Pioneer Scientists in Pre‐Independance India

The conviction that scientific rationality can lead to intellectual liberation and thus convey benefits to a society that are at least as important as the material benefits derived from research has been central to Western thinking since the 17th century. That conviction is evident, for example, in the career of Benjamin Franklin, and is reflected in most of the official documents associated with the establishment of the American Republic. Studies by several scholars—most notably Joseph Needham in his Science and Civilization in China—indicate that the development of science in other societies has also been deeply rooted in a cultural tradition of tolerance. If so, then it can be argued that neither modern science nor the conditions required to capture its tangible benefits can thrive in any society unless science can be harmonized with the cultural traditions of that society.