THE SCIENTIFIC INDIAN

THE SCIENTIFIC INDIAN

Author: A P J Abdul Kalam

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2010-02-18

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 8184752466

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Nuclear capability; self-sufficiency in food production; an array of indigenous satellites and missiles; an unmanned Moon mission—India’s achievements in the scientific domain in recent years have been spectacular. But; according to the country’s best-known scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and his close associate Y.S. Rajan; we’ve only just begun. In a century that many experts predict may belong to India; the realization of the vision of a better future for everyone will require a keen understanding of our needs and this can only be achieved by tailoring our research and innovations to the goal of national development. India to the forefront of the world in the decades to come. The Scientific Indian will speak to every curious and adventurous mind; and especially to tomorrow’s scientists and technologists; encouraging us to dream big; and urging us to work hard to make our dreams come true. In The Scientific Indian; the authors of the path-breaking India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium return after ten years to the core areas of scientific advancement that are crucial today: space exploration; satellite technology; missile development; earth and ocean resources; the biosphere; food production; energy and water harvesting; health care and communications; to name a few. For each aspect; the authors provide the context of recent progress on the global platform as well as Indian breakthroughs; before outlining a pragmatic vision of technological development that will propel


The Scientific Edge

The Scientific Edge

Author: Jayant V Narlikar

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2003-08-04

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 9351189287

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India has a rich history of scientific accomplishments. In the fifth century, nearly one millennium before Copernicus, the Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata theorized that the earth spins on its axis. Likewise, in the twentieth century physicist Meghnad Saha’s ionization equation opened the door to stellar astrophysics. But India’s scientific achievements have occurred as flashes of brilliance rather than as a clear trajectory of progress. So how did India, with its historic university system and excellent observatories, lose its scientific edge? Cosmologist, founder director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, and science fiction author Jayant V. Narlikar tracks the highs and lows of Indian science across the millennia, distinguishing fact from fiction. Through a lively narrative of breakthroughs and failures, he explores the glories of India’s scientific advances and questions the more fanciful so-called discoveries. His essays are invigorated by his excitement for new findings, and he argues passionately for preserving the true scientific temperament instead of granting legitimacy to such pseudosciences as astrology. Above all, Narlikar raises issues that both the layperson and the scientist need to consider as India seeks to lead the world in information technology and biotechnology.


The Science of Empire

The Science of Empire

Author: Zaheer Baber

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1996-05-16

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780791429204

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Investigates the complex social processes involved in the introduction and institutionalization of Western science in colonial India.


Creativity from the Periphery

Creativity from the Periphery

Author: Deepanwita Dasgupta

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 082298802X

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Science is usually knownbyits most successful figures and resource-rich institutions. In stark contrast, Creativity from the Peripherydraws our attention to unknown figures in science—those who remain marginalized, even neglected, within its practices. Researchers in early twentieth-century colonial India, for example, have made significant contributions to the stock of scientific knowledge and have provided science with new breakthroughs and novel ideas, but to little acclaim. As Deepanwita Dasgupta argues, sometimes the best ideas in science are born from difficult and resource-poor conditions. Inthis study,she turns our attention to these peripheral actors, shedding new light on how scientific creativity operates in lesser-known, marginalized contexts, and how the work of self-trained researchers, though largely ignored , has contributed to important conceptual shifts. Her book presents a new philosophical framework for understanding this peripheral creativity in science through the lens of trading zones—where knowledge is exchanged between two unequal communities—and explores the implications for the future diversity of transnational science.


Science and Religion in India

Science and Religion in India

Author: Renny Thomas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-12-30

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1000534316

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This book provides an in-depth ethnographic study of science and religion in the context of South Asia, giving voice to Indian scientists and shedding valuable light on their engagement with religion. Drawing on biographical, autobiographical, historical, and ethnographic material, the volume focuses on scientists’ religious life and practices, and the variety of ways in which they express them. Renny Thomas challenges the idea that science and religion in India are naturally connected and argues that the discussion has to go beyond binary models of ‘conflict’ and ‘complementarity’. By complicating the understanding of science and religion in India, the book engages with new ways of looking at these categories.


Nucleus and Nation

Nucleus and Nation

Author: Robert S. Anderson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-05-15

Total Pages: 728

ISBN-13: 0226019772

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In 1974 India joined the elite roster of nuclear world powers when it exploded its first nuclear bomb. But the technological progress that facilitated that feat was set in motion many decades before, as India sought both independence from the British and respect from the larger world. Over the course of the twentieth century, India metamorphosed from a marginal place to a serious hub of technological and scientific innovation. It is this tale of transformation that Robert S. Anderson recounts in Nucleus and Nation. Tracing the long institutional and individual preparations for India’s first nuclear test and its consequences, Anderson begins with the careers of India’s renowned scientists—Meghnad Saha, Shanti Bhatnagar, Homi Bhabha, and their patron Jawaharlal Nehru—in the first half of the twentieth century before focusing on the evolution of the large and complex scientific community—especially Vikram Sarabhi—in the later part of the era. By contextualizing Indian debates over nuclear power within the larger conversation about modernization and industrialization, Anderson hones in on the thorny issue of the integration of science into the framework and self-reliant ideals of Indian nationalism. In this way, Nucleus and Nation is more than a history of nuclear science and engineering and the Indian Atomic Energy Commission; it is a unique perspective on the history of Indian nationhood and the politics of its scientific community.


