Reading Science Through a Humanist Lens: A Visit to the Regional Science Centre, Bhavnagar
On 10 December 2025, the Department of English, MKBU, organized a visit to the Regional Science Centre, Bhavnagar, on the occasion of Nobel Prize Day. The visit was not planned as a routine educational tour; rather, it was envisioned as an interdisciplinary engagement. It encouraged students of the humanities to encounter scientific knowledge through interpretive, cultural, ethical, and critical perspectives. For students of English Studies, the visit offered a unique opportunity to read science not merely as fact, but as narrative, metaphor, and meaning.
Department of English, MKBU at Regional Science Centre, Bhavnagar
🔬 SCIENCE MEETS HUMANITIES: THE VISIT OVERVIEW
Marine Gallery
Ecology & The Sublime
Automobile Gallery
Modernity & Movement
Electro-Mechanics
Power & Balance
Biology Gallery
Evolution & Identity
Nobel Gallery
Discovery & Ethics
First Impressions: Reading the Space as a Text
Entering the Regional Science Centre as a student of English Studies, my first impression was shaped less by machines and experiments and more by the structure of the space itself. The centre felt carefully curated, almost like a thoughtfully composed text waiting to be read. Each gallery appeared to follow a narrative logic — an introduction to concepts, their gradual development, and a form of conceptual closure.
Rather than inviting passive observation, the exhibits demanded interpretation. This resonated strongly with a fundamental literary principle: meaning arises not only from content, but also from arrangement, emphasis, and even absence. Much like a literary text, the Science Centre required attention, patience, and intellectual curiosity.
My training in close reading influenced how I experienced the space. I observed not only the exhibits, but also the visitors engaging with them — their pauses, repetitions, moments of confusion, and sudden realizations. These gestures closely resembled a reader struggling with a complex poem or novel. Understanding did not emerge instantly; it unfolded gradually through engagement. In this way, the Science Centre transformed into a living archive of human responses, where learning occurred experientially rather than through direct instruction.
Interpretation, Perspective, and the Nature of Knowledge
One of the most striking aspects of the visit was the central role of interpretation. Although the exhibits were grounded in empirical facts, they did not present meaning as fixed or final. A model of planetary motion, for example, could be understood as a scientific explanation of physics, but it could also be read metaphorically — as a representation of order, balance, and cyclical time, concepts deeply embedded in philosophy, mythology, and literature.
This openness reinforced a core humanistic insight: knowledge is never purely objective. It is always shaped by language, context, and perspective. The Science Centre quietly fostered an interdisciplinary dialogue, demonstrating that science does not stand in opposition to the humanities. In fact, it depends on them. Explanatory panels relied on narrative clarity, metaphor, and visual storytelling. Accuracy alone was not enough; effective communication was equally important.
"The visit challenged rigid disciplinary boundaries and reaffirmed a shared intellectual impulse underlying both science and literature — the desire to understand the world and humanity's place within it."
Gallery-wise Literary Exploration
1. Marine and Aquatic Gallery
The Marine and Aquatic Gallery — A Window into Deep Time
The Marine and Aquatic Gallery offered a space for both scientific observation and contemplative reflection. Its expansive glass walls resembled a transparent text through which life could be read in layers. Scientifically, the gallery demonstrated ecological balance and biodiversity; interpretively, it staged nature for human meaning-making, much like literature or museums shape experience.
The slow movement of fish against ancient, rugged rock formations evoked a sense of deep time — worlds that existed long before human language or recorded history. Water emerged as a powerful symbol of continuity, memory, and the unconscious, echoing its recurring presence in myths, poetry, and spiritual traditions. At the same time, the visibility of these ecosystems highlighted ecological fragility, prompting ethical reflection on environmental preservation and human responsibility.
📖 Literary Connection
The vastness of the ocean and the presence of prehistoric life forms evoke the literary concept of the Sublime, where nature inspires awe, humility, and existential reflection. The interconnected role of microorganisms aligns closely with Ecocriticism, which critiques anthropocentric thinking and emphasizes interdependence among all life forms.
2. Automobile Gallery
The Automobile Gallery — Tracing the Evolution of Movement
The Automobile Gallery traced the evolution of bicycles and motor vehicles, presenting technology as a narrative of movement, imagination, and cultural change. Mechanical innovation paralleled shifts in how societies understand distance, speed, freedom, and identity.
Early models suggested intimacy and vulnerability, while later designs reflected industrial standardization and acceleration. These changes mirrored literary transitions from reflective travel narratives to modern themes of restlessness, alienation, and dislocation. Motorcycles, in particular, emerged as cultural symbols of rebellion, individuality, and freedom. The road itself became a narrative space where desire, technology, and identity intersected.
📖 Literary Connection
In literary studies, the engine often symbolizes Modernity. It marks the shift from slow, contemplative journeys to rapid, impersonal movement. This transformation is central to Modernist literature, which explores fragmentation, alienation, and the psychological consequences of mechanized life.
3. Electro-Mechanics Gallery
Electro-Mechanics Gallery — The Drama of Invisible Forces
The Electro-Mechanics Gallery, especially the exhibit on Sun–Earth magnetic interaction, transformed invisible scientific forces into a readable narrative of conflict and balance. Solar winds and magnetic shields were presented almost like opposing characters in a dramatic plot — energy versus resistance, intrusion versus protection.
