150 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, MAY-JUNE, 2020

85TH ANNIVERSARY OF SCIENCE AND CULTURE:AN INTROSPECTION

RAJINDER SINGH1 AND S.C. ROY2

Eighty five years ago M.N. Saha and his associates founded Science and Culture. 85 years ofsurvival of a journal is a sufficiently long time to introspect its achievements over time. Thisarticle presents a brief history of this journey through its 85-year period. In order to eliminatesubjectivity in judgement, particularly when one of the authors is intimately associated with thejournal, articles from Nature,Science and Cultureand other sources have been analysed to assessits impact on the society.

ARTICLE

1 Research Group - Physics Education and ScienceCommunication, Physics Institute, University of Oldenburg,26111 Oldenburg, Germany. E-mail: rajinder.singh@uni-oldenburg.de.

2 Editor-in-Chief, Science and Culture, Indian Science NewsAssociation, 92 Acharya P.C. Road, Kolkata 700009.

Introduction

Eighty five years ago, the journal Science andCulture was initiated out of the conflict betweenthe Bangalore and Kolkata based scientists. The

conflict also triggered formation of new scientificacademies in India. The journal Current Science startedfrom Bangalore in 1932 for dissemination of scientificresearch done in India and abroad. In 1935, Meghnad Sahawith the patronage of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray,Shyama Prasad Mukhopadhyay (Mukherjee/ Mookerjee)and many others established Indian Science NewsAssociation (ISNA) to publish the journal Science andCulture following the style of the British journal Natureand the American journal Science, proclaiming that it wouldinterpret science in non-technical language and advocatea planned application of science to India’s problems.1 Sahawas so eager to vent his ideas and thoughts that Scienceand Culture predated the formation of ISNA.

In addition to publishing bold editorials advocatingthe application of science and technology for a planned

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36094/sc.v86.2020.Science_and_Culture.Singh_Roy.150

development of the country, scientific and other articles,Science and Culture regularly published reports on themeetings and conferences of various scientific societies.The biography of Presidents and Sectional Presidents ofthe Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) meetingswere published almost every year. It also reported aboutNobel Prize and Nobel Prize winners every year. Withoutany doubt Science and Culture was and continues to bea great resource for the historians of science.

On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of Science andCulture the famous British journal Nature wrote that thisjournal “is one of which its sponsors may justly be proud.… Among the contributors to the Silver Jubilee editionare distinguished men of science from various parts of theworld.2” The “distinguished scientists” were - Hans vonEuler, University of Stockholm, A.I. Oparin, USSR Academyof Sciences, John Desmond Bernal FRS, U.K., and IvanMatels, Czechoslovak Academy of Science, who hadcontributed articles to this edition. Of course contributionof prominent Indian scientists was also pointed out.2

On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, a brochurewas brought out by the Indian Science News Associationdepicting the 75 years of journey of Science and Culture.It contained titles of some prominent articles and theirauthors, various title pages showing the changing ofdesign style, and of course the first council and the present

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council members (2010).3 In 2018, S.C. Roy, in an articlepresented the chronicle of 83 years of journey of Scienceand Culture and ISNA.4 There is no doubt that Scienceand Culture impacted the development of science andtechnology. Much could be written on the role of thejournal as well as its editors, who with their hard workkept it alive, in particular, in the 21st century, when digitalmedia and globalisation influenced the publication sectorin a significant way. Many Indian journals came under thecontrol of Western publishers. For instance, Springerpublishes Indian Journal of Physics, which was foundedby C.V. Raman in 1926 at the Indian Association for theCultivation of Science (IACS).

It is to be noted that this is not an exhaustive accountof 85 years of journey of Science and Culture. We will befocusing on the following:

1. Circumstances under which the journal wasestablished.

2. A case study of interaction between the Britishjournal Nature and Science and Culture. To keepthe article short, it will be limited to the period1935 - 56, i.e. “M.N. Saha era”.

3. We will be citing some examples to show that thejournal provided opportunities to Indian scientiststo express their critical views or defend theirscientific work.

4. The journal published many critical articles andthis tradition has been continuing till date.

Need of a Journal – Political and ScientificReasons

The political factors which influenced the foundationof Science and Culture have been discussed by one ofthe authors (SCR) in the above referred articles3,4. However,internal elements, i.e. different political and scientificcontroversies among Indians, which playeda major role in the formation were not discussed there andwill be discussed in detail here.

Political Background

The political situation in India, in the 1930s was mostunstable. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent ideology seemedto be failing. His often-promised announcement of “India’sindependence within a year, if people follow him” appearedto be distant. After about a decade of struggle, most ofhis followers were disappointed. Not surprisingly, SubhasChandra Bose, a young Bengali with radical ideas,appeared on the political stage and in 1938, he became

the President of the Indian National Congress by defeatingGandhi’s follower.

