UPSC Prelims Bits-October 07, 2022

Table of Contents

Sirimanotsavam

Why in news?

Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh is gearing up for the annual Sirimanotsavam, which will be held on October 11.

Key Points

It is a major festival of the presiding deity of Vizianagaram town Sri Pydithalli Ammavari Jatara.
Traditionally, Sirimanotsavam Jatara is celebrated on the first Tuesday after the Dussehra festival every year.
This annual fete is also known as Sirimanu Panduga.
Devotees witness the spectacle of the priest sitting atop a long pole (made of a tree trunk, Sirimanu) in regal robes which is taken around the Fort in Vizianagaram. The priest blesses devotees, and the chariot covers the thoroughfares of Vizianagaram.
The major tribal- folk Festival in North coastal Andhra Pradesh remained a low-key affair in the past two years due to Covid- 19.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022

Why in news?

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has gone to Sweden’s Svante Paabo for his work on human evolution.

What Prof Paabo did?

In the 1990s, research on working out the human genetic code was taking place at pace. But that relied on fresh samples of pristine DNA.
Prof Paabo’s interest was in the old, degraded and contaminated genetic material from our ancestors. Many thought it was an impossible challenge. But he was, for the first time, able to sequence DNA from a 40,000-year-old piece of bone.
Those results showed that Neanderthals – who mostly lived in Europe and Western Asia – were distinct from both modern-day humans and chimpanzees.
His work focused on hominins – the group of modern humans that includes us, Homo sapiens, but also our extinct relatives.
”By revealing genetic differences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human”, the Nobel committee said.

Meghnad Saha

Why in news?

Yesterday (October 06, 2022) was the birth anniversary of Sri Meghnad Saha.

Key Achievements

Meghnad Saha (6 October 1893 – 16 February 1956) was a pioneer in Astrophysics in India. He made a remarkable contribution to the field of Astrophysics.
His study of the thermal ionisation of elements led him to formulate what is known as the Saha equation. This equation is one of the basic tools for the interpretation of the spectra of stars in astrophysics.
By studying the spectra of various stars, one can find their temperature and from that, using Saha’s equation, determine the ionisation state of the various elements making up the star.
He also invented an instrument to measure the weight and pressure of solar rays and contributed to the construction of several scientific institutions, including Allahabad University’s Physics Department and the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta.
He founded the journal Science and Culture and served as its editor until his death.
He was the driving force behind the formation of several scientific societies, including the National Academy of Science (1930), the Indian Physical Society (1934), and the Indian Institute of Science (1935). During 1953-1956, he was the Director of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, founded in 1943 in Kolkata, is named after him.
Saha was an active parliament member in education, refugee and rehabilitation, atomic energy, multipurpose river projects and flood control, and long-term planning.
He was India’s chief architect of river planning, and he created the original Damodar Valley Project plan.
It was Saha who first started the teaching and training in nuclear physics in the country.
The first cyclotron in the country was built with Saha’s initiatives.