#122 - Notes on Vermeer, Longevity and Engineering
Education Coffee is 2xWeekly Newsletter on People, Ideas and Culture.
In each edition of this newsletter, I share five inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts.
1. Learning from People
On Episode 54 of #LearningStories we chat with Shaunak De on Why Study Engineering? Shaunak received the B.E. Degree in electronics engineering from the University of Mumbai, in 2012, graduating as a gold medalist. He got his Ph.D. degree at the Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering (CSRE), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India. His research interests include polarimetric SAR, machine learning, and information theory.
He is currently a senior radar engineer at Capella Space, where he leverages his PhD in machine learning for radar remote sensing. His work aims to provide high-resolution radar imagery from space for various applications, such as urban planning, disaster management, and environmental monitoring. We chat about stories from school, his undergraduate years, his doctoral studies, the world of academia and the role of radar remote sensing in the world today. You can find Shaunak on Linkedin.
2. Learning from Ideas and Questions
This was an interesting conversation about health and longevity from some entrepreneurs building products in the space. The recommendations are not tried and tested with clinical studies. But they make a lot of interesting arguments!
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blog
This book by Shelley Vishwajeet is an in depth analysis of how IndiGo (India on the Go) Airlines started with a 350 crore investment in 2005 and listed publicly in 2017 for 27500 crore. They adopted the Low Cost Carrier model and took inspiration from airlines in the west like Southwest Airlines and the east like Air Asia.
The book made me realize that professional management, strategic growth and smart financial planning are crucial to be successful as an airline company in India. It became the domestic market leader in 2013 and has started international operations since 2018. I’ve used Indigo plenty of times and decided to read this book after experiencing some great service on a Mangalore Mumbai flight recently. Would recommend this for anyone interested in the aviation sector in India from a business and historical lens.
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
Why is one painting so valuable and others not so much? Here is a film recommendation that explores that question by investigating the re discovery and sale of ‘Salvator Mundi’ by Leonardo Da Vinci (dated c. 1499–1510). The painting was sold at auction for US$450.3 million on 15 November 2017 by Christie's in New York to Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
In this TED-Ed video, Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis explores earworms — a cognitive phenomenon that plagues over 90% of people at least once a week. Earworms are short sections of music that get stuck in your head and play on repeat. They are also known as "stuck song syndrome" or "involuntary musical imagery" (INMI).
Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (100+ newsletters here). You can email your thoughts, feedback or recommendations to abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com. I love connecting with other writers and learners on the Internet.
Abhishek