Pioneers in science

GLEANINGS OF THE PAST AND THE SCIENCE MOVEMENT: Arun Kumar Biswas; The Asiatic Society, Park Street, Calcutta-700016. Rs. 300.

HISTORY OF science is a neglected subject in our university curriculum, as the nourishment that the lives of pioneers in the field will give to young minds has not been visualised. The book under review fills this gap. Prof. A. K. Biswas took up, on his retirement from the I.I.T. Kanpur, in 1995, the stupendous task of writing the evolution of the science movement and the history of science in India.

What started (around 1869) as a science class at the residence of Dr. Mahendralal Sircar (1833-1904) every Sunday afternoon led to the birth of the Indian Association, for the Cultivation of Science (IACS). It is to be noted this was the forerunner of a chain of national laboratories in the country.

Mahendralal recorded his activities in diaries since 1873 and his son, Aritalal (1860-1919), continued the practice since 1884. The author has added extensive and critical notes with references in editing the diaries (1873-83, 1884-94 and 1896-99). Fascimiles from the diaries will give inspiration to institution-builders. In his research, he has drawn besides material from the Goethal's library of St. Xavier's College, Calcutta and the Belur Math Archives of the Ramakrishna Mission. He portrays vividly the life and struggle of Mahendralal, which includes the latter's interaction with Sri Ramakrishna.

Mahendralal was born on November 2, 1833, at Calcutta in a poor family. He studied in the Hare School which imbibed in him social and scientific spirit, as a result of the direct contact with two great educationists, David Have (1775-1842) and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891). He pursued his studies in the Medical College and became in 1863 the second M.D. in the Calcutta University.

Mahendralal acquired through self-study interest in Homeopathy: he was ostracised for practising it. Yet he found himself at the top of the medical profession with an unchallenged supremacy. His support for Homeopathy caused consternation amongst his friends; to propagate his point of view, he started the Calcutta Journal of Medicine in January 1868. He published in August 1869 a paper on the desirability of a National institution for the cultivation of the physical sciences.

After six years struggle for raising donations and winning the public mind, Mahendralal launched the IACS on January 15, 1876. The inaugural meeting was held on July 29 in an old building loaned by the government. The foundation stone of the new buildings was laid on March 13, 1822 by the Viceroy, Lord Ripon, who personally contributed Rs. 1,000; the inauguration ceremony took place on March 12, 1884, when Lord Ripon exhorted donors ``to come forward and oil the wheels of the chariot with a few rupees'' and hoped that ``with Father Lafont as our coachman as and Sircar to look after the passengers, there is no doubt we shall drive rapidly.''

Here is the galaxy of people who toiled to build up the IACS:

Father Eugene Lafont S.J. (1837-1908), Professor of Physics at the St. Xavier's College gave whole-hearted support to Mahendralal's movement and, in addition to his missionary duties, delivered popular lectures illustrated with experiments for 17 years (1876-93).

Jagadish Chandra Bose, besides his teaching at Presidency College, gave lectures at the IACS from 1886 to 1888. Ram Chandra Dutta took charge of the chemistry classes for 14 years from 1885 till his death in 1899.

The brilliant mathematician, Ashutosh Mookerjee, delivered lectures from 1887 till the end of 1890, on mathematical physics, theory of potential and hydrokinetics. He acknowledged his indebtedness to the IACS for the intellectual inspiration he got for his mathematical studies.

Pramatha Nath Bose (1855-1934), (a student of Fr. Lafont), who worked in the Geological Survey of India assisted in lectures on geology. He came to limelight through the discovery of the rich iron deposits of Gurumahisani, which led J.N. Tata to choose the site for his steel plant at Sakchi (now Jamshedpur).

The bulk of Mahendralal's lectures were scientific. Details of the dates and titles of the lectures delivered by him and Fr. Lafont are given at several places.

J.N. Tata proposed in October 1898 a princely donation - a part of his property, worth Rs. 30 lakhs, to start the Indian Institute of Science. Mahendralal welcomed Tata's scheme. He felt the pangs of agony and pathos at the same time, that his 30-year- old project (the Bengal scheme) had been overlooked by the Nation and the government. Quoting at the IACS meeting on April 27, 1899, a prophet of old, ``Now my weary lips I close; Leave me, leave me to repose.'' His aspiration was fulfilled 30 years later by C. V. Raman, who worked during 1917-32 at the IACS to become the first Indian scientist to win a Nobel Prize (1930) in physics.

R. PARTHASARATHY

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