The first issue of the Science and Culture waspublished in June 1935. In August 1935 issue of the journal,in a “Supplement” entitled “Indian Science NewsAssociation – Founded 1935” was published. Under the“The Inaugural Meeting of the Indian Science NewsAssociation”, the story of the foundation of the journaland ISNA was given. Therein we found that the firstmeeting was held on July 9, 1935, in the Hall of CalcuttaMathematical Society, University College of Science. Beforethe meeting, more than 500 invitations were sent todifferent persons. The meeting was attended by 250participants.5 The meeting was presided over by the greatchemist Prafulla Chandra Ray. Shamprasad (sic) Mookerjee(also written as Shyama or Syama Prasad Mukherjee), ViceChancellor, University of Calcutta, was scheduled towelcome the guests. As he was unable to attend themeeting, his speech was read by S.C. Ghosh, Secretary ofthe Post-graduate Council of Arts and Science. He statedthat the aims and objectives of ISNA were stated in theeditorial of the first issue of Science and Culture, theprimary organ of the Association. The first two issues ofScience and Culture (June and July 1935) were placedbefore the members present in the meeting. Incidentally,the Association had no room of its own when it startedand Prof. B.B. Ray who was one of the first editors ofScience and Culture allowed his sitting room to beconverted into the office of Science and Culture.6

Subhas Bose’s contemporary S.P. Mukherjee/Mookerjee, who belonged to the far-right wing, was a friendof M.N. Saha and B.B. Ray. It is well-known that Gandhiand S.P. Mookerjee were not on the same line as far astheir political views were concerned. Mookerjee opposedGandhian philosophy as can be seen in the following textalthough he did not mention Gandhi’s name explicitly:

“Gone are the self-sufficient village industries andorganizations and the time honoured village,institutions, and it is very doubtful whether, in spiteof recent heroic efforts in certain quarters, they canever be revived.”5

S.P. Mookerjee cited the example of the failure oftraditional agriculture:

“The sugar industry, in which India waspredominant from immemorial times, were almostcompletely wiped out owing to the perfection ofnew methods of manufacture, used in Java andelsewhere, which owed their origin to scientificresearch.”

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Obviously, Science and Culture had supporters fromthe right-wing and revolutionary wing to oppose on thepolitical level.

Question of control

As we see from the webpage of the journal CurrentScience, C.V. Raman, Birbal Sahni, M.N. Saha, M.O. Forster,S.S. Bhatnagar, and others founded the journal in 1932.Obviously, at that time, neither M.N. Saha nor any otherBengali felt the need of a similar journal outside Bangalore.It will not be an exaggeration to say that somedevelopments forced M.N. Saha to establish a journaloutside the control of C.V. Raman.7

1. Leadership of the IACS

In 1933, India’s Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman becamethe first Indian Director of the Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore. Before that he had worked at the IndianAssociation for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), andUniversity of Calcutta. Even after leaving Kolkata, he triedto maintain his control on the administration of IACS.Under the direction of S.P. Mukherjee a concerted effortwas made by several Kolkata based scientists to curb thecontrol of C.V. Raman on the affairs of IACS, and finallyin 1934, Raman was removed from the position of thePresident of the Council of the Association.8

2. Foundation of Science Academies

In 1933, it was decided to establish an Indian

Academy of Sciences. In 1934 an “Academy Committee’was formed by the Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA). C.V. Raman, who was one of the members of theCommittee resigned. Consequently Indian Academy ofSciences (founded in 1934) and National Institute ofSciences India (NISI, founded in 1935) came into existence.NISI was later renamed as Indian National ScienceAcademy (INSA)9. However, before that, M.N. Saha hadfounded the Academy of Sciences of United Provinces ofAgra and Oudh in 1930 which is known as the NationalAcademy of Sciences of India now.

C.V. Raman’s effort to establish the Indian Academyof Sciences led to a division among the Indian scientificcommunity. The main resistance came from Kolkata. Notsurprisingly, under the leadership of M.N. Saha (MNS),Bengal men of science decided to bring out a journal.Thus was born the journal Science and Culture that weare seeing today on its 86th year.

From the above it will be wrong to conclude thatScience and Culture was founded only to challengeanother section of Indians from the south. As we shallsee below, whenever needed, its authors did not hesitateto oppose the policies of the British Empire, while againfor the sake of science, cooperated with the British andlater with Indian authorities.

The Foundation of the Journal

In his inaugural speech, S.P. Mookerjee revealed thatISNA was started with the help of Sir Upendra NathBrahmachari who donated Rs. 1000 for its creation. He

hoped that such support will bereceived from him in future.Professor P.C. Ray promised todonate Rs. 2000. Anothergentleman, who wanted to stayanonymous, donated Rs. 6000. Asfar as the publication of Scienceand Culture was concerned, Mr.Hari Keshava Ghosh and hisbrothers, the owners of “TheIndian Press Ltd.” promised to printthe journal for two years, free ofcost, if so needed.

