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 won’t 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.
India’s 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 (1894–1974),
Meghnad Saha (1893–1956), P. C. Mahalanobis
(1893–1972), Sir C. V. Raman (1888–1970),
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910–1995),
Homi Bhabha (1909–1966), Srinivasa Ramanujan
(1887–1920), Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971),
Hargobind Khorana (1922–), and Harish Chandra
(1923–1983) 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 free…can 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 numeral—a dot or an open circle—there is no record until 628,
though it is recorded as if well-understood at that time so it’s 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 didn’t 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=zvpL
N5KJg0c
 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 Brāhmī
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 the 6th century BCE.
 Medicine - Charak Samhita

• The Caraka Saṃhitā 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 Suśruta Saṃhitā 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 ‘Saṃhitā’ means ‘collected' or 'compendium’.
The original source of this text is identified as the
Agniveśa Tantra (a treatise by Agniveśa), based
on the teachings of Punarvasu Atreya and Caraka
is said to have redacted this work (Agniveśakr̥te
tantre Caraka pratisaṃskr̥te). 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 counter-
intuitive... 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: சதிரேசகர
C.V. Raman
• Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata
Raman, FRS (Tamil:
சதிரேசகர ெவ
கடராமன)
(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 Boseя я
nd 

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, CSI,

SirCIE,
JagadishFRS
Chandra Bose, CSI, CIE, FRS
(Bengali: я nd 
Jôgodish Chôndro 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 Boseя я
nd 

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, CSI,

CIE,
• Born in Bengal during the British FRS
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
• India’s 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 government’s 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."