Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik
Nikhil Mohan Pattnaik is an Indian scholar, scientist, and science author. He obtained a PhD from the University of Chicago in Biochemistry. Early life Pattnaik was born in Cuttack in the Indian state of Odisha. Marriages Pattnaik was married to Puspashree Pattnaik. Academic career Pattnaik obtained Master of Science (Chemistry) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1971 and PhD (Biochemistry) from University of Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1976. Travel to United States in 1970s Pattnaik traveled to Chicago for research at the University of Chicago. He worked with activity-based science education and extracurricular science activities with studies and research in political realism, youth based scientific research, and building science related educational systems. He worked as a Biochemistry research scientist until 1991. Return to Odisha In 1983 Pattnaik returned to Odisha and he started working with Eklavya foundation and Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. He launched "Bharat Gyan Bigyan Jatra", a campaign with the theme 'people's science' using folk art as the medium to simplify science. Foundation of Srujanika In 1983 Pattnaik founded Srujanika, a science education and research non-profit in Bhubaneswar. The philosophy behind Srujanika's work has been "learning with things around" which promotes science activities for children with readily