Science and India
Posted on: Feb 28, 2012
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28 February 2012, for most of us it is just regular day filled with their routine activities. But there was brain storm, a zone of imagination where some glorious nervous cells were signaling about “Clean Energy Options and Nuclear Safety”, a theme of the National Science Day 2012 of India. Well, my brain cells weren’t in that storm but at one point I just thought about present situation of science. For mere organism like me it was more than enough. The best way to check our present position is to check our Past and imagine future. These two factors are sufficient to envisage present situation. I guess, if we compare our past to “Vision 2020” of India , we will get some glimpse about our present progress in Science.
As today we are celebrating this occasion to mark the discovery of Raman Effect, we should start with Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman and Physics. Undoubtedly, Physics is fundamental aspect of our universe and root of all natural Sciences. I am proud that India’s science roots are very powerful. It has been claimed that Indians were involved in many experimental sciences thousands years ago. But according to documented evidence, thrust for knowledge of atoms and molecules was started with legendary Kanada [concepts of atom (Ann, Parmanu) and relativity (Sapekshavada)] which carried on by many personalities including Homi Bhabha [Father of Indian Nuclear Programs], Jagdish Chandra Bose [Foundation to Experimental Science], Jayant Narlikar [Conformal gravity], Vikram Sarabhai [ Indian Space Program ], Satyendra Nath Bose [Bose–Einstein condensate ] etc. Physics, like the mathematics and astronomy of ancient India, is replete with theories and calculations that anticipate western scientific achievements by considerable periods – in terms of centuries ! Our modern scenario was even better. Enlisting all notables in physics is technically not possible but many distinguished personalities related to modern physicist can be found here . Government of India has also been encouraging and furnishing Indian Physics. IISc, IITs, NITs, TIFR, ISI, BARC, ISRO, IIST, IISER, IMSC, Raman Research Institute etc. are on frontier of Physical Research.
Mathematics is the Heart of Indian Research Field. Many ancient legends like Aryabhata, Baudhayana, Bhāskara I, and Panini are immortals in Mathematics. Later Jyeṣṭhadeva , Ramanujan, Ramachandra etc. founded modern Indian Mathematics. Again complete contribution to Maths is ‘uncountable’ but some of the prominent personalities can be found here. Modern science is not complete without mentioning Vijay P. Bhatkar and his PARAM supercomputer. India has bestowed respect to science when Dr. Abdul Kalam [Missile Man of India] took oath as 11 th President of India. Similarly, other fields were no exception. Presently research in going on in every field of science ranging from basic Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science to more advanced nanotechnology, synthetic biology, genetic engineering. Some of the noticeable modern scientists from India are enlisted here .
As magnificent was our past and is our present, we should not conclude without considering actual facts. Recently, in ‘China versus India’ debate held in Bhubaneswar, present Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has told that China is ahead of India in scientific research . Considering contemporary rival and his position relative to us, we should worry about our present scenario. Annual report 2010-2011 of Government of India, Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology has main groundwork of ‘Strengthening’ our research and development. I think, our situation is satisfactory when we will concentrate on ‘Developing’ rather than ‘Strengthening’.
Happy Science Day !!
Original Post: : https://rohitsuratekar.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/science-and-india/