The 97th Indian Science Congress (ISC 2010) was concluded on Thursday in the green campus of Kerala University, where nearly 2,000 scientific and technical papers were presented.

On the last day of the event, ISC general president G. Madhavan Nair expressed, "I have not seen such a huge participation of scientists, technologists, research scholars, experts, policy-makers and students in the previous science congresses."

The five-day mega event saw participation of nearly 7,000 delegates, including 2,000 students from across the country. It was for the first time that the event was organized in this picturesque coastal city and for the second time in the southern state after two decades at Kochi in 1990.

The main attractions of this mega-event, which was released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh January 3, were nearly 40 plenary sessions in various disciplines of science, public lectures, parallel scientific and technical sessions, a science and technology expo and a Children's Science Congress.

The mega-event, which was organized by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA), with the state-run Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Kerala University as co-hosts, had 'Science and Technology Challenges of 21st century - National Perspective,' as its main-theme.

The plenary sessions were also pretty valuable as well known scientist, including .S. Swaminathan, father of India's first green revolution, former atomic energy secretary Anil Kakodkar and Space Commission member Roddam Narasimhan delivered lectures here.

The mega-event also saw presentations made by former Scientist-President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, distinguished scientists M. G. K Menon and C. N. R. Rao and Nobel laureates Roger Tsien and John Cromwell Mather from the US.

Moreover, the status and future perspectives of science education were also discussed by Vice-chancellors of Universities and educationists from across the country and abroad at a university meet held Tuesday.

Apart from this, a panel discussion on 'Frontiers of Science and Technology in 21st century' was also held during the congress.