At Karlruhe
A strong tendency to Baroque buildings and "joie de vivre" were the inspiration for the foundation of the town "Carols-Ruhe" (Karls peace) in the year 1715. In the course of the centuries princes with an intensive aesthetic sense and famous architects have formed the former Residence Palace of the Baden grand dukes and the picture of the town. Behind the charming palace walls, art and culture-historical treasures are kept, among them the wonderful spoils of Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden from the victorious battles against the Ottoman people towards the end of the 17th century.
Urban planing as Baroque Prince town with the Palace or rather the Palace Tower as the centre from which 32 streets radiate is a speciality of Karlsruhe. More planning by Balthasar Neumann (1752-85), with two circle streets, gave the later form of a "fan-shaped city". In 1752, the original wodden houses were replaced by stone buildings. After serious damages during world war II partial reconstruction of the great architectural monuments were made by renowned architects. The TH(Technical Highschool) founded in 1825, became the University of Fridericiana (Universität Karlsruhe) in 1967.
An aerial view of Karlsruhe with the Schloss at the center, the adjoining garden and the famous fan design of the pathway leading to the Schloss. The Botanical Institute is away on the left side of the Schloss.
Botanical Instutute II is where I work at the University on laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging of plants. It is worth mentioning that Heinrich Hertz, without whose electromagnetic waves we could neither enjoy radio nor television, worked at the Department of Electrical Engineering of this University. Here you can see me standing infront of the coloumn with the statue of Heinrich Hertz, errected just below his laboratory, at the University campus.
When I was at the Karlsruhe University in Germany, I had the opportunity to work with Prof. Hartmut Lichtenthaler, the well known Plant Physiologist. Later during a visit to the Institute of Applied Optics (GOA) of the CNR in Strasbourg, France, we are seen before a 15th century building in the city.
With Prof. Zegetti,Prof. Lang and Prof. Lichtenthaler on the Heidelberg bridge, with the castle on the backdrop.
We climed up the mountain to the Heidelberg castle and visited the museum. Picture shows us posing before a 15th century huge wine storage can.
When we were at the famous Hambacher Schloss, a testimony of the German freedom struggle, which houses a new museum commemorating the various events that lead to the liberation of Germany. Standing with me are Profs. Zegetti, Lang and Oliver.
The colleagues at the Botanical Institute. From the left to the right are Dr. Stefan Lang, Mrs. Sabine Zeiler, Prof. Lichtenthaler, Dr. Manfred Focke, Dr. F. Babani, Joerg Schwender, Christian Mueller and Dr. Claus Buschman.
With Profs. Lang, Babani, Zegetti and Lichtenthaler at the institute library
On the way to visit the famous ZKM Museum with my friends Johannes Zeidler and Alex Baumann. They are just waiting beside a car park entrance.
My Indian friends, with whom I played cricket at the Schloss Park, standing from left are Srinivasarao (Talluri), Panda, Alpesh and Sanjay
I like drinking wine. And this is "my wine factory" at the end of the wine street near the French border!
