Dissertation Research: History of Scientific Instruments and Practices in India: A study of select particle accelerator facilities in India (1938-1970)

本科学与技术研究论文改进资助论文项目是对二十世纪中期印度物理学史的实证调查。1938年至1970年这段时期是一项有趣的研究，原因至少有三。首先，这是印度从殖民地向独立民族国家过渡和转型的时期。第二，这是建立在宇宙射线物理学和其他领域基础上的大科学- -特别是核物理学- -在国际上日益突出的时期，这在美利坚合众国通过导致曼哈顿计划和在曼哈顿计划内进行的研究得到了特别的例证。第三，这一时期与第二次世界大战和冷战重叠，欧洲逐渐衰落，美利坚合众国在科学研究和国际政治方面的地位日益突出。本文试图通过获取/捐赠四个粒子加速器的具体故事，将美国领导的科学国际主义的本质、印度的后殖民国家形成和现代性以及援助项目中体现的冷战地缘政治编织在一起。这将是四个粒子加速器的历史，它们分别位于加尔各答的萨哈核物理研究所、孟买的塔塔基础研究所、昌迪加尔的旁遮普大学物理系和坎普尔的印度理工学院。在二十世纪中期，粒子加速器已成为培养年轻科学家和进行核物理研究的最先进设备。印度现代科学实践史是一个年轻的领域，没有其他研究涉及这个主题，也没有通过工具平台采用这种历史写作方法。美国科学国际主义和领导的历史，如果不包括在同一分析框架内对其具体实例和结构的讨论，是不完整的。因此，尽管这项研究旨在通过引入印度特定的物理学史来增加科学史领域的内容。它还旨在通过扩大冷战期间美国科学史的包容范围来丰富现有的研究。这项研究可以为捐赠机构提供一个例证，让它们了解科学家必须在发展中国家工作的限制，从而有助于在科学和技术援助方面做出明智的决策，特别是对印度，以及对整个发展中国家。此外，该研究将为印度政府对支持精密设备制造业的政策和倾向的反思提供信息。这些叙述应该为科学家规划和申请在当今建造实验设施所需的资金提供有力的论据。因此，这项研究应该能够加强在发展中国家投资基础研究的重要性。

This Science and Technology Studies Dissertation Improvement Grant dissertation project is an empirical investigation into the history of physics in mid-twentieth century India. The period 1938 to 1970 makes for an interesting study for at least three reasons. First, this is the period of India's transition and transformation from a colony to an independent nation-state. Second, this is the period of the rising international prominence of big-science - especially nuclear physics - building upon cosmic ray physics among other fields, which was particularly exemplified in the United States of America through research leading up to and within the Manhattan Project. Third, this period overlaps with the Second World War and the Cold War and the gradual decline of Europe shadowed by the rising prominence of United States of America (USA) in both science research and international politics. This is an attempt to anchor a narrative weaving through the nature of scientific internationalism led by the USA, post-colonial state formation and modernity in India, and Cold War geopolitics manifested in aid programs, through the specific stories of acquisition/ donation of four particle accelerators. This will be a history of four particle accelerators that were located in the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata (Calcutta), the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Mumbai (Bombay), the Department of Physics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Particle accelerators had become the state-of-art equipment to train young scientists and conduct nuclear physics research in the mid -twentieth century. History of modern scientific practices in India is a young field, and there is no other study that deals with this topic or takes this approach of history writing through instrumental platforms. The history of American scientific internationalism and leadership is incomplete without including within the same analytic frame, a discussion of its specific instances and configurations. Thus even while this study aims to add to the field of history of science by bringing in a specific history of physics in India. It also aims to enrich existing studies by extending the boundaries of inclusion within the history of American science during the Cold War. This study can provide an illustration for donor agencies to understand the constraints under which scientists have to work in developing countries, and thus contribute to informed decision-making on scientific and technical assistance to India in particular and developing countries in general. In addition, the research will inform governmental reflection on policy and inclination towards support for precision equipment manufacturing industry in India. The narratives should provide strength of argument for scientists planning and requesting funding necessary to construct experimental facilities in the present-day. Thus, this research should be able to reinforce the importance of investing in fundamental research in a developing country.