Irfan Habib

Syed Irfan Habib (born 1953) is a historian of science and public intellectual. He was the former Abul Kalam Azad Chair at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration. His intellectual collaboration with Dhruv Raina as historians at the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi in the 1990s culminated in the publication of a series of research articles (collected as a volume titled Domesticating Modern Science, 2004) on the cultural redefinition of modern science in colonial India. They also edited a volume together on Joseph Needham (Situating the History of Science, 1999), the section on "Science in Twentieth South and South-East Asia" for volume 7 of UNESCO's History of Mankind Project, and a reader on social history of science in India (Social History of Science in Colonial India, 2007). His other works include, 'Indian Nationalism: The Essential Writings', 'Inquilab: Bhagat Singh on Religion and Revolution', and 'Jihad or Itjihad: Religious orthodoxy and Modern Science in Contemporary Islam.'