List of Indian scientists facts for kids

This article is about amazing Indian scientists from ancient times to today. These brilliant minds have made huge impacts in science and technology!

Indian physicists and engineers who helped shape our world.

Ancient India: Pioneers of Knowledge (Before 300 BCE)

• Lagadha: An early astronomer who wrote one of the oldest books on astrology. This was way back in the late 2nd or early 1st millennium BCE!
• Baudhayana: A mathematician from around 1000 BCE. His writings are some of the oldest surviving Indian math texts.
• Jivaka: A famous physician from the 5th century BCE. He was known as a model healer in ancient times.
• Sushruta: Often called the "father of plastic surgery." He wrote the Sushruta Samhita, an important ancient medical book (around 600–500 BCE).
• Panini: Known as the "father of linguistics" (the study of language) from 600–400 BCE.
• Charaka: An important physician from 400–300 BCE.
• Kanada: Thought to be the "father of atomic theory." He suggested that matter is made of tiny, invisible particles (around 600–200 BCE).
• Shalihotra: An early veterinarian, meaning he was a doctor for animals (3rd century BCE).

Classical Period: New Discoveries (300 BCE–500 CE)

• Pingala: A mathematician and linguist from the 3rd–2nd century BCE.
• Chanakya: A very smart person who knew a lot about many subjects (a polymath) from 375–283 BCE.

Early Medieval Period: Advancing Science (500–1000 CE)

• Varahamihira: A famous astronomer from the 5th–6th century CE.
• Vagbhata: A physician from the 6th century CE.
• Brahmagupta: A brilliant mathematician and astronomer (598–688 CE).
• Bhaskara I: Another important mathematician and astronomer (600–680 CE).
• Gautama Siddha: An astrologer and astronomer who helped bring the concept of zero and Indian numbers to China (8th century CE).
• Mahavira: A mathematician from the 9th century CE.
• Aryabhata II: A mathematician and astronomer (920–1000 CE).

Late Medieval Period: Building on Knowledge (1000–1500 CE)

• Sripati: An astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician (1019–1066 CE).
• Bhaskara II: A very important mathematician and astronomer (1114–1185 CE).
• Madhava of Sangamagrama: A mathematician and astronomer who started the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics (1340–1425 CE).
• Mahendra Suri: An astronomer who wrote the first Indian book about the astrolabe, a tool used to measure the positions of stars (1340–1400 CE).
• Nilakantha Somayaji: A notable astronomer (1444–1544 CE).

Early Modern Period: New Ways of Thinking (1500–1800 CE)

• Jyesthadeva: An astronomer (1500–1575 CE).
• Achyutha Pisharadi: A linguist, astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician (1550–1621 CE).
• Sawai Jai Singh: A ruler who was also an astronomer. He built the Jantar Mantar observatories, which are amazing structures for studying the sky (1688–1743 CE).

19th Century CE: Modern Science Takes Shape

• Radhanath Sikdar: A mathematician who helped calculate the height of Mount Everest (1813–1870 CE).
• Jagdish Chandra Bose: A brilliant scientist who worked in many fields (a polymath). He is known as the "father of radio science" for his work with radio waves (1858–1937 CE).
• Sir M. Visvesvaraya: A famous civil engineer and statesman (1861–1962 CE).
• Prafulla Chandra Ray: A chemist (1861–1944 CE).
• Upendranath Brahmachari: A physician (1873–1946 CE).
• Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (C. V. Raman): A physicist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on how light scatters (1888–1970 CE).
• Srinivasa Ramanujan: An incredibly gifted mathematician who made huge contributions to number theory (1887–1920 CE).
• Salim Ali: A famous ornithologist and naturalist, known for his work with birds (1896–1987 CE).
• Satyendra Nath Bose: A theoretical physicist. His work led to the concept of the "God Particle" (1894–1974 CE).
• Meghnad Saha: An astrophysicist known for the Saha equation, which helps us understand stars (1893–1956 CE).
• Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis: A statistician who developed the Mahalanobis distance, used in statistics (1893–1972 CE).
• Janaki Ammal: A botanist who studied plants (1897–1984 CE).

