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Synopsis The volume seeks to provide a bird's eye view of globally significant contributions by Indian physicists in post World War II India. Each of the 11 parts of the book highlights contributions in a particular area of physics, judged significant by a common international standard. It begins by charting the path from quantum field theory to string theory. It then proceeds to developments in classical physics, from probability and stochastic processes to nonlinear dynamics and chaos. The cutting edge of atomic, molecular, and optical physics, which is also the "controlling physics" for accessing more complex systems spread across condensed matter, materials sciences, biophysics is discussed. The other essays capture perspectives in vast domains of physics: from the small (nuclear and hadronic) to the large (cosmology and general relativity), including the intermediate discipline of geophysics, especially cosmogenic geophysics. The spectacular recent achievements of India- Chandrayaan- was made possible by the major developments in space physics and that, along with reactor physics and atmospheric sciences, form the last part of the book.