MNS, on behalf of theorganisers, talked about the effortsof Sir Asutosh Mookerjee (AM) inestablishing various science chairsat the University of Calcutta.However, his (AM’s) dream to

Figure 1: The first Secretaries of the ISNA who were also the first editors of Science andCulture - M.N. Saha and Bidhu Bhushan Ray. Credit: IACS and Prof. D. Ray respectively.

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teach the masses was yet to be fulfilled. Saha saw Scienceand Culture as an organ to do so. About the future plans,he said:

“The Indian Science News Association has beenformed with the object of popularizing andspreading the knowledge and progress of modernscience, and it hopes to do so by publication ofjournals of different classes, and later on, whenfunds permit, by organizing public lectures.”

Science and Culture – The First Issue

In Figure 1 we see the first editors of Science andCulture. Figure 2 shows the title page and “Contents.”

Saha sent the first copy of Science and Culture toeminent personalities of that era including Netaji SubhasChandra Bose, who was then at Karlsbad for healthreasons. He wrote in appreciation:

“The appearance of Science and Culture is to be

warmly welcomed not only by those, who areinterested in abstract sciences but also by thosewho are concerned with nation-building in practice.Whatever might have been the views of our older“Nation Builders” we younger folk approach thetask of nation-building in a thoroughly scientificspirit and we desire to be armed with all theknowledge which modem science and culture canafford us.”10

He continued:

“It is not possible however, for political workerswith their unending preoccupations to glean thatknowledge themselves. It is therefore, for scientistsand scientific investigators to come to their rescue”.

M.N. Saha stated that India is passing through acritical stage in her political and cultural history. He justifiedthe need of Science and Culture in this critical period asfollows:

“It is necessary that at such ajuncture the possible effects of theincreasing application of discoveriesin science to our national and sociallife, should receive very carefulattention; for, if the present is thechild of the past, it may with equalemphasis be asserted that thefuture will be the child of thepresent. The present generation byits policy and action will shape thecourse of the future.”11

Saha explained how civilizationwas defined by different scholarsand in different cultures, and thatin some European circles, Indiancivilization was interpreted asbarbarous. In 1923, the discoveryof the Indus Valley civilization byR.D. Banerjee shattered this notion.It also proved that Indiancivilization did not begin with theAryan invasion, but existed longbefore that. Saha realized thesalvation of Indian life through theapplication of science andtechnology. Under the influence ofGandhiji, people opposed theapplication of science andtechnology, which causedunemployment and suffering. SahaFigure 2: Cover and Contents of the first issue of the Science and Culture. Credit: ISNA.

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agreed that large sections of workers suffered due to thegreed of Indian industrialists. This is the cause of Gandhi’ssuccess who sympathised with the workers. Saha wrote:

“but we do not for a moment subscribe that, betterand happier conditions of life can be created bydiscarding modern scientific technic and revertingback to the spinning wheel, the loin cloth and thebullock cart.11”

Saha was of the opinion that if science and itsdiscoveries could be applied properly, they would solvemany of the economic, social and political problems. Hewas aware that industrial countries protected their ownindustry by artificial regulation of foreign trade. Did Sahaentirely oppose Gandhian philosophy? The answer is –no. It is evident from the following statement:

“With respect to our country, we would hold withMahatma Gandhi that the spinning wheel and thebullock cart should be protected so long as thestate cannot provide for the victims ofunemployment.11”

Saha was of the opinion that unremitting effort shouldbe made to adapt the modern techniques to the needs ofindustrial and economic life. Traditional methods shouldbe discarded only when proper insurance againstunemployment is made.” “It is to preach this middle paththat Science and Culture makes its debut before thepublic” wrote Saha. “Its object is dissemination of scientificknowledge amongst the public and advocacy of itsapplication to all walks of life as far as practicable.”

According to Saha, Indians could boast of a largenumber of scientific workers in different branches ofscience. Her scientists contributed at an international level.Their work was of technical nature and not easy tocomprehend by general public. Scientists were willing towrite for general public, but there was no proper journal.Science and Culture was founded to fill this gap.Regarding the type of articles that should be included, hewrote:

(i) Articles written in simple language by expertsabout “the recent contributions to knowledge invarious branches of science.”

(ii) Articles discussing Government policies intechnical matters such as “rural reconstruction,transport, power development, industrial policyand such others which have their basis onscience”.

(iii) Correspondence of scientists.

(iv) Short research notes on scientific and culturaltopics.

(v) Book reviews and “reports of activities ofGovernment research and technical departments.”

At the end he stated that “the view will be alwayskept in mind that science is important only as long as itconduces to the development of culture and serves thecause of human progress.”