Metaphorically, the exhibit reflected anxieties associated with industrial modernity. Unchecked power — symbolized by solar energy — is moderated by protective systems, echoing literary concerns about the need for ethical, cultural, and social frameworks within vast technological systems. Rather than celebrating domination over nature, the exhibit emphasized coexistence and equilibrium.
📖 Literary Connection
The Maglev Train, suspended above conventional tracks, metaphorically reflected themes of transcendence, alienation, and displacement often explored in science fiction. The Plasma Globe, with its sudden flashes of visible energy, resembled literary representations of suppressed emotions or latent creativity waiting for expression.
4. Biology Science Gallery
Biology Science Gallery — The Unfolding Biography of Life
Rooted in Darwin's theory of evolution, the Biology Science Gallery presented life as a continuous narrative of adaptation and transformation. Evolution appeared not as a static fact but as an unfolding biography of life itself, where change — not permanence — is central.
This perspective challenged fixed notions of identity and aligned with literary theories that view the self as historically and socially constructed. Bodies were presented not as ideal forms, but as records of ongoing negotiation with environment and time. The gallery disrupted anthropocentric assumptions and situated humanity within a broader ecological continuum.
📖 Literary Connection
Evolution functions as a powerful narrative framework structured around struggle, adaptation, and transformation. The evolutionary tree itself resembles literary history, where genres and movements branch out from shared traditions while retaining traces of their origins.
5. Nobel Gallery
Nobel Gallery — Celebrating Discovery and Responsibility
The Nobel Gallery presented science as a cultural and narrative process rather than a simple chronology of discoveries. The biographies of Nobel laureates emphasized perseverance, failure, ethical dilemmas, and historical context, dismantling the myth of sudden genius.
Scientists were portrayed as human protagonists whose ideas reshape not only disciplines but collective imagination. The gallery also foregrounded responsibility, reminding viewers that innovation carries ethical consequences — a concern long explored in literature and philosophy.
📖 Literary Connection
The gallery highlighted parallels between scientific discovery and literary creation. Just as writers shape lived experience into narrative form, scientists organize empirical data into theories that influence society. Both practices actively construct meaning.
Personal Reflection
One of the most unexpected insights from the visit was how naturally scientific exhibits lent themselves to interpretation through a humanities lens. Rather than separating disciplines, the experience revealed their shared foundations in curiosity, storytelling, and meaning-making.
Literary connections surfaced throughout the visit. Industrial machinery recalled modernist anxieties depicted in Modern Times; evolutionary models echoed narratives of transformation; marine ecosystems resonated with ecocritical concerns in contemporary literature.
The evolutionary tree, in particular, profoundly reshaped my understanding of human identity. Seeing humanity positioned alongside primates, insects, and microorganisms dismantled deeply embedded anthropocentric assumptions. Evolution appeared as a grand narrative — an epic of shared ancestry and deep time. This perspective recalls Darwin's influence on modernist thought and challenges Cartesian binaries between mind and body, human and nature.
Science, Literature, and Critical Theory
"The Most Dangerous Animal of the World" — A Mirror for Humanity
Certain exhibits, such as the human skeleton labeled "The Most Dangerous Animal of the World," resonated strongly with Modernist and Postmodern themes of existential alienation, self-destruction, and ethical responsibility. The subversion of human supremacy reflected postmodern critiques of progress and grand narratives.
The contrast between human destructiveness and ecological innocence transformed abstract environmental concerns into deeply personal moral questions, aligning with contemporary ecocriticism, posthuman theory, and climate fiction.
🔗 BRIDGING SCIENCE & HUMANITIES
Ecocriticism
Environmental ethics through literary analysis
Posthumanism
Challenging human-centered worldviews
Narrative Theory
Science as storytelling and meaning-making
The Sublime
Awe and humility before nature
Conclusion
The visit to the Regional Science Centre reaffirmed a vital insight: science and the humanities are complementary ways of understanding the world. Scientific concepts gain depth when interpreted through cultural, ethical, and narrative lenses, while literary studies gain relevance when informed by scientific perspectives.
For students of English Studies, such interdisciplinary engagement sharpens observation, interpretation, and critical thinking — skills essential for engaging with modern literature, ecology, and technology. The visit ultimately demonstrated that science is not merely factual; it is narrative, ethical, and profoundly human.
"I extend my sincere gratitude to the Department of English, MKBU, and the Regional Science Centre, Bhavnagar, for providing such an intellectually enriching interdisciplinary experience."
Social Media Engagement
Here is the screenshot of my Instagram post documenting this enriching experience:
Instagram Post: Documenting the Visit
🎯 KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Science and humanities share common foundations in curiosity, interpretation, and meaning-making.
2. Scientific exhibits can be read as texts, narratives, and metaphors through literary lenses.
3. Interdisciplinary engagement enhances critical thinking, observation, and interpretation skills.
4. Concepts like the Sublime, Ecocriticism, and Posthumanism bridge literary theory and scientific understanding.
5. Science is not merely factual — it is narrative, ethical, and profoundly human.
Works Cited
- Barad, Dilip. "Science through a Humanist's Lens: A Social Media and Blogging Toolkit." YouTube, uploaded by PackingTubes, 21 Mar. 2023. [Video]
Thank You!
No comments:
Post a Comment