Politicians should not determine what science is, says mathematician

Renowned mathematician S.R. Srinivasa Varadhan has said that politicians should not be determining what science is as it must be left to the scientific community.

Renowned mathematician S.R. Srinivasa Varadhan has said that politicians should not be determining what science is as it must be left to the scientific community.

“I do not want to criticise the present government. But the government wants to impose its ideas about what science should be. What science is must be determined by the scientific community. And not by politicians,” he said here in response to a question on the cancellation of the 109th edition of the annual Indian Science Congress amid reports of differences between the organisers and the Department of Science and Technology.

Prof. Varadhan, who is currently the Frank J. Gould professor of science and a professor of mathematics at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, said that such interventions happened everywhere and not only in India. “In the US too, there is a period when especially in social sciences, if you have a programme that is different from what the government wanted, you are not funded. See the government does not have to say don’t work but [they] just stop funding. They choose to fund what they like,” he told The Hindu in a chat on the sidelines of his talk at the Cochin University of Science and Technology on Tuesday as part of the National Science Day celebrations organised by the Department of Mathematics and Kerala Mathematical Association.

Asked about the decline in demand for BSc programmes in mathematics in colleges affiliated to various universities in the country, Prof. Varadhan, who was awarded the Abel Prize given to outstanding international mathematicians in 2007, attributed it to the shortsightedness of the industry. “In the United States, mathematics is very much sought after by the corporations and if you have a basic degree in mathematics, it is valued more than a degree in engineering or computer science because a well-trained mathematician can do many things. He can solve problems in many areas. What they are looking for is somebody who is bright, somebody who is industrious and if you have a basic good degree in mathematics, that proves that you are able. Whether you got the degree in Algebra or Topology does not matter,” he said.

Prof. Varadhan, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2008, urged the corporations to look for persons having a strong degree in any subject. It could be mathematics, physics, [or] chemistry. “If you have a solid undergraduate degree from any one of these difficult disciplines, that indicated [your] basic intellectual strength.” On whether data science should be given more focus in mathematics, he said that data science is important. “But we should not overemphasise data science either. I think students should be exposed to various disciplines, let them choose what attracts them,” he said.