To make teeming masses predictable
Once every three years millions of Hindus go on pilgrimage to the Shipra river near the holly city Ujjain, in central India, for the Kumbh Mela.
Attending such mass meeting can be very risky: people being trampled, are lost.
For Peter Sloot and Mike Lees, both computational scientists at the UvA, this festival was a huge opportunity for field research. Together with other scientists, they research whether it is possible to predict if and how a quietly moving mass hit panic and run wild. Can this be avoided in a good time?
Their project is co-financed by NWO, from the Dutch-Indian program for ICT Research.
See below for the complete article (in Dutch).
Hypothese 2016-3 – In Beeld Kumbh Mela