Science and Technology in

India
Satyen Mukherjee
For Lipilekha
March 15, 2009

India in the words of eminent

personalities
1. Will Durant, American historian: "India was
the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the
mother of Europe's languages: she was the
mother of our philosophy; mother, through the
Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother,
through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in
Christianity; mother, through the village
community, of self-government and democracy.
Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all".
2. Albert Einstein, American scientist: "We
owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to
count, without which no worthwhile scientific
discovery could have been made.

India in the words of eminent

personalities
3. Mark Twain, American author: "India is,
the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of
human speech, the mother of history, the
grandmother of legend, and the great grand
mother of tradition. our most valuable and
most instructive materials in the history of
man are treasured up in India only."
4. Romain Rolland, French scholar : "If
there is one place on the face of earth where
all the dreams of living men have found a
home from the very earliest days when man
began the dream of existence, it is India."

India in the words of eminent

personalities
5. Mark Twain: "So far as I am able to judge,
nothing has been left undone, either by man or
nature, to make India the most extraordinary
country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing
seems to have been forgotten, nothing
overlooked."
6. Mark Twain: "India has two million gods, and
worships them all. In religion all other countries are
paupers; India is the only millionaire."
7. Max Mueller, German scholar: If I were asked
under what sky the human mind has most fully
developed some of its choicest gifts, has most
deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life,
and has found solutions, I should point to India.

India in the words of eminent

personalities
8. Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to
USA: "India conquered and dominated China
culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to
send a single soldier across her border."
9. Keith Bellows, VP - National Geographic
Society : "There are some parts of the world that,
once visited, get into your heart and wont go. For
me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was
stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush
beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to
overload the senses with the pure, concentrated
intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds... I
had been seeing the world in black & white and,
when brought face-to-face with India, experienced
everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor."

India
10. A Rough Guide to India: "It is impossible not to be
astonished by India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity
present itself in such a dizzying, creative burst of cultures
and religions, races and tongues. Enriched by successive
waves of migration and marauders from distant lands, every
one of them left an indelible imprint which was absorbed
into the Indian way of life. Every aspect of the country
presents itself on a massive, exaggerated scale, worthy in
comparison only to the superlative mountains that
overshadow it. It is this variety which provides a
breathtaking ensemble for experiences that is uniquely
Indian. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than to be
indifferent to India would be to describe or understand India
completely. There are perhaps very few nations in the world
with the enormous variety that India has to offer. Modern
day India represents the largest democracy in the world with
a seamless picture of unity in diversity unparalleled
anywhere else."

Overview
The history of philosophy, scientific discoveries and development in
India dates back to theVedic era. It is believed that, ancient Indian
scholars had developed geometric theorems before Pythagoras who
did in the sixth century B.C. The concept of squares, rectangles,
circles, triangles, fractions, and the ability to express the number
ten to the twelfth power, algebraic formulas, and astronomy have
all their origins in Vedic literature; some are as early as 1500 B.C.
The decimal system was already in use during the Harappan
civilization. This is evident in their use of weights and measures.
Moreover, the concepts of astronomy, metaphysics, and perennial
movement are all embodied in the Rig Veda. Although the Chinese
used a decimal based counting system, it was the formal notational
system of the Indians that reached the west through the Arabs.
Indias development in the field of science and technology was
substantial from British period. In 1947 when India got her
independence, the process of development was further enhanced
by receiving funds from the government. Today for the government,
science and technology is an important part of its five-year plans.

Overview modern period

The British education system, aimed at producing
able civil and administrative services candidates,
exposed a number of Indians to foreign
institutions.[118] Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose (1858
1937), Satyendra Nath Bose (18941974),
Meghnad Saha (18931956), P. C. Mahalanobis
(18931972), Sir C. V. Raman (18881970),
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (19101995),
Homi Bhabha (19091966), Srinivasa Ramanujan
(18871920), Vikram Sarabhai (19191971),
Hargobind Khorana (1922), and Harish Chandra
(19231983) are a few of the notable scholars of
this period.[118]

Concept of Zero - Aryabhatta

476-550 AD Patliputra (Patna)
Aryabhatta lived in Patliputra where he wrote his
famous treatise the "Aryabhatta-siddhanta" but
more famously the "Aryabhatiya", the only work to
have survived. It contains mathematical and
astronomical theories that have been revealed to
be quite accurate in modern mathematics. For
instance he wrote that if 4 is added to 100 and
then multiplied by 8 then added to 62,000 then
divided by 20,000 the answer will be equal to the
circumference of a circle of diameter twenty
thousand. This calculates to 3.1416 close to the
actual value Pi (3.14159). But his greatest
contribution has to be zero. His other works
include algebra, arithmetic, trigonometry,
quadratic equations and the sine table.

