Myself Gourav Banerjee
Hello everyone,
I am Gourav Banerjee from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. I am currently pursuing PhD in Astrophysics at the CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India after completing MPhil in astrophysics specialization from the same university. A member of the Astronomical Society of India, I also have an M.Tech in Astronomy and Space Engineering from Manipal University, Karnataka, India. My area of research is stellar spectroscopy, especially studying a particular type of emission line stars - 'Classical Be stars'. I lead the Be star research group of my university and am presently associated with different research projects on Be star studies which is being carried out in India. Moreover, being involved in astronomy popularisation activities since over 20 years, I have delivered over 400 popular astronomy talks and organized over 200 astronomy camps, seminars, workshops across the nation in numerous schools, colleges, organizations, etc.
Presently we are situated in the Golden Age of Astronomy. India is a vast country full of diversity and young talents. Standing in the 21st century, India possess several world-class research institutes and sophisticated observatories carrying out high level researches in astronomy. But in this nation, astronomy is taught in very few universities during higher education, and a proper course in basic astronomy is till now absent in the school curriculum. Hence, finding authentic information, good resources or proper guidance naturally remain 'out of reach' from the hands of most of the young school students, especially in rural and remote parts of the country. Through my experience of astronomy popularization in several remotest corners of India, I have encountered quite a number of interested young minds, who slowly lose their interest and ultimately very few of them opt astronomy as a career. To bridge this gap, I've authored a book titled 'Becoming an Astronomer' (available in amazon.in) which is the first book published in India that provides the details of how an Indian student can pursue astronomy as a career. This book will be helpful for every Indian student (dreaming of becoming an astronomer), parent, guardian and/or teacher (who wants to guide prospective students to pursue astronomy in future). Moreover, as an initiative to promote astronomy in a larger scale, I even founded an institute named 'Kolkata Institute of Fundamental Science and Astronomy' (KIFSA) whose sole objective is to motivate young school students to pursue astronomy and basic sciences as a career.
Now with the platform created by Lifelab Foundation collaborating with QuarkNet, USA, I hope to expand my dream further by motivating school level teachers of India too, along with the students. I truly believe that using this platform, I would be able to contribute in making 'learning by doing' a reality in future schools of our nation, thus helping a vast section of teachers and students to ultimately pursue a career in science research and teaching.