Tamil Heritage Trust
Britain's Greatest Gift: The Life and Work of Sir William
'Oriental' Jones by award-winning heritage speaker Rangarathnam Gopu
showcasing the life and extraordinary accomplishments of Sir William
“Oriental” Jones and his rich legacy.
Online talk in English at 5.30 pm IST on January 3, 2026.
To receive the link for the talk register
Sir William Jones, a lawyer, poet, and ardent philologist, was appointed
as a judge in the Calcutta Supreme Court in 1783. He died in
Calcutta in April 1794. In this short span, he established the Asiatic
Society, launched the modern study of practically every social science,
and explained more of Indian history, culture, and society to Britain
and Europe than they had known since Alexander's invasion two thousand
years ago.
He wrote on the Hindu and Muslim laws, music, literature, botany, and
geography. He postulated the relationship among the Indo-European
languages, which launched an era of comparative linguistics. He
discovered that the ancient Mauryan city of Pataliputra must be the
modern city of Patna in Bihar.
Rangarathnam Gopu was born and brought up in Madras. He followed
up a BE in Computer Engineering with an MS in Computer Science from
Texas A&M University. He then worked in the US as a software
engineer, mostly at Microsoft in Seattle. Upon returning to India, his
interests turned to history and heritage, including the history of
science and technology. He lectures on these and other topics at various
fora. His articles on several topics have been published in national
magazines, including The Week, the New Indian Express, and Swarajya.
He has conducted heritage tours of Mamallapuram, Kanchipuram, Orissa,
Ajanta, Ellora, Tanjavur, Badami, Hampi and the Madras Egmore Museum for
several groups, including schools and colleges. He served as a cultural
consultant for the Routes and Roots exhibition at the 2023 G-20 summit.
In 2016, Ramu Endowments, which conducted the South Indian Heritage
Series lectures, presented him with the Vedavalli Memorial Heritage
Award for his services to Culture.
He is one of the co-founders of the Varahamihira Science Forum, which
conducts monthly public lectures and workshops on science. He teaches
courses in Indian Astronomy and Mathematics, and in Inventions and
Discoveries. He conducts courses on Indian Astronomy and Mathematics,
and on Pallava Grantham script for the general public.
He participated in debates and delivered papers and lectures at CSIR’s
2023 and 2024 Communication and Dissemination of Traditional Knowledge
(CDTK) seminars as part of the Prime Minister’s SVASTIK initiative. His
articles on Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, and the Shulba Sutras were published
in the SVASTIK journal. His posters on these aspects of Indian
Astronomy and Mathematics have been shared on social media by
CSIR-NIScPR.
Tamil Heritage Trust
tamilheritage.in
tamilheritage.in@gmail.com
youtube.com/@TamilHeritageTrust
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