Singing with the heavens
DOI: 10.1063/PT.4.0382
Late last year, Chanchal Uberoi’s first album debuted. Ragas Across Space features 13 Indian ragas—traditional melodies with or without lyrics—paired with sounds from the heliosphere and the magnetospheres of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. Those electromagnetic signals were recorded by plasma-wave receivers on NASA spacecraft—Voyager 2, Cassini, and Polar. Tracks from Ragas Across Space are available online .
“A plasma is a dielectric medium. Unlike a neutral gas, which can support only pressure waves, a plasma can support a variety of electrostatic and electromagnetic waves,” explains Uberoi. “The interactions of plasmas with planetary electric and magnetic fields are generally in the radiofrequency range. Any electromagnetic waves we pick up we can always convert to audio.”
A theoretical plasma physicist who retired more than a decade ago from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, India, Uberoi was inspired to make the album from her longstanding interests in music and in the waves in space—the focus of much of her scientific career. Perhaps her most important contribution to science was showing that Alfven waves have a continuous, rather than a discrete, spectrum in natural plasmas. She did her PhD at and then joined the faculty of the IISc, where she eventually became the first woman to serve as dean of sciences.
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Physics Today interviewed Uberoi by phone and email.
PT : Describe your early life.
UBEROI : During the partition of India in 1947, my family had to flee from our home in Quetta, Baluchistan, as it was now part of the newly formed country, Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. Being Hindus, we had to migrate to India. I was 7 when partition took place, and almost 12 years old when my father settled down in Hyderabad. I was sent to school after an interruption of nearly five years. I didn’t know English, the language used in the good schools. Another problem was that my father was very strict with me: He did not let me attend a school where uniforms were of the short-skirt-and-blouse type. Searching for a school which permitted a salwar and kurta—long pants and a longish top—so the legs are not seen took time. But I soon settled down, and my mathematical abilities made me bridge the gap as I was soon eligible for promotion to higher classes.
PT : How did you happen to go into physics?
UBEROI : I wanted to go into physical sciences, mostly because of my intense love for mathematics. But my father was very traditional. In those days the ladies became doctors or teachers. He forced me to take biology. According to the existing system, I was not permitted to take any mathematics courses along with biology. I was dejected. Finally I went to the principal. She listened to my difficulties and called my father. She convinced him to let me switch. I passed with distinction and my father never regretted his decision.
When I joined the Indian Institute of Science in 1962, I was one of eight female PhD students. Now the number is in the hundreds. When I joined the faculty in 1968, we were only 2 women among 150 men. Now the proportion has increased tenfold.
PT : What is your area of research?
UBEROI : Theoretical and mathematical studies in magnetohydrodynamics and space plasma physics. My research found wide applications in explaining various physical processes both in natural and laboratory plasmas. For example, it had been thought that Alfvén waves only moved at constant velocities. People had not looked into inhomogeneous fields. I showed theoretically—and others later verified my work with experiments—that Alfvén waves show resonant, collisionless absorption. That became important, mainly to see if Alfvén waves can heat plasma to fusion.
PT : How did you get interested in linking music with science?
UBEROI : My interest in sounds from outer space was always there. My earlier research was on whistlers, the whistling radio waves produced by lightning. I learned in 1980 that Donald Gurnett from the University of Iowa had been collecting the sound from the Voyager spacecraft during its journey to Jupiter. I got magnetic tape from him. I played it for a large number of students. We were fascinated by the sounds, and they stayed in my mind with the concept, “These sounds would be very good with ancient music.”
Later, I was in Seattle, sitting in a circle with some musician friends. I played some of the space sounds, and we thought, “Let’s see if we can do something with our music and the space sounds.” Other artists participated, including my daughter, Vibhavaree Gargeya, who produced the album.
When I started on the project Ragas Across Space, I meant to use it mainly for educational purposes. I thought it possible to popularize space science through the combination of music and science. In essence, all should realize that magnetic and electric interactions in plasmas are important, in some sense, to keep life going. This realization will come through some projects like Ragas Across Space—I strongly hope so.
PT : Ragas Across Space includes tracks with sounds that originate from, among other things, electron-plasma oscillations, electron-cyclotron emissions, aurorae, radio emissions from Saturn, and electromagnetic waves produced by lightning. What are some examples of how you paired ragas to these sounds?
UBEROI : The joyful raga Kedar matches well the sounds of whistlers from electrons propagating along Earth’s magnetic field lines, almost dancing and whistling with joy. Another raga, Sohini, is always sung in soprano. It has humor. It really matches the high-pitched electron-cyclotron emission from Jupiter.
The ragas each have a character. They are associated with different human feelings and emotions: love, laughter, fury, compassion, terror, heroism, wonder. Also sorrow at separation, longing, and indifference.
I chose the ragas I thought were compatible with the space sounds. And I looked for artists to sing them. The choice of the particular ragas is subjective. This style of music made me feel that maybe we are not singing with the space sounds, but rather the other way around: The planets are singing with us!
More about the Authors
Toni Feder. tfeder@aip.org