PUNE, Dec 30: The first phase of the IUCAA science park that was formally inaugurated on Tuesday evening, gave Armaity Desai University Grants Commission chairperson, the choice of playing a planet orbiting the sun based on Johannes Kepler's crude derivation of the law of planetary motion, checking out her weight on the moon and Mars or even swinging uninhibitedly to represent coupled oscillations.``It isn't everyday that you see serious scholars doing such silly things,'' said a proud Somak Raychaudhury, director, Science Popularisation Committee, IUCAA, who has promised to have all three phases of the Rs 10 lakh science park ready by the year 2000. At present, the 11 exhibits that have been made in fibre glass with the active support of the National Council of Science Museum, Calcutta, are aimed at high school children and above. ``We have tried to stick to the basic principles of science and mathematics while keeping astronomy in mind,'' says Raychaudhury.These include gadgets like the Whispering Garden where even a whisper made at one point is audible at another reflector, placed far away, the Mobius Band, a figure where you can walk along both sides at a stretch, experiencing weightlessness with the help of a rope and a load attached and even a model depicting the lunar surface.The next phase of 20 exhibits is being worked upon by scholars at the IUCAA who have been asked to come up with innovative ideas. Inauguration of the science park marks IUCAA's decision to become more people friendly with tea stalls and picnic spots planned in the area to encourage more guests. At present the centre gets 1,500 children every month, besides about 500 other visitors.Once complete, the park will spread over 5,000 square feet of area on both sides of the auditorium. ``The aim is to be more interactive with a visitors' centre, distribution of material, video films and the establishment of a tourist centre in the next two years,'' says Raychaudhary.On World Science Day, February 28, the park will be open to the public after which it will be selectively opened for visitors and school students till all administrative arrangements are made. Exhibits include a mathematical maze, made in the form of hedges, inspired by the Hampton Court Palace Maze at London.
