Since economic liberalisation in 1991, India has progressed by leaps and bounds with respect to science and technology. That’s no mean feat, by the way. In a country with 1.2 billion people where poverty is still the biggest issue, to rise above and be noticed on a global scale for scientific accomplishment, is something to be marvelled.
Let’s take a look at 10 such incredible achievements by Indians that should make everybody proud, and not just those with a penchant for nationalist jingoism.
The ISRO Mars Orbiter: The Martian Sky is the Limit
The Mars Orbiter or the Mangalyaan, made global news in September last year and will rightly be considered as one of the most significant feats in modern space exploration. Not only did it help make India the first country to achieve a successful Mars mission on its debut attempt, but it was also the least expensive Mars mission in human history. The Orbiter’s mission is to help ISRO scientists research deep space communication and navigation, and to study the Martian atmosphere and geology. ISRO is now planning a second Mars mission in the next five years that will include a rover that can land on the Red Planet.
Narayana Health: The Heart of Life
From the expanse of deep space, to the interiors of the human body, Narayana Health represents the pinnacle of efficient medicine. Founded by Padma Bhushan Dr. Devi Shetty in 2000, the Narayana Health hospital is the largest cardiac hospital in the world and conducts one of the least expensive heart surgeries globally. The hospital is also known for a dedicated philanthropic presence and conducts free surgeries for poor patients.
Chandrayaan-1: The Bright Side of the Moon
Launched in 2008, Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first lunar probe mission and lasted till August 2009. The Chandrayaan craft helped India become only the fourth country in the world to put its flag on lunar soil and gave the Indian space program a tremendous boost in confidence. The Chandrayaan-1 probe helped scientists discover water molecules in the lunar soil and ended long-lasting speculation about whether the moon held water. The probe also uncovered an underground cave that scientists believe can be used as a spot to construct a manned research station. ISRO is now working on the Chandrayaan-2 project which will see a rover land on the lunar surface sometime within the next two years.
AKS Primality Test: Optimal Prime
Okay, this one is for the math nerds. In 2002, Manindra Agrawal, a faculty member, and Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena, two students, from IIT- Kanpur published a paper titled “PRIMES in P” in which they proposed the AKS primality test, a test that was quickly and accurately able to determine whether a number was prime or composite. Considering that large prime numbers are an integral component in securing digital data, this test had great implications for communication and data security. All three scientists received the Gödel Prize, awarded to the best global research in theoretical computer science, in 2006, and the Fulkerson Prize, awarded to the best global research in discrete mathematics, in the same year. In 2011, Agrawal published a theoretical conjecture stating that in the future when processors are completely unshackled, the AKS primality test will also speed up.
StudSat-1: All the Small Things
On July 12, 2010, 45 students from 10 colleges from Bangalore and Hyderabad came together to launch StudSat-1, a tiny satellite that weighed 950 grams, making it the smallest satellite ever launched indigenously. With ISRO’s help, StudSat slipped into an orbit around the sun after being launched from Sriharikota. The satellite resembles a cube and will take photos of the earth at the best ever resolution accomplished by a picosatellite. The StudSat team is now working on two satellites, 2A and 2B, with the ambition of making low-cost satellites a reality.
GSLV Mk II: Launch party
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle is an indigenously developed launch system to help ISRO propel satellites into space. The GSLV Mk II has been operational since 2010 and is the first Indian launch rocket that uses an indigenously developed cryogenic engine (the CE-7.5), making India only the sixth country in the world to have this technology. The GSLV Mk II successfully launched the 1.9 ton GSAT-14 communications satellite in January last year and ISRO plans to use the launch rocket for four more missions in the next two years including Chandrayaan-2.
HAL Tejas: Top Gun
The Tejas, developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, is the second supersonic jet developed indigenously and is the smallest and lightest Light Combat Aircraft in the world. The Indian Air Force plans to incorporate 40 Tejas Mk. 1 aircraft into its fleet and is expected to build 14 Tejas squadrons with 21 aircraft per squadron, taking the total up to 294. HAL is already working on the Tejas Mk. 2 and a stealthier Mk. 3 is also under development.
TCS, Infosys, Cognizant: Back Office Brawlers
If there’s one technological achievement that directly helped the middle class of the country in the last two decades, it has to be the emergence of companies like TCS, Infosys and Cognizant who all helped software services become for India what manufacturing is for China. Irrespective of their current issues, these companies were responsible for creating lakhs of jobs and pumping in much required money into the middle-class workforce, directly, or indirectly, affecting the lives of every single person who has lived in an Indian city in the last ten or so years. There’s no diminishing that.
Flipkart: The Site that Sold the World
Try to remember the pre-Flipkart days. Yes, I’m talking about the depressing years where you were forced to turn to the likes of Infibeam, eBay, Indiatimes Shopping and Rediff shopping if you wanted to buy anything online. How far we’ve come, haven’t we? The best thing that Flipkart did was what every good start-up does - disrupt, and what it chose to disrupt was the state of customer service from e-retailers. Even today, when it’s clear that Flipkart’s service standards have slipped, it remains one of the better options out there. By setting the standards for e-commerce in India and helping thousands of people across India buy what they wanted without hassles, we believe Flipkart has established itself as one of the most significant technology companies in India.