Physics for Scientists and Engineers.

This best-selling, calculus-based text is recognized for its carefully crafted, logical presentation of the basic concepts and principles of physics. Raymond Serway, Robert Beichner, and contributing author John W. Jewett present a strong problem-solving approach that is further enhanced through increased realism in worked examples. Problem-solving strategies and hints allow students to develop a systematic approach to completing homework problems. The outstanding ancillary package includes full multimedia support, online homework, and a content-rich Web site that provides extensive support for instructors and students


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I am opposed to reservation for IIT faculty

Ashok Misra, director of IIT Bombay, on the ups, downs and controversies surrounding his tenure IIT is a brand that's recognized and acknowledged worldwide. "While I am all for setting up premium technology institutions across the country, I think calling them IITs will dilute the brand. Let's face it: the six original IITs are way ahead. The new institutes should be created as a separate and strong brand"

The road from the main entrance of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, to the main building that has the director's office is a straight one. But I take a circuitous route that takes me past the serene Powai lake with solemn wader birds, and along greenery of many shades where magpies dart suddenly. Humans are few, vehicles even fewer. This is as close to heaven as you can get in Mumbai.

Why is Prof Ashok Misra, director of IIT Bombay for the past eight years, leaving this behind? To take over a new assignment in Bangalore as the chairman of the Indian operations of Intellectual Ventures, a US-based private firm that invests in high-tech inventions.

Or is it, as is being speculated, because he is disenchanted with the increasing interference of the Human Resource Development ministry in the institutes of higher learning? The questions are many and Prof Misra, 60, who can answer them, is beleaguered with a sore throat. Sipping hot Ayurvedic concoction for relief, he settles down to reflect on subjects, academic and otherwise.

Why quit the directorship of IIT, Bombay and why now?

After eight most beautiful years of my life, I must move on to do something new. I will be the India head of Intellectual Ventures, a Washington-based firm dealing in intellectual property in high-tech areas. This will be very different from the teaching and research I have done all my life. Why now? Because no one may hire me later. (Laughs) Some say it is because of the increased interference, of late, by the Human Resource Development ministry in the working of institutions of higher learning.

I am more than capable of dealing with issues like these (HRD ministry interference). When the HRD ministry decided to introduce the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota in the IITs, I let my opinion be known. But once the HRD ministry decided on the OBC quota, I implemented it. It started with nine percent OBC reservation this year and we have not had to compromise on the caliber of the students. Let's see what happens about the 27 per cent reservation.

But that's not why I am leaving. I have been associated with Intellectual Ventures for some time. They have great plans and I think this is the right time to make the move.

And now there is talk of reservation for faculty as well?

I am opposed to reservation quotas for faculty members. Merit should be the only criterion in the selection of faculty in the IITs. Good research is good research regardless of who does it. One need not know the caste of the person who has done good work. The downside will be that even if a person is brilliant, people will start dismissing his/her credentials saying they are from reserved category . We have requested the standing committee to reject the idea of reservation for faculty .

You have said that the nine new IITs should not be called IITs. Why?

IIT is a brand that is recognised and acknowledged worldwide. While I am all for setting up premium technology institutions across the country, and I am helping set up one in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, I think calling them IITs will dilute the brand. Let's face it: the six original IITs are way ahead. The new institutes should be created as a separate and strong brand.

A great amount of research work was carried out in IIT, Bombay during your tenure. Did you consciously do that?

Yes. I believe that in order to be counted among the premier institutions of the world, we need to have a lot of quality research. Our scientific papers must be published in international journals. When I took over the directorship in 2000, the PhDs per faculty were 0.19 per cent. Today it is 0.5 per cent. And we are close to achieving the target of two papers published by every faculty member per annum.

Are Indian researchers shying away from pure science because of low remuneration?

Yes, they are shying away . Unless you have good sci ence, you cannot have good technology . It was the discovery of electricity that made so many technological advancements possible. That's why at IIT Bombay, we have many projects on pure sciences.

Looking back, what have been the highs of your stint here?

When I took over, Powai was some isolated place in Mumbai where some people did some academic work. I have tried to establish connectivity between the corporate world and the academics. This creates a win-win situation for both.

Corporates benefit from our research and we from the money they invest in research. Having said that, I must add that despite initial interest, the corporates are slow in loosening their purse strings, barring the Bajaj group that has donated Rs 7 crore so far.

Activating our alumni network has helped me raise funds for IIT Bombay. New chairs are being established and more money is coming in which will help us remunerate our faculty better.

And the lows?

Sometimes the cumbersome procedures in getting new constructions really bogged me down. But I found a way out. I have outsourced it to the department of construction of Atomic Energy department by appointing them as consultants.

Source : Hindustan Times

Everyone gets into IIT here.

