Women’s Day Special | ‘The greatest freedom is intellectual independence’

Celebrate Women's Day with insights from physicist D. Indumathi on intellectual independence, confidence, and redefining women's roles in science.

Meet D. Indumathi, a physicist who has spent decades exploring some of the universe’s most elusive particles, neutrinos. Recently retired, she built her career in high-energy physics, asking questions that most of us wouldn’t even know how to frame.

Physics is often seen as intimidating — abstract, mathematical, distant. But Indumathi approaches it with clarity and conviction, breaking down complex ideas without stripping away their wonder. In doing so, she not only opens a window into the strange world of neutrinos, but also quietly redefines what it means to be a woman in science: not as an exception, but as an equal mind at work.

Dr. D. Indumathi is an Indian particle physicist and former professor at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences. A specialist in high-energy physics phenomenology, her research spans atmospheric and solar neutrinos, nuclear structure, collider physics, and quantum electrodynamics at finite temperature. She has been closely associated with the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) — serving as an outreach coordinator, and contributing to the design of its proposed underground detector. Beyond research, she is deeply committed to science communication. She edits Jantar Mantar, a bi-monthly children’s science magazine, and has consistently worked to encourage scientific curiosity, especially among young girls. | Photo Credit: Photo: Special Arrangement

Our first question to Indumathi was simple: how would she explain her work on neutrinos to a curious Class 9 student?

She responded candidly and starts with basic concept: I would like to start not with neutrinos, but with fundamental particles. For example, the electron. A little more than 100 years ago, J. J. Thomson discovered the electron purely out of curiosity. At that time, it had no obvious use. But once we understood its properties, we found countless applications. Today, you cannot imagine electronics, electricity, computers, or phones without electrons.

That is the difference between basic science research and applications. Without basic discovery, applications cannot exist.