Modern science, which was an indigenous product of Western culture, is now being practiced in many non-Western countries. This paper discusses the peculiar social, cultural and intellectual problems which scientists of these non-Western countries face in adopting Western science in their situations, with special reference to India.

It is pointed out that, in addition to money and communication, it is necessary to have a proper psychological gestalt to practice science satisfactorily.

The author analyzes his experience as a physics student in India and in the United States [while researching magnetohydrodynamics] to clarify the nature of this psychological gestalt, and to explain what makes it difficult for non-Western scientists to acquire it.

…in India, most good students of physics try to go to two or 3 well-known institutes for undergraduate training. Since I was fortunate to do my undergraduate work in two of the most prestigious institutes, I believe that it will not be too preposterous for me to claim that I had the best possible physics education available in India. After that, I came to do my graduate work at the University of Chicago, and I have now been here for more than 3 years. From the very beginning, I could perceive clear differences between the qualities of scientific research activities at the University of Chicago and at the Indian institutes I have been associated with. Here I have a few Indian friends with backgrounds similar to mine, and amongst ourselves we have quite often discussed various questions like these: What went wrong with Indian science? Why have our best institutes so far failed to reach the standard of the best Western institutes? What can we do to change the situation? If we want to practice science, then is it essential to stay abroad, or shall we be able to continue our research activities even if we go back to India? If many of the well-trained Indian scientists of our generation decide to go back to India, can we possibly achieve any kind of dramatic transformation of the whole scenario? I believe that these are problems common also to scientists of some other countries, such as China and Japan…It is true that in many technological areas, Japan is now competing with the most advanced of the Western nations. But on the basis of my conversations with several Japanese physicists, I have the impression that Japan has not yet completely solved the problem of establishing a tradition of fundamental research in basic sciences, and hence I believe that some of the issues discussed in this paper still hold for fundamental sciences in Japan [references Bartholomew1974]…the United States. which was in an intellectual backwater at the end of the 19^th century, faced a problem somewhat similar to what we are discussing here, when it tried to implant a scientific tradition modelled after Germany.

…a physics undergraduate in a place like the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur [IIT Kanpur] is given a particularly thorough and rigorous training in the well-established branches of physics, but with absolutely zero exposure to really creative research. The danger of such a training is that it develops a misleading philosophical conception of the nature of the scientific enterprise in the student’s mind. When such a student has to compete with Western students in courses and tests, he usually fares extremely well, but is quite often at a loss when beginning research. This point will be discussed at some length in this paper…Let me give two illustrations. Out of the 12 physics students in my Indian Institute of Technology class, 6 sat for the GRE Advanced test: 5 of them scored above 90%, with myself and two others scoring 99%—the highest possible score in the test. And here at the University of Chicago, the physics department gives a prize for the most outstanding performance in the compulsory candidacy examination for graduate students: during the last 10 years, this Telegdi Prize has been won 5× by Indian students (I happen to be one of the 5).

…Even when the sociology of science was in its infancy, that remarkable chemist-turned-sociologist, Michael Polanyi, observed:

…Many second-rank Indian scientists, who achieved some recognition as associates of somebody like Saha or Raman or by working with some scientist abroad, afterwards showed excessive eagerness to take full-time bureaucratic jobs as chairpersons of different committees or vice-chancellors of universities or directors of research institutes. Since the independence of India, there has been a mushroom-like growth of all kinds of commissions and boards in order to promote science in the country, and the chairpersons of these organizations often possess a considerable amount of political power… This is especially true when the society is one that is highly advanced in its scientific knowledge. The fact that a society can remain fixated at the level of partial science for so long is a testament to the power of the human mind to cling to what it knows and to resist change. It is also a testament to the power of the social structure to maintain the status quo. [See also: Indian civil servants, especially judges.]

…The Unusual Nature of the Scientist’s Calling: I can still very vividly remember my feelings on one particular day. It was during the time I was writing up my first paper on theoretical astrophysics at U. Chicago. I was working in my office, which has large glass windows overlooking the Stagg Field playgrounds. It was a lovely afternoon in late summer. The fluffy clouds almost seemed to be set aflame by the rays of the setting sun. There were children playing on the field, boys playing soccer, men and women jogging. Beyond the playground, I could see the busy traffic of 55^th Street and far, far beyond, the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago on the clear horizon. Suddenly I was gripped with an almost intolerably agonizing feeling that at such a time I was spending my hours on a work about which this bustling, joyful world, teeming with life in this summer evening, does not care at all. All over the world, my paper will probably be read and understood by 20 professionals who bother about magnetic fields in the sun. A novelist or a poet would certainly consider his book a failure if only 20 people read it! But we, theoretical physicists, are doomed to live in another world—the world of Eddington’s famous second table.

