Mythical Worlds of Films and Fiction: An Exploration Into Our Fascination With Them
The recent publicity around Alien: Romulus reminded me of the fascination I had as a youth with the alien and horrifying world created...
top of page
Search
John Pucadyil
- Aug 13
- 5 min
My Experiments with Innovation
I was recently invited to give the Kuriakose Mar Gregorios Memorial Lecture at a college in Pampady, a small town near Kottayam. I...
00
John Pucadyil
- Aug 13
- 5 min
Not the End of the World: The Optimism of Hanna Ritchie
The World in Data In the realm of existential threats, humanity has introspected on its fragility and the potential for self-destruction....
00
John Pucadyil
- Aug 13
- 6 min
The Full Circle of Life
“Naalumanikaat” — Place of the 4 o’clock Breeze Life took a full circle when I moved back to Kottayam after sixty years. I was born here...
20
John Pucadyil
- May 11
- 5 min
Bollywood Finds Bharat: An Appreciation of “Laapataa Ladies”
I, along with my wife, started watching “Laapataa Ladies”, the celluloid saga of lost brides, on Netflix. I was sceptical about the...
10
John Pucadyil
- May 11
- 5 min
Biomass Gasification by Plasma Pyrolysis: An Alternative to Stubble Burning?
Burning of crop residue is prevalent in North India although banned by the National Green Tribunal. Wheat stubble burning is a recent...
00
John Pucadyil
- May 11
- 5 min
Energy Transitions: From Hydrocarbon to Hydrogen
Image courtesy of: Robert A Hefner III (Age of Energy Gases, 2007) The earliest discovered wood fire goes back to 75,000 years ago in a...
00
John Pucadyil
- May 11
- 5 min
People of the Book: The Journey of Sarajevo Haggadah
This is the story of a book, a rare illuminated manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. The book was born in Northern Spain in the...
40
John Pucadyil
- Mar 19
- 5 min
An Appreciation of Wanted, an Australian TV Series
“Wanted” is an Australian television series that premiered in 2016 and quickly gained attention for its gripping storyline and dynamic...
50
John Pucadyil
- Mar 7
- 5 min
Onboard Fuel Decarbonization with Plasma Reformers
International Energy Agency’s projection in the World Energy Outlook 2022 [1] shows that even by 2050, half of the total energy supply...
40
John Pucadyil
- Mar 7
- 5 min
Cultural Drivers of Innovation
Innovation has been defined as the successful development of creative ideas. For innovation to happen, creative ideas that have economic...
20
John Pucadyil
- Feb 23
- 3 min
Yakshi
Master sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman’s Yakshi at Malampuzha dam My childhood had many influences which stoked my imagination and creativity....
20
John Pucadyil
- Feb 7
- 5 min
Jugaad as a Business Model
In the early days of my journey in Experimental Plasma Physics, a persistent problem was the non-availability of critical laboratory...
60
John Pucadyil
- Jan 14
- 4 min
The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons: Resurgence of the Salander Saga
I decided to re-read my Kindle collection of the Millennium Series after a conversation with my son, Thomas, who was all praise for the...
10
John Pucadyil
- Dec 31, 2023
- 5 min
2024: With Expectations and Trepidation
This is the time when every thinking person begins to be apprehensive about what is in store in the coming year while retaining some...
80
John Pucadyil
- Dec 12, 2023
- 5 min
On Vaclav Smil’s “Inventions and Innovations: A Brief History of Hype and Failure”
Vaclav Smil is a great intellect of our times finding patterns in our technological and societal evolution. He conducts interdisciplinary...
10
John Pucadyil
- Nov 25, 2023
- 5 min
Taming the Lightning: A Variety of Plasmas
For a theoretical plasma physicist, plasma is an abstraction without a persona. However, for an experimentalist, each plasma has an...
20
John Pucadyil
- Oct 15, 2023
- 5 min
A Sentimental Journey to Aligarh
I spent close to eight years at Aligarh from 1964 to 1972, first as a PhD student and later as a lecturer in the Physics Department. My...
20
John Pucadyil
- Oct 15, 2023
- 5 min
Remembering Prof Rais Ahmed
We celebrated the 100th birth anniversary of Prof Rais Ahmed, the former head of the Physics Department, Aligarh Muslim University and...
10
John Pucadyil
- Oct 15, 2023
- 5 min
2018: When the Floods Came
The news came this week that the disaster movie “2018- Everyone is a Hero”, was made India’s official entry to the Academy Awards 2024 by...
30
John Pucadyil
- Oct 1, 2023
- 4 min
Plasma-Grown Diamonds
The crystal structure of diamonds is unique. Each carbon atom in a diamond has a strong chemical bond with four others. This renders...
20
John Pucadyil
- Oct 1, 2023
- 4 min
Technology and Work
Every technological advance has changed the way we work. With the plough, the hunter-gatherers became farmers. The spinning jenny and the...
30
John Pucadyil
- Sep 17, 2023
- 5 min
Gaseous Discharge Conference in Pondicherry
A gas discharge is one of the processes that create a plasma, a gas with a good fraction of molecules ionized. In the simplest case, it...
70
John Pucadyil
- Sep 9, 2023
- 5 min
Tony Joseph’s “Early Indians”: An Appreciation
Several reviewers have hailed Tony Joseph’s “Early Indians” (Juggernaut Books, December 2018), as an important book. It adds indisputable...
30
bottom of page