M. P. Parameswaran is an Indian nuclear engineer and educationist, who played an important role in the Indian Nuclear program. In 2022, he was honoured with Kerala Sree Award, third highest civilian award given by the

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

Education

He was born on 18 January 1935 in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. In 1956, he received a Bachelor’s degree in

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He then joined Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and continued there till1975. From 1969 to 1973 he worked as the Assistant Director of the State Institute of Languages in Kerala, on a deputation from BARC. He got a PhD in

Nuclear Engineering Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei ( fission) or of combining atomic nuclei (fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of n ...

from the

Moscow Power Engineering Institute National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute" (MPEI) is a public university based in Moscow, Russia. It offers training in the fields of Power Engineering, Electric Engineering, Radio Engineering, Electronics, Information Tec ...

in 1965.

Indian Science Movement

During the 1970s, a

people's science movement The people's science movement (PSM) aims to popularise science and scientific outlook among common people. Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Assam Science Society, Bigyan Prachar Samithy (Orissa), We the Sapiens and the A ...

called

Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) (meaning: ''Kerala Science Literature Movement'') is a progressive outfit in the state of Kerala, India. It was conceived as a people's science movement. At the time of its founding in 1962 it was a 40-membe ...

(KSSP) was formed in Kerala and created a new movement among science teachers and

science communicators Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

in the state. He resigned from his job in 1975 to take part in the movement. Since then he has been a full-time activist of the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP). Under his leadership, the KSSP grew into a massive people’s movement and influenced science communicators all over the country. MP Parameshwaran

Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad

After KSSP became a success in Kerala, M. P. Parameswaran took steps to enlarge the canvas at the national level. In 1987, as Convener of the National Organising Committee of the Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, a unique

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

event for India - he significantly contributed to the conceptualisation, organisation and conduct of this massive communication experiment. He had also been instrumental in the setting up of the All India People's Science Network (AIPSN), a common platform of people science movements in India. In 1990, he was instrumental in the organisation of the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha in support of the

National Literacy Mission Programme National Education Mission (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) was launched in 2018. It was allocated a budget of in 2019 Interim Union Budget of India. Samagra Shiksha is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school ...

, which was organised from 2 October 1990 to 14 November 1990. This led to the formation of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), which was responsible for the massive

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

campaign initiated in India.

Contribution in Science and Technology

MP is a prolific writer, having written 29

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

books in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

and two in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. His books give a panoramic view of

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

. Radioactivity, atomic science,

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

- these are some of the varied subjects he has dealt with in his books. A vision of "A New World - A New India" guides his thoughts and actions. He was the recipient of two national awards, one for science popularisation and another for literacy. He has written more than 300 articles in various periodicals. He has received

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

awards for "Books for Neoliterates" (1962) and "Basic and Cultural Literature" (1964). He also received an Award for Children's Literature in 1982. He was an active member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) for 33 years, before being expelled for writing an ideological book 'Fourth World' which envisions a world based on decentralised democracy and an economic production that is detached from consumerism. The party viewed it as a rejection of Marxist principles. As Assistant Director of Kerala Institute of Languages, he was instrumental in designing the layout for Malayalam keyboard for typewriters, which was later adopted in the inscript layout for computers. In 2007, he acted in a Malayalam movie named ''AKG'' about the Communist leader A K Gopalan in which M. P. Parameswaran donned the role of Kerala's first Chief Minister E M Sankaran Namboodiripad (EMS). He had published the book ''Janakeeya Sasthra Prasthanam'' in 2008. The third edition of the book was recently published.

References

External links

All India Peoples Science NetworkIndo-American Nuclear Deal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parameswaran, M. P. 20th-century Indian engineers Engineers from Kerala Indian technology writers Writers from Kerala Indian nuclear engineers Living people 1935 births Malayalam-language writers English-language writers from India 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian physicists Indian male writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Scientists from Kerala Kerala Sree Award Winners