The largest astronomical observatory set up at any educational institution in India, at the St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata, has been revamped and restored. Set up in 1865 by Father Eugene Lafont, the astronomical observatory is one of the oldest observatories in Asia and will also be open to the public on weekends. It had been inoperative for around 120 years. Now christened Fr. Lafont Observatory, it replaces the archaic, manually-operated structure. The Astronomy Observatory Dome is the largest in the country, with a diameter of 24 feet and height of 15 feet.
The 25th anniversary of the world wide web is celebrated around the globe, a quarter of a century since it was first proposed in 1989 by British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee. When Sir Tim first submitted his idea in 1989, while working at Swiss physics laboratory, Cern, the response from his boss was the brief: “Vague, but exciting.”