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

Government of Kerala The Government of Kerala (abbreviated as GoK), also known as the Kerala Government, is the administrative body responsible for governing the Indian States and territories of India, state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who ...

Education

He was born on 18 January 1935 in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

. In 1956, he received a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, Kerala. He then joined

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 ...

(BARC) in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

and continued there till 1975. 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 engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...

from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute in 1965.

Indian science movement

During the 1970s, a people's science movement called

Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) () is a prominent science and literature organization based in the Indian state of Kerala. It was founded in 1962 with the aim of promoting scientific temper, Rationality, rational thinking, and a scientif ...

(KSSP) was formed in Kerala and created a new movement among science teachers and science communicators 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 is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

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 The National Education Mission (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12, launched in 2018. It was allocated a budget of in the 2019 Interim Union Budget of India ...

, 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 is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

campaign initiated in India.

Contribution in science and technology

MP is a prolific writer, having written 29

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

books in

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

and two in English. His books give a panoramic view of

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

Radioactivity Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

, atomic science,

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

- 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

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

s. He has received

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

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 the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

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. S. Namboodiripad. 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