Aryabhatta
He already knew that the earth spins on its axis, the
earth moves round the sun and the moon rotates
round the earth. He talks about the position of the
planets in relation to its movement around the sun.
He refers to the light of the planets and the moon as
reflection from the sun. He goes as far as to explain
the eclipse of the moon and the sun, day and night,
the contours of the earth, the length of the year
exactly as 365 days.
He even computed the circumference of the earth as
24835 miles which is close to modern day calculation
of 24900 miles.
This remarkable man was a genius and continues to
baffle many mathematicians of today. His works was
then later adopted by the Greeks and then the Arabs.

The concept of Zero

India: 458 A.D.

The final independent invention of the zero was in India. However, the time and the
independence of this invention has been debated. Some say that Babylonian astronomy, with
its zero, was passed on to Hindu astronomers but there is no absolute proof of this, so most
scholars give the Hindus credit for coming up with zero on their own.
The reason the date of the Hindu zero is in question is because of how it came to be.
Most existing ancient Indian mathematical texts are really copies that are at most a few
hundred years old. And these copies are copies of copies of copies passed through the ages.
But the transcriptions are error freecan you imagine copying a math book without making
any errors? Were the Hindus very good proofreaders? They had a trick.
Math problems were written in verse and could be easily memorised, chanted, or sung. Each
word in the verse corresponded to a number. For example,
viya dambar akasasa sunya yama rama veda
sky (0) atmosphere (0) space (0) void (0) primordial couple (2) Rama (3) Veda (4)
0000234
Indian place notation moved from left to right with ones place coming first. So the phrase
above translates to 4,230,000.
Using a vocabulary of symbolic words to note zero is known from the 458 AD cosmology text
Lokavibhaga. But as a more traditional numerala dot or an open circlethere is no record
until 628, though it is recorded as if well-understood at that time so its likely zero as a symbol
was used before 628.
Which it probably was, considering that 30 years previously, an inscription of a date using a
zero symbol in the Hindu manner was made in Cambodia.
A striking note about the Hindu zero is that, unlike the Babylonian and Mayan zero, the Hindu
zero symbol came to be understood as meaning nothing. This is probably because of the use
of number words that preceded the symbolic zero.

The concept of Zero

Spreading Outward: China, Arabia and
Europe
The Hindus influenced the numeration of
nearby locales, and introduced the zero to the
Chinese and to the Arabs who developed the
modern day shape of numerals and passed
them, along with zero, to the Europeans in the
12th century.
Although China independently invented place
value, they didnt make the leap to zero until it
was introduced to them by a Buddhist
astronomer (by way of India) in 718.

The concept of Zero

Number vs. Numeral

A number is a quantity, an abstraction of a collection of things; a
numeral is a man-made symbol that represents the number.
Zero as Symbol
1 + 10 =
1+0=
10 - 1 =
0-1=
Zero as Number
1 x 10 =
1x0=
10 / 1 =
0 / 1=
[Answers. symbol column: 11, 9, 10, 10. number column: 1, -1, 0, 0]

 A method for multiplications

using graphical technique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zvpLN5KJg0c

