The Rearview

The Hindu
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Jacob Koshy and Sobhana K Nair guide you on a scenic route through the history of science. Filled with fascinating anecdotes, deep archival dives, and a closer look at the quirky minds behind groundbreaking ideas.

  1. 6D AGO

    Forgotten Heroes | Part 3: Yellapragada Subbarow - The forgotten alchemist

    In the annals of modern medicine, few scientists have saved as many lives while remaining as profoundly overlooked as Yellapragada Subbarow. Born in colonial India and later working in the United States, Subbarow’s research laid the foundations for breakthroughs that transformed global healthcare—from treatments for parasitic diseases and cancer to advances in antibiotics and nutritional science. Yet, unlike many scientific luminaries, his name rarely entered the public imagination. This episode—the third instalment in our series on forgotten Indian scientists with Anand Ranganathan and Sheetal Ranganathan—revisits the extraordinary life and legacy of a man whose discoveries quietly reshaped twentieth-century medicine. We trace Subbarow’s journey from hardship and intellectual struggle in India to pioneering biochemical research in America, exploring both his scientific triumphs and the institutional barriers that often obscured his contributions. The conversation delves into the medicines and scientific pathways linked to Subbarow’s work, asking why some innovators become household names while others fade into obscurity. At once a biography, a history of science, and a meditation on recognition, this episode restores to view one of the most consequential Indian minds of the modern era. Hosts: Jacob Koshy and Sobhana Nair Producer and editor: Jude Francis Weston

    48 min

  2. MAY 4

    Forgotten Heroes | Part 2: How India gave the world the first blood pressure drug

    What did Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill have in common, besides shaping mid‑20th mid‑20th‑century history? Both suffered from hypertension, a condition Western medicine did not recognise as a disease until well into the 1940s. High blood pressure was seen as an inevitable companion of aging, something to be endured rather than treated. Doctors advised lifestyle changes, less salt, more rest, and, at best, mild sedatives. Long before this shift in medical thinking, Indian practitioners were using the roots of Sarpagandha to treat manic disorders. Drawing on this traditional knowledge, Ram Nath Chopra, the father of Indian pharmacology, demonstrated that the herb could also bring down blood pressure. His work marked a turning point. Building on Chopra’s research and clinical trials by Indian doctors, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Ciba isolated the active alkaloid responsible for Sarpagandha’s hypotensive effect. The result was Reserpine, the world’s first effective drug to control hypertension. In this episode of The Rearview, the second in our “Forgotten Heroes” series, we trace Chopra’s remarkable journey and examine how a British army doctor working in India quietly transformed global medicine and laid the foundations of India’s modern pharmaceutical industry. Hosts: Jacob Koshy and Sobhana K Nair Guests: Anand Ranganathan and Sheetal Ranganathan Producer and editor: Jude Francis Weston

    39 min

  3. APR 20

    Forgotten Heroes | Part 1: How two Indian mathematicians were denied credit for inventing fingerprinting

    Hem Chandra Bose and Aziz Ul-Haque were the experts who played a pivotal role in developing the Henry Classification System for cataloging finger prints. This was during the early 20th century, when both were police inspectors, part of the colonial Bengal Police Service. This was a unique system that enabled the identification of any person, by employing 10 identifying characteristics of their fingerprints such as whorls, ridges and the like. Routine as this sounds today, this was the first time that such a system was conceived to create a criminal database that could then be used to track repeat offenders. Much like Aadhar-based fingerprinting systems strengthen Digital Stack systems like the UPI, this approach was revolutionary and was adopted by Scotland Yard and eventually part of plot points in the Sherlock Holmes- stories. However nearly all credit for developing this was usurped by Edward Henry, Inspector General, Bengal Police under whom Haque and Bose worked. This and a lot more in the three part series of The Rearview Podcast. Hosts: Jacob Koshy and Sobhana K Nair Guests: Anand Ranganathan and Sheetal Ranganathan Producer and editor: Jude Francis Weston

    36 min

  4. APR 6

    India's First Computers | Part 3: How software won

    India’s computing story unfolds in two distinct phases. In the decades after Independence, the country set out to build its own computer hardware. But from the 1970s onwards, that ambition quietly gave way to something else: software. In this concluding episode of the series, we trace how and why that pivot happened. During the 1960s, American universities began partnering with the Indian Institutes of Technology and other academic institutions, drawn by India’s deep pool of technical talent. Instead of manufacturing machines locally, these collaborations imported IBM computers and focused entirely on software and programming. This shift marked the beginning of India’s transformation into the world’s back office for software engineering. We examine how India came to dominate global software labour—and ask the big, unresolved question: why did the country give up on building computer hardware altogether? Hosts: Sobhana K Nair & Jacob Koshy Producer and editor: Jude Weston