A transcription of the appeal made by Saha to eminentpersons requesting them to contribute “articles, researchnotes and other things which may be considered worthyof public attention” is appended in Figure 3:

The journal was founded in the colonial period whenIndia was still ruled by the British Empire. Subhas ChandraBose had presided over the third annual meeting of theISNA. Syama Prasad Mookerjee was well-known for hisanti-British ideology and was a prominent member of theHindu Mahasabha political party. It will not be anexaggeration to assume that the persons associated withScience and Culture and its contents were under closescrutiny of the British Empire and British men of science.In the following we see few examples.

Figure 3: M.N. Saha’s appeal to contribute articles inScience and Culture.

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Reaction of British Scientific Communitythrough the lens of Nature

Nature very often referred to reports, articles andnews published in the Science and Culture.11-28 Thereaction of the British community can be classified intotwo categories.

Positive Reports

1. Announcement of a new journal : Nature in itsAug. 10, 1935 issue published an article titled “Scienceand Culture: A new Indian Monthly”. According to theauthor, the two British chemists J.L. Simonsen and P.S.MacMahon, established the Indian Science CongressAssociation (ISCA) in 1913. They anticipated that the ISCAwould stimulate an interest in science in India. Apart fromthat, due to educational reforms made by the British Empire,universities started research work. With time, the numberof scientific journals and societies had increased in India.Around the same time, the National Institute of Sciencesof India, the U.P. Academy of Sciences (Allahabad), andthe Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore) were founded.In the past, general aspects of science were published byCurrent Science. The article announced the launching ofa monthly journal, Science and Culture, being publishedfrom Calcutta. “The object of this periodical ‘is thedissemination of scientific knowledge amongst the publicand advocacy of its application to all walks of life as faras practicable’.29”

The author of the article appreciated articles publishedin the first issue of the journal. He praised M.N. Saha’s“Ultimate Constituents of Matter” which could attract awide range of public. However, he criticised the“Correspondence column” on the ground – “containingpreliminary accounts of scientific investigations, seemsscarcely in keeping with the other contents. These ‘lettersto the editor’ would have appeared more suitably inCurrent Science.29”

2. Social implication of science – August issue ofScience and Culture : The August, 1938 issue of Scienceand Culture contained articles like “The social implicationsof science”, “The origin of planets”, “Recent advances inthe study of plant growth hormones”, and “Records ofthe Royal Society of London”. The editor of Nature washighly impressed by the plethora of articles. He gave creditto those who brought out Science and Culture for suchimportant contributions. The Nature reported:

“In the leading article on social implications ofscience, support is given for the movement

represented by the committee on science and itssocial relationships of the International Council ofScientific Unions and the new Division of the BritishAssociation, and it is suggested that the IndianScience Congress Association should discuss thesubject in a plenary session at the forthcomingmeeting at Lahore.30”

The 25th anniversary of the Indian Science CongressAssociation was celebrated in collaboration with the BritishAssociation for the Advancement of Science, in Kolkatain 1938. The renowned physicist Ernest Rutherford was topreside over the meeting. However, due to his suddenuntimely death, the astrophysicist James H. Jeans presidedover the meeting. In fact, C.V. Raman expected to do thehonours but he was not supported by some Indianscientists. Those details are explored elsewhere.31 J.H.Jeans’ lecture on the origin of planets was also publishedin Science and Culture.30

3. Organisation of research : According to Nature,a symposium on “Post War Organisation of ScientificResearch in India” was held on Sept. 27th and 28th, 1943,as reported in the Oct. 1943 issue of Science and Culture.In its editorial, J.C. Ghosh32 suggested examining thefacilities for scientific research and training, and thencoordinating them.33

As the end of the WWII was nowhere to be seen,the British Empire decided to cooperate with Indianscientists. In 1943, at the request of the Secretary of Statefor India, the Royal Society sent its Secretary A.V. Hill, aNobel Laureate and FRS, to India. His job was tocoordinate various defence related research works, suchas signaling and electrical equipment, wirelesscommunication, and airborne forces.34 He met many Indianscientists at that time.35 In a meeting of the Indian ScienceCongress Association on Jan. 4, 1944, A.V. Hill delivered apopular lecture on “Scientific organisation of science,official and unofficial, in the United Kingdom.36” Scienceand Culture had published this lecture. The publishedarticle was extended by adding information from Natureand other British journals.37

On April 6, 1944, A.V. Hill left India.38 Before leavingIndia, he ensured a cooperation between the two countries.To put it into practice, in May of 1944, a delegation ofIndian scientists was sent to Canada, the U.S.A., and U.K.According to The Hindustan Times of April 6, 1944, theteam consisted of M.N. Saha, S.K. Mitra, J.C. Ghosh, N.Ahmed, S.L. Bhatia, and J.N. Mukherjee led by S.S.Bhatnagar.39

