Transcript Science and Technology in India

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 selfgovernment 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
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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 wellunderstood 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
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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=zvpLN5K
Jg0c
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]
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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 - BoseEinstein 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?
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• 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: சந்திரசசகர C.V. Raman
• Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata
Raman, FRS (Tamil: சந்திரசசகர
வெங்கடராமன) (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 Boseজগদীশ চন্দ্র বসু
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, CSI, CIE,
FRS
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, CSI, CIE, FRS (Bengali:
জগদীশ চন্দ্র বসু 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 Boseজগদীশ চন্দ্র বসু
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
• 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 selfreliance 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
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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."