| February 6, 2006, 3 PM, Dhakuria, India:
The performance for Jadavpur University was different than any
other show done by Manick Sorcar. The purpose of this visit was
mainly to educate than doing business. Manick Sorcar was invited
by Jadavpur University to be a guest lecturer at the "New
Generation Light Sources & Applications" and make
a presentation of his laser show as a practical demonstration
of the cutting-edge technology to the lighting enthusiasts and
techo students of the university. Held on February 6, 2006, the
half-day Seminar was organized by the School of Illumination Science,
Engineering & Design of Jadavpur University, at the Aban Mahal
theater, Dhakuria, Kolkata, India, under the leadership of Dr.
(Mrs.) Saswati Mazumdar.
After the inaugural speeches by the hosts, the Seminar's first
speaker was Mr. R.S. Mandal, Senior General Manager of Osram India
(Pvt.) Ltd, New Delhi, who spoke on "Innovation &
Contemporary Applications in General Lighting". His
topic covered a general description and application of a range
of sources such as incandescents, fluorescents, high intensity
discharge (metal halide, high pressure and low pressure sodium)
to Light Emmiting Diodes (LED's). Professor Ajoy Ghosh, Dept.
of Applied Optics & Photonics, University of Calcutta, gave
a lecture on "Laser: Light Fantastic" explaining
the fundamentals of laser, how it is built by various lasing medium
and how it is used in application. The topics of the two seasoned
lecturers were excellent in laying down the foundation and an
introduction to Manick Sorcar's speech topic "A Painting
brush: Made with Laser", which dealt with the application
of laser in the entertainment industry.
Manick Sorcar explained how the narrow but strong beam of coherent
light can be programmed to race along a predetermined path to
give the optical illusion of a still graphic, or moving animation
with the help of a slew of new lighting equipment such as the
actuators, galvos, X-Y scanners, PCAOM's (Poly Chromatic Acousto
Optic Modulators) etc. , which was followed by a 18 minute laser
demonstration entitled "Reaching the Infinity".
Through the practical demonstration, the spectators were able
to see how the laser theory was brought into practice, and in
the entertainment field how it was used to build graphics on screens,
or three-dimensional visuals such as beams, waves, fans, cones,
tunnels etc.
An informal question and answer session took place back-stage
where several students and professors of technology took part.
"The application of laser covers a wide range - starting
from sensitive eye surgery to drilling through the thickest sheet
of steel. In between these two extremes lies a magic-land, where,
with this astonishing medium dreams can be built. In the hands
of an artist it becomes a brush, in the hands of a lighting designer
it is a unique source of light, and in the hands of a magician
it is a magic-wand", explained Manick, "if
my father (P.C. Sorcar, Sr.) was alive today, I am sure he wouldn't
have used an old-fashion buzz-saw to cut a woman in half; I would
have designed him a laser-saw to do the spectacular, thrilling
act!".
Participating as an educator in the seminar and performing as
a laserist was a unique experience for Manick Sorcar, who is also
an electrical engineer and CEO/president of Sorcar Engineering,
Inc., a reputed lighting design company of USA. The experience
was specially heart-warming because Jadavpur University is one
of the universities that uses his books ("Energy-Saving Lighting
Systems", and "Architectural Lighting For Commerial
Interiors") as a text for illuminating engineering for undergraduate
and graduate level courses.
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