By Prajwal M:
I was passionate about science since I was a child, and was especially attracted to physics. My affair with science deepened in high school when I started participating in science exhibitions with my models. In my pre-university days, I built a Levitation Train (a transport method using magnetic levitation to move vehicles without touching the ground) with few of my friends and grabbed prizes at several competitions.
“Physics of the Impossible” by Michio Kaku was a book that exposed me further to the vastness of science and motivated me to start a science group called the ‘Blackbody Science Group (that absorbs all wavelength of intuitive minds)’ while I was in school. This group engaged in creating interest about science among government and physically disabled school children. I have always felt that science as a discipline needs encouragement among young students and they should be given a platform to innovate.
Today, I am a BSc. Student of NIE college Mysore, and my dream is to create a society where science is not a subject to be learnt for exams, but an approach towards life. To make this dream a reality, the LEAD programme provided me a platform.
Along with my friend Gagan, I have designed ‘Cosmic Egg: Low Cost Inflatable Mobile Planetarium’ as my LEAD Project. It is a portable mobile planetarium where 20 students can be accommodated and can be shown the wonders of universe.
I took this model to many schools and gave children a taste of astronomy, a subject many school students aren’t exposed to. Under the guidance and support of LEAD, my project got selected to be exhibited at the Yuva Summit 2015 held at Deshpande Foundation. My joy knew no bounds when great leaders like Gururaj Deshpande and N. R. Narayana Murthy visited my planetarium and appreciated my initiative.
[envoke_twitter_link]The Cosmic Egg won me “The Best LEADer Award” from Kailash Satyarthi in February 2015[/envoke_twitter_link]. [envoke_twitter_link]I hope to create a society of scientific temper in the future through my innovations[/envoke_twitter_link].
