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Indias Contribution to Science and TechnologyAdvancement in science and technology has been the sole major reason for thedevelopment of human civilization. India has been the land which has beencontinuously contributing to the fields of science and technology. Even today, what we term as traditional knowledge is actually based on very scientificbasics. Rather, such knowledge has led to more modern form of knowledge, therebysupplementing to present day know-how.PRE-INDEPENDENCE PERIODThe history of scientific discoveries and development in India dates back to the Vedicera. Aryabhatta, the famous mathematician of the Vedic era invented zero. It isbelieved that, ancient Indian scholars had developed geometric theorems beforePythagoras made them popular. The concept of squares, rectangles, circles, triangles,fractions, and the ability to express the number ten to the twelfth power, algebraicformulas, and astronomy have all their origins in Vedic literature; some are as early as1500 B.C. The decimal system was already in use during the Harappan civilization. Thisis evident in their use of weights and measures. Moreover, the concepts of astronomyand metaphysics are all described in the Rig Veda, an ancient Hindu text of the Vedicera. From complex Harappan towns to Delhis Iron Pillar, Indias indigenous technologieswere very sophisticated. They included the design and planning of water supply, trafficflow, natural air conditioning, complex stone work, and construction engineering. TheIndus Valley Civilization was the world's first to build planned towns with undergrounddrainage, civil sanitation, hydraulic engineering, and air-cooling architecture. While theother ancient civilizations of the world were small towns with one central complex, thiscivilization had the distinction of being spread across many towns, covering a regionabout half the size of Europe. Weights and linguistic symbols were standardized acrossthis vast geography, for a period of over 1000 years, from around 3000 BCE to 1500BCE.2

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Water ManagementWater has been a crucial factor in setting up of any civilization. Indians have beendeveloping water management techniques even before the Harappan time. Wells,ponds, lakes, dams, canals have been constructed with advancing technologies inwhatever time and dynasty we consider. The water has been used for storage, drinkingand irrigation purpose. It is estimated that even today, there are more than a millionman-made ponds and lakes in India. Iron and SteelRole of iron and steel have literally been pillars of modern civilization. Ancient Indiawas pioneer in developing technology of producing rust-free iron. Such metal from Indiawas famous in contemporary Europe for sword making. The famous Iron Pillar of Delhiis a testimony to that technology which is almost rust free even today. Farming Techniques and Fertilizers Indian farming technology was mostly indigenously developed and was ahead of itstime. It included soil testing technique, crop rotation methods, irrigation plans,application of eco-friendly pesticides and fertilizers, storage methods for crops, etc. PhysicsThe concept of atom can be traced to the Vedic times. The material world was dividedinto five elements namely, earth (Prithvi), fire (Agni), air (Vayu), water (Jal) and ether orspace (Aksha). Paramanu (beyond atom) was considered to be the smallest particle,which cannot be divided further. Dividing the same is producing nuclear energy today. Medicine and SurgeryAyurveda (Ayur means life, Veda means knowledge) is probably the oldest andstructured system of medical science in the world. Proper knowledge about variousailments, diseases, symptoms, diagnosis and cure is the basis of Ayurveda. Manyscholars like Charaka and Shushruta have been prominent in contributing moreknowledge into Ayurveda. 3

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Shipping and ShipbuildingShipbuilding was one of Indias major export industries till the British dismantled it andformally banned it. Medieval Arab sailors purchased their boats in India. ThePortuguese also continued to get their boats from India and not Europe. Some of theworld's largest and most sophisticated ships were built in India and China. The compass and other navigation tools were already in use in the Indian Ocean longbefore Europe. Using their expertise in the science of seafaring, Indians participated inthe earliest-known ocean-based trading system.POST-INDEPENDENCE PERIODIndia has witnessed considerable growth in the field of science and technology post-independence. The science and technology infrastructure has grown up from about Rs10 million at the time of independence in 1947 to the current Rs 30 billion. Significantachievements have been made in the areas of nuclear and space science, electronics anddefence. India has the third largest scientific and technical manpower in the world. Inthe field of Missile Launch Technology, India is among the top five nations of the world. Science and technology is now being brought into the mainstream of economicplanning, with the establishment of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) inMay 1971. DST today promotes new areas of science and technology and pays the roleof a nodal department for organising, coordinating, and promoting science andtechnology activities in the country. Our country's resources are used to get maximum output in the field of agriculture andindustry. Indian scientists are making path-breaking research in the field of agriculture,medicine, biotechnology, cold regions research, communications, environment,industry, mining, nuclear power, space, and transportation.Now India has expertise in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, liquid crystals,condensed matter physics, molecular biology, virology, and crystallography, softwaretechnology, nuclear power and defense research and development.4

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Atomic EnergyThe main objective of India's nuclear energy programme is to use it for powergeneration, applications in agriculture, medicine, industry, research and other areas. India is today recognised as one of the most advanced countries in nuclear technology.Accelerators and research and nuclear power reactors are now designed and builtindigenously. Currently, eight nuclear stations are producing eight billion kilowatt ofelectricity. SpaceIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the sixth largest space researchorganisation in the world. It has numerous milestones to its credit since itsestablishment in 1969. Indias first satellite Aryabhatta was built by ISRO in 1975. It wasfollowed by many more. In 2008, Chandrayaan-1 became Indias first mission to themoon. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), under the Department of Space (DOS),is responsible for research, development and operation in the space through satellitecommunications, remote sensing for resource survey, environmental monitoring,meteorological services, etc. India is the only Third World Country to develop its ownremote-sensing satellite. Electronics and Information TechnologyThe Department of Electronics plays the promotional role for the development and useof electronics for socio-economic development. Application of electronics in areas suchas agriculture, health, and service sectors has also been receiving special attention. Forupgrading the quality of indigenously manufactured products, a series of test anddevelopment centres and regional laboratories have been set up. These centres forelectronic design and technology help small and medium electronics units. InformationTechnology (IT) is one of the most important industries in the Indian economy. The ITindustry of India has registered huge growth in recent years. India's IT industry grewfrom 150 million US Dollars in 1990/91 to a whopping 50 billion UD Dollars in2006/07. In the last ten years, the IT industry in India has grown at an average annualrate of 30%.5

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OceanographyIndia has a coastline of more than 7600 km and 1250 islands. The Department of OceanDevelopment was established in 1981 to ensure optimum utilisation of living resources,exploitation of non-living resources such as hydrocarbons and minerals, and to produceocean energy. Two research vessels, ORV Sagar Kanya and FROV Sagar Sampada, areassessing and evaluating the resource potential. Survey and exploration efforts have been directed to assess sea bed topography, andconcentration and quality of mineral nodules. India has sent 13 scientific researchexpeditions to Antarctica since 1981, and has established a permanently manned base,Dakshin Gangotri. A second permanent station, an entirely indigenous effort, wascompleted by the eighth expedition. The objective is to study the ozone layer and otherimportant constituents, optical aurora, geomagnetic pulsation and related phenomena.A National Institute of Ocean Technology has been set up for the development of ocean-related technologies. BiotechnologyIndia has been the frontrunner among the developing countries in promoting multi-disciplinary activities in this area, recognising the practically unlimited possibility oftheir applications in increasing agricultural and industrial production, and in improvinghuman and animal life. The National Biotechnology Board was constituted in 1982. ADepartment of Biotechnology was created in 1986. The areas which have been receivingattention are cattle herd improvement through embryo transfer technology, in vitropropagation of disease-resistant plant varieties for obtaining higher yields, anddevelopment of vaccines for various diseases. Council of Scientific and Industrial ResearchThe Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was established in 1942, and istoday the premier institution for scientific and industrial research. It has a network of40 laboratories, two cooperative industrial research institutions and more than 100extension and field centres. It plays a leading role in the fulfilment of the technologymissions evolved by the Government.XXX6

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Nobel Laureates of IndiaSir Ronald RossRonald Ross was born in India in 1857 at Almora district inUttarakhand. His father was a general in the British Army inIndia. Ross lived in India until he was eight. He was sent to aboarding school in England. He later studied medicine from StBartholomew Hospital in London. When Ross was a small boy, he saw many people in India fall ill with malaria. At least amillion people would die of malaria due to lack of proper medication. While Ross was inIndia his father fell seriously ill with malaria, but fortunately recovered. This deadlydisease left an impression in his mind. When Ross returned to India as part of theBritish-Indian medical services he was sent to Madras where a large part of his workwas treating malaria patients in the army. Ronald Ross proved in 1897 the long-suspected link between mosquitoes and malaria.In doing so he confirmed the hypotheses previously put forward independently byscientists Alphonse Laveran and Sir Patrick. Till that time it was believed that malaria was caused by breathing in bad air and livingin a hot, humid and marshy environment. Ross studied malaria between 1882 and 1899. While posted in Ooty, he fell ill with malaria. After this, he was transferred to themedical school in Osmania University, Secunderabad. He discovered the presence of themalarial parasite within a specific species of mosquito, of the genus Anopheles. Heinitially called them dapple-wings. Ross made his crucial discovery while dissecting the stomach of a mosquito fed on theblood a malaria victim. He found the previously observed parasite. Through furtherstudy, he established the complete life cycle of this parasite. He contributed majorly tothe epidemiology of malaria and brought a method to its survey and assessment. Mostimportantly he made mathematical models for further study. 7

