Ancient Planes and Other Claims Spark Controversy at Indian Science Congress 381
An anonymous reader writes A paper presented at the 102nd Indian Science Congress on Sunday claims that Indians had mastered aviation thousands of years before the Wright brothers. India's science and technology minister Mr. Harsh Vardhan who was present at the conference claimed that ancient Indian mathematicians discovered the Pythagorean theorem but that the Greeks got the credit. These startling claims come just a few days after prime minister Narendra Modi had called Lord Ganesha who is part elephant and part human, a product of ancient India's knowledge of plastic surgery.
...and... (Score:5, Funny)
...and the best part is they have Nukes!
Re:...and... (Score:5, Funny)
That's so ghee
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+1 funny.
For those who didn't understand, oblig. reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G... [wikipedia.org]
Re:...and... (Score:4)
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's an interesting phenomenon and you see the same thing in Russian science. There are an awful lot of brilliant scientists in both India and Russia doing amazing things. But it's like there's no filter. The unadulterated garbage rises just as much to the top as the actual great scientific work. I can't help but wonder if it's related to the same sort of corruption and patronage systems that you see a lot in the business and political world as well.
It's also interesting that even on things that they innovate on (and there have been a lot), you don't see much commercialization actually within their respective countries. You see a lot more when they leave and move to Europe or the US or whatnot.
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's an interesting phenomenon and you see the same thing in Russian science. There are an awful lot of brilliant scientists in both India and Russia doing amazing things. But it's like there's no filter. The unadulterated garbage rises just as much to the top as the actual great scientific work.
It's a good thing this sort of quackery is limited to India and Russia. I'd be pretty embarrassed if we had some of our people claiming that the world was only a few thousand years old, that climate change doesn't exist, and that we didn't evolve over time but were all designed by a supernatural entity.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
These two situations are not comparable. Yes, the United States has Creationists and such, but they tend to move in their own circles, and even in academia they are found at private Christian universities. In India and Russia however, one tends to see a lot of quackery coming from state-run universities. This is probably facilitated by stronger job security (against much lower salaries) for certain faculty, combined with lower barriers to publication.
To some extent. But the claims on ancient indian technology are religious-based as well, in most respects. And what an indian government official says is not necessarily a shared opinion of the actual academics. As a side note, my recollection is that the pythagorean theorem being first discovered in India actually has some credibility, the rest of the examples are utter garbage of course.
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
These reports make it clear that many politicians in other countries either are much less cautious, or actually do support these crazy notions.
Granted, we could just be seeing the crazy part, as crap rises to the top and makes for good press, regardless of how fringe it is.
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Re:...and... (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a strong vein of Hindu nationalism which intrudes on a number of fields. One particular area of research where this sort of Hindu jingoism pops in is in Indo-European linguistics. While the overwhelming majority of researchers into Proto-Indo-European believe the PIE urheimat is either in Eastern Europe or possibly Anatolia, there are a number of Indian linguists who insist, despite every evidence that the Indo-Iranian languages arrived relatively late in the subcontinent, that Proto-Indo-European's origins are in or near India.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
Or claiming that water fluoridation causes sterilization or vaccination causes autism or GMOs are killing us.
Liberal and Conservative sides can both be equally anti-science.
Sadly yes (Score:2)
Likewise, they back the science on AGW (good), but then come up with solutions in which they tell the world's largest polluter to go ahead and double in size, while telling the ENTIRE WEST, which emits less than China does, to cut their emissions.
And none of that speaks about how anti-science the GOP has become.
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Funny, but if I recall the original water fluoridation conspiracies came from John Bircher types who said it was a plot by Communists to mind-control Americans. And I think you'll find many anti-vaxers & anti GMO people these days are Conservative homeschool sorts.
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"Conservative types" tend not to care terribly about issues like food quality or about the political consequences of allowing the corn equivalent of Microsoft. In either case, they will be all for allowing "job creators" to completely run amok.
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Keep your fluoridated water away from my precious bodily fluids...
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Fortunately, the right-wing component of the antiscience movement has no history of actually stopping progress. No creationist has ever filed a lawsuit halting work on vital energy infrastructure, for example. The anti-fluoridationist right had a moment in the early Fifties, but to get votes against fluoridation to stick in modern times, the anti-fuoridationists had to switch sides and ally with the left, as recently happened in Oregon.
