It was the late Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar who, by founding the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, made it possible for the scientific aspirations of my early years to continue burning brightly.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the importance of foundational support in pursuing scientific endeavors.
C. V. Raman credits Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar for establishing the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, which provided a crucial platform for scientific exploration and knowledge in India. This emphasizes how vital institutions and mentorship are in fostering the aspirations and potential of future scientists.
In practice
In a speech at a science conference to inspire young researchers.
It seemed, indeed, that the study of light-scattering might carry one into the deepest problems of physics and chemistry, and it was this belief which led to the subject becoming the main theme of our activities at Calcutta from that time onwards.
We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit.
We all know that UFOs are real. All we need to ask is where do they come from, and what do they want?
Often the great scientists, by turning the problem around a bit, changed a defect to an asset. For example, many scientists when they found they couldn't do a problem finally began to study why not. They then turned it around the other way and said, "But of course, this is what it is" and got an important result.
There are, in truth, no specialties in medicine, since to know fully many of the most important diseases a man must be familiar with their manifestations in many organs.
Of what use are the great number of petrifactions, of different species, shape and form which are dug up by naturalists? Perhaps the collection of such specimens is sheer vanity and inquisitiveness. I do not presume to say; but we find in our mountains the rarest animals, shells, mussels, and corals embalmed in stone, as it were, living specimens of which are now being sought in vain throughout Europe. These stones alone whisper in the midst of general silence.
In a lot of scientists, the ratio of wonder to skepticism declines in time. That may be connected with the fact that in some fields-mathematics, physics, some others-the great discoveries are almost entirely made by youngsters.
Hunger is actually the worst weapon of mass destruction. It claims millions of victims each year.
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