Forgotten Heroes of Indian Science

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Upendranath Brahmachari conjured a potent drug to vanquish the spectre of kala-azar, saving millions from the deadly disease. Ram Nath Chopra explored ancient ayurvedic knowledge, extracting a natural compound from sarpagandha to treat seizures and high blood pressure. Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra Bose etched a novel cipher for fingerprints, birthing the science of forensics with their elegant method. Though pilfered by Scotland Yard, it found mention in the intricate plot of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of the Four. Yellapragada Subbarow sculpted five monumental discoveries that reshaped modern medicine, saving countless lives—yet, in a poignant twist of fate, could not save his own.

These stories are not mere chronicles of inventions, but sagas of lives devoted to the pursuit of brilliance. They bring alive the history and sociocultural milieu of the times these men lived in, how they changed the landscape of Indian science and how they proved that the only difference between the ordinary and the great is this: the ordinary think they are great and the great think they are ordinary.