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot is haven for people who prefer an evidence based approach, and despise you idiots who need to boil everything down to "left" and "right" since both sides of the spectrum as seen by the US are full of hypocrisy.
If you blindly think the left is all good or the right is all good ... you're a fucking moron who is driven by ideology and not intellect.
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The main problem here is thinking that the political spectrum is one-dimensional.
LOL (Score:2, Informative)
No wonder America is in such horrible shape.
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Mixing GMOs with water fluaridation and vaccination hysteria shows you have no idea what the problems is about GMOs.
Plant scientist here. It absolutely is.
The main objection to GMOs isn't that they kill humans directly.
You're lying, You're not just ignorant, you're actively lying right now. Google the term 'GMO' and you will find tons of such claims very quickly. Hell, Jeffery Smith, one of the most notable anti-GMO activists, claims that GMOs promote AIDS. Acting as if the opposition is not claiming all sorts of bogus health scares is patently deceptive.
The IP problems surounding GMOs should be enough for slashdot types to reject them.
What IP problems? The fact that they receive a patent for a certain amount of years? You know, exactly like conventionally br
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Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, the Indians have it wrong
It isn't "the Indians", it is a fringe group of kooks at the top of the BJP. The BJP is the KKK of India, and Narendra Modi is their David Duke. It says something about the sickness of Indian society that he is also the country's prime minister.
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We're not hearing it from our head of state right now, but our previous head of state was a fundamentalist evangelical who was perfectly happy to ignore climate change, endorse intelligent design, and generally ignore any science that gave him answers he didn't want to hear. Of course that was in no way limited to science questions. He was also more than happy to ignore reports from the intelligence community that he didn't want to hear and fabricate evidence to support policies like invading Iraq.
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Excuse me, we are laughing at India right now.
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In the US, we just let politicians [motherjones.com] do that for us.
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So I have (ok had) a Russian friend. He's still a coworker, but I don't talk to him anymore.
He was talking to me, and since my background is a bit outside of the normal background for a programmer (did Biological research) he eventually guided me to a (didn't know it at the time) hoax finding in South America. I worked on the background information until I found out that not only was it a hoax, but in light of prosecution the perpetrator decided to recant and show how he manufactured the fake items.
His st
Re:...and... (Score:5, Informative)
My favorite part about working with a Russian scientist: In the original Star Trek series, Chekhov often makes comments claiming specific discoveries or cultural artifacts as Russian - "discovered by famous Russian astronomer" or "old Russian fairy tale: if shoe fits, wear it". It's sort of a running joke, I assume related to the fact that 20th century Russian science tended to be totally cut off from the rest of the world. The really funny thing: THEY ACTUALLY DO THIS. And not just about historical discoveries either. I left a perfectly good job in large part because of this kind of crap.
Re:...and... (Score:4, Insightful)
How can a person grow up in such an environment and *not* end up as a conspiracy theorist?
I have a boss who is a Russian (his father was an officer in the Red Army, and I'd guess that party membership went along with that) and it's often amazing how his "management style" often ends up feeling like a parody of life in the communist party. "Meetings" which often ended up being long-winded droning about a bunch of topics, management-by-decree, and when he screwed something up at a client it was amazing how he would go into truth-suppression mode, outright lying and in one case, fabricating "evidence" to deny his involvement in problem.
As maddening as his management "style" was, he was a decent human being and often quite flexible and generous on a one-on-one basis. I just couldn't help but think his entire life had been exposed to both the weird thinking of the Red Army (which is probably not that much weirder than any Army) AND life in the community party and he just didn't know any different. He ultimately hired another guy (native-born American, with more management experience) who took over most of his employee-facing management.
Another friend I related this to had a Russian friend who ran his own company. When I related my story to her she said "Of course it's because he's Russian. My friend figured that out after he had several employees quit and figured out you can't manage Americans like Russians; he hired someone to manage people and it got so much better."
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...and the best part is they have Nukes!
"Our words are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS!" - Ghandi
And ? (Score:3)
I mean other countries had president which believed in an apocalyptic religion (revelation) or that atheist should not given the right to vote. Being from outside, the apocalyptic believer make me far more fear than the plane-to-other-planet Veda believer.
