Science and the British Empire

Rajesh Kochhar was a former Professor of Astrophysics and former Director, National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi, India. An astrophysicist turned historian, he published original research with a special focus on the history of science and education in British India. He was a former President of International Astronomical Union Commission on History of Astronomy, a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer, Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow and British Council Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is the recipient of the Indian National Science Academy’s 2014 Indira Gandhi Prize for Popularization of Science. He published original research in a number of fields and lectured extensively in India and abroad including Harvard, Cornell, University of Texas at Austin, Belfast, Brighton, Royal Dublin Society, Tubingen, Copenhagen University and National Museum Copenhagen. He is the author of The Vedic People: Their History and Geography (2000), English Education in India, 1715-1835: Half-caste, Missionary, and Secular Stages (2020) and Sanskrit and the British Empire (2022).

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

2 English Surgeons and Company Trade Concessions

3 Geography

4 Astronomy, Meteorology and Earth’s Magnetism

5 Natural History: Portuguese and Dutch India, 16–17th Century

6 Natural History: Missionary and Colonial India, 18–19th Century

7 Horses, Cattle and Agriculture

8 Education under Colonial Auspices

9 Cultivation of Science in 19th-Century Bengal

10 Science under Indian Auspices

11 Science after Independence

12 Discussion

References

Index