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By:

Suhas B Naik-Satam

25 November 2025 at 2:24:38 pm

The Institution That Shaped Modern Indian Science

A journey from Mahendra Lal Sircar's vision to global scientific excellence. The year 2026 marks the sesquicentennial of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, the oldest institution in India devoted exclusively to fundamental scientific research. Founded on 29 July 1876 by the visionary physician and educationist Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar, IACS emerged when India lacked institutions dedicated to experimental science. Convinced that scientific inquiry was...

The Institution That Shaped Modern Indian Science

A journey from Mahendra Lal Sircar's vision to global scientific excellence. The year 2026 marks the sesquicentennial of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, the oldest institution in India devoted exclusively to fundamental scientific research. Founded on 29 July 1876 by the visionary physician and educationist Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar, IACS emerged when India lacked institutions dedicated to experimental science. Convinced that scientific inquiry was indispensable for national progress, Sircar established an institution to nurture original research by Indians while promoting scientific knowledge among the public. One hundred and fifty years later, IACS remains one of India's foremost research institutions, its history closely intertwined with the evolution of modern science in the country. The genesis of IACS reflected the intellectual ferment of the Bengal Renaissance. Trained in Western medicine yet deeply committed to India's intellectual emancipation, Sircar argued that science should be cultivated through experimentation and discovery rather than merely imported through textbooks. Inspired by institutions such as the Royal Institution of Great Britain, he envisioned a publicly supported national laboratory where Indians could pursue independent scientific research. At a time when such opportunities were scarce under colonial rule, IACS became the country's first permanent home for fundamental scientific investigation. During its early decades, the Association combined public lectures and scientific demonstrations with laboratory research, fostering an interdisciplinary culture spanning physics, chemistry and the natural sciences. Though modest in resources, it established an enduring tradition of curiosity-driven research. The defining chapter in IACS history began with the arrival of Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman in 1907. While serving in the Indian Finance Department, Raman spent his evenings and holidays conducting experiments at IACS on acoustics, optics and the scattering of light. On 28 February 1928, he and his collaborators announced the discovery of the inelastic scattering of light by molecules—the Raman Effect—creating a powerful spectroscopic technique that transformed the study of molecular structure. Today, Raman spectroscopy is indispensable across chemistry, materials science, biology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, environmental monitoring and planetary exploration. For this achievement, Raman received the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics, becoming the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences for work conducted entirely in India. His success demonstrated that world-class scientific research could emerge from Indian laboratories. Yet IACS's scientific legacy extends far beyond Raman. Kedareswar Banerjee advanced crystallographic research through pioneering X-ray crystallography, while Satyendra Nath Bose's association with IACS enriched the intellectual environment that fostered advances in quantum physics. Meghnad Saha's theory of thermal ionisation transformed astrophysics, and together Raman, Bose and Saha established Kolkata as one of Asia's leading scientific centres. The institution also made major contributions to chemistry through Jnan Chandra Ghosh, whose work in physical chemistry laid foundations for modern chemical research in India. Following Independence, IACS expanded into chemical sciences, materials science, biological sciences and theoretical physics, reflecting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of scientific inquiry. Among its distinguished scientists was Asima Chatterjee, whose pioneering research on natural products chemistry and medicinal plant alkaloids transformed phytochemistry and contributed significantly to pharmaceutical science. Ajoy Ghatak further strengthened IACS's reputation through his work in fibre optics, waveguides and laser physics, while his textbooks educated generations of physicists and engineers. More recently, IACS researchers have advanced ultrafast spectroscopy, nanomaterials, renewable energy, molecular electronics, quantum materials and computational biology. Today, IACS functions as a deemed-to-be university under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Its interdisciplinary research spans the chemical, physical and biological sciences, supported by advanced facilities in spectroscopy, microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, computational modelling and materials characterisation. Its doctoral and postdoctoral programmes continue to produce scientists who contribute to universities, research laboratories and industry worldwide. The institution's enduring strength lies in its commitment to curiosity-driven research. Unlike organisations established primarily for technological development or industrial applications, IACS has consistently recognised that transformative innovation begins with fundamental scientific understanding. This philosophy, articulated by Mahendra Lal Sircar nearly 150 years ago, remains especially relevant in an era defined by quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, sustainable energy and molecular medicine. The sesquicentennial of IACS celebrates not only a remarkable institution but also the evolution of Indian science. From its modest beginnings in colonial Calcutta to its emergence as an internationally respected research institution, IACS has nurtured Nobel laureates, pioneering physicists, eminent chemists and generations of young researchers who continue to expand the frontiers of knowledge. As IACS enters its second century and a half, it carries forward Mahendra Lal Sircar's vision that science should be pursued with intellectual freedom, experimental rigour and an unwavering commitment to the advancement of humanity. Its 150-year legacy remains a powerful reminder that the greatest scientific discoveries begin with curiosity and flourish in institutions dedicated to excellence. (The writer is the Chief Executive for National Centre for Science Communicators, Mumbai. Views personal.)