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In 1902, Ross was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his remarkable work onmalaria and was conferred Knighthood as mark of his great contribution to the world ofmedicine. In 1926, he became Director of the Ross Institute and Hospital for TropicalDiseases in London, which was founded in his honour. Ross dedicatedly advocated thecause and prevention of malaria in different countries by conducting surveys andinitiating schemes in many places, including West Africa, Greece, Mauritius, Sri Lanka,Cyprus and many areas affected by the First World War.In India Ross is remembered with great respect and love. There are roads named afterhim in many Indian towns and cities. The regional infectious disease hospital atHyderabad was named after him as Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical andCommunicable Diseases in recognition of his service. The building where he worked andactually discovered the malarial parasite, located in Secunderabad near theold Begumpet airport, is a heritage site and the road leading up to the building is namedSir Ronald Ross Road. Sir C V RamanChandrasekhara Venkata Raman was born on November 7, 1888 atTiruchhirapalli, Tamil Nadu. His father, Chandrasekhara Iyer, was aLecturer in Physics, in a local college. His mother Parvathi was ahousewife. He passed his matriculation when he was twelve years ofage. He joined the Presidency College, Madras. He passed his BA andMA examinations with high distinction. He had a deep interest inphysics. While doing his MA, Raman wrote an article on the subject of Physics and he sent it tothe Philosophical Magazine and Nature, the science magazine of England. On readingthis article, many eminent scientists in London noted the talent of this young Indian.Raman wanted to compete for the ICS examination. But to write that examination, onehad to go to London. As he was poor and could not afford it, he took the Indian FinancialService examination, conducted in India. He was selected and posted to Rangoon, Burma(now Myanmar), which was then a part of British India. 8

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Later, while working in Kolkata, he associated himself with an Institute called IndianAssociation for the Cultivation of Science, which was the only research institution inthose days. While working there, his research work came to the notice of the ViceChancellor of Calcutta University. The Vice Chancellor appointed him as Professor ofPhysics in Calcutta University. Sir Raman was in a good position in the financial service.He sacrificed his profession and joined the academic career. When he was working as aProfessor he got an invitation from England to attend a science conference.As the ship was sailing through the Mediterranean Sea, Roman got a doubt, as to whythe waters of the sea are looking blue. This doubt initiated his research on light. Hefound out by experiment that the sea looks blue because of the Scattering Effect of theSunlight. This discovery is called the Raman Effect. A question that was puzzling to somany other scientists was easily solved by him. His pioneering work helped him becomea member of Royal Society of London in 1924. He was awarded with knighthood by theBritish Empire in 1929. This discovery also got Sir Raman the Nobel Prize for Physicsfor the year 1930. He became the first Indian scientist to receive the Nobel Prize. Raman discovered the Raman Effect on February 28, 1928 and this day is observed asthe National Science Day in India. In 1933, he joined the Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore, as Director. Later he quit the post of director and continued to work only inthe Physics department. The University of Cambridge offered him a Professors job,which Sir C V Raman declined stating that he is an Indian and wants to serve in his owncountry. Dr Homi Bhaba and Dr Vikram Sarabhai were the students of Sri C V Raman.Sir C V Raman breathed his last on November 21, 1970.Subramanyan ChandrasekharSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was born on October 19, 1910 inLahore. His father, Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya Iyar was an officerin Indian Audits and Accounts Department. His mother Sitalakshmiwas a woman of high intellectual attainments. Sir C V Raman, thefirst Indian to get Nobel Prize in science, was his paternal uncle. Tillthe age of 12, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar had his education athome under his parents and private tutors. In 1922, at the age of 12, he attended the9

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Hindu High School. He joined the Madras Presidency College in 1925. SubrahmanyanChandrashekhar passed his Bachelor's degree, BSc (Hon), in Physics in June 1930. InJuly 1930, he was awarded a Government of India scholarship for graduate studies inCambridge, England.Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar completed his PhD degree at Cambridge in the summerof 1933. In October 1933, Chandrasekhar was elected to a Prize Fellowship at TrinityCollege for the period 1933-37. In 1936, while on a short visit to Harvard University,Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was offered a position as a Research Associate at theUniversity of Chicago and remained there ever since. In September 1936,Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar married Lomita Doraiswamy. She was his junior at thePresidency College in Madras.Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar is best known for his discovery of Chandrasekhar Limit.He showed that there is a maximum mass which can be supported against gravity bypressure made up of electrons and atomic nuclei. The value of this limit is about 1.44times a solar mass. The Chandrasekhar Limit plays a crucial role in understanding thestellar evolution. If the mass of a star exceeded this limit, the star would not become awhite dwarf. It would continue to collapse under the extreme pressure of gravitationalforces. The formulation of the Chandrasekhar Limit led to the discovery of neutron starsand black holes. Depending on the mass there are three possible final stages of a star -white dwarf, neutron star and black hole.Apart from discovery of Chandrasekhar Limit, major work done by SubrahmanyanChandrasekhar includes: theory of Brownian motion (1938-1943); theory of theillumination and the polarization of the sunlit sky (1943-1950); the equilibrium and thestability of ellipsoidal figures of equilibrium, partly in collaboration with Norman RLebovitz (1961-1968); the general theory of relativity and relativistic astrophysics(1962-1971); and the mathematical theory of black holes (1974- 1983).Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was awarded (jointly with the nuclear astrophysicist WA Fowler) the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983. He died on August 21, 1995.10

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Dr Har Govind KhuranaDr Har Govind Khurana was born on January 9, 1922 in asmall village called Raipur in Punjab (now in Pakistan) andwas the youngest of five siblings. His father was a patwari, anagricultural taxation clerk in British India. Khurana had his preliminary schooling at home. Later he joined the DAV High MultanHigh School. He graduated in Science from Punjab University, Lahore, in 1943 and wenton to acquire his Masters degree in Science in 1945. He joined the University ofLiverpool for his doctoral work and got his Doctorate in 1948. He did postdoctoral workat Switzerlands Federal Institute of Technology, where he met his Swiss wife ElizabethSibler. Later he took up a job at the British Columbia Research Council in Vancouver andcontinued his pioneering work on proteins and nucleic acids.Khurana joined the University of Wisconsin in 1960, and 10 years later joinedMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).Dr Khurana received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 along with M WNienberg and R W Holley for the interpretation of the genetic code, its function andprotein synthesis. Till his death, he was the Alfred P Sloan Professor of Biology andChemistry emeritus at MIT. The Government of India honored him with PadmaVibhushan in 1969. He won numerous other prestigious awards, including the Albert Lasker award formedical research, National Medal of Science and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. But heremained modest throughout his life and stayed away from the glare of publicity.In a note after winning the Nobel Prize, Dr Khurana wrote: Although poor, my fatherwas dedicated to educating his children and we were practically the only literate familyin the village inhabited by about 100 people. Following his fathers footsteps, DrKhurana imparted education to thousands of students for more than half a century. Hewas more interested in the next project and experiments than cashing in on his fame. Hewas born in a poor family in a small village in Punjab, and by dint of sheer talent andtenacity rose to be one of science's immortals.11

