s c i e n c e

  Architecture, Astronomy, Medicine and Surgery, Metallurgy and Mathematics were in advanced stages of development, right from the Vedic period. Much of the documentation at the famous universities of Nalanda, Takshashila and other places of learning were irrevocably lost during the alien onslaughts. After Indian Independence from Britain in 1947, resurrection is taking place on a massive scale, and contemporary scientists hail from all sections of the Indian Society.

Some Famous Brahmin Scientists of the past

  Astronomer.   Mathematician.   Born in Pataliputra on Sunday March 21, 499 (5^th century A.D). He is the author of ‘Aryabhatiya’, a monumental treatise on Astronomy. Aryabhata, explained the causes of solar and lunar eclipses, as understood today. He was the first to state the relationship between the diameter and the circumference of a circle. First Indian Satellite was named after him.

Bhaskara

12^th century Mathematician. Author of  ‘Siddhantha Shiromani’. His other book called ‘Leelavati’, on Algebra, was written to teach the subject to his daughter who had the same name. The second Indian Satellite was named after him.

Charaka

Most celebrated authority on medicine, who lived in Vedic times. Author of  ‘Charaka Samhita’. A legend has it that he is an incarnation of ‘Adisesha’.  

Dhanwantari

Known as physician of the gods, who was born at the churning of the oceans. (Samudra manthana ). Ayurveda is attributed to him. In later literature we read, that Dhanwantari was also the name of the physician in the celebrity group called the Nine gems (Nav Ratnas) in the court of king Vikramaditya. 57 B.C  

Sushruta

4^th century  surgeon and writer on Medicine. Author of ‘Sushrutha   Samhita’.  

Vag Bhata

Writer on   Medicine.  Author of  ‘Ashtanga  Hridaya Samhita’. Period  is  unknown.  

Varaha  Mihira

6^th century Astrologer and Mathematician, born in Ujjain. Is the author of three monumental books on Astrology, Astronomy and Mathematics relating to the first two.  ‘Pancha Siddhantika’, one of the elements of which is ‘Surya Siddhanta’, is the authority for casting the Hindu Almanac. Brihat Jataka’ deals extensively on the subject of Horoscopes.  ‘Brihat Samhita’, consisting of 4000 sanskrit verses, and deals with weather forecasting, earth quakes, gemology and the relationship between the earth and the solar system and so forth.  

Dr Jagadish Chandra Bose  
1858 - 1937

Great Biologist, eminent scientist who showed that plants have feelings. His path breaking discoveries brought him the coveted honor of fellow ship of the Royal Society for Science.  

Dr S. Chandrasekhar  
Physicist. Nobel laureate. (1910-1995)

Won the 1983 Nobel prize in Physics for his  ‘ Theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars’.  

Dr Chidambara Chandrasekaran
Population Scientist. (1911-1999)

A scientist par excellence who did pioneering work in Demographics. Co-Inventor of the world famous Chandrasekaran - Deming formula for estimation of population growth. A Rockefeller fellow in the early 1940s, was awarded the outstanding international Alumnus award by the John Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Served the United Nations as early as 1948 and was regional adviser on population policies. Served as population specialist at the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development. 

  Sir C.V.Raman
Physicist. Nobel laureate (1888-1970).

The first Asian scientist to win the Nobel Prize, in the year 1930, for his work on molecular scattering of light, later called as the Raman effect. This he discovered using laboratory instruments worth approximately US$ 100!

Srinivasa Ramanujam
Mathematician  (1887-1920).

 Prodigy who had no formal education in mathematics, but could solve the most complex mathematical problems with ease. Unanimously elected to fellowship of the Royal Society in Cambridge, in 1918.  

Some Contemporary Great Scientists