The study of the history of science is essential for understanding the development of scientific thought. It enables one to realise the tribulations and travails of the people who make scientific discoveries possible. Otherwise, scientists remain just "names" in textbooks and not people with emotions and feelings.

Dr N C Datta is a physical chemist with a doctorate in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He has taught in several colleges and done research in catalysis for more than twenty years, including two years of post-doctoral research at the University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. He has been a production manager in a chemical plant for more than a decade and has authored a number of research papers and articles. Presently he is a freelance writer and consultant.