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Mamata is seeing a ghost of Bangladesh behind the massive outrage and waves of protest over rape and murder of the trainee doctor. And the reasons are many.

It’s been over a fortnight. Yet with each passing day the voice of protest is getting louder and stronger. From the streets of Kolkata it’s pouring into roads of hinterland. The cry for justice for a rape victim has consolidated into a wail of demands to set a lot of wrongdoings right. Here in lies the fear and trepidation. Wasn’t the issue that brought the youth of Bangladesh out on the thoroughfares a simple, innocent one of quota reform?

The chief minister of Bengal, known for understanding the pulse of people better than many, was quick to read the signages floating in the political horizon.

The most obvious reason for her to be tensed is that both the regime change in Bangladesh and the mass protest in Bengal, were student-driven to begin with. The two incidents---end of 15 year old Sheikh Hasina government and turbulence in West Bengal, over the heinous crime, falling back to back, the first on August 5th and the latter from August 9th onwards, give natural scope for comparisons. More so, because in both the cases the movement strayed beyond an affected constituency to include aggrieved people at large, cutting across socio-economic demography. If the quota reform protest started by students in Bangladesh became a mass uprising against an autocratic regime, the campaign demanding justice for the rape victim and overall safety and security of women in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal soon snowballed into a movement of no-confidence against the government. Slogans--”Mamata must resign” also got floated in social media much in line with the call for ouster of Sheikh Hasina. In fact “Resignation of Hasina” became the single point agenda into which all other fringe demands coalesced.

Incidentally, even before people started drawing parallels, that there could be a thread of commonality in the way the upheaval in Bangladesh and Bengal played out, Mamata was quick to point out that the Opposition were trying to pull off a Bangladesh by politicizing the tragic incident: “A coordinated approach has been executed by the BJP and the CPIM with support from the Centre to defame Bengal and exploit the situation....They want to make a Bangladesh here. They are taking cues from student unrest in Bangladesh and are attempting to capture similarly. I have no longing for the chair. I came here to serve people.”

Not only Mamata, her political lieutenants are consistently equating the turmoil in Bengal with the mayhem in Bangladesh. Cabinet minister for North Bengal development Udayan Guha threatened to take stern action against those, who would be trying to exploit the situation by emulating a Bangladesh like movement. “ Even after the hospital was vandalised, the police did not open fire on anyone. The police will not allow a Bangladesh type situation. We will not allow Bengal to turn into Bangladesh, Guha thundered.

Is the government’s fear unfounded?

Apart from the similarities on ground zero, as to how and where the future course of events are heading to, there are ample reasons for Bengal to mull on-- as to what led to a Bangladesh like boiling point. To begin with, it’ll be appropriate to talk of Bangladesh and the prevailing situation, that made the students’ protest become big in magnitude. The students were out on the streets because of a high reservation in public jobs. Unemployment and stagnant job market in private sector coupled with a high rate of inflation drove the educated youth to rebel against the government.

But soon the students found enormous number of sympathisers, who were equally at the receiving end. According to Bangladesh citizens, the last two terms of the Sheikh Hasina government were a mockery of democracy. Even elections would be compromised. As Hasina grew from strength to strength, she politicized institutions. The rank and file of police owed allegiance to the ruling dispensation. Extortion, harrassment and raids by police and people in power became rampant. An atmosphere of fear and repression reigned and people got restless to overthrow the government.

Politicization of institutions has been happening in Mamata government too. Allegations are quite strong that police in Bengal functions at the beck and call of political bosses. The lapses and alleged loopholes on the part of police in handling the rape and murder of the young doctor have yet again revealed a sense of confused or misplaced loyalty.

But above everything else both Hasina and Mamata governments allegedly seem to have twined in accepting corruption as a way of life. In Bangladesh jobs of primary and secondary teachers got sold at premium, Rs 10-12 lakh in the Hasina regime. Even police had to pay up for prized postings and transfers. In Bengal busting of the teacher’s recruitment scam has revealed how unsuccessful and ineligible candidates got government jobs in schools in exchange of bribes.

Similarities are multiple and inescapable. Mamata has good reasons to be apprehensive. It’s not only she, who can see and connect the dots. People, out on the streets, clamoring for justice, can see a providential pattern somewhere in the unfolding of future events in these two places-- Bangladesh and Bengal. True, they share more than 2,217 odd km of border. They share the same umbilical cord, other than language, culture, ethos, icons. Even emotions are the same. So she cannot take any risk.

(The writer is a senior jounalist based in Kolkata. Views personal)

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