
India to introduce courses claiming gravity and Airplane are Indian discoveries - pankajdoharey
https://theprint.in/governance/in-engineering-courses-soon-wright-brothers-didnt-invent-plane-batteries-existed-in-vedic-age/124540/
======
JPLeRouzic
There are much controversies [0] about who was the first to invent and who
used a powered, "heavier than air" aircraft.

The first to invent may not be the first to use, and not all aircraft are
powered, even Wright brothers used a catapult several years after their
"first" flight. And having the possibility to steer the aircraft is yet
another modality that was missing in the Wright brother 17 December 1903
flight.

In retrospective how that catapult thing was so much a novelty when Robert
Hooke in 1655 made a spring-powered ornithopter model which was apparently
able to fly?

And indeed George Cayley should never be forgotten [1]. In 1799, he set forth
the concept of the modern aeroplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with
separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claims_to_the_first_powered_fl...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claims_to_the_first_powered_flight)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cayley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cayley)

------
aq3cn
I am not sure about airplane, but I have references for discovery
gravitational laws in India. These are non-Indian references, so I suppose my
point of view will be respected.

Given India school of mathematics already was advanced in trigonometry,
calculus & astronomy according to following references:

\+ Prior to __discovery of infinite series and calculus __by Newton and
Leibniz, the Kerala School of Mathematics had already developed calculus and
some historians suggest that this and advanced astronomical knowledge from
Kerala went abroad via the Jesuits and provided the spark for its further
development in Europe.

sources:

[https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=131...](https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=tme)

[https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9308.html](https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9308.html)

[https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/restoring-indias-
calcul...](https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/restoring-indias-calculus-
crown/cid/211310)

\+ It is very much possbile for Indians to have independently discover law of
gravitation. Following paper establishes that Indians knew about Newton
'discovery' by 250 years.

source:

[https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/indians-
predated-...](https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/indians-predated-
newton-discovery-by-250-years/)

\+ Rig Veda is credited for contribution in value of Pi

source:

[https://www.sanskritimagazine.com/vedic_science/value-pi-
upt...](https://www.sanskritimagazine.com/vedic_science/value-pi-
upto-32-decimals-rig-veda/)

I cannot discount usage/knowledge of Airplane, battery, magnet, electricity,
in India, unless it is firmly established they didnt had the technology. I
choose to maintain status quo.

