“Marking May 11: India’s Rise as a Nuclear Power and the Rise of the Machines”
National Technology Day is celebrated annually to commemorate the Pokhran-II nuclear tests conducted on May 11, 1998, under Operation Shakti. This landmark event marked India’s entry into the elite group of nuclear-armed nations.
Location: Pokhran, Rajasthan
Tests Conducted: 5 underground nuclear tests
Time: 3:45 PM IST
Types of Bombs: 1 thermonuclear (fusion) and 2 fission bombs in the first round
Secrecy: The operation was highly classified; planning took over 18 months with extensive rehearsals to avoid detection, especially from American satellites.
Deep Blue Defeats Garry Kasparov – May 11, 1997
Another technological milestone occurred exactly one year earlier:
Event: IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue defeated World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov
Significance: First time a reigning world chess champion lost to a computer under standard tournament conditions
Impact: A historic moment in AI development, showcasing the power of computing in strategic games.
May 11 – National Technology Day (India)
Commemorating India’s Nuclear Breakthrough
On May 11, 1998, India conducted a series of underground nuclear tests at Pokhran, Rajasthan, under the codename Operation Shakti, marking a turning point in its defense and technological history.
Key Facts:
Tests Conducted Over Two Days (May 11 & 13):
May 11: Detonation of three devices—a thermonuclear device (hydrogen bomb), a fission bomb, and a sub-kiloton device.
May 13: Two additional sub-kiloton devices were tested.
Total Devices: 5
Significance: India became the sixth country in the world to publicly demonstrate nuclear weapons capability, joining the ranks of the US, Russia, UK, France, and China.
Impact:
Sparked global attention and sanctions, especially from Western powers.
Over time, these events catalyzed a strategic shift in India’s global image.
Paved the way for closer Indo-US ties, culminating in the landmark India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2005.
Who declared 11th May as National Technology Day? Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared 11th May as National Technology Day.
Check out: A Cool Bomb: How an Indian mathematician aims to limit nuclear blast impact
