Protesters hold placards denouncing claims made by speakers, including those discrediting theories of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, at the 106th Indian Science Congress in Kolkata. Photo: Reuters
Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2182501/india-once-led-world-science-dont-go-bizarre-science-congress-claims Letters
India once led the world in science, don’t go by bizarre Science Congress claims
- Ancient Indian researchers and philosophers have made many contributions to science the world has benefited from
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (right), the president of India from 2002 to 2007, poses with his outgoing predecessor, K.R. Narayanan, in New Delhi in July 2002. Kalam, who died in 2015, was a highly regarded scientist who played a leading role in the development of India’s missile and nuclear weapons programmes. Photo: Reuters
With regard to “Defying Gravity” (January 13), while I obviously do not support some of the outlandish claims made in the recent Indian Science Congress, the basic thrust of your correspondent seems to be in negating that ancient India did contribute immensely to science and astronomy.
For example, more than 2,500 years back, Sushruta and Charak pioneered the work of plastic and cataract surgery. Long before Galileo (mentioned in your article) came into the picture, astronomer Aryabhata had already written about the earth going round the sun; the philosopher Yajnavalkya, who came before him, also spoke of heliocentrism. India is said to have also invented the numerical system and the zero.
I am aware that there are competing claims on these and it's not my intention to discount them, but we can’t forget that ancient India possessed many famous universities which saw students attending from all parts of the world.
Nalanda (established in the fifth century), drew even famous Chinese scholars such as Xuanzang and Yijing who have attested to the fact that besides Buddhism and Hinduism, innumerable other subjects were also taught, including science, medicine and maths.
Gordhan Gurnani, Kwun Tong