MIT in South Asia
India and Pakistan became independent, self-governing nation-states in August 1947. Emerging from nearly two centuries of colonization and resistance, the Prime Ministers of independent India and Pakistan, Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan, visited MIT In 1949 and 1950, looking to the Institute as a guide and partner in the challenging work of decolonization that they had embarked upon. At the same time, the post-war period saw a rapid increase in the involvement of MIT in various international projects led by state and non-state actors across the decolonizing world. Supported by the Ford Foundation, USAID, and US State Department, MIT’s leadership and faculty played a key role in setting up several institutes of higher learning in South Asia in collaboration with the governments of India and Pakistan in the 1950s and 60s, which are today considered among the best in the region. Since their founding, graduates from these institutions have come to MIT as graduate students and faculty, and are prominent administrators within the Institute’s leadership.
Professors Norman Dahl and Holt Ashley played a foundational role in the setting up of the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur as part of the Kanpur Indo-American Program between 1962-1972.
Norman Dahl teaching at IIT-Kanpur Courtesy SPAN Magazine
Holt Ashley at IIT Kanpur, c.1966 Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Arthur Ippen (1907-1974), Professor of Engineering, was the Chair of the MIT Council on International Affairs and was involved in MIT’s joint program with the Birla Institute of Technology, India. He served as President of the International Association of Hydraulic Research (1959-1963), and visited Pakistan in 1961 in this capacity to inspect various hydraulic projects and to deliver a series of lectures to scientists and engineers.
Arthur T. Ippen in Pakistan, 1961 Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Jerome Bert Wiesner (1915-1994), Professor of Engineering and MIT President (1971-1980), served as the Director of the Office of Science and Technology from 1961-64 under US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. During this time, the Government of Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-e-Pakistan, the country’s third highest civilian award in recognition of his services to the country and international diplomacy.
Jerome Bert Wiesner receives the Sitara i Pakistan award, 1963 Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Jersome Weisner in Pakistan, 1963 Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Thomas Hill, Professor of Industrial Management, and John M. Wynne (1920-2002), Associate Dean, Sloan School of Management (1961-67) and MIT Vice President (1967-1980) were deeply involved in setting up the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-C) in Kolkata from 1961-1969. IIM-C was founded in 1961 to develop managerial skills for a growing number of managers in public sector enterprises in India. Professors Hill and Wynne took up part-time faculty appointments at IIM-C in the 1960s, where they taught students and mentored faculty, a collaboration supported by the Ford Foundation and the Government of West Bengal. As part of this collaboration, close to 200 Indian students completed long-term study programs, more than 700 Indian managers attended short-term programs, and twenty-five MIT Sloan faculty and two doctoral students visited IIM-C
Thomas M. Hill Courtesy of the MIT Museum
John MacDonald Wynne Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), Professor of Mathematics, spent several weeks at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, in 1956 working closely with its founder, Professor P.C. Mahanalobis who served as a member of the Indian Planning Commission set up by the Government of India to oversee the infrastructural and economic development of the newly-independent nation.
Norbert Wiener delivering a seminar at the Indian Statistical Institute, 1956 Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Myron Weiner (1931-1999), Professor of Political Science, first visited South Asia in 1952, and dedicated his life to the study of migration, child labor, and literacy in India, and served as the doctoral advisor to several generations of political scientists who have contributed to both scholarly knowledge and policy in South Asia.
Myron and Sheila Weiner, Jantar Mantar, Delhi c. 1953 Courtesy of Tali Datskovsky
John Ely Burchard 1923, MS 1925 was a historian who served as MIT’s first Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) from 1948 to 1964. During this time forged an enduring connection between MIT and South Asia
John Burchard with Abdus Salam, Pakistan 1962