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IITian teaches science and maths through stories

IITian Rohit Gupta turns into artist-cum-storyteller to explain astronomy, scientific inventions

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Rohit Gupta
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He studied chemical technology at IIT Kharagpur, but unlike his peers Rohit Gupta chose to become artist, writer, science-historian and storyteller which he sums up in a word – 'Compasswallah'.

Jaipur born Rohit, now based in Mumbai, has pursued his dream of discovering the culture and concepts that shape science and mathematics. "It is now my full time profession too," says Rohit, who is extending his research work to the people through unconventional workshops that involves documentary films and conversations.

His shows range from 3-D printing technology in solid geometry of 16th century Germany to relationship of sea, moon and seashells to supernovae attracting writers, artistes, filmmakers and students among others from across the cities.

He makes science and maths easy for laypersons. "Earlier, scientists were writing for the commoners but not anymore," says Gupta who adds, "I want people to learn math and science again but not the way we all had learnt in schools," says Gupta who explains the stories of golden era of Islamic astronomy (800-1200 AD), the Kerala school of astronomy (1100-1600 AD) and also the culture of astronomy in China, Japan and Africa in his shows.

The 37-year-old highlights the work of Sawai Jai Singh who built Jantar Mantar in Jaipur and of Radhanath Sikdar who was employed as a "human computer" for the Great Trigonometric Survey of India in 1840.

So, what is the history behind his nickname-Compasswallah? "The Compasswallah is 18th century slang used for two British surveyors William Landton and George Everest, who went around mapping India from Kanyakumari to the Himalayas. It was the most ambitious Trigonometric Survey of their time and the two cartographers gave the world the measurement of the exact curvature of the Earth," says Gupta, citing The Great Arc, a book written by John Keay.

How did it all start? From IIT Kharagpur, where Gupta realised that the culture of competitiveness was destroying his imagination. He finished the B.Tech course just to get a degree and decided to pursue writing instead.

Gupta came to Mumbai in 2000 and started writing columns and screenplays. To run his kitchen, he joined a software company till disillusionment hit him again. He went back to Jaipur in 2007 and cocooned himself till he emerged as Compasswallah three years ago.
His latest initiative, the ZetaTrek, is engaging hobbyists from across the world to solve Riemann Hypothesis, a long-pending mathematical problem.

Compasswallah tales
Till the Transit of Venus in 1761, the Earth's distance to the sun was undiscovered. To determine the distance during the Transit of Venus in the 19th century, expeditions were sent to the North and South poles, and astronomers came to Mussoorie and Madras, too. India played such a pivotal role to resolve a long-standing problem in astronomy.

Indian sailors were already using compass which was noted by Vasco Da Gama in 1497.

A wide spectrum of scientific pursuit existed in colonial India. Muslim almanac, Hindu astrologers, officers of the East India Company, French Jesuit missionaries and others participated as hobbyists and adventurers in global projects such as observing the Transit of Venus.

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