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4. Science and Culture – one of the best journals :The January, 1946 issue of Science and Culture was theScience Congress number. It had an Editorial on “Hundredyears of Geological Survey of India40” and articles on“Post-War plans for Geological Survey of India41”, “A shorthistory of the Geological Survey of India42”, “NationalAcademy of Peiping and its wartime activities43”, “Achallenge of civilization44” and “The radar.45” Nature wrote:“The whole issue does credit to its editors andcontributors.46” According to the author:

“It is becoming increasingly clear that everycountry, or at any rate every cultural group, needsits own general scientific journal. In many cases,such journals already exist; and Science andCulture is one of the best of them (emphasis added).Published monthly, it covers all branches of science,naturally devoting special attention to science inIndia. We congratulate the editors on this specialnumber, and commend the journal to all men ofscience and others. It is deserving of all possiblesupport.”46

India achieved independence on Aug. 15, 1947. ButIndia continued with the British education system andpolitical policies, the political relation had a differentdimension with U.K.

5. Science and Culture, Oct. 1956 - Tribute to M.N.Saha : M.N. Saha passed away on Feb. 16, 1956. A specialissue of Science and Culture was brought out on hisvarious activities in research, education and scientificorganization. Nature wrote:

“The issue contains ten articles by colleagues,friends and students of Prof. Saha, dealing with hiscontributions to astrophysics, nuclear physics andthe development of atomic research in India,geophysics, calendar reform, river valleydevelopments, and his success as a teacher andorganizer.47”

It is well-known that M.N. Saha was a man ofmethodical reasoning, a man with clear cut ideas. For along time, he had worked with India’s the then PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru. However, a time came whenSaha was forced to enter politics to express his ideas. Wegive below a few examples from Nature which show howsome of the articles in Science and Culture openlyexpressed his critical views.

Other Reports

1. M.N. Saha’s confrontation with the editor ofNature : In the middle of 1930s there was a disputebetween the new director of IISc, C.V. Raman and hiscolleagues. Due to various reasons, Raman was finallyforced to resign. However, before that at the beginning of1935, James Irvine was appointed chairman of the statutoryquinquennial committee, to evaluate the work of IndianInstitute of Science. Officially, on March 24, 1936 James C.Irvine submitted his report to the Government of India.The report had to be confidential till it was discussed bythe Council of the IISc and its publication by theGovernment of India.

M.N. Saha, in Science and Culture, criticised theworking conditions at IISc as well as the working of thedirector. According to the article: (i) the research work doneis too academic and (ii) IISc is not an all-India institute asmost of the students are from South India. Saha’s articlewas published before the Irvine Committee’s report wasdiscussed by the Council of the IISc.48 According toNature,49 “It is untimely, therefore, that the March issueof our Calcutta contemporary, Science and Culture, shouldpublish a severely critical article on the presentadministration of the Institute.” Indirectly, the author ofNature article defended Raman, who was criticised forsupporting theoretical physics and ignoring appliedsciences. The author wrote:

“Anyone cognisant of the large volume of originalwork which has issued from the Institute since itsfoundation cannot doubt that it has more thanjustified the hopes of its munificent founder, thelate Mr. J. N. Tata.49”

After the publication of the article, M.N. Sahacommunicated with R.A. Gregory, the editor of Nature.Gregory wrote to Saha that it was not a leading article buta short article, and that they had not supported any party.In reference to Saha’s article in Science and Culture (Figure4), R.A. Gregory wrote:

“As I said before, the writer of the article used thewords ‘bitter attacks’ referring to your article, and Ieditorially changed this to the word ‘untimely’. … Istill think, therefore, that it would have been mostundesirable for us in NATURE to have taken anydefinite line with regard to the Indian Institute ofScience while the Committee was still examining theevidence.50”

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Figure 4: A part of R.A. Gregory’s letter to M.N. Saha. Credit:NMML New Delhi.

R.A. Gregory disclosed that he received a copy ofthe confidential report, but would wait to comment until itwas published.50

2. The jute issue : Bengal’s agricultural and industrialdevelopment largely depended on jute. Due to financialdepression in the 1930s, the industry was in distress. TheAgricultural Commission asked a British expert S.C. Barkerto survey the condition and provide his recommendations.He proposed: (i) establishment of a new organisation withforeign representation and (ii) arrangements for thecollection of general and technical information. The neworganisation was supposed to cost £27,000 per annum,and had to work under the Jute Mill Association.51

According to Nature, Barker’s report was discussed inthe March issue of Science and Culture. The latter seemedto doubt that the control suggested by Dr. Barker wouldprove successful, since it was feared that the mill ownersmay be prone to look for immediate financial returns. Itwas suggested that a scheme organized on the lines ofthe Indian Central Cotton Committee might be moreadvantageous.51

Nature was of the opinion that the controlling body

was not important as the success of the scheme woulddepend upon the director of research. The journalappreciated Government of India for accepting Barker’sproposals and for appointing the Indian Central JuteCommittee.51 Barker pointed out to Nature that his reportwas on “Jute Research” and “should not be confusedwith the report of the Bengal Jute Enquiry Committee,which was concerned with agricultural aspects. His reportwas submitted to the Indian Jute Mills Association, whichis at present considering it. Whether it will be submittedto the Government of India is a domestic matter for thejute manufacturers to decide.52”

