Gio Wiederhold spent a year (Oct.1964-Oct.1965) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Kanpur). He took a trip with Rustom Khory to Calcutta (now Kolkata), driving his old green Volkswagen. Rustom drove the car back, and Gio stayed to give a lecture at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), founded by P.C. Mahalanobis in 1931. Prof. Mahalanobis died in 1972.

The ISI was the pioneer in computing in India. It built a small analog computer in 1954. In ISI acquired a HEC-2M computer from A.D. Booth of Birbeck College the U.K. in 1956 and a Ural computer from the USSR in 1958. In 1964 these computers were being replaced by a donated IBM 1401. In 1965 ISI participated with Jadavpur University in the design and construction of a native computer, the transtorized ISIJU-1. I met Richard Aschenbrenner from Argonne there, who assisted as an expert engineer, supported by USAID (?).

Gio and Rustom traveled along the Grand Trunk Road to Allahabad, Varanasi, Bodhgaya, Ranchi. and then stayed in Jamshedpur with friends of the Khory family. Then they drove via Kharagpur to Calcutta. The road had not yet been completed. To avoid a long detour they followed the unfinshed route. A river on the way had to be crossed using boats, and another river on a railroad bridge.

Pictures to come.

Many more to come.