Ancient Indian Geeks…their inventions and discoveries that changed da world

a little more trivia for you…which is only intended to clutter your head with noise…

Chess…was invented in India…The digit “zero” was invented in IndiaAlgebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.The’ place value system’ and the ‘decimal system’ were developed in 100 BC in India.The value of “pi” was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians. The word “Algorithm” was actually supposed to be pronounced “Al-Khwarizmi”, which was the name of an eminent 9th century Arab scholar, who played important roles in importing knowledge on arithematic and algebra from India to the Arabs. In his work, De numero indorum (Concerning the Hindu Art of Reckoning), it was based presumably on an Arabic translation of Brahmagupta where he gave a full account of the Hindu numerals which was the first to expound the system with its digits 0,1,2,3,…,9 and decimal place value which was a fairly recent arrival from India.The new notation came to be known as that of al-Khwarizmi, or more carelessly, algorismi; ultimately the scheme of numeration making use of the Hindu numerals came to be called simply algorism or algorithm, a word that, originally derived from the name al-Khwarizmi, now means, more generally, any peculiar rule of procedure or operation. Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software. ( a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987 ).The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word ‘Navigation’ is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nou’.Legend has it that the South Indian martial arts form Kalaripattu…may be the original mother of all martial arts…Kung- fu, popularized by the monks of the Shoaling Temple traces its ancestry to Bodhi Dharma – an Indian Buddhist monk and Kalaripayattu master.Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts. Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
The first Geek to discover that the Earth was moving around the sun- Aryabhata, it so happens, was apparently quite skeptical of the widely held doctrines about eclipses and also about the belief that the Sun goes round the Earth. He didn’t think that eclipses were caused by Rahu but by the Earth’s shadow over the Moon and the Moon obscuring the Sun. As early as the sixth century, he talked of the diurnal motion of the earth and the appearance of the Sun going round it. Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was – Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.Earliest known precise celestial calculations in astronomy.As argued by James Q. Jacobs, Aryabhata, an Indian Mathematician (c. 500AD) accurately calculated celestial constants like earth’s rotation per solar orbit, days per solar orbit, days per lunar orbit. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, no source from prior to the 18th century had more accurate results on the values of these constants! Click here for details. Aryabhata’s 499 AD computation of pi as 3.1416 (real value 3.1415926…) and the length of a solar year as 365.358 days were also extremely accurate by the standards of the next thousand years.And Indians were the earliest people to imagine the future as a long long long way ahead…The notion of of time spans that are truly gigantic by modern standards are rarely found in ancient civilizations as the notion of large number is rare commodity. Apart from the peoples of the Mayan civilization, the ancient Hindus appear to be the only people who even thought beyond a few thousand years. In the famed book Cosmos, physicist-astronomer-teacher Carl Sagan writes “A millennium before Europeans were wiling to divest themselves of the Biblical idea that the world was a few thousand years old, the Mayans were thinking of millions and the Hindus billions”

read more detailed accounts of Ancient Indian discoveries at indianchild.com and thisismyindia

And here’s a bizarre little song from the 80’s dedicated to Indian Geeks, ancient and New… “She Blinded me with Science”…by Thomas Dolby…

Indian Geeks are Prime Husband Material

It’s the revenge of the Nerds…I always knew that the Geek would inherit the Earth. The cliché’s of yesteryear about the geek as being a socially awkward, badly dressed weirdo who’s always stuck in the house with his books, computers, and allergies, is…well…neither entirely untrue nor so very different today except that geeks get out more these days (traveling “abraaad”) and are getting paid more and more. Another big difference is that Geeks are getting the girls…(although I’m not sure that Geeky girls are getting the guys…no fair)…More Desi mummys and daddys are hunting down IT Geeks for their little girls. Apparently it doesn’t matter so much if you are tall, fair, athletic, or have good eye sight anymore…and no one wonders whether or not its unhealthy that you spend so much time with your computer…or that you call “her” your “girlfriend” or that you talk to her sometimes when no one is looking…hey, if that’s what brings the bucks then your inlaws give you their blessing…

image from cinemablend

Mrs Khatoon knows exactly what type of man she wants for her daughter. “I want an IT professional,” she says, “preferably someone based in London, or someone who has the opportunity to work overseas in the future.”

image from bbc

Different profession, same priorities. It may seem an unusual request for a traditional Indian mother to make. Up to a decade ago, government employees and accountants were at the top of the most-wanted list for marriage proposals in India – because they were guaranteed a stable and steady income and a lifetime of work. But all this has changed now, thanks to the technology boom in India.

“You know, in my generation, people weren’t so educated,” says Mrs Khatoon, as her daughter Rakshi looks through a list of prospective techie grooms. “We didn’t have so much exposure, so we as Indian parents thought that government employees or doctors and accountants were the best choices for our daughters. We had never even heard of technology professionals!”
Now, though, things have changed.

Murugavel Janakiraman, the chief executive of bharatmatrimony.com, insists that Mrs Khatoon and her daughter are now fast becoming the norm, and not the exception. In the past few years India’s technology services sector has grown rapidly, adding millions of jobs to the Indian economy. Young Indian engineering and computer science graduates, in hot demand to fill vacancies in offices around the country, have benefited the most from this boom. And because there are just not enough of them to fill all the jobs being created – India’s software trade body, Nasscom, says that there could be a shortfall of half a million IT professionals by 2010 – salaries are on the rise.

image from nada.com

“Not only are they most sought after in the professional world,” says Mr Janakiraman, “IT men are also the hottest in the marriage market. “IT workers can draw salaries of around $800 a month [about twice those available in comparable jobs] and that’s just at the beginning of their careers. “They are likely to see their salaries jump more than any other professional in the country right now – with salaries rising about 20% a year on average.”

image from bbc

For the IT professionals who have spent years labouring under nicknames such as nerd, geek or computer whiz – and those are the nicer ones – this attention can come as a pleasant surprise. They’ve hardly ever been seen as the most glamorous of types. Often stereotyped as hard working and intelligent – and well, just a little bit boring – they’re not often seen as the ideal mate.

“I wish this had happened when I was younger,” says Frank Raman, a technology manager at Datamatics in Mumbai. “I would have been able to benefit from it at that time – now I’m married, so girls looking to marry me I’m afraid are out of luck!”

His friend, Anup Gandhi, agrees. “I think it’s fabulous that we’re now in such hot demand, ” he says. “Why not? If the Indian woman wants me, I think that’s a very good thing!”

image from georgecohill

The latest economic forecasts are looking good for the IT world’s prospective bridegrooms. They show that the Indian economy has expanded by more than 9% – with services making up a fifth of that growth. By 2010, analysts say that technology will contribute close to a tenth of India’s overall GDP. So even if Frank is off the market, Anup and his colleagues may be able to keep looking forward to both higher salaries – and domestic bliss.

story from the bbc June 14, 2007