What Science Entails, beyond Practical Science: Full Talk

“Curiosity Circle, Mumbai” takes pleasure in publishing the full video of the  the public talk by Prof. Dr. S.G. Dani of Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai on ” What science entails, beyond practical science” at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR, Mankhurd, delivered on 13th January 2018, Saturday at 5:30 pm.

Brief

The emergence of science and the scientific revolution that happened in Europe has by now, in a few centuries, impacted most of the world. It unleashed a great technological potential which has been pursued with much vigor and has brought about spectacular achievements that hardly need to be recalled. Many countries including India have caught on to the development and are making substantial contributions on their own.

Apart from technological boons, the rise of science brought with it an idea, or template, for a mode of thought and more generally a way of life, that has scarcely been paid attention to. Though development of scientific temper is talked of as an objective in various contexts, we rarely seem to meet it in our everyday lives, which on the contrary are found to be riddled with superstition. The aim of this talk is to initiate a discussion on how the potential of scientific thought may be nurtured, for the good of all.

About the Speaker

Prof. S.G. Dani worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai for over four decades, until mandatory retirement in 2012. Subsequently, he was associated with IIT Bombay, and since July 2017 is with the UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai, a collaborative endeavor of the University of Mumbai and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) of the Government of India. Apart from his contributions to mathematics he has also written articles debunking the myth of the so called Vedic mathematics, and on genuine history of ancient Indian mathematics.

Curiosity Circle meets once every month, on every second Saturday, to listen to an eminent speaker on an idea to understand how scientific exploration helps us to resolve some of the basic questions of science and society. The talk will be followed by publishing a blog for wider dissemination and discussion.