2014 is the 900th birth anniversary of Bhaskacharya, a brilliant mathematician and astronomer of ancient India. A one-day workshop on the scientific work of Bhaskaracharya is being organised by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and the Astronomical Society of India.
Venue : Auditorium, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, Bengaluru
Date : 17 Dec 2014
Registration : http://www.iiap.res.in/iiaoutreach
One day workshop on Bhaskaracharya – A Report
Venue: Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore
Co ordinated by: Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bengaluru and ASI Outreach Committee
This one day workshop was organised to commemorate the 900th birth anniversary year of the astronomer and mathematician Bhaskaracharya II.
After the welcome by Prof. P. Sreekumar, Director, IIA, the inaugural speech was delivered by Prof. B. V. Subbarayappa, renowned historian of science. The need for understanding the texts of yester years was stressed.
There were four sessions in all; the two forenoon sessions were chaired by Prof N Kameswara Rao and the afternoon sessions by Prof T P Prabhu. These covered various aspects and works of Bhaskaracharya. Prof. Balachandra Rao, in the introductory talk gave an overview of the works of Bhaskaracharya; this was followed by the talk by Prof. A. Sripada Bhat, on Goladhyaya, a chapter in Siddhantha Siromani. Dr Vanishri Bhat, described varieties of meters in Lilavathi, supported by melodious tunes set to the compositions from the text.
Dr. Mahesh Bhat, described the methods for finding the volume of a sphere: he compred the approaches of Bhaskara and Jyesthadeva. Hints on calculus in Bhaskara’s works were discussed by Prof M. S. Sriram. These were for the specific purpose of getting instantaneous velocities of planets. Dr. B.S. Shylaja, described the astronomical instruments used by Bhaskaracharya and their working, and accuracies based on the chapter Yantradhyaya, which is also part of Siddhantha Siromani.
The concluding talk by Prof. K. Ramasubramanian, discussed on the specialities and ingenuities of Bhaskara, because of which he is held so high amongst Indian mathematicians and astronomers.
The meeting was well attended and led to interesting discussions. The hundred and odd participants, included young students and enthusiasts; some of them were from the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
super……………….