Indian Scientists

Indian scientists have played a stellar role in the development of India. In the short span of its post-independence history India has achieved several great scientific achievements. Indian scientists have proved their mettle in the face of international sanctions and have made India one of the scientific powerhouses of the world. Here is a brief profile of famous Indian scientists.

C.V. Raman
C.V. Raman is one of the most renowned scientists produced by India. His full name was Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman. For his pioneering work on scattering of light, C.V. Raman won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930. 

Homi Bhabha

Homi Bhabha, whose full name was Homi Jehnagir Bhabha, was a famous Indian atomic scientist. In Independent India, Homi Jehnagir Bhabha, with the support of Jawaharlal Nehru, laid the foundation of a scientific establishment and was responsible for the creation of two premier institutions, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

Jagdish Chandra Bose
Jagdish Chandra Bose was born on November 30, 1858 in Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh). His father Bhagabanchandra Bose was a Deputy Magistrate. Jagadish Chandra Bose had his early education in village school in Bengal medium.

Meghnad Saha
Meghnad Saha was born on October 6, 1893 in Sheoratali, a village in the District of Dacca, now in Bangladesh. He was the fifth child of his parents, Sri Jagannath Saha and Smt. Bhubaneshwari Devi. His father was a grocer in the village. Meghnad Saha had his early schooling in the primary school of the village.

M. Visvesvaraya
Sir M. Visvesvaraya was born on September 15, 1860 in Muddenahalli village in the Kolar district of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore (present day Karnataka). His father Srinivasa Sastry was a Sanskrit scholar and Ayurvedic practitioner. His mother Venkachamma was a religious lady. He lost his father when he was only 15 years old.

Satyendra Nath Bose
Satyendra Nath Bose was an outstanding Indian physicist. He is known for his work in Quantum Physics. He is famous for "Bose-Einstein Theory" and a kind of particle in atom has been named after his name as Boson.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. He did commendable work in astrophysics, physics and applied mathematics. Chandrasekhar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983.

Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Sarabhai was one of the greatest scientists of India. He is considered as the Father of the Indian space program. Apart from being a scientist, he was a rare combination of an innovator, industrialist and visionary. 

Anil Kakodkar
Dr Anil Kakodkar is a very distinguished nuclear scientist of India. He is presently the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India (AECI) as well as the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy.

APJ Abdul Kalam
Apart from being a notable scientist and engineer, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam served as the 11th President of India from the period 2002 to 2007. He is a man of vision, who is always full of ideas aimed at the development of the country and is also often also referred to as the Missile Man of India.

Birbal Sahni
Birbal Sahni was a renowned paleobotanist of India, who studied the fossils of the Indian subcontinent. Also a great geologist, Sahni is credited for establishing the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany at Lucknow in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Born on 14 November in the year 1891 at Behra in the Saharanpur District of West Punjab, Birbal was the third son of Ishwar Devi and Prof. 

Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan was a mathematician par excellence. He is widely believed to be the greatest mathematician of the 20th Century. Srinivasa Ramanujan made significant contribution to the analytical theory of numbers and worked on elliptic functions, continued fractions, and infinite series.

Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar
Dr Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar was a distinguished Indian scientist. He was born on 21 February 1894 at Shahpur, which is located in Pakistan in present times. His father passed away sometime after the birth of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar. As such, he spent his childhood days with his maternal grandfather who was an engineer and it was here that he developed an interest in science and engineering.

Har Gobind Khorana
Har Gobind Khorana is an American molecular biologist born on 9 January 1922 to an Indian Punjabi couple. For his work on the interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in the year 1968.

Raja Ramanna
Handpicked by the founder of India's nuclear program, Dr. Homi Bhabha, Dr. Raja Ramanna was a celebrated physicist and nuclear scientist that India had ever produced. A multifaceted personality, Dr. Raja Ramanna played the roles of a technologist, nuclear physicist, administrator, leader, musician, Sanskrit literature scholar, and philosophy researcher.

Ganapathi Thanikaimoni
Ganapathi Thanikaimoni, a successful botanist of his days, is remembered till date for his widespread contribution in the field of palynology. His researches and projects not only helped India to make its presence felt on the world stage of botany, it also furthered public relations between two countries.

Harish-Chandra
For those who quiver at the thought of calculations and numerical deductions, unless when counting money, mathematics can be the equivalent of hell on earth. And for such 'math atheists' a mathematician like Harish Chandra can very well seem like a mirage. Harish Chandra is one amongst those few people who often 

G. N. Ramachandran
Gopalasamudram Narayana Iyer Ramachandran, popularly referred to as G. N. Ramachandran surely must be included in the list of one of the best scientists that 20th century India had produced. The best known work of G. N. Ramachandran till date is the Ramachandran plot, which the scientist had conceived along with Viswanathan Sasisekharan, to understand the structure of peptides.

