Srinagar, July 4 -- When the story of modern science is told, the world usually remembers discoveries, patents, medals, Nobel Prizes, and famous European laboratories. But before a discovery can happen, a more fundamental thing must exist: a place where minds are allowed to ask questions freely. For colonial India, that place did not come easily. It had to be imagined, demanded, defended, and built. One of the earliest architects of that scientific self-respect was Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar, a Bengali physician, thinker, institution-builder, and one of the forgotten fathers of modern Indian science.

Several Bengali scientists helped lay foundations for modern science but were denied full recognition by colonial structures-Mahendra Lal Sirc...