Until recently India was the world's symbol of disaster, with its vast population and its extreme poverty. Yet, in spite of its problems, the country has, over the years, produced a steady stream of high-class scientists as good as anywhere else in the world.
In the first of two assessments of Indian science and technology, Colin Tudge discovers how researchers have kept going an intellectual tradition that stretches back to before the Mogul empire.
Producer DEBORAH COHEN