Science _ Sushruta Samhita

Susruta is the Father of
Surgery
6
century
BC
The Sushruta Samhita is a Sanskrit text on surgery,

attributed to Sushruta, (6th century BCE), the "father of

Surgery". The original manuscript has not survived, and only
"copies of copies and revisions of revisions" exist. The
Bower Manuscript holds some of the most important
information related to the early Ayurvedic documents.[1]
The text as preserved dates to the 3rd or 4th century CE.
Amongst the eight divisions of medical knowledge, surgery
was considered the most important branch. The text was
translated into Arabic in the 8th century. However, Richard
Salomon states that the earliest confirmed specimens of
India's earliest written script, the Brhm script, are rock-cut
inscriptions called the Edicts of Ashoka and are dated to the
3rd century BC; any excavated evidence for writing in India
that may predate these Edicts (such as graffiti on pottery
shards from Sri Lanka that may date to the 4th century BC)
are controversial and their dating ambiguous. [2]

Susruta

Cataract in the Human Eye

magnified view seen on
examination with a slit lamp.
Indian surgeon Susruta
performed cataract surgery by

Medicine - Charak Samhita

The Caraka Sahit Sutra is an
ancient Indian Ayurvedic text on
internal medicine written by Caraka. It is
believed to be the oldest of the three
ancient treatises of Ayurveda. It is central
to the modern-day practice of Ayurvedic
medicine; and, along with the
Suruta Sahit it is now identified
worldwide as an important early source
of medical understanding and practice,
independent of ancient Greece. [1

Charak
The text, written in Sanskrit, is the work of
several authors and may represent the work of a
school of thought. The term Caraka is said to
apply to wandering scholars or wandering
physicians; and Sahit means collected' or
'compendium. The original source of this text is
identified as the Agnivea Tantra (a treatise by
Agnivea), based on the teachings of Punarvasu
Atreya and Caraka is said to have redacted this
work (Agniveakrrte tantre Caraka pratisaskrrte).
Later, another scholar, Dridhabala extended it
further (Aprapte Dridhabala sampurite). The work
as extant dates to the Maurya period (roughly
3rd century BCE).

Boson Satyendranath Bose Bose-Einstein Statistics

In particle physics, bosons are particles
which obey Bose-Einstein statistics; they are
named after Satyendra Nath Bose and
Albert Einstein. In contrast to fermions,
which obey Fermi-Dirac statistics, several
bosons can occupy the same quantum state.
Thus, bosons with the same energy can
occupy the same place in space. Therefore
bosons are often force carrier particles while
fermions are usually associated with matter,
though the distinction between the two
concepts is not clear cut in quantum physics.

Higgs Boson
When you get on the scale in the morning, you may be
hoping that it registers a smaller number than the day
before -- you may be hoping that you've lost weight.
It's the quantity of mass in you, plus the force of
gravity, that determines your weight. But what
determines your mass?
That's one of the most-asked, most-hotly pursued
questions in physics today. Many of the experiments
circulating in the world's particle accelerators are
looking into the mechanism that gives rise to mass.
Scientists at CERN, as well as at Fermilab in Illinois,
are hoping to find what they call the "Higgs boson."
Higgs, they believe, is a particle, or set of particles,
that might give others mass.

Higgs Boson
The idea of one particle giving another mass is a bit counterintuitive... Isn't mass an inherent characteristic of matter? If not,
how can one entity impart mass on all the others by simply
floating by and interacting with them?

An oft-cited analogy describes it well: Imagine you're at a

Hollywood party. The crowd is rather thick, and evenly
distributed around the room, chatting. When the big star arrives,
the people nearest the door gather around her. As she moves
through the party, she attracts the people closest to her, and
those she moves away from return to their other conversations.
By gathering a fawning cluster of people around her, she's
gained momentum, an indication of mass. She's harder to slow
down than she would be without the crowd. Once she's stopped,
it's harder to get her going again.

Sir Chandrasekhara
Venkata Raman, FRS (Tamil:
C.V. Raman
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata
Raman, FRS (Tamil:
) (7 November 1888
21 November 1970) was an Indian
physicist and
Nobel laureate in physics
recognised for his work on the
molecular scattering of light and for
the discovery of the Raman effect,
which is named after him.