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis
Economic census, population census, agricultural surveys and various other large scale and in depth samples and surveys that have been admired the world over for their scope and accuracy owes its popularity and worldwide acceptance to the grit, determination and genius of one man, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.

Kotcherlakota Rangadhama Rao
Kotcherlakota Rangadhama Rao was one of the greatest physicists of 20th century India. His work in spectroscopy led to the development of the Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance in Physics. Kotcherlakota Rangadhama Rao is also known for his long association with the Andhra University in which he served as professor of Physics and subsequently,

Salim Ali
Almost every one of us is interested in watching colorful and distinct birds crossing us. But very few are passionate about studying them in detail. One such man who took extreme interest and excitement in studying birds closely and categorizing them was Dr. Salim Ali. One of the greatest biologists of all times,

Yellapragada Subbarao
"You've probably never heard of Dr. Yellapragada Subba Rao, yet because he lived you may be well and alive today; because he lived you may live longer". A famous adage quoted by American author, Doron K. Antrim, Yellapragada Subbarao was one of those rare people who made several significant contributions,

Sam Pitroda
Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda is a famous Indian and a renowned inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker who currently serves as an advisor to the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Manmohan Singh. His work revolves around Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations. He is respected for being a technological intellect 

Venkataraman Ramakrishnan
Indian born American, Venkataraman Ramakrishnan is a senior scientist in the Structural Division at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, in Cambridge, England. This great scholar has worked in various fields of biology during the earlier part of his career. However, Venkat along with Thomas A.

MARATHAS

MARATHAS

PRONUNCIATION:      muh - RAHT - uhz
ALTERNATE NAMES: Mahrattas; Mahrattis
LOCATION:                   India (Maharashtra state)
POPULATION:             78.7 million (total population; 50 percent are of the Maratha and           Kunbi castes)
LANGUAGE:                  Marathi
RELIGION:                    Hinduism



• INTRODUCTION

Marathas live in the Deccan Plateau area of western India. Outside the area, the term Maratha loosely identifies people who speak Marathi. Within the region, however, it refers to the dominant Maratha and Kunbis castes (social classes). Marathas typically trace their origins to chiefs and warriors. Kunbis are mainly farmers and Sudras (servants and artisans—the lowest of the four major caste groups).
Marathas first rose to prominence in the seventeenth-century. Their hero, Shivaji (1627–80) is known for uniting Marathas against Muslim rulers in India. Shivaji carved out a Maratha kingdom in the Konkan (the coastal and western areas of Maharashtra State). During the eighteenth century, a powerful Maratha Confederacy arose. Several groups extended Maratha territory as far as the Punjab in the north and Orissa in the east. Maratha power was greatly weakened by the Afghans at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. Nonetheless, marauding bands of Maratha horsemen continued to raid as far afield as the Punjab, Bengal, and southern areas of the Indian peninsula. A series of defeats by the British in the early years of the nineteenth century led to the final collapse of the Maratha Empire.
After India's independence, Marathas promoted the formation of states based on language. Popular sentiment led to the creation of Maharashtra state in 1960 to include the bulk of the Marathi-speaking peoples within its borders.


• LOCATION

With 78.7 million people, Maharashtra is India's third largest state. About 50 percent of the population is either Maratha or Kunbis.
Maharashtra falls into three broad geographic divisions. The Konkan is the coastal lowland running from just north of Bombay (Mumbai) to Goa. Inland from this are the Western Ghats, a line of hills that parallels the west coast of India. They are 2,500 to 3,000 feet (760 to 915 meters) in elevation in Maharashtra and reach a height of 5,400 feet (1,646 meters) inland from Bombay. Many peaks in the Ghats are crowned by hill-forts that were once Maratha warrior strongholds. To the east of the Ghats lie the plateaus and uplands of the Deccan lava region, at elevations from 1,000 to 1,800 feet (300 to 550 meters). This region is drained by the eastward-flowing Godaveri River and tributaries of the Krishna. In the extreme north is Tapti River, which flows west to the Arabian Sea.
Average monthly temperatures in Bombay range from 75° F to 86° F (24° C to 30° C ), with annual precipitation totaling 82 inches (208 centimeters). In the Ghats, some areas receive as much as 260 inches (660 centimeters) of rainfall during the monsoon. East of the Ghats, however, rainfall drops to between 20 and 40 inches (50 to 100 centimeters).


• LANGUAGE

Marathi is derived from Maharashtri, a form of Prakit (a spoken version of the classical Sanskrit). Dialects of Marathi include Konkani, Varadhi, and Nagpuri. Marathi is written in a type of script known as Devanagari, or a cursive form of Devanagari called Modi. 


