Science and Environment

Contents: Preface. 1. Bengal engineering college Sibpur: a study in historical perspective/Arun Kumar. 2. Jagadish Chandra Bose: life of a physicist/Chittabrata Palit. 3. Sir J.C. Bose and his two admirers/Aparajito Basu. 4. J.C. Bose and the horse of the Aswamedha Yajna/Ashish Lahiri. 5. Popular science and Jagadis Chandra Bose/Ashim Mukhopadhyay. 6. Pioneers of environmental science in Bengal/Nikhiles Guha. 7. Environmental economics: some new dimension/Abanti Adhikary. 8. Present history of science club movement in greater Kolkata/Sabyasachi Chatterjee. 9. Writings on science by Swarna Kumari Devi/Purnima Mukherjee. 10. The battle for clean air: smoke problem in colonial Calutta 1863-1947/Kabita Ray. 11. Global environmental crisis/A.K. Ghosh. 12. A brush with the environment Rathindranath Tagore in Shelaidaha/Abhinit Dutta. 13. Dr. Nilratan Sircar and his medical ideas/Manabendra Naskar.

For a long time Indian historians were engaged in political economic and cultural history. In the western circles. India was dismissed as a spiritual but poor country. The western world boasted of their material development. During colonial rule the British authorities wanted India to be a supplier of raw materials and market for their manufactured goods. Therefore scientific and technical education was discouraged to arrest Indian material development so that India would not be able to stage an industrial revolution. This book in its collection of thirteen learned essays explores the scientific and technological heritage of India during colonial days. jacket.