Nov 18 2024 to Nov 18 2024 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (1861–1962) was arguably the most famous Indian engineer of the twentieth century. And yet he was also much more. To this day, much in India bears the imprint of Visvesvaraya’s work—not only as civil engineer, but also as public administrator, constitutional analyst, and development thinker. His legacies include innovations in irrigation, multipurpose dams, piped water supply systems, technical institutions, industrial enterprises, and transformed cityscapes. He was an early proponent of economic planning and rapid, large-scale industrialization, which he believed were essential for national development.

Yet he has remained an enigmatic figure. Despite his legendary status, little is known about the man, his strengths and foibles, the conflicts and negotiations involved in his career. How do we assess his technical achievements against those of his professional contemporaries? What were the intellectual and professional influences that shaped him? In what ways did his background as an engineer mould his conception of economic development? How were his essentially technocratic views received in his lifetime, and what do we make of them today?

These are some of the key questions that Aparajith Ramnath explores in Engineering a Nation. Based on in-depth archival research, field visits, and interviews, the book provides a vivid portrait of Visvesvaraya’s eight-decade-long public career. Throughout, it highlights the historical context in which he worked. To explore Visvesvaraya’s life, the book argues, is to understand the emergence of the Indian nation itself.

The author will be in conversation with Dr. Jahnavi Phalkey, followed by an audience Q&A.
Speakers
Aparajith Ramnath
Author & Historian of Science, Technology & Business

Aparajith Ramnath is an award-winning historian of science, technology, and business. In addition to a pioneering history of engineers in late-colonial India (The Birth of an Indian Profession: Engineers, Industry, and the State, 1900–47, Oxford University Press, 2017), he has produced several research papers and book chapters. He has also written for Scroll, The Wire, The Hindu and FiftyTwo.in.

Aparajith was trained as an electrical engineer at BITS Pilani, and as a historian of science and technology at Oxford University and Imperial College London. He has been an International Scholar of the Society for the History of Technology, a Charles Wallace India Trust grant awardee, a Sangam House writing fellow, and a recipient of the Young Historian of Science Award (2018) from the Indian National Science Academy.

Aparajith teaches at Ahmedabad University, where he is an Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences. Engineering a Nation is his second book.
Jahnavi Phalkey
Filmmaker & Historian of Science & Technology

Jahnavi Phalkey is a historian of science and technology, and a filmmaker. She is the Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru. Jahnavi is the author of Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and the producer-director of the documentary film, ‘Cyclotron’. She is a recipient of the Infosys Prize in the Humanities (2023).