3. Archaeological Research in India : In the editorialon “Work of the Archaeological Survey of India53”, it waspointed out that European scholars believed that Indianculture was of recent origin. However, untiring works bythe Asiatic Society of Bengal threw a flood of light on thedim past of India. James Prinsep, editor of the Journal ofAsiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered the Kharosthi andBrahmi scripts of ancient India and unfolded the gloriousstory of Buddhistic civilization which had spread over thewhole of Asia. In 1862 the Government of India appointedAlexander Cunningham as Director General ofArchaeological Survey of India. The author gave asummary of the work done in the first twenty five yearsby the Indian and British archaeologists. However, a verymeagre sum (about Rs. 25,000 instead of 2 lacs) wasavailable for excavations since 1931 which led to poorresults. To improve the situation, the Government of Indiasought suggestions from Sir Leonard Woolley. As we seefrom articles in Science and Culture in the Jan and Feb.1940 issues, the author stated the suggestions from SirLeonard Woolley as (i) to limit the excavation for particularareas (ii) to allow foreigners in the process of excavation(iii) focus research work on the stone-age period whichwas neglected in the past. Science and Culture criticisedWoolley’s report on various grounds. According toNature, the views expressed in Science and Culture werenot entirely unbiased. The author claims that thesuggestions made are not new, and suggests that “theattacks on the work of the Archaeological Survey, exceptingthose relating to excavation and exploration, are largelyunjustified and irrelevant, ‘probably due to his ignoranceof Indian archaeology and the methods and practices ofservice followed by the Government of India’.54”

He also stated that Sir Leonard needed no defenders.“Such views, however, if general, would not augur wellfor the future of scientific archaeology in India.54

The major part of the publications in Science andCulture was devoted to social and political aspects of

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science. Research articles were published under ‘Letter tothe editors’ and very often Science News in the form ofshort notes. To go into details was beyond the scope ofthe paper.

The section below will show that the editors ofScience and Culture did not hesitate to publishcontroversial articles.

Science and Culture – A platform for ventingscientific controversies

Scientific hypothesis, laws and theories are notpermanent. A “wrong” idea proposed by an influentialscientist might live long if it is not opposed in scientificcircles. However, for the propagation and opposition ofideas, scientific journals are needed. Science and Cultureoffered a platform for Indian scientists to voice theiropinions. How many controversial articles were publishedin the journal is a matter of separate research. However,two examples are given below:

B.B. Ray and Raman lines in x-ray spectrum

At the beginning of 1930s, B.B. Ray, whileexperimenting with X-rays observed some spectral lines, aresult which his contemporaries in Europe and U.S.A. wereunable to reproduce.55 This led to a controversy over theexistence of those lines. Ray sent the observed spectra toNiels Bohr56 (Figure 5) and a part of the measurementswere published in Nature.57

Later it was proved by Arnold Sommerfeld that Ray’sexperimental results were correct. Science and Culturereported as follows: “Sommerfeld has drawn attention toseveral facts connected with the structure of the Comptonband, which incidentally contain a possible explanation ofthe observation of Ray.58”

In some circles, it was believed that B.B. Ray suffereda heart attack as he was unable to show the lines to hiscolleagues. It is shown elsewhere that this episode waswrong.59

Diffuse Spots in Laue Photographs

Figure 6: A, B, and C are marked as points in Laue photographsat which the new effect was observed by C.V. Raman and P.Nilakantan. Courtesy: Current Science.

At the beginning of the 1940s, C.V. Raman and hisstudents observed diffused spots in Laue photographs.Due to priority over the discovery and its theoreticalinterpretation, Raman’s school started interacting withAmericans, British and other Indian scientists. Raman’sprevious associates Kedareswar Banerjee and Sukumar C.Sirkar were also involved in this study.60-63 They published

their views in Science andCulture which have beenexplored elsewhere.64

Sulaiman’s Theorycontesting Einstein’sTheory of Relativity

Shah MohammdSulaiman who was a juristby profession, obtained hisTripos in Mathematics andLaw from CambridgeUniversity and was awardeda Doctor of Law degree

Figure 5: B.B. Ray marked known lines as usual. The new lines were shown by numbers. The threelines 1592 X.U., 1614 X.U., and 1643 X.U. are due to the scattering of copper K-α radiation bycarbon, nitrogen, and oxygen respectively. The first figure (far left) was published in Nature while theother two were sent by B.B. Ray to N. Bohr. Credit: Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen.

