Inspirational Innovators: Dr. Ashok Gadgil

Bio-data: Dr Ashok Gadgil

Born: 1950, Bombay, India

Educated: Bsc Physics, University of Bombay; MSc Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; PhD Physics, University of California, Berkeley.

Employment: 1988 to date - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), California, Environmental Energy Technologies Division; 1983 - 88: Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi; 1981: National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris; 1980 - 83: LBNL.

Specialist fields: airborne pollutants; energy efficiency in developing countries; drinking water disinfection for developing countries

Patents include: UV Device to Disinfect Drinking Water; Portable Emergency Relief Water Treatment Unit; Smokeless Ashtray to capture side stream cigarette smoke; Detector for Impending Electronic Failures from Aerosol Deposition; Energy Efficient Device for Exhaust Hoods. Patents pending in India: Solar Collector for Rural Applications based on Stabilized Mud; Novel Integrated Solar Water Heater; Concrete Solar Water Heater; Energy Efficient Bukhari (space heater).

With disease spreading in the wake of the Asian tsunami, survivors desperately need access to safe drinking water. In some ravaged communities in Sri Lanka and the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, emergency relief is arriving in the shape of an innovative water disinfection unit, the UV Waterworks (UVW). This robust device kills bacteria, viruses and parasites in water from any source, using nothing more than ultraviolet (UV) light from an unshielded fluorescent lamp powered by a 40-watt power source (for example a car battery). Treating approximately 15 liters a minute, each unit can deliver safe drinking water for a village of 2,000 for under US$2 per person per year, including amortized capital costs.

The brains behind the UVW is Indian-born physicist Ashok Gadgil, who began searching for a way to purify water cheaply in developing countries after an outbreak of "Bengal cholera" in 1993 killed some 10,000 people within months. He has won numerous awards for the UVW since developing the original technology in 1996, most recently the 2004 Health Award from the Tech Museum of Innovation.

Ashok Gadgil's application of simple technology to tackle one of the developing world's most fundamental problems is inspirational. WIPO Magazine asked Dr. Gadgil about his invention, his experience, as a scientist, of the IP system, and about...