Babylonian Pythagoras' Theorem, the Early History of Zero and a Polemic on the Study of the History of Science

Babys n Arte GENERAL | ARTICLE Babylonian Pythagoras’ ‘Theorem, the Early History of Zero and a Polemic on the Study of the History of Science Rahul Roy A di®erence between fancy and fact is that fancies may be as you please but facts are as the universe pleases. Robert Kaplan, The Nothing that is { A natural history of zero. Introduction is at the Indian Rahul Roy Statistical Institute, Delhi. | An irksome feature in the study of the history of science, mathematics, and society formation is encountering Eurocentrism' at practically every level. The notion that everything ‘civilised’ originated in Europe is an enterprise which began around two hundred years ago, at a time when the world was divided into the ‘dark’ continents and their ‘enlightened’ colonial masters. Besides strengthening the view that the ‘dark’ continents were indeed pitch dark, Eurocentrism was a 5 re°ex of the colonizers quest for legitimacy as the font 9 of all things civilised. Many sociologists "nd in this Eurocentrism the seed which later bore the bitter fruit of Hitler's Aryan supremacy theory. Lately, however, hisa nm 0 > 0 0 0 0 eo 4 N torians cutting across the North-South and East-West ’ Bernal [1] gives a detailed acdivides have come to realize the folly of Eurocentrism count of thix Esbricafion of and the ways it has hindered the development and a Eorocentrism. critical study of history, be it of science or otherwise’. Unfortunately, some of us in India have not learned from these mistakes, and stubbornly continue to engage in an Indocentric' view of science, mathematics, society, Keywords BabylonianPythagoras'theorem, language, etc. Thus we are told that \Sanskrit is the mother of all languages", \Indus valley civilisation is history of zero. Vedic in origin", \India gave the world zero", or more RESONANCE | January 2003