"Science, technology and culture

Despite close and long contact
with European science during its
very creative and expansive phase,
the introduction of Western science
in India was extremely tardy and
hardly noticeable until towards the
closing years of the 19th and the
beginning of the 20th century. One
reason for this delayed transmission
is the peculiar social and
psychological character of the
people.
The present study, instead
of placing an apriori primacy
on the factor of "values", tries to
look into the role of cultural values
in the total context of techno- .
economic and social environment,
and how these affect the process of
absorption of Western science in
the Indian and the Ceylonese
society. It also investigates through
questionnaires and interviews how
the practitioners of science-the
scientists-themselves view their
religious beliefs and social mores
vis-a-vis their research work and
scientific activity in these two
communities.
The study was sponsored by the
Unesco under its Major Project IV
for the Mutual Appreciation of
Eastern and Western Cultural
Values.