Scientific Research and Manufacturing

Scientific Research and Manufacturing

Author: B. M. Suri

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 9781536152302

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The inability of developing countries to charter a course for technology development and deployment, independent of developed countries, leads to a continued monopoly of developed countries in the high technology sector. This reality has pushed developing countries up a ladder of technology growth, and this book discusses how India should address these challenges. It will be interesting to witness how the narrative evolves in the context of the development of several potentially disruptive technologies, and the onset of the so-called industrial revolution 4.0. This challenge may manifest itself differentially for developing and developed countries, in regards to their contrasting levels of technology development, employment scenarios, and populations, but in this text, the unique challenges of India are analyzed. The challenge of disruptive technologies is daunting for a country like India, with a large, unskilled population. India symbolizes the types of problems which many developing countries face, but also provides hope and could act as a bridge between different levels of technology development. On one hand, the countys workforce is known to be major provider of IT solutions to the developed world, and on other hand, it produces and exports cheap generic medicines to the worlds poorest countries. However, the challenge of disruptive new technologies is quite significant, and may necessitate a bold and imaginative response from its scientific establishments, STEM Higher Education system, industries, and policy makers. Policy makers may have to shed off some of their legacies and cultural mindsets to genuinely encourage innovation and attract as well as retain talent, even in the face of competition from developed countries. This book suggests that several developing countries facing similar technology or development challenges should join hands. Many of these closely interlinked issues are discussed, and the book aims to stimulate discussion between the diverse players such as those in the sciences, technology, STEM HE, Government policy making, entrepreneurship as well as and business.


Wings of Fire

Wings of Fire

Author: Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam

Publisher: Universities Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9788173711466

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Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, The Son Of A Little-Educated Boat-Owner In Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Had An Unparalled Career As A Defence Scientist, Culminating In The Highest Civilian Award Of India, The Bharat Ratna. As Chief Of The Country`S Defence Research And Development Programme, Kalam Demonstrated The Great Potential For Dynamism And Innovation That Existed In Seemingly Moribund Research Establishments. This Is The Story Of Kalam`S Rise From Obscurity And His Personal And Professional Struggles, As Well As The Story Of Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul And Nag--Missiles That Have Become Household Names In India And That Have Raised The Nation To The Level Of A Missile Power Of International Reckoning.


Science in Action

Science in Action

Author: Bruno Latour

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780674792913

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From weaker to stronger rhetoric : literature - Laboratories - From weak points to strongholds : machines - Insiders out - From short to longer networks : tribunals of reason - Centres of calculation.


The Scientist as Rebel

The Scientist as Rebel

Author: Freeman Dyson

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2014-08-26

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1590178815

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33 essays on the fads and fantasies of science and scientists—including climate prediction, genetic engineering, space colonization, and paranormal phenomena—by “the iconoclastic physicist who has become one of science’s most eloquent interpreters” (New York Times) “Provocative, touching, and always surprising.” —Wired Magazine From Galileo to today’s amateur astronomers, scientists have been rebels, writes Freeman Dyson. Like artists and poets, they are free spirits who resist the restrictions their cultures impose on them. In their pursuit of nature’s truths, they are guided as much by imagination as by reason, and their greatest theories have the uniqueness and beauty of great works of art. Dyson argues that the best way to understand science is by understanding those who practice it. He tells stories of scientists at work, ranging from Isaac Newton’s absorption in physics, alchemy, theology, and politics, to Ernest Rutherford’s discovery of the structure of the atom, to Albert Einstein’s stubborn hostility to the idea of black holes. His descriptions of brilliant physicists like Edward Teller and Richard Feynman are enlivened by his own reminiscences of them. He looks with a skeptical eye at fashionable scientific fads and fantasies, and speculates on the future of climate prediction, genetic engineering, the colonization of space, and the possibility that paranormal phenomena may exist yet not be scientifically verifiable. Dyson also looks beyond particular scientific questions to reflect on broader philosophical issues, such as the limits of reductionism, the morality of strategic bombing and nuclear weapons, the preservation of the environment, and the relationship between science and religion. These essays, by a distinguished physicist who is also a prolific writer, offer informed insights into the history of science and fresh perspectives on contentious current debates about science, ethics, and faith.