📄 Revision sheet · YugMap

Science and technology in India

Key events

c. 1.5 million years ago	Stone hand-axes at Attirampakkam
c. 385,000–172,000 years ago	Smaller, finer stone tools
from c. 7000 BCE	Farming begins at Mehrgarh
7,500–9,000 years ago	The earliest dentistry
Neolithic period	Early cotton
Early Harappan	A ploughed field and terracotta ploughs
Harappan period	Copper and bronze metallurgy
Harappan civilization	The Harappan script
Harappan civilization	Planned drainage
Harappan period	Bricks of a standard ratio
c. 2500 BCE	Lost-wax bronze casting
Harappan civilization	Standard weights
Harappan period	Drilling hard stone beads
Harappan period	Scales and units of length
Harappan civilization	The wheel: terracotta carts
Harappan period	The dockyard at Lothal
c. 3000–1500 BCE	Water management at Dholavira
1800–1000 BCE	Iron working in the Ganga plain
Vedic period	Number names and fractions in the Vedas
c. 800 BCE (Baudhayana)	The Sulba-sutras: geometry with a rope
c. 600–500 BCE	Paddy transplantation
c. 500 BCE	Panini’s Ashtadhyayi
Mauryan times	Takshashila, a centre of learning
3rd century BCE	Brahmi: Ashoka's inscriptions
Ancient and medieval periods	Wootz steel
2nd century BCE – 3rd century CE	Shadow clocks and water clocks
c. 100 CE; final shape in the Gupta period	Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas
Karikala’s reign	The Kallanai (Grand Anicut)
c. second century CE	Sudarshana lake, a reservoir
as early as the 3rd or 4th century CE	Zero: the Bakhshali manuscript
3rd century BCE – 13th century CE	Nalanda Mahavihara
Ancient period	The rust-resistant iron pillar
around 500 CE	Aryabhata and the Aryabhatiya
499 CE	Aryabhata computes with ten digits
Aryabhata’s time	The Ghatika-yantra (sinking-bowl water clock)
Gupta period	Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita
around 530 CE	Time from a stick’s shadow
born 598 CE	Brahmagupta: rules for zero
6th–10th centuries	Bhaskara I and trigonometry
628 CE	Brahmagupta’s rules for fractions
c. 700 CE	Virahanka’s numbers
late 8th century	Vikramashila university
9th century	Indian numerals reach the Arab world
c. 825 CE	Al-Khwarizmi’s ‘Hindu numerals’
c. 850 CE	Mahaviracharya’s Ganita-sara-sangraha
10th century	The Chautisa Yantra magic square
around the 10th century CE	Surapala’s Vrikshayurveda
11th century	Al-Biruni studies Indian science
11th century	Stepwells: Rani-ki-Vav
born 1114	Bhaskaracharya’s Lilavati
Bhaskara II’s time	Watching the sky in bowls of water
around 1200	Indian numerals reach Europe
13th–17th centuries	Pure zinc by distillation
14th century	Narayana Pandita’s Ganitakaumudi
14th century	Madhava and the Kerala School
1500	Nilakantha Somayaji’s planetary model
September 1556	The first printing press
1727	Jaipur, a planned city
early 18th century	Jantar Mantar observatory
1780	India’s first printed newspaper
16 April 1853	The first passenger train
1875	India Meteorological Department set up
1879	Electric light arrives
1881	Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
1895	J.C. Bose shows wireless transmission
1897	First commercial electricity: Sidrapong
1901	P.C. Ray founds India’s first pharmaceutical company
27 May 1909	Indian Institute of Science founded
16 February 1912	Steel from Jamshedpur
1921–1935	R.H. Dastur studies photosynthesis
16 July 1929	Imperial Council of Agricultural Research founded
1930	Radio broadcasting begins
1930	C.V. Raman wins the Nobel Prize in Physics
1931	Indian Statistical Institute founded
late 1940s	India’s nuclear programme begins
3 August 1954	Department of Atomic Energy set up
4 August 1956	Apsara, Asia’s first research reactor
21 March 1956	The Indian National Calendar
1957	Diesel locomotives: the WDM-1
1 March 1958	Atomic Energy Commission set up
10 July 1960	The CIRUS research reactor
1954–1960	TIFRAC: India's first working computer
1962	INCOSPAR: India’s space research begins
1960s and 1970s	The Green Revolution
1968	Har Gobind Khorana shares the Nobel Prize
15 August 1969	ISRO is formed
28 October 1969	Tarapur: India’s first nuclear power station
1960s and 1970s	The White Revolution (Operation Flood)
1971	A bacterium that breaks down oil spills
May 1974	India’s first nuclear test
19 April 1975	Aryabhata, India’s first satellite
7 June 1979	Bhaskara-I: first Indian remote-sensing satellite
18 July 1980	SLV-3 puts Rohini in orbit
19 June 1981	APPLE, the first Indian communication satellite
1983	Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shares the Nobel Prize
30 August 1983	INSAT-1B
October 1985	Fast Breeder Test Reactor goes critical
1988	C-DAC and the PARAM supercomputer
May 1998	Nuclear tests at Pokhran
2002	Mid Day Meal Programme, built on nutrition science
5 May 2005	Cartosat-1: maps in stereo
22 October 2008	Chandrayaan-1
1 July 2013	IRNSS-1A: India’s own navigation system begins
5 November 2013	Mars Orbiter Mission
28 September 2015	AstroSat, India’s space observatory
25 August 2016	UPI: instant digital payments
22 July 2019	Chandrayaan-2
2019	Vande Bharat trains
December 2022	Hanle Dark Sky Reserve
2 September 2023	Aditya-L1 studies the Sun
23 August 2023	Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon