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If India hadn't developed nukes, Pakistan and China would have done major incursions into Indian territory by now. In fact the USA has indirectly helped Pakistan finance its nuke program over the years. if India had not developed nukes, Pakistan and China would have been in a position to completely invade and take over India any time they pleased. This would NOT have been a good thing for India, or the world, especially USA, because unlike India, the nations of Pakistan and China are not democracies. One i
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However, what started India down the path of building a nuke was NOT China or Pakistan. It was Nixon, who threatened India with nukes if they do not stop interfering with East Pakistan. He flat out told them that we have a nuke on the enterprize right off their shore and would use it unless they stopped. That man was such an ass.
Re:...and... (Score:5, Funny)
...and the best part is they have Nukes!
Which according to The History Channel were also invented in India thousands of years ago!
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"...and the best part is they have Nukes!
Which according to The History Channel were also invented in India thousands of years ago!"
No, it was the aliens that invented them, and the flying machines and stuff, and the indians thought they were gods...
"Ancient Aliens" new episodes on the H2 channel, with expert opinion from Eric Von Daniken
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Since the History channel was invented in India 3000 BCE, they are a bias source.
How about this (Score:2)
Can you imagine a country where the leaders preach that women have natural defenses against rape, having nukes? You wouldn't credit such a country with having electricity.
It is not just cream that rices to the top.
original papers available translated to english (Score:2, Funny)
here is an english translation of the papers: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.... [bibliotecapleyades.net]
random moderators: BEFORE considering hitting "-1" please read the full text below.
if you look up the papers they apparently had mercury-based plasma ion drives (which i hear NASA and the JPL have been researching for some time) as well as highly destructuve beam weapons (which i hope *nobody* in modern times has been researching). the papers are thousands of years old, and have been well-known for a considerable amount of time,
Re:original papers available translated to english (Score:5, Insightful)
To some degree, I can accept "lost technology." A claim that the Indians had some metallurgical technique that was lost and rediscovered by Europeans? I can buy that. I'd still require proof, but I can accept that this might happen. Primitive glider-type airplanes developed by Indians thousands of years ago? This is getting more far fetched and requires more proof, but perhaps someone there made one glider that worked for one flight. Advanced planes with the capability for space-flight to other planets? Sorry, but I'm not buying it. If you want to prove this, you'll need a lot more than "it's written down in some text somewhere." (If written text counts as proof then a thousand years from now there will be proof that Americans had galaxy-wide space-flight capability in the 20th Century thanks to some sci-fi stories.)
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Indians a thousand years ago having modern or even futuristic technology that was lost without a trace save for writing in one book (which might be open to interpretation) is *NOT* extraordinary proof.
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Half the population doesn't understand Evolution; and, might have some doubts it is fully correct. However, the number that "don't believe" is actually much smaller. The problem is that we tend to bias our polling over such topics quite badly; because, the polling is typically done by religious institutions. This leads to questions like "Considering that Scientists can't figure out whether carrots give you cancer or not, do you trust them to know that evolution is 100% right? Do you believe that a monke
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So does the United States, a federation that believes in angels and that god is on its side, and which requires school children to recite a pledge of allegiance every day. Half the population doesn't even believe in evolution! ...and the best part is they have Nukes!
Maybe it depends on the state but we stopped reciting the pledge in Illinois sometime around Middle School (around '95 or a so.) Dunno how it is today.
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
And landed men on the moon, sent the first probes to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Invented the transistor and IC, created Unix and C and managed to turn Japan in to democratic nation and kept Europe for burning to the the ground...
And we have nukes.
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The US is composed of 300 million people, some of which believe that.
No they don't. When I was a kid, pretty much everybody recited it in elementary (primary) school, but by high school (the last 4 years) it was soundly ignored by pretty much everyone.
Re:...and... (Score:5, Insightful)
And how is India different?
In India idiots are recognized as idiots.
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Upper or lower case zero? (Score:2)
it is not at all surprising that innovations by the many have stolen from them been.
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Et Tu? (Score:2)
Another Western plagiarism of Indian prior art.
The indians also have mastered the art (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The indians also have mastered the art (Score:5, Interesting)
I made a heat transfer calculation webapp some years back for a undergrad research project. After the first several emails from Chinese and Indian grad students asking for my source code because it could help them with their own projects I stopped even bothering to read questions about the program.
