He lived in the 100 BC in what is today known as Madhya Pradesh. He was a chemist, an alchemist, metellurgist and medicineman. His works are Rasaratnakara, Rashrudaya, Rasendramangal, Arogyamanjari, Kakshaputatantra, Yogasara, Yogasatak, Uttaratantra. Mohammed of Ghazni invaded India and is said to have destroyed some and taken some of the sciences manuscripts to the outside world. The Arabs learnt the transmutation of base metals to gold from Nagarjuna. They called it Al Kimia. Medieval Europeans learnt about it from the Arabs and called it Alchemy.

Contribution

An alchemist he knew the art of transmuting base metals to look like gold. This method is today being used to make imitation jewellery

Preparation of mercury

Extraction of metals like gold, silver, tin and copper from the ore

Dissolution of diamonds, metals and pearls

Process of distillation, liquefication, sublimation and roasting

Combinations of liquids

Preparation of medicinal drugs

He was one of the nine gems in the court of King Vikramaditya. He was a great astronomer and astrologer. He lived during 500 BC. His works are Panchasiddant (on astrology), Brihad Samhita and Brihad Jatak.

Contributions

Planets and moon are lustrous not because of their own light.

Treatise on geography, constellation, science, botany & animal science.

In botanical science he prescribes various cures for diseases afflicting plants and trees

He was a physician. He lived in the 8^th century. His work is the Nidana.

Contributions

Ayurvedic innoculation for smallpox. Treatment was done by inoculation with year-old smallpox matter. The inoculators would travel all across India pricking the skin of the arm with a small metal instrument using “variolous matter” taken from pustules produced by the previous year’s inoculations. The effectiveness of this system was confirmed by the British doctor Howell based on his residence in Bengal.

Classification of diseases, causes, symptoms and complications

Chapter on Masurika (Small Pox)

Jayadeva was a ninth century mathematician.

Contributions

Cyclic Method known as Chakravala method. It is a cyclic algorithm to solve indeterminate quadratic equations.

Solved for x in the equation  61×2 +1 = y2

This was solved in Europe much later in the 17^th Century and is commonly known as Lagrange Method. The Lagrange method is complicated while Chakravala is more simple.

Area of combinatorics

Selenius commented on the Chakravala method The method represents a best approximation algorithm of minimal length that, owing to several minimization properties, with minimal effort and avoiding large numbers automatically produces the best solutions to the equation. The chakravala method anticipated the European methods by more than a thousand years. But no European performances in the whole field of algebra at a time much later than Bhaskara’s, nay nearly equal up to our times, equalled the marvellous complexity and ingenuity of chakravala.

He was a mathematician. His works are the commentary on Pingala’s Chandah  Shastra

It is believed that the Pascal’s triangle was first described by Halayudha

Contributions

 Clear Description of Pascal’s triangle  (meruprastaara)

(Pascal’s Triangle is a geometrical  arrangement of the binomial coefficients in a triangle)

He was a famous writer before 200 BC. His major work is the Chandas Shastra.

Contributions

Study of Prosody*

Mathematical concepts for describing prosody

First known description of a binary numeral system

Basic idea of the Fibonacci Number** (Maatrameru)

*Prosody is the study of rhythm, intonation, stress and related attributes in speech

**Sequence of numbers starting from zero, one and then every number is a sum of the previous two numbers

He was a mathematician and a priest. His works are the Sulba Sutra. This sutra gives the rules for the construction of altars. He belonged to the Yajurveda School. His Sutras form a part of the Taittreya of the Krishna Yajurveda.

Contributions

Earliest recorded statement of the Pythagorean Theorem

Pi Value correct to 9 decimal places

Solution for a circle whose area is the same as a given square

Quadratic equations of the forms ax2 = c and ax2 + bx = c

Square root of 2

Diagonals of rectangle bisect each other

Diagonals of rhombus bisect at right angles

Area of a square formed by joining the middle points of a square is half of original

The midpoints of a rectangle joined forms a rhombus whose area is half the rectangle

Geometric solutions (but not algebraic ones) of a linear equation in a single unknown

He was a renowned surgeon of the 6^th Century BC of Varanasi. He is known as the Father of Surgery. He wrote the Sushruta Samhita. He believed that the Ayurvedic knowledge came from Dhanvantri who taught it to Divodasha who in turn taught it to Sushruta

Contributions

Described 120 surgical instruments

Described 300 surgical procedures

Father of Surgery

Father of Plastic Surgery and Cosmetic Surgery

Rhinoplasty (this is still followed)

Removal of Prostate Gland

Removal of Cataract

Draining of abscesses

Classified worms that infect human body

Used Leeches for bloodletting

Classified medicinal herbs

Classified alkalies

Classified Metals

Instructions for Venesections

Pioneer of Anaesthesia

Benefits  of walking

He was the Indian mathematician and astronomer who was head of the observatory at Ujjain. His works are Chadamekala, Brahmasphutasiddanta, Khandakhadyaka, Durkeamynarda. It is believed that the Arabic work Sinhind was a translation of the Brahmasphutasiddanta.

Contributions

Solution to general linear equations

Solution to simultaneous indeterminate equations

Recommended Pulverizers

Cube Roots

Rules for 5 combinations of fractions

Sum of squares and cubes

Earliest Work to use Zero

Operations on negative numbers

Explains Pythogorean Triples

Solves Pell’s equations using Pulverizer (Euclidean Algorithm)

Formulae for cyclic quadrilaterals

Brahmagupta’s theorem describes the length of a diagonal in a cyclic quadrilateral

Construction of figures using right triangles

Sine Table

Establishes that the moon is closer to Earth than the Sun

Methods for calculating the position of heavenly bodies over time

Earth and Heaven are spherical

Earth is moving

Used gravitation to support the Earth’s spherical theory

Born in a Brahmin family, he was the principal contributors to the ancient system of Ayurveda. His works are the Charaka Samhita. Charaka Samhita is a revision of Agnivesha Tantra which was based on the teachings of Punarvasu Atreya. This was translated in Arabic in the 8^th century. He quotes on physiology, etiology, genetics & embryology.

Famous remarks

-    A physician who fails to enter the body of a patient with the lamp of knowledge and understanding can never treat diseases

-    He should first study all the factors, including environment, which influence a patient’s disease, and then prescribe treatment

-    It is more important to prevent the occurrence of disease than to seek a cure

Contributions

Concept of Digestion

Concept of Metabolism

Concept of Immunity

Attributed sex of a child and defects in the newborn to the ovum and sperm

Anatomy – 360 Bones

Rational approach to the causation and cure of disease.

Objective methods of clinical examination

Describes atleast 600 drugs