Where does Corona Virus come from?

Just to set the stage.

I was teaching a class for I year students and I was comfortably placed to finish the stipulated syllabus (this was before the lockdown, but I have done well by the students). I was also feeling lethargic and I knew that if I continued with the subject I would not be doing justice by the contract I signed with my employer. I felt that introducing anything of possible value to the students rather than carrying out the mandated task disinterestedly is better for me as well as students.

Corona virus, as it was spreading in the US very rapidly, was beginning to dominate social discussions. So, I thought I would pose a simple question to the class – how did the virus get the name “Corona”? I did not know the answer, but I had some idea.

A student shouted out in Latin Corona (by way of Greek) means the Crown; that was an impressive answer and I accepted and congratulated him.

Look at the picture below, of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (JNS) in New Delhi, created almost anew from the earlier configuration, an open stadium, but now with a membrane roof.

I know for a fact that the architect used weaver’s bamboo basket as the architectural archetype, but with the lights on the top ring, the stadium projects itself as crown – a corona!

Over the past three months or so, the image of the corona virus has etched itself in the minds of people as shown:

Compare the above with the picture of the stadium. The stadium, particularly with the lights at the apex of the inverted ‘V’, truly resembles a crown. But, the picture of the virus looks more like a set of nuclear blasts (the mushroom cloud) on the face of the earth (given that Trump and Putin are sitting on piles of nuclear weapons, the imagery may not be too far from reality) . Whatever one may say, this resembles a crown as much as my face resembles Mona Lisa’s.

I have a different take on the appearance and hence the derivation of the name "Corona”. Look at the images below:

The one at the top is that of the virus, looks to be lit from the front. The one at the bottom is a picture of the sun’s disk taken during a full solar eclipse. The bright rim of the picture of the sun’s disk is called the corona. Now, to my mind, the irregularity along the sun’s corona resembles the rough surface of the virus better than the truly regular peaks of a crown.

So, my contention is, as useless as it is whether you are affected by the virus or not, the name “corona” came from astronomy rather than from a symbol of monarchy, which repels me and I rebel.

Raghuram Ekambaram