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Dr Har Govind Khurana died in a hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, on November 9,1911. Venkataraman Ramakrishnan Venkataraman Ramakrishnan was born in Chidambaram, a smalltown in Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu in 1952. His parents C VRamakrishnan and Rajlakshmi were lecturers of biochemistry atMaharaj Sayajirao University in Baroda, Gujarat.Venky, as he is popularly known, did his schooling from the Covent of Jesus and Marryin Baroda. He migrated to America to do his higher studies in physics. He then changedhis field to biology at the University of California. He moved to MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. It was there he crackedthe complex functions and structures of Ribosome, which fetched him Nobel Prize forChemistry in 2009, along with Thomas E Steitz and Ada E Yonath. He became the fourthscientist of Indian origin to win a Nobel Prize after Sir C V Raman, Har Gobind Khuranaand Subramanyan Chandrasekhar. Venkataraman Ramakrishnan began his career as a postdoctoral fellow with PeterMoore at Yale University, where he worked on ribosome. After completing this research,he applied to nearly 50 universities in the US for a faculty position. But he wasunsuccessful. As a result of this, Venkataraman continued to work on ribosomes from1983 to 1995 in Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1995, he got an offer from University of Utah to work as a professor of Biochemistry.He worked here for almost four years and then moved to England where he startedworking in Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Here, he began adetailed research on ribosomes.In 1999, along with his fellow mates, he published a 5.5 angstrom resolution structureof 30s subunit of ribosome. In the subsequent year, Venkataraman submitted acomplete structure of 30s subunit of ribosome and it created a sensation in structuralbiology. 12

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Venkataraman earned a fellowship from the Trinity College, Cambridge and the RoyalSociety. He is also an honorary member of the US National Academy of Sciences. In2007, he was awarded with the Louis-Jeantet Prize for his contribution to Medicine. In2008, he was presented with Heatley Medal of British Biochemistry Society.For his contribution to Science, he was conferred with India's second highest civilianaward, the Padma Vibhushan in 2010. XXX13

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Inspiring Lives and Their Contributions1. SushrutaAn ancient Indian surgeon dating back to almost 2500 yearsago, Sushruta made numerous contributions to the field ofsurgery. Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Heauthored the book Sushruta Samhita in which he describedover 300 surgical procedures, 120 surgical instruments andclassified human surgery in eight categories. He lived, taughtand practised his art on the banks of the Ganges which can now be called Varanasi inNorth India. Some of his contributions include surgical demonstration of techniques of makingincisions, probing, extraction of foreign bodies, alkali and thermal cauterization, toothextraction, excisions, etc. He also described removal of the prostate gland, urethral,hernia surgery, caesarian section. He classified details of the six types of dislocations,twelve varieties of fractures and classification of the bones and their reaction to theinjuries. He has written about 76 signs of various eye diseases, symptoms, prognosis,medical/surgical interventions and cataract surgery. There is also description ofmethod of stitching the intestines by using ant-heads as stitching material. He evenintroduced wine to minimize the pain of surgical incisions. Sushruta details about 650 drugs of animal, plant, and mineral origin. Other chapters inSushruta Samhita put emphasis on the well-being of children and expectant mothers.Sushruta has also detailed about symptoms of poisoning, first-aid measures, and long-term treatment, as well as classification of poisons and methods of poisoning. TheSushruta Samhita was translated into Arabic and later into Persian. These translationshelped to spread the science of Ayurveda far beyond India.14

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2. Bhaskara IIBhaskara II, also known as Bhaskaracharya, was born in1114 ADnear Vijjadavida or the modern-day Bijapur in the state ofKarnataka. Born to a family of scholars, he learnt mathematicsfrom his astrologer father Mahesvara. A leading mathematicianof 12th century, he wrote his first work on the systematic use ofthe decimal number system. He also headed the astronomicalobservatory at Ujjain, the leading mathematical centre of ancient India. His main work Siddhanta Sjhiromani, which has four parts, namely Lilavati, BijaganitaGrahaganita and Goladhaya and deals with arithmetic, algebra, mathematics of theplanets, and spheres, respectively. Bhaskara is particularly known for the discovery ofthe principles of differential calculus and its application to astronomical problems andcomputations. While Newton and Leibniz have been credited with differential andintegral calculus, there is strong evidence to suggest that Bhaskara was a pioneer insome of the principles of differential calculus. He was perhaps the first to conceive thedifferential coefficient and differential calculus.He conceived the modern mathematical finding that when a finite number is divided byzero, the result is infinity. He also accurately defined many astronomical quantitiesusing models developed by 7th century scholar Brahmagupta. For example, he calculatedthat the time that is required for the Earth to orbit the Sun, is 365.2588 days. Themodern accepted measurement is 365.2563 days, a difference of just 3.5 minutes.Bhaskara wrote Karanakuthuhala, a book on astronomical calculations, which is stillreferred in making precise calendars. Bhaskara II was also a noted astrologer, andtradition has it that he named his first work, Lilavati after his famous mathematiciandaughter.15

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3. Aryabhatta Aryabhatta is the earliest known mathematician-astronomer ofIndia. The birth place of Aryabhatta who lived between circa 476-550 AD is still a mystery. While many believed he was born inPatliputra in Magadha, the modern-day Patna in the state of Bihar,some others are of the view that he was born in Kerala and lived inMagadha at the time of the Gupta rulers. His most famous work, Aryabhattiya is a detailed text on mathematics and astronomy.The mathematical part of the Aryabhatiya covers arithmetic, algebra and trigonometry.It also contains continued fractions, quadratic equations, sums of power series and atable of sines. Aryabhatta was believed to have authored at least three astronomicaltexts and wrote some free stanzas as well. Aryabhatta was a genius and all his theoriescontinue to surprise many mathematicians of the present age. The Greeks and the Arabsdeveloped some of his works to suit their present demands. He wrote that if 4 is added to 100 and then multiplied by 8 then added to 62,000 thendivided by 20,000 the answer will be equal to the circumference of a circle of diametertwenty thousand. This calculates to 3.1416 close to the actual value Pi (3.14159). Hewas also the one who created the formula (a + b)2 = a2 + b2+ 2ab. His other work Arya-siddhanta deals with astronomical calculation and is evidentthrough the writings of Aryabhata's contemporary, Varahamihira and latermathematicians and commentators, including Brahmagupta and Bhaskara I. It containsdescription of several astronomical instruments like gnomon (shanku-yantra), a shadowinstrument (chhaya yantra), possibly angle-measuring devices, semicircular andcircular (dhanur-yantra / chakra-yantra), a cylindrical stick yasti-yantra, an umbrella-shaped device called the chhatra-yantra, and water clocks of at least two types, bow-shaped and cylindrical.Aryabhatta was aware that the earth rotates on its axis. The earth rotates round the sunand the moon moves round the earth. He discovered the positions of the nine planetsand related them to their rotation round the sun. He also knew about the eclipse of thesun, moon, day and night, earth contours and the 365 days of the year as the exactlength of the year. Aryabhatta also revealed that the circumference of the earth is16

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24,835 miles. The modern-day scientific calculation says it is 24,900 miles. Solar andlunar eclipses were also scientifically explained by Aryabhatta. Indias first satellite Aryabhatta was named in his honour. 4. Jagadish Chandra BoseJagdish Chandra Bose was born on November 30, 1858 inMymensingh (now in Bangladesh). His father BhagabanchandraBose was a Deputy Magistrate. Bose received early education in avillage vernacular school. He was sent to Kolkata at the age of 11to learn English and was educated at St Xaviers School andCollege. He was a brilliant student. He passed BA in PhysicalSciences in 1879.In 1880, Bose went to England. He studied medicine at London University for a year butgave it up because of his own ill health. Within a year, he moved to Cambridge to take upa scholarship to study Natural Science at Christs College, Cambridge. In 1885, hereturned from abroad with a BSc degree and Natural Science Tripos (a special course ofstudy at Cambridge).After his return, he got a lecturers job at Presidency College, Kolkata with a salary halfthat of his English colleagues. He accepted the job but refused to draw his salary inprotest. After three years the college ultimately conceded his demand and JagdishChandra Bose was paid full salary from the date he joined the college. As a teacher,Jagdish Chandra Bose was very popular and engaged the interest of his students bymaking extensive use of scientific demonstrations. Many of his students at thePresidency College later became famous in their own right and these includedSatyendra Nath Bose and Meghnad Saha.In 1894, Jagadish Chandra Bose decided to devote himself to pure research. Heconverted a small enclosure adjoining a bathroom in the Presidency College into alaboratory. He carried out experiments involving refraction, diffraction andpolarization. It would not be wrong to call him as the inventor of wireless telegraphy. In17

