Ram Ramaswamy
Ram Ramaswamy taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for over three decades. His research centres on nonlinear science, exploring complexity in physics and computational biology. With a longstanding interest in the history of ideas, he has written extensively on higher education issues.
NIF Books
Historian … Mathematician … Marxist … Polymath ... D.D. Kosambi defied labels. The range and intellectual heft of his scholarship was truly astounding, with fundamental contributions in differential geometry and analysis in mathematics, the Kosambi distance in genetics, a statistical analysis of ancient coin hoards, a radical reinterpretation of Indian history and stellar compilations of the poetry of Vidyakara and Bhartrhari—all this in addition to a firm commitment to world peace and environmental activism.
Yet, for a man who contributed so much to the Indian intellectual tradition, he remains largely unknown. Sixty years after his passing, there is scant recognition of his talents—he is quoted more often than he is read and praised more often than he is analysed.
Ram Ramaswamy's remarkable biography of Kosambi seeks to correct this lapse. Set in the background of fascinating social, political, scientific and historiographical transformation in the subcontinent, and drawing from letters, journal entries, family accounts and unprecedented archival material, D.D. Kosambi: One Life, Many Worlds reveals a rare incandescent genius, a fearless, independent spirit with boundless curiosity. And with relevance to pedagogy, research, and invention even today.
Purchase: Amazon
Reviews:
"[A] very accomplished biography." — Romila Thapar
"A brilliant evocation of D.D. Kosambi's life in mathematics and history … does full justice to the multifaceted talents of a mercurial scholar ethically engaged with the pressing global challenges of his times." — Sugata Bose
"One of the most accomplished biographies I have read in a long time. This brilliantly told life of a polymath is sensitive, not a laudatory account … A marvellous achievement." — Akshaya Mukul
"A revealing and deeply compelling portrait of one of the sharpest Indian minds of the twentieth century … A candid, learned, and elegant biography." — Samanth Subramanian
"A sympathetic but critical account of a towering intellectual … as relevant to our times as to his own." — Upinder Singh
"Truly riveting and deeply researched." — Jairam Ramesh
"A wonderfully intimate portrait of arguably the most irrepressible of twentieth century India's intellectual giants … Kosambi—brilliant and brittle all at once—comes to life." — Arunabh Ghosh
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