Pradhan from SOA University, who recently retired from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, and Urbasi Sinha from the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore.

Kaveri Hukku with a master’s degree in physics heads a firm that provides research institutions and companies in India with advanced scientific instruments and equipment developed by third-party manufacturers from across the world.

Laser physicist Asima Pradhan also works for her start-up firm PhotoSpimedix, which is developing portable optical devices for clinical applications.

Urbasi Sinha, who holds an MSci in natural sciences and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, is head of the quantum information and computing (QuIC) lab at the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore.

“It is one of the first labs in India to use entangled and “heralded” single-photon sources for quantum science and technology applications – including India’s first project on satellite-based quantum communication,” the report said.

Women account for more than 40 per cent of Indian science graduates, they only make up about 16 per cent of all physics faculty at universities in India, close to the global average of roughly 17 per cent.

“As in many other parts of the world, there are myriad reasons for the low numbers, ranging from social pressure to prioritize families over research careers to a lack of visible role models and even sexual misconduct,” the report said.

India has produced some exceptional women physicists from Bibha Chowdhuri, who co-discovered the meson and became the first Indian woman to receive a PhD in physics, to Ritu Karidhal, who made key contributions in the country’s Mars mission.

Shobha Shukla, who organised the webinar is one of India’s top researchers in nanophotonics and materials science.

“We are celebrating the women who are writing history in labs, industry and lecture halls right now,” said Shukla, adding that the celebration is “a necessity to build a culture of equity and innovation.”

IANS