Water on the Red Planet
The aim was to inspire young adults to imagine if water existed on Mars - what would it behave like? Hydrologist Rama Govindarajan facilitated the first part of the workshop, where participants learnt about the basic equations which govern water and its movement and how the physical forces in Mars would affect this behaviour. Speculative fiction writer Anil Menon introduced the principles of good speculative fiction writing through imaginative writing exercises.
About the Facilitators
Rama Govindarajan is a fluid-dynamicist at the International Centre for Theoretical SciencesShe was formerly working at the Engineering Mechanics Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research from 1998-2012 and as a professor at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences in Tata Institute for Fundamental Research Hyderabad from 2012-2016. Govindarajan is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for the year 2007
Anil Menon is an Indian writer of speculative fiction, as well as a computer scientist with a Ph.D. from Syracuse University, who has authored research papers and edited books on Evolutionary Algorithms. After working for several years as a computer scientist, he has directed his creative energies towards fiction. His short stories and reviews have appeared in the anthology series Exotic Gothic, Strange Horizons, Interzone, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Chiaroscuro, Sybil's Garage, Apex Digest and other magazines.
Connected Exhibits and Programmes
Terra Mars by SHI Weili - an exhibit transposing the data of Mars onto Earth and vice-versa
Deep Dive by Craig D’souza - workshop employing open-source satellite data to analyse water systems