Research
November 25, 2024 2024-11-27 11:37Research
India Scientific Heritage
India has a proud history of scientific accomplishments from very ancient times. In the realm of mathematics; astronomy and medicine the contributions of Indians on humanity has been truly transformational.
What is most amazing is how all of today’s marvels of science and technology owe their very existence to the foundational concepts of “Zero” and the “Decimal” system of mathematics. In ancient India, the value of π had been calculated to 30 decimal places. Indian mathematicians conceived of negative numbers, arithmetic, and algebra; trigonometry was advanced in India, and, the modern definitions of sine and cosine were first developed by Indians.
“India’s romance with numbers can be seen in the mention of large numbers up to 1019 in the Black Yajurveda. The sources for mathematical computing in India in the early phase are the Vedic books including the Brāhmana texts, the Śulbasūtras (texts on altar geometry), Jyotisha (astronomy), the Chandahśāstra (Pingala’s book on prosody), Pānini’s grammar, the Nātya Śāstra (Bharata Muni’s text on music, drama, and dance), and nonmathematical texts such as the Mahābhārata and diverse śāstras (scientific and philosophical texts).” Kak S. (2008) Computing Science in Ancient India. In: Selin H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht.
It is this rich heritage that gave rise to the genius of mathematical luminaries such as Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, and Varāhamihira and in contemporary times Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar whose brilliant intuitive concepts laid the foundations of string theory and many other theories that could only be truly explored computationally after the invention of modern computers with powerful processing capabilities.
Many centuries before the Europeans Indian astronomers had already understood that the earth was a globe and rotated around the Sun. Luminaries of Indian astronomy date back to Lagadha considered the author of Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa, one of earliest known Indian texts on astronomy. He is followed by Āryabhaṭa the author of the Āryabhatīya and the Āryabhaṭasiddhānta, which, influenced Islamic astronomy; Varāhamihira; Bhāskara I and Brahmagupta.
Indian astronomical works assign the start of each day to midnight. Aryabhata postulated that the Earth rotates about its axis, suggested that the Earth is a sphere, with a circumference of 24,835 miles (39,967 km). This compares well with modern computations of 40,075 km Brahmagupta (Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta) in Khandakhadyaka reinforced Aryabhata’s idea of another day beginning at midnight; calculated the instantaneous motion of a planet and theorized that all bodies with mass are attracted to earth (Planetary gravity?)
Other luminaries with profound contributions to astronomy and mathematics are Lalla Author of the Śiṣyadhīvṛddhida Lalla shows influence of Āryabhata, Brahmagupta, and Bhāskara I. His works were followed by later astronomers Śrīpati, Vateśvara, and Bhāskara II. Lalla also authored the Siddhāntatilaka.
Mahendra Sūri authored the Yantra-rāja explained the Gnomon, equatorial co-ordinates, and elliptical co-ordinates. Mahendra Sūri influenced later astronomers like Padmanābha author of the Yantra-rāja-adhikāra. The Kerala school of astronomy had renowned scholars Nilakantha Somayaji who in Tantrasangraha, revised Aryabhata’s model for the planets Mercury and Venus. His equation of the centre for these planets remained the most accurate until the time of Johannes Kepler in the 17th century. In Āryabhaṭīyabhāṣya, is a system for a partially heliocentric planetary model, which is mathematically more efficient than the Tychonic (Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601 system). He authored Jyotirmīmāṁsā illustrating importance of astronomical observations. Acyuta Piṣāraṭi authored Sphuṭanirṇaya later expanded to Rāśigolasphutānīti and other works Karanottama and Uparāgakriyākrama demonstrated improvements in methods for astronomical calculations.
In contemporary times Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman is the first Asian to receive a Nobel Prize in any branch of science. Satyendra Nath Bose is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, he collaborated with Albert Einstein in developing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics for “Theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars”. His mathematical treatment of stellar evolution yielded many of the current theoretical models of the later evolutionary stages of massive stars and black holes.
