Turning Time
However, with the turn of the century, an interesting combination of scientific developments and astronomical events heralded a major lead ahead. One was the solar eclipse of 1898, which was observed by Naegamvala. Another was the appearance of the Halley's comet in 1910. The common men and women in India were now getting curious about what went on inside the observatories.

Switching to mass transport will also generate more revenue. London is the largest city to have adapted a congestion charge model (as of 2006). Drivers pay UK£8 per day if they drive in Central London during the scheme’s hours of operation. Failure to pay the charge means a fine of at least UK£50.

Spacestones
Responding to this, Universities began to introduce programmes and courses related to astronomy. Kodaikanal and Nainital Observatories were set up around this time. They were different becasue their core activity was not metereological surveys, but scientific research on the whereabouts of the stars. And the application of these studies in real life. This is how it was done....

Kodaikanal Observatory: After the Madras famine of 1886-87, an inquiry commission appointed by the Government recommended to study the relation between sunspot activity (solar magnetic storms that appear as dark, irregular spots on the sun's surface) and the distribution of rains. The site for the solar observatory was selected in Kodaikanal and it began functioning from 1900. John Evershed, who became the director of the Kodaikanal Observatory in 1911, started a programme of photographing solar prominences and sunspot spectra. His observations led to two important discoveries in solar physics: the radial motion in the sunspots known as the Evershed effect, and the nature of the sunspot spectra.

Nizamiah Observatory: Nawab Zafar Jung, a wealthy nobleman in Hyderabad, acquired a 15-inch Grubb refractor and established an observatory at Begumpet, Hyderabad. It was taken over by the Nizam's government in 1908 and it soon got involved in an international programme of mapping the sky. 18 observatories with similar instruments took part in this carte-du-ciel programme. So, an 8-inch astrograph was acquired. Twelve catalogues containing 8,00,000 stars were published.
T P Bhaskaran, one of the directors of this observatory, started a programme of observing variable stars with the 15-inch Grubb telescope. It was during his time that control of the observatory passed from the Nizam's Government to Osmania University. Akbar Ali, who succeeded Bhaskaran
in 1944, introduced a programme of double star measurement. He also placed an order for a 48-inch telescope for the observatory.

Universe of universities
Much of the theoretical work was done at the three centres — Calcutta University, Allahabad University, and Benaras Hindu University.
At Calcutta University, Professor C V Raman attracted a bright group of young physicists. Among them was
M N Saha, who formulated the theory of thermal ionization and its application to stellar atmospheres. Saha moved to Allahabad University and constituted a group of scientists studying theoretical astrophysics.
Another group inspired by V V Narlikar worked on cosmology at the Benaras Hindu University. His son J V Narlikar and his first student P C Vaidya made impacts in this field later. In 1946, a year before India's freedom, the first rocket with scientific pay-load was launched.

Astronomy in Independent India
After India attained freedom in 1947, astronomical researches gained momentum. A committee, which was set up in 1945 to draw up plans for the development of astronomical research and teaching in India was now revived, under the directorship of MN Saha. The committee recommended the need for better, more advanced technology (such as telescopes with larger aperture) and laboratories. Its thrust was to integrate space research in the nation's education system, and introduce teaching of astronomy and astrophysics in the universities.
There was excitement and activity everywhere... Karl Jansky's experiments in radio astronomy led to the construction of the first Radio Telescope to study the Sun in 1952 at Kodaikanal. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) group developed instrumentation for x-ray and infrared studies. And observatories at Naini Tal, Rangapur and Kavalur were established with modern equipment.
At this time, the astronomical community in India was feeling the need of associations that could promote and encourage the study of astronomy, astrophysics and allied subjects. So in 1952, the Indian Science Congress organised by the University of Calcutta formed the new Indian Astronomical Society. And In 1972, the Astronomical Society of India came into being, with its headquarters at Osmania University, Hyderabad. One of their main objectives was to bring out society journals that will carry original results in this field.
But the most significant development in this period was the formation of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969 under Department of Atomic Energy.
This was the dawn of a new era in Indian astronomy.
 

ISRO'S CHALLENGE

Space for people Today, in the 'astronomical' fraternity, ISRO is a force to reckon with. It has established two major space systems, Indian National Satellite (INSAT) for communication, television broadcasting and meteorological services, and Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) system for resources monitoring and management. It has developed two satellite launch vehicles, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), to place INSAT and IRS satellites in the required orbits. Launching the Future So the next time an Indian woman goes spacewalking, she will probably take off from the Indian soil, in a spacecraft 'made-in-India'. But ISRO and the rest of India's space research community will still have a long, long way to go. They will have to keep toiling to develop a meteorological model that predicts the onset of monsoons more accurately; to come up with an advanced disaster warning system that can set the alarm bells ringing in the fisherfolk colonies in coastal belts before a tsunami strikes again; to set up state-of-the-art remote sensing satellites that can monitor our fast-diminishing natural resources like forests and groundwater. In other words, they will have to follow the beaten tracks — not of the western scientists, but of our ancestors who mastered the art of stargazing to know their own planet better.