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1895, a year before Guglielmo Marconi patented this invention; he had demonstrated itsfunctioning in public.Jagdish Chandra Bose later switched from physics to the study of metals and thenplants. He was the first to prove that plants too have feelings. He invented an instrumentto record the pulse of plants. Although Jagdish Chandra Bose did invaluable work in Science, his work was recognizedin the country only when the Western world recognized its importance. He founded theBose Institute at Calcutta, devoted mainly to the study of plants. Today, the Institutecarries research on other fields too. Jagdish Chandra Bose died on November 23, 1937.5. Acharya Prafulla Chandra RayAcharya Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on 2 August, 1861 inKhulna district in present-day Bangladesh. His father HarishChandra Ray was a land proprietor. Up to the age of nine, PrafullaChandra studied in a school in his village. In 1870 his familymigrated to Calcutta and Ray and his elder brother were admittedto Hare School. When in the fourth standard, he suffered from asevere attack of dysentery and had to postpone his studies for a couple of years andreturn to his ancestral home in the village. However, he utilized this time in readingliterature. A pioneer of chemical research in India, Prafulla Chandra Ray joined the PresidencyCollege as a lecturer in chemistry in 1889 after completing higher education at theEdinburgh University. With the help of a renowned French chemist, Berthelot, he didcommendable research work in Ayurveda. His work History of Hindu Chemistry waspublished in 1902. In 1892, he founded Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Works,Indias first pharmaceutical company, which progressed phenomenally under hisguidance. He attended several international science congresses and seminars as a18

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representative of Indian universities. In 1920, he was elected President of IndianScience Congress.Prafulla Chandra Rays ultimate aim was to make use of the wonders of science for theuplift of the masses. He wrote several articles on science, which were published inleading journals of the time. Also an ardent social worker, he was actively involved infamine relief work in 1922 in north Bengal. He advocated the use of khaadi and startedseveral cottage industries. A firm believer in rationalism, he condemned the decadentsocial customs such as untouchability. He continued with his constructive social-reformwork till his death. 6. Birbal SahniThe renowned paleobotanist, Birbal Sahni, was born onNovember 14, 1891 in Shahpur District, now in Pakistan. Hewas the third son of Ishwari Devi and Lala Ruchi Ram Sahani.He studied from the Government College, Lahore and PunjabUniversity. He graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridgein 1914. After completion of his education, Birbal Sahni came back to India and worked asProfessor of Botany at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and Punjab University forabout a year. In 1920, he married Savitri Suri, who took an interest in his work and wasa constant companion. He studied the fossils of the Indian subcontinent. He was the founder of Birbal SahniInstitute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow. Palaeobotany is a subject that requires theknowledge of both botany and geology. Birbal Sahni was the first botanist to studyextensively about the flora of Indian Gondwana region. Sahni also explored the RajMahal hills in Bihar, which is a treasure house of fossils of ancient plants. Here hediscovered some new genus of plants.Birbal Sahni was not only botanist but also geologist. By using simple instruments andhis huge knowledge of ancient plants, he estimated the age of some old rocks. Heshowed to the people that the age of the salt range, now in Pakistan Punjab, is 40 to 6019

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million years old. He found that the Deccan Traps in Madhya Pradesh were of thetertiary period, about 62 million years old. Besides, Sahni took a keen interest inarchaeology. One of his investigations led to the discovery of coin moulds in Rohtak in1936. For his studies on the technique of casting coins in ancient India he was awardedthe Nelson Wright Medal of the Numismatic Society of India.Being a teacher, Sahni first raised the standard of teaching at the Department of Botany.The Institute of Palaeobotany is the first of its kind in the world. Sahni died on the nightof April 10, 1949 within less than a week of the foundation stone laying ceremony of hisinstitute. His wife completed the task he had left undone. The institute is today knownas the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany.7. P C MahalanobisA well-known Indian statistician and scientist, Mahalanobis isgreatly popular for introducing new methods of sampling.Mahalanobis is remembered by Indians as an Indian scientist andas an applied statistician. His most significant contribution in thefield of statistics was the Mahalanobis Distance. Besides these hehad also made pioneering studies in the field of anthropometryand had founded the Indian Statistical Institute.Originally the family of Mahalanobis belonged to Bikrampur in Bangladesh. As a child,Mahalanobis grew up in an environment surrounded by socially active reformers andintellectuals. He had his initial education from Brahmo Boys School in Calcutta. Then heenrolled himself into Presidency College and got a BSc degree with specialization inPhysics. In the year 1913, Mahalanobis left for England for further studies and came incontact with S Ramanujan, the famous mathematician from India. After completion ofhis studies, he returned to India and was invited by the Principal of Presidency Collegeto take classes in Physics. Soon he was introduced to the importance of statistics andrealised that it was very useful in solving problems related to meteorology andanthropology. Many of his colleagues took interest in Statistics and as a result in hisroom in the Presidency College a small statistical laboratory grew up where scholarslike Pramatha Nath Banerji, Nikhil Ranjan Sen, and Sir R N Mukherji actively20

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participated in all discussions. The meetings and discussions led to the formalestablishment of the Indian Statistical Institute and were formally registered on April28, 1932. Initially the Institute was in the Physics Department of Presidency College, butlater with passing time the institute expanded.The most important contributions of Mahalanobis are related to large-scale samplesurveys. He had pioneered the concept of pilot surveys and sampling methods. He alsointroduced a method of measuring crop yields. In the later stage of his life, Mahalanobisbecame a member of the Planning Commission of India. During his tenure as a memberof the Planning Commission of India, he significantly contributed to the five-year plansof India.The Mahalanobis Model was implemented in the second five-year plan of India and itassisted in the rapid industrialization of the country and he had also corrected some ofthe errors of the census methodology in India. Besides statistics, Mahalanobis also had acultural bent of mind. He had worked as a secretary to Rabindranath Tagoreparticularly during the foreign visits of the great poet and also worked in the VishwaBharati University. Mahalanobis was honoured with the second highest civilian awardof the country, Padma Vibhushan, for his immense contribution to the field of science.Mahalanobis died on June 28, 1972 at the age 78. Even at such a ripe age he participatedin his research work and discharged all his duties perfectly. In year 2006, Governmentof India declared June 29, the birthday of Mahalanobis, as the National Statistical Day.8. Meghnad SahaMeghnad Saha was born on the 6 October, 1893 in a village nearDhaka in Bangladesh. His father Jagannath Saha had a groceryshop in the village. His familys financial condition was very bad.He studied in the village primary school while attending thefamily shop during free time. He got admitted into a middleschool which was seven miles away from his village. He startedstaying in a doctors house near the school and had to work in that house to meet thecost of living. He ranked first in the Dhaka middle school test and got admitted intoDhaka Collegiate School. 21

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He graduated from Presidency College with Mathematics major and got the second rankin the University of Calcutta whereas the first one was taken by Satyendra Nath Bose,another great scientist of India. In 1915, both S N Bose and Meghnad ranked first in MScexam, Meghnad in Applied Mathematics and Bose in Pure Mathematics. Meghnaddecided to do research in Physics and Applied Mathematics. While in college, he gotinvolved with the freedom struggle and came in contact with great leaders of his timelike Subhash Chandra Bose and Bagha Jatin. Meghnad Saha made remarkable contribution to the field of Astrophysics. He wentabroad and stayed for two years in London and Germany. In 1927, Meghnad Saha waselected as a fellow of Londons Royal Society.Saha got interested in Nuclear Physics. In 1947, he established Institute of NuclearPhysics which later was named after him as Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. Otherthan being a scientist, he was also elected as the Member of Parliament. Besides, Sahaswork relating to reform of Indian calendar was very significant. He was the Chairman ofthe Calendar Reform Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1952. It wasSaha's effort which led to the formation of the Committee. The task before theCommittee was to prepare an accurate calendar based on scientific study, which couldbe adopted uniformly throughout India. It was a mammoth task, but he did itsuccessfully.9. Satyendra Nath BoseSatyendra Nath Bose has been in the news of late in connectionwith the discovery of Higgs boson or popularly called the GodParticle. Satyendra Nath Bose was an outstanding Indianphysicist. He is known for his work in Quantum Physics. He isfamous for the Bose-Einstein Theory and a kind of particle inatom has been named after his name as Boson.Satyendranath Bose was born on January 1, 1894 in Kolkata. His father SurendranathBose was employed in the Engineering Department of the East India Railway.Satyendranath was the eldest of his seven children.22