• FOLKLORE

The greatest Maratha hero is Shivaji (1627–80), who is known as a champion of Hindus. Shivaji challenged the might of the Islamic Mughal Empire and founded the last great Hindu empire in India. Many incidents in his life have entered local lore. Shivaji embraced the Mughal general and killed him with steel claws attached to his hands before the Muslim could stab him with a concealed dagger. On another occasion, Shivaji escaped from the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb by hiding in a fruit basket. Shivaji's men are reputed to have captured the hill-fort of Singadh from the Muslims by sending trained lizards up its walls. The lizards carried ropes for the attackers to climb.


• RELIGION

Marathas and Kunbis are Hindu. Although most worship one or more gods as a "family deity," Shiva is of particular importance. In villages, Shiva is worshiped in several forms. Some of these forms include Khandoba, guardian of the Deccan; and Bhairav, protector of the village. Shiva's consort Parvati is worshiped in the forms local mother goddesses such as Bhavani and Janni Devi. Maruti is a kindly monkey god who protects villagers from evil spirits. Marathas believe in witchcraft, the evil eye, and in ghosts and evil spirits who can harm the living. Mashoba is the most widely feared of the evil spirits and when wronged is believed to bring sickness and ill fortune to a village. Some Marathas worship Vishnu as well as Shiva.


• MAJOR HOLIDAYS

Although Marathas observe major Hindu festivals, they also have their own regional celebrations. At Divali, for example, they sing hymns in praise of the Asura king Bali and worship cow-dung images of this demon-god. The birthday of elephant-headed Ganesha is a major event in Bombay. Images of Ganesha are worshiped for three days, then carried to the seashore to be immersed in the ocean. Nag Panchami, when snakes are worshiped, is celebrated widely in Maharashtra. Bendur or Pola, a festival at which bulls are decorated, worshiped, and taken in procession through the villages, is popular in the parts of Maharashtra. The folk hero Shivaji's birthday (Shivaji Jayanti) also is a public holiday.


• RITES OF PASSAGE

A jatakarma, or birth ceremony, takes place a few days after a child is born. Marathas believe evil spirits may attack a newborn child in the fifth or sixth day after birth, so special rituals are performed. A purification ceremony takes place after ten days. A haircutting ceremony (chaula karma) is done on a child's first birthday.
Maratha death rites follow Hindu customs. They usually bathe a dead person and wrap the body in a white shroud. The body is then cremated, usually near a river or stream. After the body is burned, the ashes are placed in the water.


 • RELATIONSHIPS

Marathas typically greet each other by saying, Namaste, which means "Greetings to you." It is said while joining one's own hands, palms together and held upright, in front of one's body.


• LIVING CONDITIONS

On the Deccan Plateau, villages are tight clusters of houses. Smaller houses are simply a rectangular block of four walls forming a single room. Larger houses are made of several such blocks arranged so they make a square, with a sun-court (chowk) in the middle. Rooms include living quarters, a kitchen, storerooms, and a devgarh, where images of the family gods are kept.


• FAMILY LIFE

The basic kin unit for Marathas is the kul, which means "family." This is a lineage made up of extended families. Members of the kul worship a common totemic symbol called devak. The devak usually is a cobra, elephant, or blade of a sword. One cannot marry someone who worships the same devak. Other than that, Marathas have few marriage restrictions. They can marry within the village, cross-cousin marriage is allowed, and a man may have more than one wife. Marriages are arranged, and a bride price is paid to the girl's family. The actual marriage is elaborate, involving twenty-four separate ceremonies. The most important of these is installation of the devak.


• CLOTHING

Maratha men wear a dhoti (loincloth made by wrapping a long piece of white cotton around the waist and then drawing the end between the legs and tucking it into the waist) or short trousers, known as cholnas. They also wear a tight-fitting coat. Sometimes they also wear a turban. Women wear the sari (a length of fabric wrapped around the waist, with one end thrown over the right shoulder) and choli (tight-fitting, cropped blouse).


• FOOD

The standard diet of the Marathas consists of flat, unleavened bread (roti) with pulses (legumes) and vegetables. Among the poor, a typical meal consists of millet bread eaten with chopped chilies and lentils (dal) . Among the more affluent, bread is made from wheat flour, while rice and more vegetables are served at meals. Marathas will eat fish, mutton, and chicken. For the poor, however, meat is a festival food.


• EDUCATION

The literacy rate (percentage of the population who can read and write) in the state of Maharashtra is about 55 percent. Bombay, with the University of Bombay and the Indian Institute of Technology, is one of India's major educational centers.


