Journey of Indian science to Europe at IIT Kanpur – Video

About the Speaker:
Dr Premendra Priyadarshi, MBBS, MD, FRCP, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and member of a large number of professional bodies like Indian Medical Association, Association of Physicians of India etc. He also cleared the Civil Services Examination of 1986 and served the Pondicherry Police Service for a short while.

Besides science, he has thoroughly pursued history, philosophy, religions, anthropology, political science and linguistics as his personal interest. He has written many books on Indology viz. India’s Contributions to the West (2004), Zero is Not the Only Story (2007), The First Civilization of the World (2011) and Vishva Sabhyata ka Udbhava aur Prasar (2012). Focus of Dr. Priyadarshi’s research is on correcting the distortions in Indian historiography.

This talk discussed the following topics:
Glimpses of Classical Physics in Ancient India

There was a rich tradition of science in ancient India. Although not many ancient texts are available today, yet we get some information about the presence of physical sciences from the Vedic texts. The oldest science treatise available today is the Vaisheshika Sutra by Kanada from 6th century BC. The text discusses velocity, kinetic and potential energy, momentum among many other concepts.

India, the Origin of World’s Civilizations as Evident from Genetic Studies

The genetic studies prove that the various Indian communities and tribes are the descendants of the original settlers of India, and that they did not arrive in India from Central Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia or China. While leaving India, the early Indians took with them breeds of domestic cows and plant species, besides the art of farming, about 15,000 to 10,000 years back. The waves of expansion took place out of India, every time the glacial maximum receded.

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