Myths, misconceptions and science

The Indian science congress association (ISCA) was formed in Kolkata in 1914 with the aim of growth and progress in the field of science and technology.

The country’s highly prestigious conference was founded by two British chemists Professor J L Simonsen and P S MacMohan and was stemmed from the foresight that the scientific research in India would be encouraged through an annual meeting of scientists and research workers in the country. The first meeting of the Science Congress also took place in the same year. The association strengthened after the British left India and the leaders since the time of Pandit Nehru have always tried to involve students, youths and prominent scientists in it. Nehru has been credited for setting the nation on the path of science and technology. He had said that not only a growth in the field of science and research was necessary for the scientific advancement in the country but a scientific awareness should also be created among the people. The Science Congress has evidently played a major role in the growth and advancement of science in the country.

The 102nd Indian Science Congress 2015 took place on Wednesday in Mumbai targeting a future in advanced safety, healthcare, agriculture, environment, education, industries and entrepreneurs. But it has hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Several high profile Speakers from India and abroad were invited to deliver speeches on topics ranging from ancient Indian botany and nueroscience of yoga to ancient Indian aviation technology and ancient Indian surgery. The science congress, for the first time, had a session on “Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit”. In the session, Captain Anand J Bodas, the retired principal of a pilot training academy delivered a talk on “Ancient Indian Aviation Technology”. He said that planes were invented in the Vedic Age by a sage much before the Wright brothers and that they could travel from one planet to another, halt mid air and move in any direction thereafter. Instances of making gold from hay, instruments that can split even strands of hair, interplanetary missions even before 10, 000 years ago, the advancements in radar technology were also cited without the support of any historic documents or any scientific logic leading to questions about the integrity of the scientific process.

All the claims of advanced science and technology in the ancient world were based on references in ancient scripts. Mixing mythology and science and apparently imagining scientific facts based on these ancient scripts would lead only to confusions. The age old cultures of India, Greece, Arabia and Egypt have all contributed to the growth and progress of humanity together and not just alone. It is evident that more researches and studies need to be conducted. Blatant myths and misconceptions about the past would not lead to a bright future but only contribute towards destroying the logic of the society.