Amherst woman is 'VVIP' in India: Encyclopedia project brings Helaine Selin joy, 'fame'

By Phyllis Lehrer
Staff Writer

Published on May 11, 2007

From "Agriculture" to the "Zodiac": The topics are all included in the "Encyclopaedia of Classical Indian Sciences: Natural Science, Technology and Medicine," edited by Helaine Selin, a science librarian and associate faculty member at Hampshire College.

The 479-page volume published by Universities Press in India is co-edited by Roddam Narasimha, an astrophysicist of the National Institute for Advanced Studies in Bangalore. The 111 articles - including alchemy, calendars, forestry, maps, magic, physics, salt, time, wind power and yoga - are written by 59 authors, 28 of whom are from India.

The book was well-publicized in India at its launch in January. Selin is pictured wearing a sari on the front page of The Hindu, a major newspaper. She also presented the book to India's president, Abdul Kalam, at the Indian Science Congress, where her badge read "V.V.I.P.," a double very important person. Another bonus: Her flight was upgraded to business class because of the publicity.

Sitting in her office on the Hampshire campus, Selin spoke with enthusiasm about the encyclopedia, her work and India.

"India has the longest documented history. The Vedas date from the second millennium BCE and were the basis of much Indian thought and science," said Selin, who has a library degree the State University of New York at Albany. They were advanced in math and science, she said, citing cities with elaborate sewage and drainage systems, created on a grid pattern, with altars that were for religious purposes but required geometry for their construction and science to make the bricks.

The whole definition of science is not all people in white lab coats, said Selin, who joined the Hampshire staff in 1979. She and her husband, Robert Rakoff, who is also on the Hampshire staff, live in Amherst.

"Personally, I love India, especially when I go in the winter. There are fabulous colors, flowers, clothes, such gentility."

The genesis of the project began when the college received a three-year grant for a comparison of scientific traditions. She purchased 1,200 books and was asked to annotate them. She did create a bibliography, "Science Across Cultures," which was published. The publisher suggested doing an encyclopedia.

Thus was born the "Encyclopedia of the History of Science Technology and Medicine in Non Western Countries" that was published in 1997 and was six years in the making.

"I worked at night from 8 to 11 because I work at the library and I don't have summers off," she said. A new edition in two volumes will be out this summer.

Her goal with editing was to try to make the articles readable, to put aside the jargon and the superlatives, said Selin.

The recent volume is a result of attending a conference in India, where people knew of her work. She connected with Narasimha who wanted to focus on Indian science. She received a Fulbright scholarship to work on the project and spent a month in India, which she loved.

"The country has produced amazing scholars. I was lucky to have this opportunity. I feel I want to give something back."

One way is to spread the word. "This is an introduction of unbelievable history that no one knows about. There are untapped documents ... thousands and thousands of manuscripts are still untranslated," she said.

One challenge is that few people learn Sanskrit these days. India has so many languages that it's a massive scholarly project, she said. She would like the documents to be preserved and digitized. While in India, she said she spoke to the governor of Bangalore and the president about preserving the works.

The volume is unavailable in this country, but she would like to have it published here. People are interested, Selin said. In the meantime, the encyclopedia can be ordered online from Universities Press.

Her focus on science stems from her first job at the University of Georgia library. She was asked to join the science library, and it was a fit. "I loved it. I loved math and science but that was in the '50s when girls didn't do that."

Selin's interest in other cultures is long-standing. She has a degree in Irish literature from SUNY Binghamton and was in the Peace Corps in Malawi. Her son Tim Davis, an artist, was born in Malawi. Her daughter, Lisa Selin Davis, is a writer.

At Hampshire, she co-teaches a class every spring with a biologist on non-Western and complementary medicine. "I bring in the history and background."

Now that the encyclopedia is done, she's ready for the next project: child birth across cultures.