A few days ago, I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Prof. Ross Bassett of North Carolina State University on the subject of M.I.T. and the Technological Indian. In that lecture, I discovered some surprising facts about the history of Technology in India and at MIT. Here is a small glimpse…

During World War II, about 200,000 soldiers came to India, and circa 1945, saw the establishment of the US Office of War Information at Hornsby Street. This also housed the earliest version of the American Library, which was how information on M.I.T. first became available to Indians!

 

Some of India’s best-known industrialists – Adi Godrej, Ramesh Chauhan, Aditya Birla, etc. are M.I.T. graduates; G.D. Birla also pursued senior members at M.I.T. to seek their help in shaping the vision and setup at BITS Pilani

 

Between 1861 and 2000, more than 1,300 Indians graduated from the M.I.T. campus; The first Indian at M.I.T. was Keshav Malhar Bhat from Pune in 1882, after which no other Indian went for the 20 years that followed

 

Lokmanya Tilak’s English weekly – Mahratta – regularly carried features from western publications, thanks to the advent of steamboats and the printing press; As early as April 1884, the Kesari (published in Marathi) wrote an editorial on the need for an “industrial school” in India to be modeled on the lines of the M.I.T. campus, even though the M.I.T. model was not yet fully demonstrated in the US!

 

Mahatma Gandhi was also associated with several Indian students who went to M.I.T., including penning a recommendation for a few that sought financial aid.

 

The modern computer was also created to a large extent at M.I.T. between 1946 and 1970

 

Finally, TCS, Datamatics, Infosys and other large I.T. giants owe their origins to M.I.T as well, establishing the foundation of the I.T. industry in India!

What a fascinating look at Technology through the eyes of a modern historian! Thank you, Prof. Bassett for an enlightening afternoon.