Cultural Leaders Of India Scientists

Cultural Leaders of India - Scientists

THE object of the series is to offer the general reader authentic accounts of the life and work of the great figures since the earliest times who have contributed in large measure to the culture and thought of India and influenced the mind and life of its people. The series will include about 125 such names— seers and philosophers, poets and dramatists, mystics and religious leaders, writers on science, aestheticians and composers. Soon after the volume on the philosophical systems, we are able to bring out the volume on the writers of science in ancient India. The present volume is significant, especially in the present times, for drawing attention to the contributions of ancient India to the scientific and technical fields.

Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Series A.

Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Westen Cultures

The Encyclopaedia fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural stud ies. Reference works on other cultures tend either to omit science completely or pay little attention to it, and those on the history of science almost always start with the Greeks, with perhaps a mention of the Islamic world as a trans lator of Greek scientific works. The purpose of the Encyclopaedia is to bring together knowledge of many disparate fields in one place and to legitimize the study of other cultures' science. Our aim is not to claim the superiority of other cultures, but to engage in a mutual exchange of ideas. The Western aca demic divisions of science, technology, and medicine have been united in the Encyclopaedia because in ancient cultures these disciplines were connected. This work contributes to redressing the balance in the number of reference works devoted to the study of Western science, and encourages awareness of cultural diversity. The Encyclopaedia is the first compilation of this sort, and it is testimony both to the earlier Eurocentric view of academia as well as to the widened vision of today. There is nothing that crosses disciplinary and geographic boundaries, dealing with both scientific and philosophical issues, to the extent that this work does. xi PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Many years ago I taught African history at a secondary school in Central Africa.