Like almost everything else in India, science and mathematics have a long history. Indian astronomers used the decimal system as far back as the fifth century AD. The astronomer Aryabhatta calculated the value of pi to be 3.1416 and the length of the solar year as 365.3586805 days. These are both very close to modern estimates.

Before independence, India produced many famous scientists, like biochemist J.C. Bose (1858-1937) who researched plant behaviour and physicist, Sir C.V. Raman won the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his discoveries in light diffusion. Yet science and technology in general were not well developed by the British, and India had to make up for lost time after independence.

Scientific research centres were set up early on. It was not considered a paradox that a country as poor as India should build nuclear reactors and bombs, and launch space satellites.

In 1985, a new, young Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was elected. He enjoyed nothing more than playing with computers and promised to take India into the computer age. Computer education is now part of the school curriculum and private computer classes are on offer, even in the smallest towns.

In the mid-1990s, India took the step of opening its markets to world trade. The result is rapid economic growth, which is needed to keep pace with the growth of India's population; it is likely to be bigger than China's within the next ten years.

“In the English-speaking World”