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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20251120T133000
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SUMMARY:Physics Colloquium
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Mars\, with its thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and dusty surface\, provides a remarkable window into the physics of planetary climates. Dust is central to the Martian environment—it controls how sunlight is absorbed and scattered\, shapes weather patterns\, and can even trigger planet-wide storms. Over my career\, I have sought to understand how this ever-present dust influences Mars’s atmosphere\, from its role in generating electrical activity and lightning during storms to its connection with trace gas variability. Small-scale phenomena such as dust devils also contribute to maintaining the planet’s dusty skies. In this talk\, I will explore how these interlinked processes reveal the dynamic nature of the Martian atmosphere and what they teach us about the broader physics of planetary climates. \nAbout the Speaker: Professor Varun Sheel is Senior Professor and Head of the Planetary Science Division at the Physical Research Laboratory (an autonomous unit of the Department\nof Space\, Government of India)\, Ahmedabad. He is an internationally recognized scientist in the field of planetary atmospheres\, with research spanning the climates of Earth\, Mars\, and Venus. His work focuses on the physical and chemical processes that shape planetary atmospheres and their impact on climate\, including pioneering contributions to understanding the role of dust in the Martian atmosphere.  \nProf. Sheel holds leading positions in international scientific bodies. He is currently Vice Chair of Commission B4 (Terrestrial Planets) of COSPAR (Committee on Space Research\, France) and an elected member of the International Commission on Planetary Atmospheres and their Evolution (ICPAE\, Germany). He previously served as President of the Planetary Science Section of AOGS\n(Asia Oceania Geosciences Society\, Singapore) from 2016–2018\, and since 2008 has convened annual sessions on Mars and Venus at AOGS meetings.  \nHe is the Founding Secretary of the Indian Planetary Science Association (IPSA)\, established in 2023\, and plays an active role in building India’s planetary science community. Prof. Sheel is closely involved with India’s upcoming planetary missions – he is Co-Principal Investigator of the Radio Occultation Experiment for future Venus mission. As an academician\, Prof. Sheel teaches at various levels of higher education. He has designed and taught postgraduate courses on Atmospheric Science and Numerical Methods\, and introduced the first full-credit course on Planetary Atmospheres at IIT Gandhinagar. He has also guided PhD students on the climates of Mars and Venus\, contributing to the training of the next generation of planetary scientists in India. \nWe look forward to your active participation. \n 
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/physics-colloquium/
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20251120T133000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20251120T153000
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SUMMARY:Philosophy Colloquium: Karl-Stéphan Bouthillette
DESCRIPTION:All are invited to a Philosophy Colloquium Talk on Thursday 20th November at 13:30 in AC01 LR105 by Karl-Stéphan Bouthillette\, titled "Philosophy as a Way of Life in Ancient India: Reading Texts as Practices of Transformation." \nAbstract: This talk reconsiders Indian philosophy through the lens of philosophy as a way of life—an expression famously revived by the French classicist Pierre Hadot to describe ancient Greco-Roman philosophical schools as communities of transformative practice rather than systems of abstract thought. Drawing on my recent book\, Metaphysics as Therapy: List-Making and Renunciation in Gnostic Yogas (Springer\, 2025)\, I extend this framework to the Indian context\, showing how traditions such as Sāṃkhya\, Advaita Vedānta\, Buddhism\, and Jainism likewise understood philosophy as a disciplined way of transformation. \nIn these traditions\, metaphysical reasoning\, taxonomic analysis\, and dialectical negation were not speculative ends in themselves but spiritual exercises\, means of cultivating viveka (discernment)\, dissolving false identifications\, and internalizing renunciation as an act of self-sacrifice. The goal was not mere intellectual mastery but a radical shift in being: a withdrawal from the egoic and karmic mechanisms that sustain bondage. \nBy interpreting canonical texts as performative instruments of transformation—practices of thinking that enact the very liberation they describe—this talk proposes a practice-oriented hermeneutic of Indian philosophy. It argues that to read philosophically is already to practice a form of yoga: a contemplative discipline where metaphysical insight and ethical renunciation converge\, offering a renewed understanding of philosophy as both therapy and soteriology. \nBio: Dr. Karl-Stéphan Bouthillette obtained his PhD (2018) in Indian Philosophies from the Institute for Indology and Tibetology of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität\, in Munich\, Germany. He is now Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy (DoP) at MAHE. He published extensively on the early developments of Sanskrit philosophical doxography and now researches on the phenomena of list-making and taxonomy within the spiritual exercises of South-Asian gnostic yogas. In general\, he is exploring the ancient South-Asian intellectual dimensions of spiritual life\, especially in the scholastic and ascetic aspects of their expression. In brief\, he has taken interest in what he describes as the ‘yoga of reason’\, or the ‘path of knowledge’ (jnana-yoga) pursued by Gnostics belonging either to the Hindu\, Buddhist\, or Jain traditions.
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/philosophy-colloquium-karlstphan-bouthillette/
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