Plastic surgery? (Score:2, Funny)
Elephant in the room...
hysterical (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:hysterical (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm just wondering if anyone has actually verified that "Mr. Harsh Vardhan" isn't actually Sacha Baron Cohen in disguise.
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If he next says his favorite game is "throw the muslim down the well" we'll know for sure.
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lord ganesha proof of plastic surgery?? rarely do i found abject ignorance so funny. but this is gold!!
It is not that crazy if you actually think about it for long...
In India, people with severe facial deformities are often revered as profits or some such:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Now, I don't know about intentionally making yourself look like an Elephant with plastic surgery... but there are certainly many cases of people ending up with a natural resemblance to having the head of an elephant. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that at some time in the very distant past that a cult popped up ar
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Greeks (Score:5, Funny)
The greeks got the credit, but lost them some years ago due to economic difficulties. The common wisdom now is that the Pythagorean theorem have been discovered by an anonymous hedge fund.
Re:Greeks (Score:5, Funny)
I understand that Northrop Grumman recently acquired the patents to the Pythagorean theorem after a ruling from a federal judge in the eastern district of Texas--after promising said judge a chance to fly a B-2 bomber all by his very self and a 2-scoop ice cream cone afterwards if he was a good boy.
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Alabama scientists just discovered that the Pythagorean theorem could be simplified to c = a + b
Surely scientists in Manhattan would have discovered that :)
Coming soon to another episode of Ancient Aliens (Score:5, Insightful)
And the ancient planes also had the ability to fly between planets too. Don't think that these claims will stand up to review.
Ancient peoples were just as smart as us, but you need time to build the necessary tech. base in order to make advanced equipment so that you can discover advanced scientific theories and engineering disciplines.
Re:Coming soon to another episode of Ancient Alien (Score:5, Funny)
It's also proven that ancient people mastered the art of wireless communication. The lack of wire traces is definite proof.
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Or, you know, talking.
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"A shoutout to my buddy Prakash!"
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And let's not forget the clacks.
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They had to discontinue use of the mobile version, though. Turns out signal fires kept in the pocket or held to one's ear emit harmful radiation.
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It's also proven that ancient people mastered the art of wireless communication. The lack of wire traces is definite proof.
- you make it sound as if all of it was just smoke and mirrors...
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As an Indian; knew this was inevitable (Score:5, Interesting)
Indian politics has a long history of using pseudo science to sway the gullible. Many years ago, we had a veteran politician getting farmers to agitate against dams claiming that the dams removed the electricity from the water, so when it reached the fields it did not have any electricity left. The lack of electricity was affecting the quality of the crops.
The creationist museum here in the US where I currently stay is the US version of the same thing. The use of "common sense" and "the written word of God" to counter empirical, evidence driven hard science.
The problem as I see it is that in the name of defending religion, we are required to unquestioningly suspend all argument and reason when reading religious texts. It is a very short step to suspend all argument and reason when listening to the people who hold themselves as defenders of these texts.
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I disagree... I can't speak for India, but here in the US people really do believe this stuff. Not only that, but many of the politicians we have in office are true believers and again truly believe this stuff. It's not always just some cynical attempt to manipulate people (though in some cases it is.)
This is why there should be a firm separation of Church and state. Religion is by defiance something that rejects evidence and relies solely on faith. As such, anyone can come along, reject all reasonable argu
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Re:As an Indian; knew this was inevitable (Score:4, Insightful)
I would refine that a bit further. It's not just Fundamentalists, but Fundamentalists who refuse to accept that others may hold differing opinions, and further, those Fundamentalists who believe it is justified to use force to change the opinions of others.
I consider myself a fundamentalist, but I do not believe it is my job to force anyone into accepting my views, and I would defend your right to hold positions I consider incorrect.
The number 0 is attributed to India... (Score:5, Funny)
... but I guess a paper entitled "Indians Invented Nothing" might not be selected for presentation.
Are you sure this isn't... (Score:3)
...the Indian "Science" Conference ?
Next thing you know... (Score:2)
...they're going to dig for copper cabling that's thousands of years old, to prove they had a phone network before everyone else. When they don't find any, they'll conclude the only reason for that can be that they moved to mobile phones even back then!
