The Story Behind India's First Supercomputer That Astounded The World

Great nations are not built on borrowed technology, said Vijay Bhatkar, the father of Indian supercomputers. In our country, the name C-DAC or Centre for Development of Advanced Computing is considered the same as supercomputers. The term is used to signify use of advanced tools, high speeds and high efficiency to help researchers for various fields like space science, pharmaceutical research, missile simulation, weather forecasting etc.

Here's how it originated?

The effort in the field began in the late 1980's when US stopped export of its Cray supercomputer. US and other European countries at that time developed supercomputers which were helping them in setting up satellites and nuclear weapons. They, however, declined to share this knowledge. To keep up with the technology race, India set up its own Centre for Development of Advanced Computing in March 1988 to develop supercomputers that meet their developmental goals.

PM Rajiv Gandhi approached Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar for this initiative. And he developed a supercomputer that flabbergasted the whole world. In 1991, the C-DAC presented PARAM 8000, which was not only India's first indigenous supercomputer but was also the second fastest at the time. The world was amazed by the technological advancement a developing country produced. In 2015, Bhatkar was awarded Padma Bhushan by then president Pranab Mukherjee for his enormous contributions to science and technology.

By: Neha Maheshwari