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India’s arrival on the modern mathematical scene

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Abstract

Modern mathematics, and modern science in general, was embraced enthusiastically in the Indian subcontinent quite early, thanks to a large extent to the tradition of learning going back to the ancient times. By the early decades of the 20th century the Indian mathematical community had made important research contributions in diverse areas of mathematics, including number theory, real and complex analysis, diffrential geometry, diffrential equations, algebra, combinatorial mathematics and applied mathematics. Interaction with world leaders in the field, reforms in the educational system, establishment of societies for actively pursuing study and discussion of mathematics, publication of mathematical journals, were some of the major progressive steps taken. Apart from the indigenous leadership, participation of a few enlightened foreigners in the process also paved the way for the advancement of the subject in the country. We recount here the story of the early developments of the mathematical scene in India, and of the various players involved.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Powai, Mumbai, 400 076, India

    S. G. Dani

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  1. S. G. Dani
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Correspondence to S. G. Dani.

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S G Dani retired as a Distinguished Professor at TIFR, Mumbai and is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Powai, Mumbai.

His areas of interest are dynamics and ergodic theory of flows on homogeneous spaces, applications to diophantine approximation, probability measures on Lie groups and related fields. He has received several awards including the TWAS Prize for Mathematical Sciences and the Ramanujan Medal.

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Dani, S.G. India’s arrival on the modern mathematical scene. Reson 17, 824–846 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-012-0094-8

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