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Satyendra Nath Bose did his schooling from Hindu High School in Kolkata. He was abrilliant student and did his college from the Presidency College, Kolkata withMathematics as his major. He topped the university in BSc and MSc. In 1916, the Calcutta University started MSc classes in Modern Mathematics andModern Physics. S N Bose started his career in 1916 as a Lecturer in Physics in CalcuttaUniversity. He served here from 1916 to 1921. He joined the newly established DhakaUniversity in 1921 as a Reader in the Department of Physics. In 1924, Satyendra NathBose published an article titled Max Plancks Law and Light Quantum Hypothesis. Thisarticle was sent to Albert Einstein. Einstein appreciated it so much that he himselftranslated it into German and sent it for publication to a famous periodical in Germany Zeitschrift fur Physik. The hypothesis received great attention and was highlyappreciated by the scientists. It became famous to the scientists as Bose-EinsteinTheory.In 1926, Satyendra Nath Bose became a Professor of Physics in Dhaka University.Though he had not completed his doctorate till then, he was appointed as Professor onEinsteins recommendation. In 1929, Satyendranath Bose was elected Chairman of thePhysics of the Indian Science Congress and in 1944 elected full chairman of theCongress. In 1945, he was appointed as Khaira Professor of Physics in CalcuttaUniversity. He retired from Calcutta University in 1956. The University honored him onhis retirement by appointing him as Emeritus Professor. Later he became the ViceChancellor of the Viswabharati University. In 1958, he was made a Fellow of the RoyalSociety, London.Satyendra Nath Bose was honored with Padma Bhushan by the Government of India inrecognition of his outstanding achievements. He died in Kolkata on February 4, 1974.10. Dr. Salim Ali Dr Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali or Dr Salim Ali is synonymous withbirds. The famous ornithologist-naturalist was born on November12, 1896 in Mumbai. He is also known as the birdman of India. Hepioneered a systematic survey on birds in India. His research work23

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has shaped the course of ornithology in India to a great extent. A great visionary, he made birds a serious pursuit when it used to be a mere fun formany. Orphaned at a very young age, Salim Ali was brought up by his maternal uncle,Amiruddin Tyabji who introduced him to nature. As a 10-year-old, Salim once noticed a flying bird and shot it down. Tender at heart, heinstantly ran and picked it up. It appeared like a house sparrow, but had a strangeyellowish shade on the throat. Curious, he showed the sparrow to his uncle and wantedto know more about the bird. Unable to answer, his uncle took him to W S Millard, theHonorary Secretary of the Bomaby Natural History Society (BNHS). Amazed at theunusual interest of the young boy, Millard took him to see many stuffed birds. WhenSalim finally saw a bird similar to the childs bird, he got very excited. After that, theyoung Salim started visiting the place frequently.Ali failed to get an ornithologist's position at the Zoological Survey of India due to lackof a proper university degree. (He was a college dropout.) He, however, decided to studyfurther after he was hired as guide lecturer in 1926 at the newly opened natural historysection in the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai. He went on study leave in 1928 toGermany, where he trained under Professor Erwin Stresemann at the ZoologicalMuseum of Berlin University. On his return to India in 1930, he discovered that theguide lecturer position had been eliminated due to lack of funds. Unable to find asuitable job, Salim Ali and his wife Tehmina moved to Kihim, a coastal village nearMumbai, where he began making his first observations of the Baya or the Weaver bird.The publication of his findings on the bird in 1930 brought him recognition in the fieldof ornithology.Salim Ali was very influential in ensuring the survival of the BNHS and managed to savethe 200-year old institution by writing to the then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru forfinancial help.Dr Alis influence helped save the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and the Silent ValleyNational Park. In 1990, the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History(SACON) was established at Anaikatty, Coimbatore, aided by the Ministry of24

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Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. He was honoured with a PadmaVibhushan in I983. He died at the age of 90, on June 20, 1987. 11. Panchanan Maheshwari Born in November 1904 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, PanchananMaheshwari is a famous biologist. During his college days, hewas inspired by Dr W Dudgeon, an American missionaryteacher. Maheshwari invented the technique of test-tube fertilisation of angiosperms. Till thenno one thought that flowering plants could be fertilised in test-tubes. Maheshwaristechnique immediately opened up new avenues in plant embryology and hasapplications in economic and applied botany. Cross-breeding of many floweringplants which cannot crossbreed naturally can be done now. The technique is proving tobe of immense help to plant breeders. His teacher once expressed that if his studentprogresses ahead of him, it will give him a great satisfaction. These words encouragedPanchanan to enquire what he could do for his teacher in return. Dudgeon replied thatdo for your students what I have done for you. Meticulously following his teacher'sadvice, he did train a host of talented students. He pursued his postgraduate universityeducation in Botany at Allahabad University.He went on to establish the Department of Botany at University of Delhi as an importantcenter of research in embryology and tissue culture. The department was recognised byUniversity Grants Commission as Centre of Advanced Study in Botany.Maheshwari was assisted by his wife in preparation of slides in addition to herhousehold duties. Way back in 1950 he talked of contacts between embryology,physiology and genetics. He also emphasized the need of initiation of work on artificialculture of immature embryos. These days tissue culture has become a landmark inscience. His work on test tube fertilisation and intra- ovarian pollination wonworldwide acclaim. He also founded an international research journal Phytomorphologyand a popular magazine The Botanica in 1950. He was honoured with fellowship ofRoyal Society of London (FRS), Indian National Science Academy and several other25

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institutions of excellence. He also wrote books for schools to improve the standard ofteaching life sciences. In 1951, he founded the International Society of PlantMorphologists. Till his death in May 1966, he was editing his journal Phytomorphology. 12. Dr. B. P. PalDr B P Pal, the famous agricultural scientist, was born in Punjabon May 26, 1906. His family later moved to Burma or thecurrent Myanmar, then a British colony, to work as a MedicalOfficer. Dr Pal studied at St Michaels School in Maymyo, Burma.Apart from being a brilliant student, Pal also was fond ofgardening and painting. In 1929 Dr Pal qualified for the Masters degree in Botany at Rangoon University wherehe also won the Matthew Hunter Prize for topping among all science streams in theUniversity. He was awarded a scholarship which permitted him to pursue his post-graduate education at Cambridge. Dr Pal worked with Sir Frank Engledow on hybridvigour in wheat at the coveted Plant Breeding Institute. This provided the basis for thedesign of the Green Revolution, essentially based on the commercial exploitation ofwheat hybrids.In March 1933, Dr Pal was appointed Assistant Rice Research Officer in the BurmeseDepartment of Agriculture. In October the same year, he moved to Pusa, Bihar, tobecome the Second Economic Botanist at the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute,which was renamed the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in 1947. IARI wasearlier located in Pusa, Bihar, but after a severe earthquake damaged its main building,the Institute was shifted to New Delhi in 1936. Dr Pal was the first Indian Director of theIARI in New Delhi at its campus, which was named Pusa in 1950. He continued to servein that capacity until May 1965, when he became the first Director-General of the IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research (ICAR). He held this position from May 1965 to January1972, during which period the Green Revolution was launched with outstandingsuccess.Dr Pals major contribution to the scientific aspects of the Green Revolution was in thearea of wheat genetics and breeding. He observed that rust disease was largely26

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responsible for low yields of wheat and, therefore, developed a systematic breedingmethod to develop varieties with resistance to rust disease. Then India was reelingunder a severe food crisis and was known in the world as a country of starving people.Dr Pal was instrumental in changing Indias global image and it soon became anexporter of food.Dr Pal was also a rose breeder of distinction and created several varieties. He wasfounder President of the Rose Society and Bougainvillea Society. He also founded theIndian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding and edited the Indian Journal of Geneticsand Plant Breeding for 25 years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1972and received numerous awards including the Padma Vibhushan.13. Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1909-1966) Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the main architect of India Atomic EnergyProgramme, was born into a rich Parsi family on October 30, 1909 inMumbai. He received his early education at Mumbais CathedralGrammar School and did his college from Elphinstone College. Hewent to the Cambridge University, forced by his father and his uncleDorabji Tata, who wanted him to get a degree in mechanicalengineering so that on his return to India he can join the Tata Mills in Jamshedpur as ametallurgist. Bhabhas illustrious family background had a long tradition of learning and service tothe country. The family, both on his fathers and his mothers side was close to the houseof Tatas, who had pioneered projects in the fields of metallurgy, power generation, andscience and engineering education, in the early part of the Twentieth century. Thefamily was imbued with a strong nationalistic spirit, under the influence of MahatmaGandhi and the Nehru family. The family also had cultivated interests in the fine arts -particularly Western classical music and painting - that aroused Bhabhas aestheticsensibilities, and remained as a dominant influence in all the creative work heundertook during his life time. Bhabha, after completion of his engineering, switched over to Physics. During the period1930-1939, Bhabha carried out outstanding original research relating to cosmicradiation. This earned for him a Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1940, at the young27

