How India Got the Bomb

Wow, that’s my grandfather in between Homi Bhabha and Jawaharlal Nehru in the thumbnail! Dr. Nuthakki Bhanu Prasad who worked on India’s first nuclear energy reactors and then later was chairman of ONGC, where under his leadership Bombay High was discovered and then operationalized in record time!

This channel has researched Indian history better than most from my experience.

This Channel is a goldmine of knowledge on the technology development of Asia

“Having a bomb is very different from using it” -Nuclear Gandhi

Very nicely done. I’m Canadian, and I remember the headlines when India fired off its bomb. There were very close ties between Canada and India, and this caused a chill in the relationship. But I had not realized that the story goes back to shortly after the end of WWII, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today, I’m happy to see India put its technical know how into a space programme (as well as manufacturing, IT, and other down-to-earth endeavours). I wish the people of India all the best.

There is an error in this video. The US sent the Task force 74 to evacuate Pakistani forces from east Pakistan in the event of ceasefire. In reality it was to discourage India from participating in penetrating offensives into west Pakistan. The soviets deployed their nuclear submarine to match this show of force in support of india.

30:30 Shastri's death is not as simple as a heart stroke. The story behind his death is bit complicated because he died during a peace negotiations meeting with Pakistan in Tashkent (now capital of Uzbekistan) which was very suspicious news for many indians.

I just want to clarify that if the reactor is built sufficiently safe, there is no danger swimming around the top of the reactor pool. Radiation does not penetrate all of the water in the pool. I'm not recommending everyone go try it but scientifically, the math checks out.

They called it smiling Buddha.. brilliant name, absolutely brilliant

Imagine being named Homie Baba. What a cool ass name.

38:07 The US didn't stay out of the war because of the Chinese, there was a Soviet fleet (also nuclear armed) in the area and you can see that mentioned in the caption of the map. The Vietnam war was still ongoing and could have also been a factor.

One of the greatest ironies of nuclear weapons is that their unmatched violent potential, being orders of magnitude greater than all previous weapons; it is entirely plausible that they have saved tens of millions of lives in wars both sides deemed unwinnable. With conventional wars, those making decisions could be reasonably assured of their own safety and well being whereas the opposite is true in the case of widespread nuclear exchange. I was aware of how India got the bomb but not the full history and context surrounding it. This was an incredibly well presented piece that did an incredible job of being as neutral and fair as reasonably possible.

During college days in late 1990s we had an educational trip to BARC. We were able to climb up on Apsara reactor's platform and glance inside to see the atomic reaction taking place. It was a memorable experience.

Can’t believe you can pump out such high quality videos so quick, well done!

The US Navy's 7th fleet was intercepted by Soviet Nuclear Submarines and were blocked from assisting Pakistan Thanks to Indo Soviet Friendship Treaty.

I remember the day and how Walter Cronkite looked when he read the announcement that India had become a nuclear power. My dad thought it was a one-off and that the Britts had given them a weapon as a way of messing with China and Russia. I didn't know any better, I was eleven years old. I wonder if that's how most Americans thought: that without the involvement and management of the West, India was incapable of building a device? The West underestimated the rest of the world far too often. Excellent work, BTW.

M.N. Saha is not just a random Astrophysicist. He was one of the best in India.

I was born, raised & have lived for more than 38 years just about 20 km away from BARC, in the same city, and this was all new info to me. Thanks a ton, Asianometry. You're really a star.

When I lived in India I was always amazed at how children there were better at math than I was at 24. Many of the kids didnt even attend regular school. The Indian people are certainly one of the beautiful colors in the tapestry of "Man". Thank you for this, it was fascinating.

In 1961 or 62 the Soviet Union shipped an atomic test article to the PRC, also Soviet scientists worked closely with Chinese scientists on reactor and device plans until the Sino-Soviet split.