Report for Lodha Genius Programme Hands-on Telescope Making Workshop
Date: 22 nd November 2024
Venue: IUCAA, SPPU Pune
Since ancient times mankind has been curious about space. This curiosity led to the invention of telescope to observe the celestial objects. The first telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey in 1608. Now various types of telescopes are available and complex telescopes of different types are built to serve specific scientific purposes.
A telescope making workshop was organised jointly by IUCAA and Lodha Genius Programme and Ashoka University. Bindu Unnikrishnan, Santosh Wadhwa, Shirish Sant, Nidhi Jain and Vasant Nemane from Vikhe Patil Memorial School Pune attended the workshop.
The workshop started with an informative session on telescopes. The history of telescopes and different types of telescopes were explained. The working of telescopes was explained by demonstration. Then the representatives of Lodha Genius Programme, Ashoka University explained the details of the programme in which students of std 9 -12 can participate. Launched in 2023, the Lodha Genius Programme is a joint initiative between Lodha Foundation and Ashoka University. This multi-year educational programme is fully funded and nurtures India’s brightest young minds from Grade 9 through to their early career. The programme provides the students with a unique blend of immersive science and mathematics courses, practical life skills lessons, sustained and regular support from mentors and exclusive access to prestigious internship opportunities. This was followed by a telescope making session. Team VPMS jointly prepared a telescope using a 15 mm lens.
The workshop provided a rare opportunity to make a telescope. It also provided information about the Lodha Programme which provides an opportunity to students to learn from leading scientists and industry experts.
