Start
Apr 05, 2011 - 16:00
End
Apr 05, 2011 - 17:00
Venue
Creativity hall (Room 118) Chemical Eng.
Event Type
Speaker
Prof. K S Gandhi Department of Chemical Engineering IISc Bangalore
Title
Nature vs. Nurture: Case of problem solving
Abstract: Fruits of a creative act surface suddenly out of the blue. As a result there is and has been a debate as to whether creativity is inborn or cultivated. Problem solving involves an act of creativity and I visit the nature vs. nurture controversy in this context. My talk is a summary of the book entitled How to solve it? by mathematician G. Polya. In it he proposed a systematic approach to problem solving. He lists four steps one of which definitely involves an act of creativity. For all steps he outlines several helpful hints and they are very useful. I present three problems already solved of course to illustrate the method. The three are graded starting from an ‘assignment’ problem to a well known research problem. The level of creativity required increases as one progresses along the grades. However Polya’s approach is helpful at all levels.About the Speaker: Professor K.S. Gandhi received his Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Andhra University in 1962 his Master's degree from the Ohio State University in 1965 and his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley in 1971. He taught chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur during 1971-86 and at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore during 1986-2005. His industrial experience includes work at J.K. Paper Mills Rayagada and at Pilkington Brothers Research Centre in U.K.