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age of 31. Bhabha returned to India in 1939, and had to stay back on account of theoutbreak of the Second World War. He elected to work at the Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore, where Sir C V Raman, Indias first Nobel laureate in Science, was at the timeHead of the Department of Physics. Initially appointed as a Reader, Bhabha was soondesignated as Professor of Cosmic Ray Research. Bhabhas leadership of the atomic energy programme spanned 22 years, from 1944 till1966. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was formally inaugurated inDecember 1945 in Kenilworth building, which was Bhabhas ancestral home. InJanuary 1966, Bhabha died in a plane crash near Mont Blanc while heading to Viena,Austria, to attend a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency. 14. Vikram Ambalal SarabhaiFondly referred to as the Father of the Indian space programme,Vikram Sarabhi was born in Ahmedabad on August 12, 1919 to anaffluent family. It was his early years at a private school thatshaped his scientific bent of mind. After studying at the GujaratCollege in his home town, in 1937, he left for England to studyPhysics at St Johns College, Cambridge. There, Sarabhai earnedan undergraduate tripods degree. That was the year 1940 and the world was fightingthe Second World War. So, Sarabhai returned to India and became a research scholar atthe Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore where he studied the effects of cosmic rays. It was at Bangalore, under the direct guidance of Nobel laureate, Dr C V Raman, that hestarted setting up observatories in Bangalore, Pune and the Himalayas. Soon after thewar was over, he returned to the UK for a little while. Sarabhai received a PhD fromCambridge University for his path-breaking work.His real work began in 1947 along with meteorologist, K R Ramanathan, who helpedhim establish the Physical Research Laboratory. Initially, it consisted of rooms at theScience Institute of the Ahmedabad Education Society. Analysing and studying cosmicrays and atmospheric physics, the scientists set up two dedicated teams at the site.Sarabhais team realised that evaluating the weather was not enough to comprehendvariations in the cosmic rays; they had to relate it to variations in solar activity. This ledthem to pioneer solar physics. 28

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With such a big breakthrough in hand, Sarabhai soon received financial support fromthe Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Department of AtomicEnergy. And the support did not just end here. He was asked to organise the Indianprogramme for the International Geophysical Year of 1957. Around this time, theerstwhile Soviet Union launched Sputnik-1. India, not too far behind, decided to set upthe Indian National Committee for Space Research chaired by Sarabhai. The visionary scientist set up Indias first rocket launching station, TERLS in Thumba onthe coast of the Arabian Sea on November 21, 1963 with the support of Homi Bhabhafrom the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1966, Sarabhai was appointed Chairman of theIndian Atomic Energy Commission in 1966 following Bhabhas untimely demise.Sarabhais greatest achievement was the establishment of the Indian Space ResearchOrganization (ISRO). He died in his sleep at the age of 52 on December 31, 1971. The pioneering work on space science and research done by Dr Vikram Sarabhai earnedhim Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal in 1962 and Padma Bhushan in 1966. 15. Verghese KurienFondly called the Milk Man of India, Verghese Kurien was born on26 November 1921 in Kozhikode, Kerala. His father was a civilsurgeon in Cochin. He graduated in Physics from Loyola College,Madras in 1940 and then did BE (Mechanical) from the University ofMadras. After completing his degree, he joined the Tata SteelTechnical Institute, Jamshedpur, from where he graduated in 1946.He then went to USA on a government scholarship to earn his Master of Science inMetallurgical Engineering from Michigan State University. He is famously known as the architect of Operation Floodthe largest dairydevelopment programme in the world. Kurien helped modernise the Anand model ofcooperative dairy development and thus engineered the White Revolution in India, andmade India the largest milk producer in the world. He is the founder of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, the cooperative organization that manages theAmul food brand. Amul is a global standard truly Indian brand and involves millions ofIndians and gives direct control to farmers. Kurien and his team were pioneers in29

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inventing the process of making milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo's milkinstead of cows milk. Quality packed milk is now available in more than 1000 citiesthroughout the length and breadth of India. And this is milk with a difference pasteurized, packaged, branded, owned by farmers. 16. Dr M S Swaminathan Maankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was born on August 7,1925 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. This famous geneticist isknown as the man behind Indias Green Revolution, aprogramme, which revolutionised Indias farming scenario byintroducing high yielding crops. The Time magazine placed himin the Times 20 list of most influential Asian people of 20thcentury. He is founder and Chairman of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. His physician father was an ardent follower of Gandhiji and it Instilled a sense ofpatriotism in him. In college, he rejected more lucrative professions and studiedagriculture. He almost became a police officer, but a 1949 fellowship to study genetics inthe Netherlands changed his career path. In 1952, he earned his PhD in genetics fromCambridge University, then did further studies at the Wisconsin University. There heturned down a professorship. He was clear about coming back to India and work herefor the betterment of our countrys poor food scenario. He nurtured a vision to see aworld devoid of hunger and poverty and advocated the cause of sustainabledevelopment. He also emphasizes on preservation of biodiversity. Swaminathanbrought into India seeds developed in Mexico by US agricultural guru Norman Borlaugand, after cross-breeding them with local species, created a wheat plant that yieldedmuch more grain than traditional types. Scientists at International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI) accomplished the same miracle for rice. Imminent tragedy turned to anew era of hope for Asia, paving the way for the Asian economic miracle of the 1980sand 90s. Today, India grows some 70 million tonnes of wheat a year, compared to 12million tonnes in the early '60s. He served as the Director General of the Indian Councilof Agricultural Research from 1972 to 1979 and became Union Minister for Agriculturefrom 1979 to 1980. He served as Director General of the IRRI and became President of30

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the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Hereceived the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971. 17. M K Vainu BappuManali Kallat Vainu Bappu was born on August 10, 1927 to asenior astronomer in the Nizamiah Observatory, Hyderabad. MK Vainu Bappu is credited as the man behind the creation of theIndian Institute of Astro-Physics. One of the greatestastronomers of India, Vainu has contributed much to the revivalof optical astronomy in independent India. Bappu joined theprestigious Harvard University on a scholarship after receivinghis Masters degree in Physics from Madras University. Within a few months of his studies, he discovered a comet, which was then namedBappu- Bok-Newkirk after him and his colleagues Bart Bok and Gordon Newkirk. Hecompleted his PhD in 1952 and joined the Palomar University. He and Colin Wilsonmade an important observation about the luminosity of particular kind of stars and itcame to be known as the Bappu-Wilson effect. He returned in 1953 and played a majorrole in building the Uttar Pradesh State Observatory in Nainital. In 1960, he took over asthe Director of the Kodaikanal Observatory and contributed a lot in the modernisationof it. In 1986, he established the observatory with a powerful telescope in Kavalur,Tamil Nadu.Awarded with the prestigious Donhoe Comet Medal by the Astronomical Society of thePacific in1949, he was elected as the President of the International Astronomical Unionin 1979. He was also elected as the Honorary Foreign Fellow of the Belgium Academy ofSciences and was an Honorary Member of the American Astronomical Society. Today,Bappu is regarded as the father of modern Indian astronomy.31

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18. Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Born on October 15, 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr AvulPakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam is a man of great distinction. Knownas the Missile Man of India worldwide, he also became very popularas Indias 11th President. Kalam was inherited his parents honesty and discipline whichhelped him in life. He specialized in Aeronautical Engineering fromMadras Institute of Technology. Before becoming the President of India, he worked asan aerospace engineer with the Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO). Kalams contribution in the development of ballistic missile and space rockettechnology is noteworthy. He also played a pivotal organizational, technical and politicalrole in Indias Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. He is currently a visiting professor at IIM, Ahmedabad, IIM, Indore, Chancellor of IndianInstitute of Space Science, Thiruvananthapuram among many others.Dr Kalam played a vital role as a Project Director to develop Indias first indigenousSatellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in thenear earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club. He wasresponsible for the evolution of ISROs launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLVconfiguration. Dr Kalam was responsible for the development and operation of AGNIand PRITHVI Missiles. Dr Kalams books - Wings of Fire, India 2020 - A Vision for theNew Millennium, My Journey, and Ignited Mind: Unleashing the power within India - havebecome household names in India and among the Indian nationals abroad. These bookshave been translated in many Indian languages.Dr Kalam is one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour ofreceiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions. He has beenawarded the coveted civilian awards - Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan(1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997). 32