Jagadish Chandra Bose

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose,
CSI,
CIE,Chandra
FRS
Sir Jagadish
Bose, CSI, CIE,
FRS (Bengali: Jgodish Chndro
Boshu) (November 30, 1858 November
23, 1937) was a Bengali polymath: a
physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist,
and writer of science fiction.[1] He
pioneered the investigation of radio and
microwave optics, made very significant
contributions to plant science, and laid the
foundations of experimental science in the
Indian subcontinent.[2] He is considered one
of the fathers of radio science,[3] and is also
considered the father of
Bengali science fiction. He was the first
from the Indian subcontinent to get a US
patent, in 1904.
b

Jagadish Chandra Bose

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose,
CSI,
CIE,
FRS
Born in Bengal during
the British
Raj, Bose
graduated from St.

Xavier's College, Calcutta. He then went to the University of

London to study medicine, but couldn't complete his studies due
to health problems. He returned to India and joined the Presidency
College as a Professor of Physics. There, despite racial
discrimination and a lack of funding and equipment, Bose carried
on his scientific research. He made remarkable progress in his
research of remote wireless signaling and was the first to use
semiconductor junctions to detect radio signals. However, instead
of trying to gain commercial benefit from this invention Bose
made his inventions public in order to allow others to develop on
his research. Subsequently, he made some pioneering discoveries
in plant physiology. He used his own invention crescograph to
measure plant response to various stimuli, and thereby
scientifically proved parallelism between animal and plant tissues.
Although Bose filed for patent for one of his inventions due to peer
pressure, his reluctance to any form of patenting was well known.
Now, some 70 years of after his death, he is being recognised for
many of his contributions to modern science.

The End

Overview
Today, one can easily realize that India has achieved
significant success in varied fields of science and
technology in global arena. India can boast of leading
scientists and their path breaking research. The
government-sponsored scientific and technical
developments have aided research in diverse areas
such as agriculture, medical, biotechnology, cold
regions research, communications, environment,
industry, mining, nuclear power, space, and
transportation.. Now India has expertise in the fields of
astronomy and astrophysics, liquid crystals, condensed
matter physics, molecular biology, virology, and
crystallography, software technoloy, nuclear power and
defense research and development.

Overview
Indias technological discoveries in the fields of pharmacology,
brain surgery, medicine, artificial colors and glazes, metallurgy,
recrystallization, chemistry, the decimal system, geometry,
astronomy, and language and linguistics (systematic linguistic
analysis having originated in India with Panini's fourth-century B.C.
Sanskrit grammar, the Ashtadhyayi) have led to the practical
applications in various allied sectors.
The governments early Scientific Policy Resolution 1958 states
that, "by all appropriate means, the cultivation of science and
scientific research in all its aspects pure, applied, and educational"
should be encouraged. In 1983, the government issued a similar
statement, which, while stressing the importance of international
cooperation and the diffusion of scientific knowledge, put
considerable emphasis on self-reliance and the development of
indigenous technology. The goals are to be achieved restlessly with
the cooperation from individuals and institutions as well, so as to
make India a prosperous and developed nation in the world.

Higgs Boson

The question of mass has been an especially puzzling one, and has left the Higgs
boson as the single missing piece of the Standard Model yet to be spotted. The
Standard Model describes three of nature's four forces: electromagnetism and the
strong and weak nuclear forces. Electromagnetism has been fairly well understood
for many decades. Recently, physicists have learned much more about the strong
force, which binds the elements of atomic nuclei together, and the weak force,
which governs radioactivity and hydrogen fusion (which generates the sun's
energy).
Electromagnetism describes how particles interact with photons, tiny packets of
electromagnetic radiation. In a similar way, the weak force describes how two
other entities, the W and Z particles, interact with electrons, quarks, neutrinos and
others. There is one very important difference between these two interactions:
photons have no mass, while the masses of W and Z are huge. In fact, they are
some of the most massive particles known.
The first inclination is to assume that W and Z simply exist and interact with other
elemental particles. But for mathematical reasons, the giant masses of W and Z
raise inconsistencies in the Standard Model. To address this, physicists postulate
that there must be at least one other particle -- the Higgs boson.
The simplest theories predict only one boson, but others say there might be
several. In fact, the search for the Higgs particle(s) is some of the most exciting
research happening, because it could lead to completely new discoveries in
particle physics. Some theorists say it could bring to light entirely new types of
strong interactions, and others believe research will reveal a new fundamental
physical symmetry called "supersymmetry."