Man Mohan Chaudhri (1935-2013)

Abstract

Science in the media in India has a rather recent history. While All India Radio had an occasional interview with one scientist or the other, it was really with the start of Doordarshan in 1965 when it began its daily national broadcast that the idea of bringing in science through television was initiated. First it used to borrow programmes from abroad, such as the BBC programme by David Attenborough or the Carl Sagan shows from USA. But the major fillip came with two national catalysts: one with the closed circuit TV (CCTV) facility that was part of the educational activities at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) around 1966/67, and the start of the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), initiated by EV Chitnis through the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, as part of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).