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19. Sam Pitroda Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda popularly known as Sam Pitroda wasborn on May 4, 1942 at Titlagarh, Odisha. His parents were originallyfrom Gujarat and were strict Gandhians. So Pitroda was sent toGujarat to imbibe Gandhian philosophy. He completed his schoolingfrom Vallabh Vidyanagar in Gujarat and completed his Masters inPhysics and Electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University inVadodara. He went to the US and obtained a Masters in Electrical Engineering fromIllinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. This technocrat is an innovator, entrepreneur and policymaker. Currently Advisor to thePrime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations, he is alsowidely considered to have been responsible for bringing in revolutionary changes inIndias telecom sector. As technology Advisor to the Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in1984, Mr Pitroda not only heralded the telecom revolution in India, but also made astrong case for using technology for the benefit and betterment of society throughseveral missions on telecommunications, literacy, dairy, water, immunization, oilseeds,etc.He has served as Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission (20052008), ahigh-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, set up to give policyrecommendations for improving knowledge-related institutions and infrastructure inthe country. Mr Pitroda holds around 100 key technology patents, has been involved inseveral start-ups, and lectures extensively around the world.He lives mainly in Chicago, Illinois, since 1964 with his wife and two children.20. Dr Anil KakodkarDr Anil Kakodkar, the famous Indian nuclear scientist was bornon 11 November 1943 in the village Barawani, Madhya Pradesh.His parents Kamala Kakodkar and P Kakodkar were bothGandhians. He did his schooling in Mumbai and graduated fromthe Ruparel College. Kakodkar then joined VJTI in BombayUniversity in 1963 to obtain a degree in Mechanical Engineering.33

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In the year 1964, Anil Kakodkar joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). He was Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India (AECI) and Secretary to theGovernment of India, Department of Atomic Energy. He was also the Director of theBhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay during the period 1996-2000 beforeleading Indias nuclear programme.Anil Kakodkar also was also in the core team of architects of Indias Peaceful NuclearTests that were conducted during the years 1974 and 1998. He also led the indigenousdevelopment of the country's Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor Technology. AnilKakodkars efforts in the rehabilitation of the two reactors at Kalpakkam and the firstunit at Rawatbhatta are noteworthy as they were about to close down. In the year 1996, Anil Kakodkar became the youngest Director of the BARC after HomiBhabha himself. From the year 2000 onwards, he has been leading the Atomic EnergyCommission of India. Dr Anil Kakodkar has been playing a crucial part in demandingsovereignty for Indias nuclear tests. He strongly advocates the cause of Indias self-reliance by using Thorium as a fuel for nuclear energy. 21. Dr G Madhavan NairDr G Madhavan Nair was born on October 31, 1943 inThiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This former chairperson of theIndia Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is known as theman behind Chandrayaan, Indias first unmanned mission tothe moon. Nair did his graduation in Electrical and Communication Engineering from theUniversity of Kerala in 1966. He then underwent training at Bhabha Atomic ResearchCentre (BARC), Bombay. He joined the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station(TERLS) in 1967. During his six years tenure at ISRO, as many as 25 successful missionswere accomplished. He took a keen interest in programmes such as tele-education andtelemedicine for meeting the needs of society at large. As a result, more than 31,000classrooms have been connected under the EDUSAT network and telemedicine is34

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extended to 315 hospitals - 269 in remote/rural/district hospitals including 10 mobileunits and 46 super specialty hospitals.He also initiated the Village Resource Centres (VRCs) scheme through satelliteconnectivity, which aims at improving the quality of life of the poor people in thevillages. More than 430 VRCs have now access to information on important aspects likeland use/land cover, soil and ground water prospects and enable the farmers in takingimportant decisions based on their query.In the international arena, Madhavan Nair has led the Indian delegations for bilateralcooperation and negotiations with many space agencies and countries, especially withFrance, Russia, Brazil, Israel, etc., and has been instrumental in working out mutuallybeneficial international cooperative agreements. Shri G Madhavan Nair has led theIndian delegation to the S&T Sub-Committee of United Nations Committee on PeacefulUses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS) since 1998. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan,Indias second highest civilian award in 2009. 22. Dr Vijay Bhatkar Dr Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar is one of the most acclaimed scientistsand IT leaders of India. He is best known as the architect of Indiasfirst supercomputer Param and as the founder Executive Director ofC-DAC, Indias national initiative in supercomputing. He is creditedwith the creation of several national institutions, notably amongstthem being C-DAC, ER&DC, IIITM-K, I2IT, ETH Research Lab, MKCLand India International Multiversity.As the architect of Indias PARAM series of Supercomputers, Dr Bhatkar has given IndiaGIST multilingual technology and a lot of other path-breaking initiatives. Born onOctober 11, 1946 at Muramba, Akola, Maharashtra, Bhatkar obtained his Bachelor ofEngineering degree from VNIT Nagpur in 1965. This was followed by masters from MSUniversity, Baroda and a PhD in Engineering from IIT Delhi, in 1972. 35

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He has been a Member of Scientific Advisory Committee to Cabinet of Government ofIndia, Governing Council Member of CSIR, India and eGovernace Committee Chairman ofGovernments of Maharashtra and Goa.A Fellow of IEEE, ACM, CSI, INAE and leading scientific, engineering and professionalsocieties of India, he has been honoured with Padmashri and Maharashtra Bhushanawards. Other recognitions include Saint Dnyaneshwar World Peace Prize, LokmanyaTilak Award, HK Firodia and Dataquest Lifetime Achievement Awards, and many others.He was a nominee for Petersburg Prize and is a Distinguished Alumni of IIT, Delhi. Dr Bhatkar has authored and edited 12 books and 80 research and technical papers. Hiscurrent research interests include Exascale Supercomputing, AI, Brain-Mind-Consciousness, and Synthesis of Science and Spirituality.He is presently the Chancellor of India International Multiversity, Chairman of ETHResearch Lab, Chief Mentor of I2IT, Chairman of the Board of IIT-Delhi, and NationalPresident of Vijnana Bharati.23. Kalpana Chawla Kalpana Chawla was born on July 1,1961 in Haryanas Karnaldistrict. She was inspired by Indias first pilot J R D Tata andalways wanted to fly. She did her schooling from Karnals TagoreSchool, and later studied Aeronautical Engineering from PunjabUniversity. To give wings to her aeronautical dream, she moved toAmerica. After obtaining a Master of Science degree in aerospaceengineering from University of Texas in 1984, four years later, Dr Chawla earned adoctorate in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado. In the same year, shestarted working at NASAs Ames Research Center. Soon, Chawla became a US citizen andmarried Jean-Pierre Harrison, a freelance flying instructor. She also took keen interestin flying, hiking, gliding, travelling and reading. She loved flying aerobatics, tail-wheelairplanes. She was a strict vegetarian and was an avid music lover. Chawla joined NASAs space programme in 1994 and her first mission to space began onNovember 19, 1997 as part of a 6-astronaut crew on Space Shuttle Columbia Flight STS-87. She logged more than 375 hours in space, as she travelled over 6.5 million miles in36

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252 orbits of the earth during her first flight. While onboard, she was in charge ofdeploying the malfunctioning Spartan Satellite. Interestingly, she was not only the firstIndian-born but also the first Indian-American in space. As a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator, Chawla was one of the sevencrew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. 24. Sunita Williams Pandya Sunita Williams Pandya is the second woman of Indian origin to havegone on a NASA space mission after Kalpana Chawla. Born on 19September 1965 to Dr Deepak and Bonnie Pandya at Ohio in the US,she holds three records for female space Travelers, longest spaceflight (195 days) number of space walks (four) and total time spent onspace walks (29 hours and 17 minutes).Williamss roots on her fathers side go back to Gujarat in India and she has been toIndia to visit her fathers family. As for her education, Williams attended Needham HighSchool in Needham, Massachusetts, graduating in 1983. She went on to receive aBachelor of Science degree in Physical science from the United States Naval Academy in1987, and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management from Florida Instituteof Technology in 1995. The 46-year-old Williams is all set for her next expedition tospace in July 2012. She will be a flight engineer on the stations Expedition 32 crew andwill become commander of Expedition 33 on reaching the space station.Sunita is very fond of running, swimming, biking, triathlons, windsurfing, snowboardingand bow hunting. She is married to Michael J Williams, a Federal police officer in Oregon. The two havebeen married for more than 20 years, and both flew helicopters in the early days of theircareers. She is a devotee of Hindu God Ganesha. She took with her a copy of Bhagavad Gita andan idol of Ganesha when she visited the International Space Station on her record-breaking space flight. She plans to take the English translation of Vedic Upanishads onher next trip in July 2012.37

