Do you find science dull, dour and boring? Do words like ozone hole, glycobiology, nanotechnology or mass spectrometry sound like mumbo-jumbo? Wait till you meet Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, Senior Scientist (Chemical Technology Division) at the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, India.

The forty- something globe - trotter, known as the "Scientoon man" in the CDRI campus and outside, has achieved quite a feast by fusing complex scientific theories with dollops of humor, a concept reported to be going down well with audiences, whether in Philadelphia or Bangkok, Shimla or Stockholm. His experiments began way back in 1988, says Srivastava, and were “triggered by the lukewarm response speakers receive at scientific seminars."

Says Srivastava, “I remember it was the first lecture of my life on that too on a very dull and comprehensive topic "Development of Drugs & Pharmaceutical Industry in Developing Countries" in a conference held at National University of Singapore, Singapore, The worst part was that I had my lecture prepared for around 45 minutes but chairman said “You have only 10 minutes for the lecture. That’s all.” I used few novel type of science cartoons in order to make my lecture more informative, interesting and impactful. I was so nervous that I didn’t see the watch and when I finished my lecture it was 45 minutes over and there was no warning bell by the chairman. The lecture was well received and enabled me win a SILVER MEDAL for the best lecture. I coined a new name for such cartoons - SCIENTOONS.”

SCIENTOONS ARE THE CARTOONS, BASED ON SCIENCE. THEY NOT ONLY MAKE YOU SMILE AND LAUGH BUT ALSO PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT NEW RESEARCHES, SUBJECTS, DATA & CONCEPTS IN A SIMPLE, UNDERSTANDABLE AND INTERESTING THOUGHTPROVOKING WAY.

Scientoons got recognition from all over the world by several organizations, societies and Universities within a very short span of time.

On December 5, 2007 in South African Science Communication Conference which was held at Port Elizabeth and was attended by experts from all over the world I thought to announce my concept as a new science called scientoonics.

“SCIENTOONICS IS A NEW BRANCH OF SCIENCE THAT DEALS WITH EFFECTIVE SCIENCE COMMUNICATION BY USING A NOVEL CLASS OF SCIENCE CARTOONS CALLED SCIENTOONS.”