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Re:Next thing you know... (Score:4, Funny)
...they're going to dig for copper cabling that's thousands of years old,
I have some Verizon cables in my neighborhood that seem like they might qualify.
kim jong il science advisor (Score:2)
so, after kim jong il died his science advisor was hired by the indians
so, what's next ? unicorns or yeti's ?
Re:kim jong il science advisor (Score:4, Funny)
It's "Yeticorns", you insensitive clod! You should know they invented gene-splicing thousands of years before anyone else.
Not equivalent (Score:2)
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" I am fairly confident that some Asian, long before the Write brothers, had a decent working flying machine."
And it wouldn't matter if they had. The Wright brothers are the fathers of modern aviation. Period. It doesn't matter that the Vikings may have "discovered" the Americas centuries before Columbus -- or the Chinese centuries before that. What matters is who "discovered" it last and in a way where the discovery "stuck".
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There's a rather vast gulf between saying such a thing COULD happen because Asia had advanced math before the West, and presenting evidence that such a thing actually did happen.
It's Wright, by the way. Sounds the same as write, but it's spelled differently.
Reality vs nonsense (Score:2)
The more reality diminishes the realm of nonsense, the more subscribers to nonsense will fight back with increasingly extraordinary claims, demanding they be taken at face value.
I'm Feeling deflated by /. readership racism (Score:2, Insightful)
Nearly every comment on this article deviates from 'really bad peer reviews' into racist bigotry. Shame on you lot.
Don't forget the British royal family (Score:5, Funny)
The British royal family. They all live in the same family house together - Indian. All work in the family business - Indian. All have arranged marriages - Indian. They all have sons; daughters no good - Indian. Children live with their parents until they are married - Indian!
Except Prince Charles. He's African.
I, for one, welcome our new vedic overlords (Score:2)
Especially that new exhaust system.
science outmatch joke (Score:2)
this reminds me of a joke...
scientists around the world were trying to figure out which was the most advanced in the past
so, the french dig a deep hole and found some copper string, and claimed that they had invented the telephone 1000 years ago
the english dug an even deeper hole and found some glass shards, and claimed that they had invented fiberglass wires 2000 years ago
the portuguese dug an absurdly deep hole, and found NOTHING
so they claimed that they invented wireless cellphone 6000 years ago
Now that they are the joke of the week... (Score:3)
...some bad India jokes:
I'm Gonna Jump
In Mumbai, a man is going to jump off the building.
Up rushes good Hindu cop to talk him down.
Cop yells up to the man "Don't jump! Think of your father" Man replies "Haven't got a father; I'm going to jump."
The cop goes through a list of relatives, mother, brothers, sister, etc. Each time man says "haven't got one; going to jump."
Desperate the cop yells up "Don't jump! Think of Lord Krishna"
Man replies "Who is that?"
Cop yells "Jump, Muslim! You're blocking traffic!"
Two Accountants
One day two accountants, who were best friends, were walking together down the street.
One was a Hindu and constantly berated the other for eating meat!
After stopping for a hot dog, the Hindu erupted "Why do you eat meat?, Do you even know what's in that hot dog? You know, you are what you eat!"
The American replied "I am what I eat, an uncontrollable vicious animal (beating his chest)"
As they stepped off the curb a speeding car came around the corner and ran the Hindu over.
The American called 911 and helped his injured friend as best he was able.
The injured Hindu was taken to emergency at the hospital and rushed into surgery. After a long and agonizing wait, the doctor finally appeared.
He told the uninjured American, "I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that your friend is going to pull through."
"The bad news is that he's going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life."
Currency Exchange
A hindu man walked into the currency exchange in New York City with 5000 rupees and walked out with $100.
The following week, he walked in with another 5000 rupees, and was handed $84.
He asked the teller why he got less money that week than the previous week. The teller said, "Fluctuations."
The hindu man stormed out, and just before slamming the door, turned around and shouted, "Fluc you Amelicans, too!"
Let the other party be listened to as well. (Score:4, Interesting)
Indeed, a lot of weird things exist in India.
- Regions with really high radioactive background but with no compelling natural explanation. Ruins of ancient castles where the stone walls have thoroughly melted as if glass, at temperatures most likely higher than termite or oxy-acetylene
- Rather detailed descriptions of tactical nuclear warfare in the vedas, including fallout and decontamination activity.
