IN SCIENCE, a spectacular achievement is remembered but the foundation on which the achievement was based is often forgotten; Dr. Parthasarathy reminds us of this basic fact. Most people know about the flight of the wright brothers, but few know about George Cayley who showed that a flying machine should not imitate birds but have fixed wings inclined to the air stream and that propulsion could be provided by some independent mechanism.
Everybody knows about de Broglie, Schroedinger and Heisenberg, but not many know about the 16th century mathematician Cardona, who developed the theory of complex numbers and gave the basis of quantum mechanics. We all know about John Nash, because of the movie, which came recently but perhaps not that the foundation of the theory of games was laid by John Von Neumann.
For Dr. Parthasarathy, I am sure, this has been a labour of love. In the process, he has written a book, which will be valuable source of knowledge to a large readership, scientific and layman, old and young.