In the field of Medicine, the Sushruta Samhita is an ancient Indian text on medicine and surgery, and with the Caraka-Saṃhitā, the Bheḷa-Saṃhitā, are foundational texts on medical profession from ancient India. The Suśrutasaṃhitā describes surgical training, instruments and procedures some of which is still relevant today.
In more contemporary times Dr. Sambhunath De discovered the cholera toxin, the animal model of cholera, and successfully demonstrated the method of transmission of Vibrio cholerae. The scourge of Cholera has been known in the river beds of India since times immemorial and devastated the refugee camps in Kolkata during the liberation of Bangladesh. Ancient Indian physicians had already noted that in children who had a diarrheal illness better survival was obtained by giving liquid rice gruel as compared to stopping oral intake. In a public health classic quoted below is a poignant description:
“By the end of May 1971 over six million people from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, had fled the civil war and sought refuge in India. The outbreak of cholera in the monsoon months of June and July created enormous problems. The disease attacked people already devitalized by exhaustion, starvation and exposure. A heavy death toll occurred in the refugee camps, where there was an estimated case fatality ratio of 30% from cholera and cholera-like diarrheal diseases
Available resources for the treatment of cholera were mobilized but basic handicaps still existed. The huge amounts of intravenous fluids that would be required, plus the problems of transport and lack of trained personnel for their administration, represented an almost insurmountable logistical problem in treating cholera effectively under such circumstances by the standard methods currently in use. We suggested the use of oral fluids as the only recourse in this situation. On the basis of previous experience cited above we were reasonably sure that orally administered electrolyte solutions with glucose would be satisfactory for maintenance of fluid and electrolytes after shock and severe acidosis had been corrected by intravenous fluids. Partial initial replacement of fluid loss might be provided orally. An important clue lay in the fact that, when given early in the disease before the onset of hypovolemic shock, oral fluid replacement therapy alone apparently could prevent fatal dehydration” Mahalanabis D, Choudhuri A B, Bagchi N G, Bhattacharya A K, Simpson T W. Oral fluid therapy of cholera among Bangladesh refugees[1]. WHO South-East Asia J Public Health [serial online] 2012 [cited 2021 Mar 13];1:105-12. Available from:
“By the end of May 1971 over six million people from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, had fled the civil war and sought refuge in India. The outbreak of cholera in the monsoon months of June and July created enormous problems. The disease attacked people already devitalized by exhaustion, starvation and exposure. A heavy death toll occurred in the refugee camps, where there was an estimated case fatality ratio of 30% from cholera and cholera-like diarrheal diseases
In more contemporary times Dr. Sambhunath De discovered the cholera toxin, the animal model of cholera, and successfully demonstrated the method of transmission of Vibrio cholerae. The scourge of Cholera has been known in the river beds of India since times immemorial and devastated the refugee camps in Kolkata during the liberation of Bangladesh. Ancient Indian physicians had already noted that in children who had a diarrheal illness better survival was obtained by giving liquid rice gruel as compared to stopping oral intake. In a public health classic quoted below is a poignant description:
“By the end of May 1971 over six million people from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, had fled the civil war and sought refuge in India. The outbreak of cholera in the monsoon months of June and July created enormous problems. The disease attacked people already devitalized by exhaustion, starvation and exposure. A heavy death toll occurred in the refugee camps, where there was an estimated case fatality ratio of 30% from cholera and cholera-like diarrheal diseases
In more contemporary times Dr. Sambhunath De discovered the cholera toxin, the animal model of cholera, and successfully demonstrated the method of transmission of Vibrio cholerae. The scourge of Cholera has been known in the river beds of India since times immemorial and devastated the refugee camps in Kolkata during the liberation of Bangladesh. Ancient Indian physicians had already noted that in children who had a diarrheal illness better survival was obtained by giving liquid rice gruel as compared to stopping oral intake. In a public health classic quoted below is a poignant description:
“By the end of May 1971 over six million people from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, had fled the civil war and sought refuge in India. The outbreak of cholera in the monsoon months of June and July created enormous problems. The disease attacked people already devitalized by exhaustion, starvation and exposure. A heavy death toll occurred in the refugee camps, where there was an estimated case fatality ratio of 30% from cholera and cholera-like diarrheal diseases
