“Indians’ contribution to the development of mathematics has largely been swept under the carpet in global history books. But a BBC crew, led by an Oxford professor, was in the country last week to film a documentary revealing Indians created some of the most fundamental mathematical theories.
The West has always believed that Sir Isaac Newton, famous for developing the laws of gravity and motion, was the brainbox behind key branches of maths such as calculus.
In The Story of Maths, Dr Marcus Du Sautoy, a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, claims Indians made many of these breakthroughs before Newton was born.
The Story of Maths, a four-part series, will be screened on BBC Four in 2008. The first part looks at the development of maths in ancient Greece, ancient Egypt and Babylon; the second focuses on India, China and Central Asia and the rest look at how maths developed in the West. The India reel focuses on how several Indians developed theories in maths that were later discovered by Westerners who took credit for them.
“A lot of people think maths was a Western invention,” said Du Sautoy. “This programme is about how a lot of things were done here in India before they were discovered in the West. So the programme is in fact quite political because it shows how much we have ignored discoveries in the East,” he said. Du Sautoy’s team of a director, a cameraman and a researcher left Mumbai on Monday.
In India, the team filmed on trains, inside sari stores, on the backwaters of Kerala and in rickshaws. “It’s been fantastic filming in India as the visual backdrop is so rich,” Du Sautoy said.
Aryabhatta (476–550 AD), who calculated pi, and Brahmagupta (598-670 AD) feature in the film, which also showcases a Gwalior temple, which documents the first inscription of ‘zero’.
“One of the biggest inventions in India was the number zero. Indians used it long before the West did,” said Du Sautoy. “When the West had Roman numerals there was no zero and that is why they were so clumsy. On the other hand, Brahmagupta was one of the key mathematicians in the world because he invented the idea of zero.”
The documentary also features the history of Kerala-born mathematician Madhava (1350-1425) who created calculus 300 years before Newton and German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz did, said Du Sautoy. “We learn that Newton invented the mathematical theory calculus in the 17th century but Madhava created it earlier,” Du Sautoy said.
Chennai-born Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) also features in the film. “He developed a lot of his own maths. He contacted English mathematician G.H. Hardy, who persuaded him to come to Cambridge. They began a collaboration between the analytical maths of the West and the intuitive maths of India, and together produced brilliant theories and amazing results.”
It was difficult for Ramanujan to travel to Britain because he was a Brahmin and not allowed to travel by sea. “He had to almost give up his religion but maths was also like a religion to him. He had no one to talk to in India because at that time no one was interested in his ideas,” said Du Sautoy.”
Interesting Post Shamand…..Aryabhatta and Vedic Maths seem to have been lost in the annals of time and history.Coming to think of it, without zero as the baseline,scientific calculations and discoveries would be found wanting for accuracy.Good case for Tk protection.
Very Informative posting…Coming to think of it Ancient India’s contribution in every field be it math,astronomy,grammar etc has been phenomenal.Its sad that though it has etched a niche for itself in the pages of history its been long forgotten.
But im sure with someone like you creating so much awareness the situation is bound to improve.
Here is a letter sent to du Sautoy (copied to Naomi Canton)
====
Dear Professor du Sautoy,
A recent newspaper article (Hindustan Times, Mumbai, 5 July 07) reported your attempt to document for the BBC the history of Indian mathematics, including the development of the “Kerala” calculus.
I was glad to hear about this for I have been working to bring out the Indian contribution to the calculus since 1998 when I took up a project sponsored by the Indian National Science Academy on “Madhava and the origin of the calculus”.
While the newspaper report stated that you regarded your documentary as political, it suggested no attempt on your part to reflect on the biases which earlier led to the wrong conclusions about the origin of the calculus and maintained those erroneous beliefs for centuries. In my book (“Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe in the 16th c. CE”, Pearson Longman, New Delhi, 2007; Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy, and Culture, vol x, part 4) and in related papers (some details at http://IndianCalculus.info) I have examined how European religious bigotry during the Crusades and the Inquisition led to the fabricated history that mathematics was invented in Greece and then developed in Europe. (The structure of your 4 part serial perpetuates that historical stereotype, with some 2/3 still devoted to Greece and the West.) For similar reasons, in the time of Newton, Europeans as a rule avoided acknowledging any non-Christian works (except for the theologically correct early Greeks): that is why Newton was initially credited with the invention of the calculus, just as Vasco da Gama was credited with the “discovery” of India (and the pope hence assigned ownership of India to Portugal). Related biases, as in your loose talk of “intuitive Indian mathematics”, ensured that Newton retained the credit for the past two centuries that the Indian infinite series have been well known to British historians.
