Taking science to public spaces: Hyderabad Literary Festival & India Science Festival
This January, TIFR Hyderabad took science to public spaces – engaging with a diverse audience at the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) and India Science Festival (ISF). From panel discussions to interactive workshops and experimental demonstrations, our participation explored multiple formats of communicating science with the public.
Hyderabad Literary Festival, 2025: Our booth at the festival venue (Sattva – Knowledge City, Hyderabad), led by the TIFRH Optica Student Chapter, transformed abstract physics concepts into tangible experiences. Visitors played a laser harp where invisible light beams became musical notes, saw air compression ignite fire in a syringe, explored how holography and diffraction shape the way we see light, and watched sound waves sculpt intricate sand patterns.
The laser harp demonstration (please refer to the video below) showcased the concept of light interruption and optical sensing, where laser beams act as virtual strings. When a hand blocks a beam, a sensor detects the break, triggering a corresponding musical note – illustrating principles of light propagation, photodetection, and signal processing.
One of the displays combined diffraction and holography to show wave interference, light dispersion, and 3D imaging. Another demonstration illustrated the physics of adiabatic compression, where rapidly compressing air in a sealed cylinder increases its temperature enough to ignite a small piece of cotton – showing the link between pressure, temperature, and volume in thermodynamics.
The volunteers created a ‘sonic rangoli’ where sound waves create standing wave patterns on a vibrating plate, causing sand to accumulate in nodal regions – conveying the concepts of resonance, wave interference, and acoustic physics.
Panel discussion: Can the public drive scientific enquiry?
Pankaj Sekhsaria (Faculty, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) – IIT Bombay) and Kavita Vemuri (Cognitive Science Lab – IIIT Hyderabad), in conversation with Anusheela Chatterjee (Science Writer – TIFRH), explored how public can drive scientific enquiry, the challenges of ensuring data accuracy, and the impact of such initiatives. The panel underscored how scientific pursuits may benefit from collective problem-solving.
India Science Festival, 2025: As a knowledge partner at the sixth edition of the India Science Festival, held at Fergusson College (Pune), TIFRH curated a panel discussion ‘The Different Ways We Look at Wildlife’ and conducted two science theatre workshops. The panel brought out the different ways three experts – a scientist, a historian and an artist – study wildlife, and how their unique perspectives contribute to conservation efforts.
The panel, moderated by Anusheela Chatterjee (Science Writer – TIFRH) comprised Nandini Rajamani (Faculty, Biology Department – IISER Tirupati), Raza Kazmi (Wildlife historian and Conservationist, Sudarshan Shaw (Artist and Conservationist), who described their approach to observing and documenting wildlife. The discussions ended with each of them sharing stories from their fieldwork – anecdotes not for the faint-of-heart!
Our workshop, ‘Enhancing Science through Theatre’, co-instructed by Srushti Chipde (Science Communicator – TIFRH) and Aaheli Shee Burman (Graduate Student – TIFRH), helped participants explore the intersection between science communication and the performing arts. Through hands-on activities, participants learnt how to use theatre to communicate scientific concepts. As a part of a theatre exercise, they imagined themselves as decision-makers in science policy and went on to enact what they would do if they found themselves in say, a Nobel Committee! The two iterations of this workshop showcased how theatre can be a powerful medium to convey complex scientific ideas in an engaging and impactful way while also highlighting stories from history of science.
