Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik
is an Indian scholar, scientist, and science author. He obtained a PhD from the University of Chicago in Biochemistry. Pattnaik was born in Cuttack in the Indian state of Odisha. Pattnaik was married to Pushpashree Pattnaik. Pattnaik traveled to Chicago for research at the University of Chicago. He worked with activity-based science education and extracurricular science activities with studies and research in political realism, youth based scientific research, and building science related educational systems. He worked as a Biochemistry research scientist until 1991. In 1984 Pattnaik returned to Odisha and he started working with Eklavya foundation and Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. He launched “Bharat Gyan Bigyan Jatra”, a campaign with the theme ‘people’s science’ using folk art as the medium to simplify science. Pattnaik obtained Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and PhD from University of Chicago, Illinois.
In
1991 Pattnaik founded Srujanika, a science education and research non-profit in
Bhubaneswar. The philosophy behind Srujanika’s work has been “learning with
things around” which promotes science activities for children with readily
available material. Groups involved in the “Bharat Gyan Bigyan Jatra” campaign
started a science journal “Bigyana Taranga”. In 2004 Pattnaik supported “Project
Rebati” at Srujanika for creating awareness for Linux and Open Source software,
and Oriya language localization. Pattnaik also initiated the project “Open
Access to Oriya Books”, building low-cost tools for digitizing old Oriya books
and periodicals, and open source processing software in collaboration with
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and Pragati Utkal Sangh. This
project resulted in digitizing the Purnachandra Ordiya Bhashakosha, a
seven-volume, 9,500-page, four-language lexicon compiled by Gopala Chandra
Praharaj. In addition to the digitization of other 1,300,000 pages
from sixty-one old and rare magazines and editions of fourteen newspapers
published between 1850
and 1950, Oriya dictionaries published between 1811 and 1942
were digitized and compiled as the three-volume collection “Odia Bhasa
Sadhana”. Pattnaik has authored the Oriya adaptation of The Man Who Knew
Infinity on the life and work of Indian mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan.
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