Indian Achievements

Key Terms

• Metallurgy

• Alloys

• Hindu-Arabic numerals

• Inoculation

• Astronomy

Questions to ponder…1. How do you think the

following achievementseffected life in ancientIndia?

2. How do you think thefollowing achievementseffect you today?

3. What would life be likewithout these scientific advancements?

Scientific Advances• The ancient Indians were

pioneers of metallurgy, the science of working with metals.

• Ancient Indians understood how to mix metals and create alloys.

• These alloys were often stronger and easier to work with.

How do you think alloys helped ancient Indians?

Ancient Indianscreated the Iron Pillarnear Delhi.

The pillar is very resistant to rust

and is studied eventoday.

Mathematics

• Ancient Indians developed many elements of our modern math system.

• The very numbers we use today are called the Hindu-Arabic numerals

• They were created by Indian scholars and brought to Europe by the Arabs.

Ancient Indiansare also believedto have had animportant role

in the creation of“0,”

Medicine• As early as the AD 100s,

doctors in India were making medicines from plants and minerals.

• Besides curing diseases, doctors were able to protect others from disease through inoculation.

• Indian doctors also performed surgeries.

Inoculation is when a small dose of a virus is injected into a person to help him or her build up defense to the disease and protect itself.

Indian doctorsFixed broken bones,

Removed tonsils,And reattached

Earlobes.

Astronomy

• Ancient Indians were very interested in astronomy, the study of stars and planets.

• They were aware of seven of the eight planets.

• They knew the sun was a star.

• They could even predict eclipses of the sun and the moon.