    27 min

  5. MAR 30

    India’s First Computers | Part 2: TIFRAC & IBM’s Double Game

    In the mid-1950s, while the world was still reeling from the dawn of the atomic age, a group of visionary scientists in a makeshift barracks in Mumbai were chasing a different kind of power: computational sovereignty. This episode dives into the incredible story of TIFRAC (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic Calculator), India’s first indigenous digital computer. Spearheaded by Homi Bhabha and R. Narasimhan, TIFRAC wasn’t just a machine built from vacuum tubes and ferrite cores; it was a bold statement that a newly independent nation could master the most complex technology of the era. But the road to innovation was far from smooth. As India moved toward self-reliance, global tech giants were watching. We explore the shadowy “help” offered by IBM, which dominated the global market at the time. While IBM sought to establish a monopoly by leasing refurbished machines and pushing proprietary systems, the Indian government and TIFR scientists smelled a “technological trap.” Hosts: Jacob Koshy and Sobhana K Nair Guest: Dwaipayan Banerjee, Associate Professor of Science at MIT Producer and editor: Jude Weston

    37 min

  6. MAR 23

    India’s First Computers | Part 1: A Historian’s Tragedy

    In the first of a 3-part series, we discuss the origins of India’s quest, first to procure and then to build a homegrown computer in India. Coming very close to the Indian independence, this is the period that is more closely associated with the birth of India’s nuclear programme. Dr Banerjee’s book: Computing in the Age of Decolonisation narrates this history and begins with the story of DD Kosambi, better known in India’s intellectual history as the father of Marxist historiography. As a graduate in mathematics from Harvard University, Kosambi was primarily a theorist in mathematics and sought to apply this knowledge to building a homegrown computer. However in this first part we explore how these plans came to naught. The Rearview is a podcast where the hosts guide you on a scenic route through the history of science. Filled with fascinating anecdotes, deep archival dives, and a closer look at the quirky minds behind groundbreaking ideas. Hosts: Jacob Koshy and Sobhana K Nair Guest: Professor Dwaipayan Banerjee, Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

    35 min

  7. MAR 11

    PC Mahalanobis: India’s First Data Cruncher

    Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1893–1972) was a Bengali statistician and institution-builder who became one of the most consequential figures in twentieth-century Indian science. Trained as a physicist in Calcutta and Cambridge, he discovered statistics almost by accident through an encounter with Biometrika, and went on to found the Indian Statistical Institute in 1931 out of a small laboratory at Presidency College, Calcutta. His most enduring scientific contribution was the D² statistic — a measure of distance between populations that emerged from his early anthropometric work on race mixture in Bengal and his critical re-analysis of Risley’s colonial survey data. He enjoyed close professional relationships with founding fathers of the statistical field - Karl Pearson and R.A. Fisher, though his dealings with Pearson were marked by a significant dispute over publication. Through the ISI he shaped Indian statistical practice across sampling, agricultural experiments, and economic planning, exercising powerful influence over the National Sample Survey and the Planning Commission. Hosts: Sobhana K Nair & Jacob Koshy Producer: Jude Weston

    41 min

  8. FEB 23

    India's First 'Lady Doctors'

    This podcast explores the lives of India’s first female doctors, framing their struggle not as a technological quest, but as a profound social rebellion. Beyond merely practicing medicine, women like Drs. Kadambini Ganguly, Anandibai Joshi, Rukmabai Raut and Jamini Sen, navigated a "structural trap" of colonial prejudice and domestic conservatism. The narrative highlights the contradictions of the era: progressive male allies who nonetheless didn't condemn child marriage, and nationalists like Tilak who viewed female education as "insubordination." Ultimately, the theme centers on agency versus institutional erasure, celebrating these women for their scientific contributions—such as implementing antiseptic protocols—while reclaiming their stories from historical obscurity. Hosts: Jacob Koshy and Sobhana K Nair Producers: Shiksha Jural and Jude Weston

    37 min
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Jacob Koshy and Sobhana K Nair guide you on a scenic route through the history of science. Filled with fascinating anecdotes, deep archival dives, and a closer look at the quirky minds behind groundbreaking ideas.

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  • Creator
    The Hindu
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Copyright
    © The Hindu
  • Show Website
    The Rearview