India: Women in Science

From the Times of India:

How many of us know that many Indian women had wonderful scientific achievements during the time of Marie Curie? Noted scientists Rohini Godbole and Ramakrishna Ramaswamy from IISc and JNU have put together a book on the work of many women scientists who were brilliant thinkers in their own right, but went unrecognized.

Speaking at the National Institute of Advanced Studies on Wednesday, Ramaswamy, who spoke on the book `Lilavati's Daughters: The Women Scientists of India,' published recently, said they had worked towards retrieving Indian women's contributions to science in the book. The book is a unique collection of biographical and autobiographical sketches and is part of an initiative of the Women in Science panel of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

"Covering a range of disciplines, almost 100 women scientists talk of what brought them to science, what kept their interest alive and what has helped them achieve some measure of distinction in their careers," Ramaswamy observed.

Lilavati is actually a 12th-century treatise in which the mathematician Bhaskaracharya addresses a number of math problems to his daughter, Lilavati. Although legend has it that Lilavati never got married, her intellectual legacy lives on in the form of her daughters -- the women scientists of India, the writers point out in the book.

The under-representation of women in science is seen with great concern the world over. Several programmes and initiatives are being undertaken to tackle this, and, in 2005, the Indian Academy of Sciences set up the Women in Science panel to address women's concerns in science. It is this panel that has published a one-of-its kind biographical and autobiographical account of women scientists from India.