Similar “neglect” of non-European work continues to this day: see, e.g., “Prof. Raju’s charge of plagiarism found correct: UK varsity warns lecturer”, Hindustan Times Bhopal Live, front page headline, 8 Nov 2004. More recently, Sir Michael Atiyah, considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians alive, claimed to be bringing about the next scientific revolution by not citing my previously published work known to him (see p. 472 at http://www.ams.org/notices/200704/commentary-web.pdf, and http://11picsoftime.com/IsThisEthical.pdf), and the attempt is on to suppress my reaction. For that matter, you too seemed to have neglected to take my work into account, though it is widely known, and, as part of the 50-book PHISPC series, it would have seemed hard to miss. Of course, I quite see that your case is not in the same category as the preceding two, since you are not claiming originality, but are only making a popular serial.
Please do let me know when the serial is telecast. I too am planning a documentary. So, perhaps you could also let me know the details of your contact at the BBC—if you feel there is the slightest chance that the BBC might be willing to produce a documentary truly (not just symbolically) critical of those long-standing biases.
With good wishes,
Yours sincerely,
C. K. Raju
Distinguished Professor, IAMT
&
Editorial Fellow, Centre for Studies in Civilizations
P.S. This is an open letter, being copied to others, and, if you so wish, I’ll copy your replies too to them.
Thanks for the comments, Malavika and Aysha.
Lets hope we can continue to turn the pages of history and learn from the past.
Dear Professor Raju,
Thanks very much for passing on your letter to us. Did HT publish your response? I hope they did–as I think people need to see this. Unfortunately, unless an Oxford mathematician and BBC prompt us, we are prone to overlooking our past achievements or notes of Indians such as you who document this painstakingly. Why don’t you speak with one of the Indian channels–and see if they are interested as well. The BBC series will release only in 2008–so you can get there earlier–and you did get there earlier–in terms of your writing.
Thanks again,
Shamnad
Thanks Shamnad, and sorry for this delayed response. I didn’t send the letter to HT, only to the correspondent, and neither she nor du Sautoy has (yet) responded. It is curious how inconvenient mail so often gets lost on the Internet!
Thanks for the suggestion that I speak to some Delhi TV channels. I have been meaning to do so, and might actually do so, as soon as I get back to Delhi, since there is an outside chance that they might be interested, especially now that the BBC has taken it up.
Sometime back, while on a vacation in Shimla, I met a former Vice Chancellor of the National Law School in Bangalore, and happened to have several long and interesting discussions with him on the IP issues arising out of the transmission of the thesis that the calculus was transmitted, or the more recent Atiyah episode.
In this connection, I have recently written a two-part background article for the layperson on “Transmissions in the history of science”, in about 6000 words (including references). The aim is to point out how double standards of evidence and a varying onus of proof has been systematically used for credit grab since Copernicus.
However, I am not sure whether SpicyIP is the appropriate forum articles of this length. Alternatively, I could upload the preprints to my website and post extended abstracts with links so that the discussion can move forward. What do you suggest?
CKR
Dear Professor Raju,
Its a pity that they haven’t responded. I think you should send this directly to the HT (letters to HT section). Also, I’m more than happy to carry your articles–if you could load them on your website and provide comprehensive abstracts, I can reproduce the abstracts on blog and link to your website. Does this sound good?
Warm wishes,
Shamnad
Thanks Shamnad, I’ll do that. I am having some problems accessing the Internet with my mobile connection, so I’ll probably upload the articles over the weekend, after I get back to Delhi.
All best,
CKR
Dear Shamnad,
though I would let you know that I posted those articles last Sunday at
http://IndianCalculus.info/transmission11.html
and
http://IndianCalculus.info/transmissions2.html
I had sent the abstracts to you, and they are posted at
http://IndianCalculus.info/Transmissions_Abstracts_1.html
and
http://IndianCalculus.info/transmissions_Abstract_2.html
In the meanwhile, I am informed that at the 65th executive cocuncil meeting of the Delhi-based Society for Scientific values, the EC noted that at least 3 experts had found valid my complaint against Sir Michael Atiyah. The Society will now write to Atiyah for his views.
All best,
CKR
would love to watch the upcoming series..quite interesting …thanx!