• CULTURAL HERITAGE

Marathi regional literature dates from around AD 1000. The devotional poetry and songs of Maharashtrian saints such as Namdev (1270–1350) and Ramdas (1608–81) are among its greatest achievements. The eighteenth century saw the rise of love lyrics and heroic ballads (powada). The nineteenth-century paintings of the Peshwa period were influenced by the earlier Rajasthani tradition. Maratha history in western India abounds with the military exploits of the great Maratha dynasties.


• EMPLOYMENT

The Maratha cavalry was renowned throughout India in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Many Marathas continue this tradition of service in the armed forces of modern India. Nevertheless, most Marathas and Kunbis are farmers. Still, Maharashtra is one of the most heavily urbanized Indian states. Its cities include Bombay, one of the world's major urban centers (with about thirteen million people), Pune, and Nagpur. Numerous Marathas now live in cities. They work in commerce and government, and as teachers, doctors and lawyers.


• SPORTS

Maratha children enjoy role-playing. Boys pretend to be horse drivers or engine drivers, while girls play with dolls or at housekeeping. Organized games include various versions of tag, blind man's bluff, and hide-and-seek. Traditional Indian games such as Gulli danda (Indian cricket) and Kabaddi (team wrestling) are popular. Cricket is perhaps the most important spectator sport. Field hockey, soccer, tennis, and badminton are played in cities and towns. Popular indoor games include chess, cards, and carrom (a board game in which counters are used to knock one's opponent's counters into pockets).


• RECREATION

Many Marathas go to local festivals and fairs, and enjoy traditional folk entertainment. The Nandivala is a traveling performer. He entertains village audiences with sound effects, tricks, soothsaying, and trained-animal shows. The Bahrupi, literally "one with many disguises," is an entertainer known for impersonating people. Bombay, India's equivalent of Hollywood, is the world's largest center of movie making and produces films in both Hindi and Marathi. Bombay is also one of India's major intellectual and cultural centers, with museums, modern and classical music, theater, and other cultural activities.


• CRAFTS AND HOBBIES

Traditional crafts in Maharashtra include weaving and metalwork, as well as local specialties such as Kolhapuri leather sandals, and the Muslim himsa (weaving) and bidri (metal inlaid with silver) work of Aurangabad.


• SOCIS

The dominant landowning and cultivating caste in their region, the Marathas and Kunbis are unified by a shared history and a common culture rooted in the Marathi language. This sense of identity often creates problems for others who live in Maharashtra, many of whom are peasants. Maratha nationalism has led to anti-foreigner sentiments, with calls for non-Marathas to be banished from the state. The recent renaming of Bombay as "Mumbai," the Marathi name for the city, is another expression of this sense of Maratha consciousness. The Shiv Sena, a conservative, Hindu, regional political party with strong Maratha support, has recently gained power in Maharashtra. It will no doubt continue to promote its policy of "Maharashtra for Maharashtrians."

INDIA

THE GREAT NATION - INDIA

The official Sanskrit name for India is Bharat.

INDIA has been called Bharat even in Satya yuga 

( Golden Age )

More INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT India

• The name `India’ is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan’ combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
• The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.
• Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software. ( a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987 ).
• Chess was invented in India.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.
• The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.
• The first six  Mogul Emperor's of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.

• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD)  during the reign of Rajaraja Chola
• India is.......the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old). 
• The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called  'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time,  the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level. 
• India has the most post offices in the world !
• The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people !.   
• The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
• Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries till the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
• The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word 'Navigation' is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
• Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.
• The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.
• Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India.  Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.  during the Vedic period.  Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).
•  Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. ( Source . Gemological Institute of America )
• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
• Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over  2600 years ago Sushrata & his team  conducted complicated surgeries like  cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
• Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,  physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

GOOD FRIENDs are those
Who care without “hesitation”
who “remember” with out limitation
who “love”even witout communication
and who live in your imagination


Introduction is possible anytime,Love is possible sometime.Marriage is possible one time,
but a sweet friend like u is possible 
once in a lifetime


This message to you,
I just had to send.
As you are someone who's
always so happy to lend,
so caring, sharing, loving,
such a wonderful friend.
I hope that our friendship,
will never ever end!


My Dear Friend.
I Promise Today,
No Matter what,
Happens,
Through all of lifes,
Changes we'll always,
Be Friends,Like we are,
Today .!

Friends r like winter light. older the friends brighter the light.


as i had a long wait for u in life and i had loved it but if i die before u i will not wait for u on heaven bcos i love to kno that u r enjoying the beauty of hte world.

frens r the water which when put in the freeze becomes hard & hen kept in the sun again becomes water


A friendship is like a winding road.
You never know where it is going to go.
But there is something that I do know,
which is that our friendship will continue to grow.