Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born in India in 1888. He completed his education at Madras Christian College in 1911 and became Assistant Professor and later Professor of Philosophy at Madras Presidency College. He then became a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Mysore from 1918 to 1921, the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta from 1921 to 1932, and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at University of Oxford from 1936 to 1952; he became the first Indian to hold a professorial chair at the University of Oxford. From 1953 to 1962, he served as chancellor of the University of Delhi.
From 1946 to 1952, Radhakrishnan led the Indian delegation to the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and was elected chairman of UNESCO’s executive board. From 1949 to 1952, he served as Indian ambassador to the Soviet Union. In 1952, he was elected as independent India's first Vice President and in 1962, he was elected President, succeeding Rajendra Prasad, who was the first President of India. In 1931, he received a knighthood from King George V and in 1954 he received the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India.
Radhakrishnan delivered the inaugural Beatty Lecture on October 4, 1954 in McGill's Sir Arthur Currie Memorial Gymnasium, and then delivered two more lectures on October 7 and 8. His lecture series, titled 'East and West: Some Reflections', traced the impact of various cultures including Arabic, Islamic and early Christian on the religious and spiritual heritage of India. The lectures were published as a book by Allen & Unwin Press that is .
Read more about Radhakrishnan's inaugural Beatty Lecture here.
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