O! Lilavati, Intelligent girt, if you understand addition and subtraction, tell me the sum of the amounts...
In the fifteen years since Lilavati's Daughters (LD) was first published, this is the sixth time we have had to print additional copies. During this time, there have been some developments, particularly to do with translations into several Indian languages. This latest reprinting gives us the opportunity of updating the original Preface to include these developments, updating the profiles of the contributors and correcting a few typos that had gone unnoticed earlier. In addition we also include two new biographies in this revision, those of Bibha Chowdhuri (1913-1991) and Leela Mulherkar (1915-2005), pioneers in the areas of experimental particle physics and developmental biology. Hence this has now become a second edition than just the sixth printing.
Even with the fifth printing, the total number of copies of LD in circulation is not very large-it comes to 14,000 now-but it would be accurate to say that we are both surprised and very pleased by the reception that the book has got. As we have re-marked earlier, the idea of the book came up at a time when the issue of the underrepresentation of women in the sciences in India was beginning to be discussed. The Women in Science (WiS) panel of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore thought that it might be both interesting and inspirational for young children to learn more about Indian women scientists.
The first idea was to put together a collection of biographical sketches of influential Indian women scientists of earlier generations, to underline the fact that it is possible to find role models within the country. (A working model of just such a collection had appeared around that time: One Hundred Reasons to be a Scientist, by K. R. Sreenivasan, Director of the International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste. About a hundred highly reputed scientists from all over the world shared what attracted them to science as youngsters and kept their interest alive.) We further felt that it was important, especially for young girls with research ambitions, to know of women who functioned and achieved their goals in the Indian social and academic environment.
Lalavati's Daughters shared some of the features of One Hundred Reasons but was also quite different. We wanted this col-lection of essays to mirror our cultural diversity, and to cover a range of disciplines so that any woman student could gain from the insights and experiences of other women to whom they might have been able to relate at many levels. We had therefore asked our contributors to give some idea of the journey on the path of science the passions that help keep the motivation strong, the tribulations they might have undergone. We had also asked them to talk about what helped in their careers, as well as what did not.
The women scientists who eventually featured in Lilavati's Daughters gave generously of themselves, sharing their stories with candour and with warmth. The set of nearly one hundred essays (some biographical as well) gives some flavour of what it takes to be a woman scientist in India today. Negotiating through the diversity of cultures, regional distinctions, languages, and traditions in order to pursue a career in science has its complexities. It was both interesting and instructive to learn from these narratives that achieving a balance between family and career was just one of the many challenges in the journey of several of our contributors!
A large number of people have helped us in this endeavour and we would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to them. Tina Franco, P. K. Jayanthan, Sharvari Navale, Saashi Subodh and Ruth Vanita edited many of the essays at different stages. We would like to express our thanks to Mr G Madhavan of the Indian Academy of Sciences for his help in making this project a reality. The staff of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Mrs R. Pushpavathi, Ms M. K. Anitha and Mrs M. Srimathi in particular, have worked tirelessly to see to its completion. A big thank you also to our artists Mr Trinankur Banerjee and Mrs Jayati Naravane. We also wish to express our gratitude to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune who provided us ac-cess to some of the old manuscripts related to Bhaskara's Lilavati, excerpts from which adorn the cover.
We would particularly like to thank all our contributors. A number of friends and colleagues helped by putting together sketches of the women scientists who are no more. This required considerable archival effort, and it was enriching to learn from them of the early days, when the barriers that women needed to cross were huge.
The women scientists who wrote the autobiographical essays have shared their personal stories and insights, and have been most generous with their time. Without them, there would be no book.
Hindu (886)
Agriculture (95)
Ancient (1020)
Archaeology (619)
Architecture (535)
Art & Culture (865)
Biography (598)
Buddhist (545)
Cookery (158)
Emperor & Queen (496)
Islam (235)
Jainism (274)
Literary (877)
Mahatma Gandhi (360)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist