Conversation with Renny Thomas

Renny Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology at IISER Bhopal. An anthropologist of science, his research explores the intersection of science, religion, and culture in India. He is the author of Science and Religion in India: Beyond Disenchantment (2021) and co-editor of books: Mapping Scientific Method: Disciplinary Narrations (2022) and Decolonial Keywords: South Asian Thoughts and Attitudes (2026). Thomas, recently, was also the Taki Visiting Global Professor at New York University.

In this episode, we explore the sociology of science from an Indian perspective.

References:

  1. ‘HSS/IISER Bhopal’. Accessed 20 February 2026. https://hss.iiserb.ac.in/faculty_details?renny.
  2. Thomas, Renny. Science and Religion in India: Beyond Disenchantment. Taylor & Francis Books India Pvt. Ltd., (2021)
  3. Thomas, Renny, and Gita Chadda. Mapping Scientific Method: Disciplinary Narrations. Routledge, (2022).
  4. Thomas, Renny, and Sasanka Perera, eds. Decolonial Keywords: South Asian Thoughts and Attitudes. Tulika Books, 2026.
  5. Anderson, Robert S. Nucleus and Nation – Scientists, International Networks and Power in India. University of Chicago Press, 2010.
  6. Gray, John. SEVEN TYPES OF ATHEISM. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.
  7. Latour, Bruno, and Steve Woolgar. Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts. Edited by Jonas Salk. Princeton University Press, 2013.
  8. PHYSICS TODAY. ‘Why Should Physicists Study History?’ 1 July 2016. https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3235.
  9. Roy, Arpita. Unfinished Nature: Particle Physics at CERN. Columbia University Press, 2024.
  10. Subramaniam, Banu. Botany of Empire: Plant Worlds and the Scientific Legacies of Colonialism. Univ of Washington Pr, 2024.
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Author: G.V. Pavan Kumar

Namaste, Hola & Welcome from G.V. Pavan Kumar. I am a Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, India. My research interests are : (1) Optics & Soft Matter: Optically Induced Forces – Assembly, Dynamics & Function; (2) History and Philosophy of Science – Ideas in Physical Sciences. I am interested in the historical and philosophical evolution of ideas and tools in the physical sciences and technology. I research the intellectual history of past scientists, innovators, and people driven by curiosity, and I write about them from an Indian and Asian perspective. My motivation is to humanize science. In the same spirit, I write and host my podcast Pratidhvani – Humanizing Science.

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