…Such a scientist has to create for himself a dreamworld of abstract formalisms, cryptic symbols and ideas which are very remote from everyday life. Then he becomes so much engrossed with this world of shadows that it becomes a real world for him—a world with which his hopes and fears are tied up. Though a particular problem of this world may interest less than a dozen people, he still feels compelled to invest all his time and energy on it. This is not a very natural inclination for a human being, in the sense that literature or art are

…The only way of reconciling these two facts is to assume that during the process of intellectual development to scientific maturity, a scientist undergoes a mental transformation which changes their outlook completely. He now has a totally different way of looking at things. His particular ‘dreamworld’ becomes very real to him, and he is mentally prepared to practice normal science. The mentality of a scientist is thus a combination of the dreamworld and the real world.

…The Nature of the Gestalt Transformation: Let us try to compare and contrast the intellectual developments of a typical good Western student studying science in a good Western institute, and of a typical good non-Western student studying science in a good institute in his own country. Let us name these students W & N respectively.

…But now consider the extremely interesting case of the non-Western student, N. For the sake of fair comparison, let us assume that he is going to one of the best institutes in his country. There he comes across very brilliant professors capable of giving highly stimulating courses, and he has to compete with other classmates of outstanding caliber. But, in spite of everything, N is in a community practicing partial science only.

…Another bright classmate of mine was extremely surprised when he read in a book that Heisenberg was almost ignorant about matrices when he started having the first ideas of matrix mechanics, and had to learn more about matrices before he could pursue his ideas any further. According to that classmate, a rational reconstruction of Heisenberg’s discovery of matrix mechanics should be like this: Heisenberg must have been an extraordinary genius, who was completely well-equipped with all the technical apparatus that may be necessary to develop matrix mechanics, even before he started any research, and while pondering over the deep mysteries of the quantum world, as soon as he got his ideas, like a diligent schoolboy he sat down to work them out immediately…I shall call this the schoolboy conception of science.

…N is led to the conclusion that it is a noble venture to contemplate the fundamental problems of science, whereas there is something almost inglorious about getting too preoccupied with particular problems of lesser magnitude.

…Altogether, the image of Planck formed by the student is that of a great scholar and a profound thinker, who engaged himself in research only when he had ideas of fundamental importance…There is an interesting linguistic practice still prevalent in India, which I consider to be a highly important clue to the attitude of Indian society towards science. At present I am practicing science in the United States, and here I always describe myself as a ‘scientist’. But if I describe myself in a similar way when I am visiting India, many of my friends and relatives will be rather upset, and will probably consider me to be a most proud and conceited person. In India, it is generally thought that the word ‘scientist’ should be applied only to persons who can claim spectacular achievements in science. It is a word reserved for persons like Bose and Saha, and is not to be applied to people like me who are just practicing science as a profession…Partial science communities usually lack self-confidence. They are not only ‘provinces’ of the true ‘metropolises’ of science in the West, but they come to regard themselves so much in that way that they often cannot have any faith in their own judgement. All their standards are set by the scientific communities abroad. When a member of the community is able to make a contribution outstanding enough to create a big impact in the West, he is suddenly elevated to the status of a mythical hero. He becomes a symbol of hope for the whole community, and exaggerated claims are advanced on his behalf.

…Suppose a competent person with proper scientific training is placed in a community practicing partial science…There is ample time to enjoy other things in life, to cultivate broad intellectual interests in diverse subjects, and to have pleasant social chats with friends and family members. …[But if he changes his work habits and] If nobody else from the community goes to the lab in the evenings and he does so, then his wife may begin wondering why her husband is behaving differently from his other colleagues. If the scientist is lucky enough to have a reputation as a genius, then he may attract general reverence. But if he just has the reputation of being a competent professional (and that, too, amongst scientists in foreign countries) then he may be looked upon with suspicion. A scientist in India, for instance, may very well consider himself weird and deviant. His colleagues and neighbors may start passing remarks on his mental stability…Remarks are passed: “Does he consider himself to be an Einstein?”…By contrast, while those in an American scientist’s immediate social circle may not have the slightest understanding of what he is doing, they can at least see that it does not differ greatly from his colleagues’ work. A community of partial science almost seems to have a system of social control which swings into action as soon as somebody behaves in a way that deviates from the usual norms of that community.

