Dear Members of the Humboldt Family in Rajasthan,

While writing this message as the President of newly formed Humboldt Academy of Rajasthan, I am having feelings of extraordinary joy and great responsibility at the same time. I wish to mention here that with a great idea of bringing Humboldt fellows in Jaipur together, the erstwhile Humboldt Club was founded by its founder President late Prof. Arvind Bhatia who brought all Humboldt Fellows in Jaipur together under the banner of Humboldt Club Jaipur. I take this opportunity to remember him and seek the blessings of this great Soul in furthering the activities of Humboldt family in Rajasthan under our new banner: Humboldt Academy of Rajasthan. At the same time, I would like to thank all office bearers of the former Humboldt Club Jaipur for their valuable contributions in organizing and sustaining the club activities in the past.

We all feel proud of being a part of the larger Humboldt Family nurtured by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (AvH), Germany. We are all aware of the fact: “Once a Humboldtian remains always a Humboldtian”- which is a rare honor bestowed on researchers by AvH-Stiftung. That is the spirit of the Humboldt family. The majority of former Humboldt alumni in Jaipur (this may be true for entire Rajasthan) are very senior/retired academicians and the time has come to gradually transfer more responsibilities to younger fellows by giving them all encouragement and guidance at all possible levels.

Unfortunately, the number of younger fellows is quite low at present and this fact puts more responsibilities on our shoulders as to how we can help increase this number. We all have to sit together and plan future activities to generate a great awareness about the research programs of AvH-Stiftung among students and researchers in higher educational institutes all over Rajasthan. This is a difficult but not impossible task before all of us and thus I would like to make a sincere appeal to all Humboldt alumni in Rajasthan to come forward with their suggestions/actions and active cooperation to help Humboldt Academy of Rajasthan.

Lastly, I hope that with continued cooperation from all former fellows, Humboldt Academy of Rajasthan will be able to secure a respectable place in the big Humboldt family and that will be a great satisfying moment for all of us. With this, I would like to convey my best wishes to all members of the Humboldt Academy of Rajasthan, especially to younger members in their endeavor to plan and promote the activities of Alexander von Humboldt foundation.

Prof. Dr. S. K. Sharma
President, Humboldt Academy of Rajasthan
Email: sksh@live.com, sksharma.phy@mnit.ac.in