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from the University of Dublin. It is known that thecorrectness of Einstein’s theory of relativity was ensuredwhen deflection of light was observed as it passed nearbya massive star. Sulaiman was critical about Einstein’s theoryand argued that “relativity theory can not claim any creditfor it because it can be shown that the same value can bededuced from the strict Newtonian law without any newassumption whatsoever.” Sulaiman developed a semi-classical theory which estimated the deflection to be 2.24"against Einstein’s 1.74". However, E.F. Freundlich, aGerman, analysed the measured deflection by threeindependent groups during the eclipse in 1919, 1922 and1929 and came to the conclusion that the correct valuewas 2.20". No doubt, Sulaiman opined that variouscorrections to Newtonian mechanics may be introduced toexplain the results without declaring it having failed. Detailsof this discussion has been presented by Rajinder Singhin his book Einstein Rediscovered: Interactions withIndian Scientists.65 As expected, the reward to contradictEinstein by not an established scientist was obvious.Sulaiman was criticised by some Indian authors for his“too simple” a theory without mathematical rigour throughCurrent Science and Sulaiman had to refute his opponents.In the middle of this controversy and uncertain situation,Science and Culture dared to publish a series of articleson Sulaiman.66 To conclude, one of the authors (R. Singh)maintains that as per his personal experience, Science andCulture still maintains its tradition of publishing criticalarticles. For instance, R. Singh had written an article whichshowed that M.N. Saha had used B.B. Ray whilepropagating against C.V. Raman. To his pleasant surprise,

the present editor (Figure 7) had published thearticle.67

Science and Culture after Meghnad Saha

During Saha’s time, Science and Culture was bestknown for its bold and forceful editorials on almost allcontemporary issues that needed attention, like eradicationof poverty and ignorance, education, rapid industrializationto improve the economy of the country etc. All theeditorials published in Science and Culture during Saha’stime were without the author’s name except those whichwere written by somebody other than MNS. Going by this,we have considered all editorials published without a nameas being written by MNS. It was only after Saha’s deaththat editorials were published with the author’s signature,initially with just the initials and later on with full name.

After MNS left Allahabad and came to Calcutta in1938 did his association with the National PlanningCommittee and other powerful politicians start, madepossible by Subhas Chandra Bose who was known to himfrom his college days. Subhas Bose was then the Presidentof the National Congress and he was invited to be theChief Guest at the 3rd Annual General Meeting of ISNA,where the matter of forming a National Planning Committeewas discussed, for the utilisation of science andtechnology. The National Planning Committee was formedin 1938 and MNS was engaged in vital positions in theCommittee such as the Chairman of the NPC’s Power andFuel Subcommittee and a member of the River Transportand Irrigation Subcommittee, subjects in which MNS wasknown to be an authority through his editorials publishedin Science and Culture. List of his editorials published inScience and Culture is available elsewhere.10 Saha’s rivervalley project, application of atomic power for energy,calendar reform etc. made a strong case on their own meritbut implementation at government level required politicalnegotiations which was made possible by the proximity ofSaha to the powers that be. The atomic energy programmein India was initiated by Saha immediately after thediscovery of nuclear fission but it slipped out of his gripdue to his strained relationship with a powerful leader;the story is well known.

Science and Culture continued to publish editorialsand articles on scientific and technical subjects focussingon the issue of national importance even after Saha’s death.Some examples that can be cited are: A Research Reactorfor the Eastern Zone of India, Freedom of Scientists andHuman Rights, Science and Culture at Crossroads, DoesBrain Drain Contribute to the Lack Of Excellence In ScienceIn India? Science, Sociology and Politics of Edible Oil,

Figure 7: Prof. S.C. Roy – Present Editor-in-Chief, Science andCulture.

160 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, MAY-JUNE, 2020

March with Science and Technology, Why there is nonew C.V. Raman? etc.

Special issues on contemporary national issues oron recent developments in specialized subjects and theirapplications sponsored by some organizations engaged inactivities started publishing after Prof. S.C. Roy joined asthe Editor-in-Chief of Science and Culture in 2004. Firstsuch isssue was published under the title Glass andCeramic Research in India in the May-June 2005 issue ofthe journal sponsored by Central Glass and CeramicResearch Institute, Kolkata. Water Resources in South Asia:An assessment of Climate Change; Forensic Science inCriminal Justice Delivery System; Emerging Trends inGenomics: Application in Health and Disease; NewScience in Synthetic and Systems Biology; Atomic Energyin National Development etc. are the examples of suchspecial issues. The recent issue (Jan-Feb 2020) on “ClimateCrisis and India: Issues and Concerns” is a testimony ofour constant eye on national issues and our endeavour toaddress opinions and solutions on such issues. Total 32such issues have been published till now. A list of titlesof such special issues are published on the page facingthe editorial of this isssue.

Editor, Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Advisor

Initially, Science and Culture publishes the names ofeditors without mentioning officially who is the leader ofthe team in-charge. General understanding was that thename first appearing in the list is the main person or the

chief editor. This tradition continued till 1996. Theappearance of Editor-in-Chief in print started from the Jan-Feb 1997 issue of Science and Culture.