Early 20th Century CE: New Frontiers in Science

• Homi Jehangir Bhabha: A nuclear physicist often called the "father of the Indian nuclear program" (1909–1966 CE).
• Subramanyan Chandrasekhar: A theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on the structure and evolution of stars, including the "Chandrasekhar Limit" (1910–1995 CE).
• Kamala Sohonie: A biochemist (1911–1998 CE).
• Anna Mani: A physicist and meteorologist who made important contributions to weather instruments (1918–2001 CE).
• Vikram Sarabhai: A physicist and astronomer who helped establish the Physical Research Laboratory. He is considered the "father of the Indian space program" (1919–1971 CE).
• Satish Dhawan: An aerospace engineer who played a key role in India's space efforts (1920–2002 CE).
• G. N. Ramachandran: A biophysicist known for the Ramachandran plot, which helps understand protein structures (1922–2001 CE).
• Har Gobind Khorana: A biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on genetics and how genetic code works (1922–2011 CE).
• M. S. Swaminathan: An agronomist known as the "father of the Green Revolution" in India, which greatly increased food production (1925–2023 CE).
• Narinder Singh Kapany: A physicist who is widely recognized as the "father of fiber optics" (1926–2020 CE).
• Yash Pal: A space scientist (1926–2017 CE).
• Vainu Bappu: A famous astronomer (1927–1982 CE).
• A. P. J. Abdul Kalam: A renowned aerospace engineer and former President of India, often called the "Missile Man of India" for his work on missile development (1931–2015 CE).
• E. C. George Sudarshan: A theoretical physicist (1931–2018 CE).
• Udipi Ramachandra Rao: A space scientist who led the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) (1932–2017 CE).
• C. N. R. Rao: A chemist known for his work in solid-state chemistry and materials science (1934–present CE).
• Rajagopala Chidambaram: A nuclear physicist (1936–present CE).
• Jayant Narlikar: An astrophysicist known for his work on cosmology (1938–present CE).
• Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan: A space scientist who also headed ISRO (1940–present CE).
• Nambi Narayanan: An aerospace engineer (1941–present CE).
• Aditi Pant: An oceanographer, one of the first Indian women to visit Antarctica (1943–present CE).
• Anil Kakodkar: A nuclear physicist (1943–present CE).
• Raghunath Anant Mashelkar: A chemical engineer (1943–present CE).
• Sam Pitroda: A telecommunication engineer who helped modernize India's telecom network (1942–present CE).

Late 20th Century CE: Innovators of Today

• Jitendra Nath Goswami: An astrophysicist (1950–present CE).
• Venkatraman Ramakrishnan: A structural biologist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on the structure and function of ribosomes (1952–present CE).
• Ashoke Sen: A theoretical physicist known for his work in string theory (1956–present CE).
• Narendra Karmarkar: A mathematician who developed an important algorithm for solving complex problems (1956–present CE).
• K. Sivan: An aerospace engineer who was the chairman of ISRO (1957–present CE).
• Mylswamy Annadurai: An aerospace engineer known for his work on India's lunar and Mars missions (1958–present CE).
• Kalpana Chawla: An astronaut and aerospace engineer, the first woman of Indian origin in space (1962–2003 CE).
• S. Somanath: An aerospace engineer and current chairman of ISRO (1963–present CE).
• Manindra Agrawal: A computer scientist known for the AKS primality test (1966–present CE).
• Ramesh Raskar: A computer scientist (1970–present CE).
• Manjul Bhargava: A mathematician who won the Fields Medal, a top award in mathematics (1974–present CE).
• Yamuna Krishnan: An organic chemist (1974–present CE).
• Ritu Karidhal: An aerospace engineer, often called the "Rocket Woman of India" for her work on space missions (1975–present CE).
• Pranav Mistry: A computer scientist who invented Samsung's SixthSense, a wearable gesture interface (1984–present CE).

See also

• Lists of scientists
• List of Indians
• List of Indian mathematicians
• List of Indian astronauts