Bangalore: The French Embassy in India is organising a series of lectures on the theme "French science today" across the country, including Bangalore, to interest students and researchers in new vistas in science. In Bangalore, the embassy has joined hands with St. Joseph's College where the lectures will be held.

Alliance Francaise director Eric Rousseau told presspersons here on Friday that eminent scientists, including a Nobel Prize winner and a nominee for this year's Nobel Prize, would deliver the lectures. The plan was to go beyond lectures and look for research partnerships with individuals and organisations. Already, several French institutions had memorandums of understanding with Indian institutions.

Mr. Rousseau said the lectures would be on ecology, microbiology, astrophysics, AIDS and theoretical physics. There had been specific requests by several institutions for these scientific lectures.

Martine Hossaert McKey of the Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Montpellier, will speak on ecology (September 29); Patrice Courvalin, professor at the Institut Pasteur, will speak on microbiology (November 23), Jean Audouze, director of research at CNRS (National Council for Scientific Research), will speak on astrophysics (December 4); Jean Louis Excler of Sanofi Pasteur will speak on AIDS (December 7); and Alain Aspect, professor at Ecole Polytechnique and a Nobel Prize nominee will speak on theoretical physics (December 15). Claude Cohen Tannoudji, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for physics, will be lecturing in other cities.

Further collaborations

St. Joseph's College principal Ambrose Pinto said that the 125-year-old college was the largest science college in the State and it wanted to broaden its academic activities with these lectures. The college, which is now an autonomous institution, was looking at further collaborations, he added.

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