Physics in India

Abstract

India, as is well known, has a notable record in the A field of physics, the more remarkable in view of the differences between her cultural background and that of occidental countries. The major achievements in this record were made in the era preceding India's recently won independence. The people of India, having struggled so long for this independence, are making a determined effort to bring their country abreast those of other free peoples of the world. In this effort every phase of modern progress has come in for consideration. The impressions gained by an American physicist during several months in the spring and summer of 1951, while a Fulbright research scholar, may therefore be of interest to some of the readers of Physics Today. In presenting this discussion I should point out that I did not visit all the laboratories of this vast country, even though this statement might seem unnecessary to those familiar with India. Also this was my first visit so that I can make no firsthand comparisons with earlier conditions. My host institution was the Muslim University at Aligarh. During the six months spent in the country I visited the universities and research institutes located in Allahabad, Agra, Benares, Bombay, Delhi, Lucknow, and Madras. I also visited the University of Ceylon at Colombo and for about two months was in that part of the Himalayas situated in the province of Kashmir.