Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, Soubhik Chakraborty (BIT Mesra, Ranchi, India).
Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: The accessibility of the computer, especially the internet, by the general population across the globe.
Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A: The applications of computers to science and technology, in particular to medical science, will be the order of the day. I can also foresee the application of computers to various art forms, including music.
Computer science is a vast area; as a professional statistician, I can contribute only to some of its aspects. My research works relate to the interface of computer experiments and algorithmic complexity and the use of the weight-based statistical bounds therein. Using computers to good effect in music analysis is another interest. Bringing computational musicology in Indian music, which is lagging behind the progress of its Western counterpart, to light is a challenging endeavor I have undertaken.
Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: It is difficult to name a single historical figure, but Mahatma Gandhi for his principle of nonviolence deserves a special mention in a world threatened by terrorism and violence of other forms. Other than Gandhi, Albert Einstein for his scientific ideas, including the theory of relativity; the Indian mathematical genius S. Ramanujan for his contributions to number theory; the statistician P.C. Mahalanobis as the Prophet of Indian Statistics; musicians like Baba Allauddin Khan, Mozart and Beethoven; and writers like Chekov and the Bengali short story wizard Bonoful are some of my favourites.
Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: I would be a musician.
Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: Indian classical music, considering the richness of the ragas in their emotional and devotional content, as conveyed through performance, by leading artists. Being a former flautist, in addition to the musicians named in my answer above, I cherish listening to the recordings of Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pannalal Ghosh and the Carnatic flute maestros Dr. N. Ramani and T. R. Mahalingam whenever I have time. I am fortunate to have heard at least the first of the four perform live. However, I also appreciate light and semi-classical numbers as composite art forms where the interaction of speech and music is crucial.
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Click here to learn more about Soubhik Chakraborty, and here to read one of his recent reviews.
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