A Nobel within 5 years
I'm not flattered by the honour done to me. This is a small achievement. If there is anything that I aspire for, it is the Nobel Prize. You will find that I get that in five years.
Science
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Quotable quotes
The principle of position and the unknown Hindu
When viewed in this light, the achievement of the unknown Hindu who some time in the first centuries of our era discovered the principle of position assumes the proportions of a world-event. Not only did this principle constitute a radical departure in method, but we know now that without it no progress in arithmetic was possible.
Zero and the positional decimal notation
It is [in India] that the ingenious manner of expressing all numbers in ten characters originated, by assigning to them at once an absolute and a local [positional] value. a subtle and important conception, of which the simplicity is such that we can [only] with difficulty, appreciate its merit.
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Did you know?
Bill Cosby and Malaria
American comedian Bill Cosby, now more famous for his cases of sexual assault, used to sedate his victims using a drug called quaalude. Quaalude is a brand name for Methaqualone, a hypnotic sedative first synthesised in India in 1951 by Indra Kishore Kacker and Syed Husain Zaheer, who were conducting research on finding new antimalarial medications. It became popular as a recreational drug in the late 60s and 70s, known variously as "ludes", "sopers" ("soaps") "mandrakes", "mandies", "disco biscuits", etc. It is now banned.
Ganga and Kurma
In the early 90s, the Indian government released specially-raised flesh-eating turtles into the Ganga to eat and clear the river of partly-burned corpses from the Varanasi ghats. The programme failed as poachers captured and wiped out the turtle population (again).
Aryabhata and his Aryabhatiya
Aryabhata I, wrote his famous astronomical treatise, Aryabhatiya, in 499 CE when he was only 23 years old.
The beginning of HIV in India
The first cases of HIV infection in India occurred among prostitutes in Madras (Chennai) in 1986.
Knives, Pistols, and Sambar
The most sought after knife-handles and pistol-grips are made from the antlers of Sambar stags. The antlers are made of bone and shed annually.
Bose and the fifth state of matter
After solid, liquid, gas, and plasma, the fifth state of matter is known as Bose-Einstein Condensate. BEC is named after the Bengali physicist, Satyendranath Bose and Albert Einstein.
Our very own garbage patch
A few thousand kilometres south of India lies the Indian Ocean Gyre within which is a vast soup of degrading plastic garbage dubbed the Indian Ocean garbage patch.
Ayurveda's nine doors
Ayurvedic diagnosis includes an examination of the body's nine doors (नवद्वार): two each of eyes, ears, and nostrils, along with the mouth, genitalia, and the anus.
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