…We now have to consider N’s reactions when he comes to a Western institute. Suppose he comes to do his graduate work at an outstanding American university, which is nowadays very usual for bright Indian, Chinese, and Japanese students. During the first few months, his experience may well be one of utter shock, which destroys a large part of his mental edifice. He finds that most of the successful scientists he meets now, other than the very top ones, are no intellectual matches at all for the brilliant professors whom he had previously. At first he is almost dismayed to realize that many of his new professors, who are well-known scientists, often lack a deep conceptual understanding of the fundamental issues. Then it occurs to N that these people are so successful in research not because of any superior intrinsic caliber, but just because of a different mental buildup and a different approach to science. On his exposure to research, he can often also become troubled in another way. At least in the case of physics students, I know that many of them choose their careers as a result of being attracted by the esthetic beauty of different branches of theoretical physics. But this particular sort of esthetic beauty arises mainly from the magnificent structures of these branches, and is possible only for a finished product. A building in construction is not always an esthetically pleasing sight. Similarly, research in progress is often a messy affair, and the esthetic beauty of the finished product is not always visible in the process of its construction.

…Even while Bose was a green undergraduate student, he had a fabulous reputation of extraordinary intellectual powers. Initially he collaborated with his classmate Saha in one or two small projects, and the two of them together prepared the first English translation of Einstein’s papers on relativity. But, after that, in the 16 years between the ages 26–42, Bose published just two very short papers—the two papers which created quantum statistical mechanics! The behind-the-scene history of this work is really striking. Apparently, Bose’s attention was drawn to this problem by Saha, who had already attained international recognition and had visited Europe. Since this problem was of a fundamental nature, baffling some of the world’s greatest physicists (including Einstein), it caught Bose’s fancy, and within a few days he had a brilliant idea for looking at the problem in a new way. Once the idea was there, the subsequent calculations were fairly straightforward, and Bose, whose formidable skill for mathematical manipulations was legendary, must have worked out the problem like a smart schoolboy solving his homework…Einstein was so struck by this strange paper from an unknown scientist that he himself translated it into German and had it published in that journal. Afterwards Einstein wrote papers developing Bose’s method (now known as ‘Bose-Einstein Statistics’) in a more general way, and the papers by Fermi and Dirac on the complementary aspects of the problem followed in quick succession.

But Bose himself lapsed into a long silence. He took an opportunity to visit Europe for two years, but, unlike Saha, he seemed to have failed to interact with Western scientists in any fruitful way. After his long silence, he finally produced a stream of completely amateurish papers on such diverse topics as thermoluminescence, ionospheric electricity, reaction of sulphonazides with pyridine and extraction of germanium from Nepal! What are we to make out of all these? Was the man a genius or madman or a crook or just a lazy bum? All this time Bose was being worshipped by his devotees as a demigod, and was being teased by his enemies for not getting the Nobel prize. Bose’s last work was a series of 5 highly mathematical papers on unified field theory in the mid-fifties. Competent judges considered them to display amazing technical virtuosity, but this work, probably Bose’s closest approach to normal scientific research, was a wasted effort, since the unified field theory failed as a viable research programme. The entire output of Bose’s long life consisted of about 20 papers on widely different topics and of widely varying qualities—providing a classic example of the schoolboy approach to science. Bose always refused to work for a PhD degree in his youth, and. in later life, he was particularly fond of telling people that he did not have a formal doctoral degree.

…Nowadays it has become rather easy for bright non-Western students to come to the United States for graduate studies, get a proper psychological gestalt, and do good research. When these students go back to their countries, they quite often find that they cannot maintain the standards of their research due to the lack of the two necessary preconditions, money and communication; they then tend to lose their mental disposition for research, as a result of various social factors. When these people become the teachers for the next generation of students, they are not only unable to communicate a proper psychological gestalt, but, what is worse, they inadvertently encourage their students to develop a schoolboy conception of science. These students may then come to the West and achieve a belated gestalt switch: but, in their turn, when they go back and become teachers for the next generation, the same process repeats itself. The unbroken circle goes on. It is no wonder that many ambitious Asian scientists still feel that they have to settle in the West if they want to be successful in science. It is worthwhile to remember that scientists are human beings in the first place, and not just robots for producing research papers.

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