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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...

John Pucadyil
Mar 19, 20245 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Mar 7, 20245 min read


Cultural Drivers of Innovation
Innovation has been defined as the successful development of creative ideas. For innovation to happen, creative ideas that have economic...

John Pucadyil
Mar 7, 20245 min read


Yakshi
Master sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman’s Yakshi at Malampuzha dam My childhood had many influences which stoked my imagination and creativity....

John Pucadyil
Feb 23, 20243 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Feb 7, 20245 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Jan 14, 20244 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Dec 31, 20235 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Dec 12, 20235 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Nov 25, 20235 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Oct 15, 20235 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Oct 15, 20235 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Oct 15, 20235 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Oct 1, 20234 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Oct 1, 20234 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Sep 17, 20235 min read


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...

John Pucadyil
Sep 9, 20235 min read


My Zoom Background
Every Sunday afternoon, my family get together for a Zoom meeting. The participants, apart from my wife and myself are my two children,...

John Pucadyil
Sep 9, 20234 min read


On Promoting Plasma Physics Research in the Indian Universities
During the early days of the Plasma Physics Programme, the forerunner of the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), it became apparent that...

John Pucadyil
Aug 24, 20235 min read


The Cold Plasma Business
The invention of methods to produce non-equilibrium plasma at atmospheric pressure liberated plasma technology from the oppressive...

John Pucadyil
Aug 15, 20237 min read


How Technology Drives Inequality
“The amazing thing about technology is that it is a great leveller; it recognizes no caste, creed or religion”: so said Mukesh Ambani in...

John Pucadyil
Aug 6, 20236 min read


Technology: its Origin and Evolution
Courtesy: Pexels-czapp-arpad This is an appreciation of the book “The Nature of Technology” by Brian Arthur, a leading thinker on...

John Pucadyil
Jul 28, 20235 min read


Two Summers in Kothamangalam
A message from Vinny Varghese, the Secretary of Mar Athanasius College Association, announcing the release of a postal cover in...

John Pucadyil
Jul 28, 20235 min read


Travelling the Kerala Roads
After a long period of stay in Ahmedabad, I decided to return and settle down in Kerala after my retirement from active service. We...

John Pucadyil
Jul 18, 20235 min read


Experiments with Plasmas: Dusty Corona Plasma
An Electrical Corona (From the eBook: Experiments with Plasmas) I had a conviction that a student working for his Ph D degree should earn...

John Pucadyil
Jul 7, 20235 min read
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