- Descriptions of giant arrow throwers, which protect aginst vimanas or flying war chariots, but are so complex no less than 4 people in close cooperation can operate them.
(Those passages bear eerie similarity to the SA-2 missiles that downed B-52s over Hanoi: they were so complex at least 4-5 people were needed to guide them. This was NOT because of the low level of automation-computerization available to the soviets, as it has been proven over and over that higher automated systems, e.g. BUK, TOR can be jammed deterministically by advanced enough pods. In contrast, man in the loop systems, like the SA-3 remain efficient after over 40 years in service and earthed an F-16, F-117 in 1999 and a jewish AGM-142 flying bomb a few weeks ago.)
- There is a long-running rumor among the jews (the gem trading race) that those fabulous giant diamonds found nowhere else but India are artificial, rather than of natural origin. Many millenia ago, there was some advanced civilization in the Indus valley, who could make fist sized diamonds. We are decades, if not centuries from that level of sophistication.
- Hinduism is the only major religion that never felt the need to exterminate the faith of her neighbours or the neighbours themselves. India is spiritually more advanced, maybe because they have already have their many major wars many millenia ago, thus having learnt what we learned only in WWI and WW2. (May I mention stories about the legendary King Ashoka and the secret anti-war society of the Nine Unknown Men, he founded?)
- If you watch the recent prequel of Alien movie, the extraterrestrial "engineer" is seen reading ancient sanskrit there (tale of the horse and lamb or something like that). I think there is a deep-running understanding in the graeco-roman heritage that white people culture and the large majority of european languages can from northern India, the so-called aryans.
listen/read skeptically (Score:3)
It's a very long distance from fanciful imagery in ancient texts (Ezekiel's wheel is a UFO, obviously, for example) to the historical existence of a nuclear war.
Explanations for natural and/or artifical oddities have to be seriously sought before giving credence to theories developed by those looking to use seeming correlations to bolster possible fantasies. How many times has Nostradamus been proved "correct"? It is a human trait to look for correlations; if the first three times your tribe passed a rock
You have never experienced Shakespeare (Score:5, Funny)
Until you have read him in the original Hindi.
Pythagorean Theorem (Score:3)
The thing about the Pythagorean Theorem is completely true and well-documented (by maybe one or two hundred years). Pretty sure it's in a sidebar to the college algebra text I teach out of.
Wikipedia: "In India, the Baudhayana Sulba Sutra, the dates of which are given variously as between the 8th century BC and the 2nd century BC, contains a list of Pythagorean triples discovered algebraically, a statement of the Pythagorean theorem, and a geometrical proof of the Pythagorean theorem for an isosceles right triangle. The Apastamba Sulba Sutra (ca. 600 BC) contains a numerical proof of the general Pythagorean theorem, using an area computation. Van der Waerden believed that "it was certainly based on earlier traditions". Boyer (1991) thinks the elements found in the ulba-stram may be of Mesopotamian derivation.[67]... Pythagoras, whose dates are commonly given as 569–475 BC, used algebraic methods to construct Pythagorean triples..."
[67] Carl Benjamin Boyer (1968). "China and India". A history of mathematics. Wiley. p. 229.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem#History [wikipedia.org]
There's all kinds of examples, maybe more often the case than not, that mathematical principles get named after someone other than the original discoverer. It doesn't even require "forgotten knowledge" or anything like that, just some kind of power relationship at play. In fact, Stigler's Law of Eponomy (named after Stephen Stigler, Distinguished Service Professor at the Department of Statistics of the University of Chicago) states, "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." See also: Matthew Effect and Boyer's Law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler%27s_law_of_eponymy [wikipedia.org]
Here's professor Richard Lipton writing on that particular subject:
http://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/why-is-everything-named-after-gauss/ [wordpress.com] ... but obviously the other stuff mentioned at the conference is total looney-tunes.
Comment removed (Score:3)
If they were so smart (Score:5, Funny)
Well, documentation is legendary in Indian code.
The inventions were obviously self documenting
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The evil white colonial devil must have MADE them forget, obviously!
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Re:In other news... (Score:4, Informative)
I was wondering when NC would stop promoting cowardice on its license plates.