Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of January. It has a membership of more than 30,000 scientists.
The first Indian Science Congress was held in 1914 at the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. After attracting various speech-related controversies in recent years, the association established a policy that requires speakers at future conferences to be vetted and scrutinizes the content of their talks.
Several prominent Indian and foreign scientists, including Nobel laureates, attend and speak in the congress.
Genesis
The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) owes its origin to the foresight and initiative of two British chemists, namely, Professor J. L. Simonsen and Professor P. S. MacMahon. It occurred to them that scientific research in India might be stimulated if an annual meeting of research workers somewhat on the lines of the British Association for the Advancement of Science could be arranged.
Objectives
The Association was formed with the following objectives : To advance and promote the cause of science in India; To hold an annual congress at a suitable place in India; To publish such proceedings, journals, transactions and other publications as may be considered desirable; To secure and manage funds and endowments for the promotion of Science including the rights of disposing of or selling all or any portion of the properties of the Association; To do and perform any or all other acts, matters and things as are conductive to, or incidental to, or necessary for, the above objects.
Indian Science Congress sessions
First Congress
The first meeting of the congress was held from 15 to 17 January 1914 at the premises of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta. Ashutosh Mukherjee, the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta presided over the Congress. One hundred and five scientists from different parts of India and abroad attended it. Altogether 35 papers under 6 different sections, namely Botany, Chemistry, Ethnography, Geology, Physics and Zoology were presented.
Silver Jubilee
The Silver Jubilee Session of the Science Congress was held at Calcutta in 1938 under the presidency of Ernest Rutherford but due to his sudden death, James Jeans took the chair. It was at this Jubilee Session that the participation of foreign scientists in session of the Indian Science Congress was first initiated.
34th Edition – Participation of foreign scientists
The 34th Annual Session of the Indian Science Congress was held at Delhi in 3–8 January 1947 with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as General president. Nehru's personal interest in the Science Congress continued and there was hardly any session which he did not attend. He immensely enriched the activities of the Congress by his sustained interest in the development of scientific atmosphere in the country, particularly among young generations. From 1947, his programme for inviting representatives from foreign societies and academies was included in the Science Congress. This trend still continues with the support of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.
Golden Jubilee
The Science Congress celebrated its Golden Jubilee in October 1963 at Delhi with Daulat Singh Kothari as General president. On this occasion two special publications were brought out: A short History of the Indian Science Congress Association and Fifty Years of Science in India (in 12 volumes, each volume containing reviews of particular branch of science)
Diamond Jubilee
The Diamond Jubilee Session of the Science Congress was held at Chandigarh in 3–9 January 1973, under the presidency of S. Bhagavantam. On this occasion two special publications were brought out: A Decade (1963–72) Indian Science Congress Association (with life-sketches of General presidents) and A Decade (1963–72) of Science in India(in section-wise).