Scientists and scholars

Panini’s Ashtadhyayi	The Ashtadhyayi of Panini, a work on Sanskrit grammar.
Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas	Works on medicine in Sanskrit. Ayurveda has much older roots, but these texts — which deal with cataloguing and diagnosing diseases, among other topics — were compiled and given their final shape during the Gupta period.
Aryabhata and the Aryabhatiya	A short treatise of mathematics and astronomy. Aryabhata proposed that the Earth spins on its axis, gave the length of the year within minutes of the modern value, estimated the size of the Earth and correctly explained solar and lunar eclipses. His value for one rotation of the Earth is about 23 hours 56 minutes 4.1 seconds.
Aryabhata computes with ten digits	Aryabhata was the first mathematician to fully explain, and do elaborate scientific computations with, the Indian system of ten symbols; he also first proposed a systematic way to solve problems with a single unknown.
The Ghatika-yantra (sinking-bowl water clock)	Because outflow clocks slowed as the water dropped, a sinking-bowl water clock was developed — first mentioned by Aryabhata. It kept time at monasteries, palaces and town squares, where each sinking of the bowl was announced; the day was divided into 60 ghatis.
Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita	An encyclopedic work covering astronomy and astrology, weather forecasting, architecture, town planning and even farming.
Time from a stick’s shadow	Varahamihira gave an accurate expression for time in terms of the shadow of a vertical stick.
Brahmagupta: rules for zero	In the Brahmasphutasiddhanta he gave the rules of arithmetic with zero, negative numbers and fractions. His works were later translated into Persian and Latin.
Brahmagupta’s rules for fractions	The Brahmasphutasiddhanta first stated in general form how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions — the methods still taught today. These ideas reached Europe through the Arabs.
Al-Biruni studies Indian science	Al-Biruni learnt Sanskrit and wrote an encyclopaedic survey of India, compiling in mathematics and astronomy what he could gather from the works of Aryabhata, Varahamihira and Brahmagupta.
Bhaskaracharya’s Lilavati	One of India’s greatest mathematicians and astronomers: Lilavati (1150 CE) teaches mathematics through riddles, Bijaganita covers advanced algebra and Siddhantashiromani astronomical calculation. Several of his works were translated into Persian in the Mughal period.
J.C. Bose shows wireless transmission	Jagadish Chandra Bose pioneered wireless transmission using microwaves in the millimetre range; in an experiment in Calcutta he showed that signals could pass through a wall.
P.C. Ray founds India’s first pharmaceutical company	Prafulla Chandra Ray, ‘Father of Modern Indian Chemistry’, founded Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals — part of the Swadeshi drive to break the British monopoly. He also wrote on the history of chemistry in India.
C.V. Raman wins the Nobel Prize in Physics	Awarded “for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him” — the Raman effect.
India’s nuclear programme begins	Initiated under the guidance of Homi J. Bhabha, to generate atomic energy for peaceful purposes.
The Indian National Calendar	A Calendar Reform Committee chaired by Meghnad Saha recommended a unified national calendar, adopted from 1 Chaitra 1878 Saka; it follows the general principles of the Surya Siddhanta.
INCOSPAR: India’s space research begins	The Indian National Committee for Space Research was set up by the Government of India, as envisioned by Vikram Sarabhai.

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Years are from YugMap’s records; dates marked c. are approximate. Printed from yugmap.com.