Reddit reviews Nucleus and Nation: Scientists, International Networks, and Power in India

Book reco - https://www.amazon.in/Nucleus-Nation-Scientists-International-Networks/dp/0226019756

One thing very important about his story is understanding the value of networks of people. He had feet in political, scientific and business networks of the country. From Tagore to Gandhi to the Tatas to the Gujju business community to the Congress high command to Nobel laureates he was always surrounded by people at the top of the food chain.

This plays a big role in how people think about the world, what they think is possible and how to get things done. All the famous institution builders in India usually have that feature. Some people like Sarabhai, Dhirubhai, Gandhi etc are born into these networks while others work their pants off to get into them like Kalam and Modi.

The Network is super critical in making big things happen. If you are confident in your skills and the ambitious kind, don't waste time and effort working for people who don't understand that.

Here's a good read on the history of India's Nuclear Programme - Nucleus and Nation: Scientists, International Networks, and Power in India

From the back cover
>In 1974 India joined the elite roster of nuclear world powers when it exploded its first nuclear bomb. But the technological progress that facilitated that feat was set in motion many decades before, as India sought both independence from the British and respect from the larger world. Over the course of the twentieth century, India metamorphosed from a marginal place to a serious hub of technological and scientific innovation. It is this tale of transformation that Robert S. Anderson recounts in Nucleus and Nation.Tracing the long institutional and individual preparations for India’s first nuclear test and its consequences, Anderson begins with the careers of India’s renowned scientists—Meghnad Saha, Shanti Bhatnagar, Homi Bhabha, and their patron Jawaharlal Nehru—in the first half of the twentieth century before focusing on the evolution of the large and complex scientific community—especially Vikram Sarabhi—in the later part of the era. By contextualizing Indian debates over nuclear power within the larger conversation about modernization and industrialization, Anderson hones in on the thorny issue of the integration of science into the framework and self-reliant ideals of Indian nationalism. In this way, Nucleus and Nation is more than a history of nuclear science and engineering and the Indian Atomic Energy Commission; it is a unique perspective on the history of Indian nationhood and the politics of its scientific community.