3 days ago
Why Trump's mistake about students is an opportunity for India
Why Trump's mistake about students is an opportunity for India
Siva Vaidhyanathan
May 31, 2025, 12:44 IST IST
Leaders of the United States in the 1950s recognized that they could and should attract the finest minds from around the world. But that's all changing now and this could dismantle over 70 years of investment, progress, and success of US research.
In December 1956, a young man boarded a train from what was then Madras to what was then Bombay. From there he would fly to London. From Southampton, he took the Queen Mary across the Atlantic to New York City. Eventually, he would make his way to Chicago, where he would complete a PhD in physical chemistry.
Over the next 50 years, he would establish a scientific career, marry an American citizen, raise three American children, contribute to the education of hundreds of students from various countries, publish dozens of papers, and send hundreds of thousands of rupees back to India to educate his brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Most of them would eventually immigrate to the United States, some on student visas, some on green cards sponsored by that man.