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25. Sabeer BhatiaSabeer Bhatia was born in Chandigarh on 30 December 1968. Hegrew up in Bangalore and had his early education at The Bishop'sSchool in Pune and then at St Josephs Boys High School inBangalore. In 1988, he went to US to get a bachelor's degree at theCalifornia Institute of Technology after a foreign transfer from BITSPilani, Rajasthan. He earned a masters degree in electricalengineering from the Stanford University.After graduation, Sabeer briefly worked for Apple Computers as a hardware engineerand Firepower Systems Inc. While working there he was amazed at the fact that hecould access any software on the internet via a web browser. He, along with hiscolleague Jack Smith, set up Hotmail on July 4, 1996.Into the 21st century, Hotmail became one of worlds largest e-mail providers with over369 million registered users. As President and CEO, he guided Hotmails rapid rise toindustry leadership and its eventual acquisition by Microsoft in 1998. Bhatia worked atMicrosoft for a little over a year after the Hotmail acquisition and in April 1999, he leftMicrosoft to start another venture, Arzoo Inc., an e-commerce firm.Bhatia started a free messaging service called JaxtrSMS. He said that JaxtrSMS, would do"to SMS what Hotmail did for e-mail". Claiming it to be a disruptive technology, he saysthat the operators will lose revenue on the reduction in number of SMSs on theirnetwork but will benefit from the data plan that the user has to buy.Bhatias success has earned him widespread acclaim; The venture capital firm DraperFisher Jurvetson named him Entrepreneur of the Year 1997, MIT chose him as one of100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology andawarded TR100. XXX38

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Iron Pillar of India The Iron Pillar in Delhi has attracted the attention of archaeologists and metallurgistsfrom all over the world for years. This marvelous structure has withstood corrosion forthe last 1600 years, despite harsh weather conditions. The pillar is a testament to thehigh level of skill achieved by ancient Indian iron smiths in the extraction andprocessing of iron. Made up of 98% wrought iron of pure quality, it is 23 feet 8 incheshigh and has a diameter of 16 inches. Caption: The Iron Pillar in DelhiExperts at the IIT-Kanpur (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur) resolved themystery behind 1600-year-old iron pillar in the year 2002. Metallurgists at IIT-Kanpur39

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have discovered that a thin layer of misawite a compound of iron, oxygen andhydrogen has protected the cast iron pillar from rust. The protective film took formwithin three years after erection of the pillar and has been growing ever so slowly sincethen. After 1600 years, the film has grown just one-twentieth of a millimeter thick. Theprotective layer was formed with the presence of high amount of phosphorus that actedlike a catalyst. It was a unique iron-making process practised by ancient ironsmiths inIndia who reduced iron into steel in one step by mixing it with charcoal. Modern blastfurnaces, on the other hand, use limestone in place of charcoal yielding molten slag andpig iron that is later converted into steel. In the process, most phosphorous content iscarried away by the slag. The pillar, almost seven metres high and weighing more than six tonnes, was erected byChandragupta II Vikramaditya (375414 CE) (interpretation based on careful analysisof the archer-type Gupta gold coins) of the Gupta dynasty that ruled northern Indiaduring 320540 CE.XXX40

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Conventional, Non-Conventional andClean Energy Sources of IndiaEnergy is an inevitable requirement for growth. Researchers will tell you that the moreenergy a society consumes per capita, the better is its quality of life. Whenever in thehistory of our species we have made a breakthrough in our lifestyle, our energyconsumption has also significantly increased be that when people settled into villagesto start farming or the Industrial Revolution.As a developing country, India is in a state of transition in energy usage and has rapidlyincreasing energy demands to support its growth story. Growing energy demands andconcerns for energy security are now spurring us to look for alternative energy sources.We have abundant reserves of coal and so more than 50% of our energy needs are metby coal. But we do not have enough petroleum reserves, so we import more than 70% ofour petroleum needs. Reducing our dependence on foreign sources of oil is one morereason why we are exploring new avenues of energy. This is where we want the renewable and non-conventional energy resources to step in.Though it is difficult to estimate when the world will run out of fossil fuels, it is certainthat we will run out of them. Some estimates will tell you two decades while otherswould say we have enough for the next two centuries. For dependable sources of energyin future we have to look beyond coal and petroleum and explore energy sources thatmight be entirely new or just old ones we have forgotten about.Often the terms renewable and non-conventional are erroneously usedinterchangeably. A renewable energy resource is one whose reserves can bereplenished from time to time. Many tried and trusted energy forms such as wood,charcoal, bio wastes are all renewable. Archaeological digs tell us about metal works inancient world that had kept their furnaces fired up for thousands of years by renewablyutilising stretches of forest lands. If it is a renewable source of energy, it does not haveto be non-conventional and neither does it need to be clean.Non-conventional energy sources are those which have not been historically used. So,the technology for their use is still developing and scientists are working continuouslyto make their utilisation process more efficient. Examples are hydroelectricity, solar41

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photovoltaic plants, and nuclear energy. One must remember that coal or petroleum didnot just become ubiquitous sources of energy overnight. A considerable amount ofresearch and scientific genius, starting from the nineteenth century, went into gettingthem to where they are today in terms of reliability and large-scale use. Hence it shouldnot be surprising or perplexing that growth of non-conventional energy sources wouldalso require similar volumes of research and patience. A non-conventional energy source need not always be clean and renewable examplebeing nuclear energy. India has a well-developed, indigenous nuclear powerprogramme and considerable amounts of fuels in the form of Thorium sands for breederreactors. Though the power production part of a nuclear plants life cycle does not emitany pollutants, the problem starts with spent nuclear fuel rods. Even though they can nolonger be used for power production, these fuel rods are still considerably radioactive,which makes their disposal a problem. As of now, these fuel rods are disposed of byburying them in concrete inside deep mines or bore holes from where their radiationcannot affect living beings. But considering some of these radioactive elements canremain active for thousands of years, the hope is to arrive at better disposal technologysoon. While it is scary to think of what an accident at a nuclear power plant might do tothe neighbouring areas, these perils are well known to the designers who hence make anuclear power plant much more robust and safe than anyone would ever make aconventional power plant. India has vast potentials for developments in all three forms of energy renewable,non-conventional, and clean. But, it is anticipated by most researchers that the drive tomove to renewable energy would not so much be due to end of fossil fuels as due to theharmful effect fossil fuels have on our environments. So, here, we shall primarily confineour discussion to clean and renewable sources.India has limited potential in the field of hydroelectricity and much of it has alreadybeen fulfilled. Currently, there is much stress and interest regarding micro-hydroelectric projects. These would small hydro-turbines running on small or largerivers without needing gigantic dams and aiming to satisfy the energy needs of a singlevillage on the river bank. A series of such turbines along the river can meet the energyrequirements of a number of villages. 42

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Most of our country's renewable energy potential lies in the development of windenergy. Wind energy surveys of large parts of the country are still in progress. We mighthave an even larger potential than estimated. Till the mid of this year, more than 17 GWwind energy production capacity had been installed. Caption: A wind farmBeing located near tropics, India does receive plenty of sunlight. But the regular rainsdue to monsoon means that there are very few areas like parts of Gujarat andRajasthan that have uninterrupted sunshine to generate electricity using sunlight.Currently, all solar power projects are photovoltaic in nature while small-scale solarthermal installations are operational in cities like Chennai and Bengaluru giving hotwater, water purification, and other heating requirements for private homes and hotels.There are future plans of establishing large-scale solar thermal power plants in regionsof Rajasthan. Such a plant would use the suns energy to vaporise water and use thesteam to drive a turbine for power production. There are, of course, the usual barriersto development of solar power large initial investment and large land arearequirement. 43

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Another viable means of energy production is conversion of organic waste into energy.We have had some success in this regard by pilot biogas projects in several villagesacross the country. Research is developing more and new ways of making energy fromorganic matters, waste or otherwise. One of the ways is production of Syngas, which canbe used to produce hydrocarbons and synthetic petroleum in the long run. One vital aspect of energy use, apart from power generation, is in transportation. Thissector has also seen the growth of many new fuels that could end our dependence onimported petrol. Amongst alternative fuels, we now use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG),compressed natural gas (CNG), mixtures of CNG and hydrogen. Future plans include useof hydrogen in petrol-burning engines too. Biodiesels derived from oil of plants likejatropha, karanja and even from algae are currently in limited use by being mixed withdiesel in a 20:80 ratio. Development of alternative fuels is such that they can be used inthe current vehicles with minimal to no changes. And most importantly, thesealternative fuels have minimal adverse effects on atmosphere compared to fossil fuels. Parallel to developing and exploring new energy sources, one other priority for usshould be economic use of the resources we have. No replacement for fossil fuels isgoing to turn up suddenly out of the blue. Even if it does, with a growing population, ourenergy demands are increasing much faster than ever before in history. The need of thehour is efficient use of energy and end of all wasteful usage. We need to have moreefficient refrigerators and air-conditioners. We need to have more efficient lightingsystems and street lights that light up and shut off depending on amount of surroundinglight. We need more efficient power plants that may burn coal but do it more completelyand pollute less. As we continuously strive towards these goals, we are bound to reachlong-term energy security. XXX44