All 30 students of Super 30, an innovative coaching class for the under-privileged in Patna, cracked the IIT-JEE this year.
Super – 30, Bihar’s famed springboard into the Indian Institute of Technology has done it again, this time with cent percent success. All the 30 aspirants enrolled at the Coaching Institute have cracked the 2008 IIT Joint Entrance Examination. Thirty seven other students, guided at its Super-100 group, guided free of cost at the centre, too, made it to the IIT’s.
Like previous year, majority of the successful candidates are from the underprivileged section of the society. The 67 successful candidates include sons of a construction laborer, a vegetable vendor and many other low income group people. They spent 8 grueling months at the pioneering coaching centre, living and pursuing their IIT Dreams together.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Super 30 has achieved phenomenal success in what is believed to be one of the toughest competitive examinations in the world. This is also the first time that the institute has scored cent per cent. In 2003 only 18 of the 30 students had managed to clear the examination. The success rate has soared with every passing year. In 2004, 20 students were selected and in the next year , 22 made it to the IIT’s. In 2006 the number of successful aspirants was 26 which rose to 28 the last year.
But for the founders of Super-30 mathematician Anand Kumar, who is the director of the centre and Bihar’s additional DGP Abhayanand, who teaches the aspirants Physics- this year’s super success is sweeter because it has silenced critics.
Last year, Anand and Abhayanand had announced the closure of the institute after a few institutes claimed that some of the successful Super-30 students had benefitted from their coaching too. However public pressure forced the duo to reconsider their decision for the sake of thousands of meritorious but poor students.
“This year’s results are a great morale booster for all of us. We’ll strive to repeat it every year from now on”, a jubilant Anand said, adding that last year’s controversy had made the students and the faculty more determined.
Till last year, Dalit and Backward caste students cracked the IIT-JEE “But this year some students of the minority community have succeeded.” said Abhayanand.
It is the method of teaching at the Super-30 that makes all the difference say the students. One of the two successful girls this year, Palak Agarwal, said the teachers don’t leave a single topic untouched and provide novel methods to solve them.
As for its founders, the secret of Super 30’s success lies in its difference from other Coaching Centres. For one, Super-30 takes in only under-privileged children and they aren’t charged at all.
The rewards are more than ample: seeing the most deprived gaining foothold on the bright future.
Anand had once dreamt of higher studies in the US but financial constraints shattered them. Today, he sees his ambition being fulfilled through the more than 150 IITians he has tutored over the years.

Chemistry Today, July 2008

Feynman Lectures on Physics.

The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman, Robert Leighton, and Matthew Sands is perhaps Feynman's most accessible technical work and is considered a classic introduction to modern physics. It includes lectures on mathematics, electromagnetism, Newtonian physics, quantum physics, and even the relation of physics to other sciences. It has three volumes, which were compiled from material presented in a two-year introductory physics course given in the early 1960s by Feynman at Caltech. Six readily accessible chapters were later compiled into a book entitled Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, and six more in Six Not So Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time.

The first volume focuses on mechanics, radiation, and heat. The second volume is mainly on electromagnetism and matter. The third volume, on quantum mechanics, shows, for example, how the double-slit experiment contains the essential features of quantum mechanics.


Download All Three Volumes.

Vogel's Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry (5th Edition)

Most widely used, established and respected reference manual for the organic chemistry laboratory. Incorporates new reactions and techniques now available to the organic chemist.


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Download DJVU format

Please don't hesitate to ask if you are unsure of what to do with the .djvu format

Which Questions to solve from Irodov?

Since many questions from Irodov are not in JEE Syllabus, "which are the questions from Irodov that an IIT Aspirant should solve?" is the question that is asked by many aspirants.This article might guide you and help you save a lot of time.

Part I
1-54, 58, 59-108, 110, 118-131, 133-199, 200-206, 209-233, 234-266,
269-279, 290-299, 309-311, 315-324, 326-332.

Part II
1-20 ,26-41 ,43-56 ,62-79 ,116-127, 149 ,160-181 ,247-251 ,254-257

Part III

1,2, 4-15, 19-42, 46-53, 101-108, 110, 112-142, 144, 145, 146 ,147-152,
160, 163, 169, 170-209, 219-230, 232-237, 242-255, 257-266, 269-271, 288-307,
311-318, 323, 324, 326-331, 334, 335, 372, 373, 374, 378, 382-392.

Part IV
1-65, 95-100, 121-125, 134, 135-147, 150, 153-156, 158, 160-180, 183, 185-187.

Part V
13-24, 26-28, 31, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41, 42, 69-77, 247, 249 ,251,
260-268, 270, 273-281.

Part VI
21-28, 30-43, 46-48, 49-53, 133-142, 214-232, 249-280,289.

Information provided by Resonance,Kota.

That's it! In case you missed the Irodov download click here

Coming up Next: Interview by Shitikant Bihari

Organic Chemistry - Morrison and Boyd.

"Do any chemists or (pre-med students) who graduated in the last 40 years not tremble when they hear the phrase 'Morrison and Boyd'? More than 2 million students have used this book, now in its sixth edition."

—From Chemistry, Spring 2001 issue in which R.T. Morrison and R. N. Boyd's Organic Chemistry was named one of the Silver Shelf winners in "The Great Books of Chemistry."


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