There is a kind of notion persisted among a sectionof the academic community that D.M. Bose (DMB) wasthe chief editor of Science and Culture after MeghnadSaha till his death. But DMB in a letter (fig. 8.) written toProf. B.D. Nag Choudhury, one of the secretaries of ISNA,on March 10, 1964 requested the Council of ISNA torelinquish him from the Editorial Board of Science andCulture in order to make room “for new members whodesire some changes in the management of Science andCulture and who possess the necessary enthusiasm anddrive to carry out such a policy” He also added “I requiresome rest and change of occupation”.

The Council in its meeting on March 11, 1964 decidedto make DMB as an advisor to the Editorial Board and theSecretary informed the decision to DMB through a letterdated April 3, 1964. DMB on receiving the letter askedabout the validity of provision of such position in theRules of the Association and also the “status andresponsibilities attached to it” (see Fig. 9.). The Council inits meeting held on April 10, 1964 clarified that suchposition is valid under the Rules of the Association andassigned functions of the Advisor. However, it is wellknown that DMB guided in all matters related to Scienceand Culture and acted as a de-facto Editor-in-Chief of thejournal till his death. In recent time Shri Samarjit Kar was

Fig. 8. D.M. Bose’s letter asking relief from the Editorial Boardof Science and Culture

Fig. 9. D.M. Bose’s letter asking the validity of Editorial Advisorand responsibilities attached to the position.

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the Editorial Advisor for a few years till his death andProf. S.C. Roy for a year when he was on leave.

Implementation of Policies at a Governmentlevel

One may raise a question on whether the articlespublished after Saha’s death have had the same impact onthe policy makers as they did during Saha’s time. Asmentioned before, MNS came close to the policy makersand important leaders after his joining the NationalPlanning Committee. This helped draw the attention of thepolicymakers to his ideas and the benefits of itsimplementation. Saha had this capability which, in ouropinion, was gradually lost after his death.

Saha had another advantage of having his studentsplaced on top positions of science and technology policymaking bodies of India. Nil Ratan Dhar, a class mate ofSaha went to Allahabad and encouraged Saha to followhim. As reported in Science and Culture ‘Allahabad-Calcutta Research Axis’ did make a huge contribution inIndian science68. All the followings are either Saha’sstudents or associates: Atma Ram, who became the directorof CGCRI in Calcutta in 1952 and later became the directorgeneral of CSIR in 1966; B.D. Nagchaudhuri (Saha’sstudent) who was the director of Saha Institute of NuclearPhysics after Saha’s death, became the scientific memberof the planning committee and later became scientificadvisor to the Ministry of Defence in 1970; A.C. Banerjee,a professor of mathematics at Allahabad university becamethe Vice-Chancellor of Benares Hindu University: B.Srivastava (Saha’s student) became the director of IACS.“This shows a fairly tight interlocking network within thescientific community in India” and with the “presence ofD.S. Kothari in Ministry of Defence and Jnan Ghosh inthe Planning Commission, one sees how well-placed Saha’snetwork was.”

Our journey has been a long one. And as in alljourneys, our voyage has also had its share of successand failure, excitement and frustration, pleasure and pain.Science and Culture went through a rough patch inbetween as will be evident from the irregular publicationof its issues in the nineties. Science and Culture hadbeen a monthly journal when it started and the practicecontinued till 1990. Soon after, its publication becameirregular; 7 issues were published in 1991 instead of 12, 5issues in 1992, 4 issues in 1993, 2 issues in 1994, 4 issuesin 1995 and then it slowly turned around so that from1996 onwards, it has been steadily publishing six issuesin a year.

Conclusion

Eighty five years ago, Science and Culture originatedfrom the difference of opinion between the Bangalore andKolkata based scientists. The reasons were both politicaland scientific. It is a matter of speculation whether thejournal would have seen the light of the day without thedispute. Lessons learnt from the story of Science andCulture is that remarkable people can turn a controversyinto a concrete positive output.

As shown before, the articles published in Scienceand Culture attracted the attention of the world throughthe advocacy of Nature. The probable reasons could bethe particular style of the journal, namely to write onscience, science policies and management. And thetradition of publishing critical articles still continues. Itdemands not only a courageous editor, but also financialindependence. Science and Culture has managed tosurvive in the digital 21st century. This is due to thesupport of its subscribers and well-wishers.

The other important factor behind the continuationof the Science and Culture is love of Bengalis for scienceand culture. In the past a number of articles were publishedon J.C. Bose, P.C. Ray, M.N. Saha and many otherrenowned physicists. Bengalis identify themselves withtheir scientists and consequently with Science andCulture.

We look forward to seeing Science and Culturecelebrating its 100th anniversary in a few years fromnow.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen,Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), Delhi andIndian Science News Association (ISNA) for allowing usto access some of the documents used in this article.

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