Contribution of Scientists in Independent India
Many of the greatest scientists that independent India has produced are little known, like hidden figures in their own homeland.
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Contribution of scientists in Independent India
- Har Govind Khorana – He was the first person to segregate the DNA PARTS and chains of nucleotides
- Salim Ali – He studied birds life, known as bird men of India. He conducted systematic bird surveys across India.
- Vikram Sarabhai – He started a project for the fabrication and launch of an Indian satellite which led to launch of the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata.
- Visvesaray – His efficient method of river bed management ,block irrigation system a novel idea to irrigate land.
- Birbal Sahni- an Indian paleobotanist who studied the fossils of the Indian subcontinent.
- Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri in cosmology
- G.N. Ramachandran in protein crystal structures
- C.K. Majumdar and Dipan Ghosh who extended the quantum Heisenberg spin model
- E K Janaki Ammal- was a renowned botanist and plant cytologist who made significant contributions to genetics, evolution, phytogeography and ethnobotany.
- B Vijayalakshmi- she studied relativistic wave equations and their proportions.
- A Chatterjee- her area of interest was natural products with special reference to the medicinal chemistry
- Anna Mani- the only woman scientist to work with C.V. Raman, is well known for her work in atmospheric physics and instrumentation.
- Lalji Singh- worked in the field of DNA fingerprinting technology in India, where he was popularly known as the “Father of Indian DNA fingerprinting”
Why Indian scientists are less publicized?
- C.N.R. Rao said in context of science leadership, “There is really a crisis of leadership in the country… There is a need to get in some fresh blood.
- Bureaucratization of Science institutions
- The system is run by scientists-turned-bureaucrats, who have absorbed the culture of government.
- Independent India’s project of building a national science establishment has led to internal standards of judgment: the scientists in power certify each other’s work. Dependent on political patronage for continued funding, these leaders groom loyalists and yes-men rather than cutting-edge researchers
- This has led to an insider culture, reproducing privileges rather than promoting excellence
2.Poor innovation standards
- The two conditions which are required for innovation – guarantees of long-term funding and scientists’ collaboration with each other.
- Funding varies with the political climate
- And collaboration is a social process, not an intellectual one
Conclusion
- Durable institutions and cultures of innovation are not widespread in the Global South.
- But India is the most successful of all the nations in the Global South, with a more affluent diaspora than virtually any other country.
Question for Answer Writing
| Q: Many of the greatest scientists that independent India has produced are little known, like hidden figures in their own homeland. Briefly discuss contributions of such scientists. |
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