Madurai :
A PhD student from Bodi in Theni district has become the first woman from Tamil Nadu to bag the prestigious Bharat Siksha Ratan award.
U Umadevi (26) daughter of Dr Umakanthan, a veterinary surgeon is a research scholar at the Krishnammal College in Coimbatore. She has six patents in her pocket for drug designs including four for potentiators. She was instrumental in establishing a new branch in science called potentiology.
According to her, the wonder chemicals known as ‘potentiators’ discovered by her with the help of her father can enhance the performance of almost anything from vehicle fuel, cement, rubber and also reduce emission to a large extent.
“When mixed with petrol or diesel it enhances the performance of the latest engines known as multipoint fuel ingestion engines by 12% and that of older engines more. Emission is also reduced by 60 to 90%, reducing the exhaust and also the NOS and hydrocarbons and this has been proven at laboratory level,” she said.
When mixed with cement, it increases the strength of the concrete compression by 36% hence reducing the use of cement by an equal amount. Similarly, the tensile strength of rubber is enhanced by 42% so the durability of rubber goes up so much. When mixed with chicken feed, the broilers harvested in six weeks show just two per cent fat in their body while that of the normal broilers show 20 per cent. When sprayed on cigarettes and then inhaled, the nicotine levels in the cigarettes are reduced by nearly 90%, she said.
She was awarded the Bharat Siksha Ratan award given by the Global Society for Health and Education at a glittering function in New Delhi recently. She received the award from former Tamil Nadu governor Bhishma Narain Singh in the presence of Dr G V G Krishnamurthy (former election commissioner of India), Sardar Joginder Singh (former CBI director). Umadevi says she is proud to be the recipient of this prestigious award and that serving the nation is her vision in life.
Her father adds that they have six different types of potentiators for which they have patents for four. “We have approached major rubber manufacturers and cement industries with this chemical and explained its benefits, but they are not so happy with it. Some of them openly told us that we were finding means to reduce their business and not develop it. This is a really low-cost chemical which would be affordable and economical,” he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / February 18th, 2014