November 28th, 1655
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Vijayanagara State, Mangaluru, Pillai Optics
10:00 AM
While the war rages on in the northern part of the subcontinent, the southern region continues its relentless march toward progress, consistently advancing the empire’s industries and technologies.
Merchant ships from all over the country carrying crucial supplies for the war are continuously docking at the port of Mangaluru, loading and unloading various goods and supplies.
With the further integration of the region of Gujarat into the economy of the empire, the mineral extraction supply chains have been slowly established, creating adequate conditions for the exploration and extraction of raw materials that are exclusively abundant in The region.
In recent days, the already bustling traffic at the docks has become even more overwhelming, necessitating further expansion of the port to accommodate the increasing number of supply ships docking. Most of these supply ships are transporting raw material for the Pillai optics situated in Mangalore, which contains a specific mineral exclusively found in Gujarat.
This mineral, used in the process of glassmaking, is none other than natural soda ash, found specifically in the areas of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
Soda ash is a crucial raw material used in the process of glassmaking as it reduces the melting point of silica, which is another crucial raw material in the production of glass. This significant reduction in the melting point makes glass production considerably easier, Hence, these deposits, naturally occurring in the region of Gujarat, are a crucial resource for the empire.
Traditionally, soda ash is obtained by processing TRONA ORE, a naturally occurring mineral containing sodium carbonate (soda ash), sodium bicarbonate, and water. Unfortunately, large deposits of this ore suitable for commercial extraction are only found in the Wyoming area of the United States, Turkey, and some parts of Africa.
With such a valuable resource, a trade route has been established from the Gulf of Kutch to various naval ports on the western coast of the empire to expedite the mining of these minerals. On the coast of the Gulf of Kutch, the small town of Mandvi, only fifty kilometres away from the city of Bhuj, has been selected as the main transit port for the minerals from the Rann of Kutch.
With this selection, the town has quickly transformed into a city, and the port has been significantly expanded.
Although the process of expanding this new port and laying the road between Mandvi, Bhuj, and the Rann of Kutch is still in progress, the availability of limited quantities of soda ash to the empire is already yielding results with just the small existing road.
The manufacturing speed and efficiency of mirrors for the heliograph in Pillai Optics have increased by several hundred per cent. Presently, because of this, the speed of mirror-making is no longer the bottleneck in the production of heliograph ships.
In actuality, it has become the naval industry that has become the bottleneck in the number of ships being put into service, as continuous transport of raw materials—silica from the state of Anuradha Puri (Sri Lanka) and soda ash from Gujarat—ensures that orders for the heliograph mirrors are fulfilled.
With this, although the demand for soda ash should have been reduced after the completion of these orders, Vijay, upon receiving this news of the successful production of mirrors, did not let the extractions stop. He knew that soda ash had various other uses besides the glass manufacturing industry.
For example, it could be used in detergents, soaps, chemical production, water treatment, papermaking (to soften wood chips and produce sodium hydroxide), textile making, metallurgy, food industry (as an additive for acidity regulator and in the production of baking soda), and pharmaceuticals (as a buffering agent).
So, Vijay ordered For the continued extraction of soda ash and For the raw material to be stored in various warehouses Across the empire for future use.
In the main laboratory of Pillai Optics, a man who appeared to be no more than 26 years old, wearing a standard white lab coat, was turning a grinding wheel by hand as he polished something with high concentration.
This man was none other than Ganapatra Pillai, the managing director of Pillai Optics, And also the chief scientist of the company. previously Pillai was responsible for training workers and managing the mass production of kannanadi bimbam of their family. He was also responsible for bringing up the quality of the mirrors as close as possible to their family’s craftsmanship.
Ganapatra had no idea he would be put in such a position, as he had never expected to leave his family handicraft enterprise. He considered that his entire life would be wasted in their family’s glassmaking workshop.
However, thankfully that did not happen, due to the Lord’s grace, Pillai, who was assigned the task of managing a glass production factory and finally able to escape his father’s grasp, was shocked after seeing all the new technological innovations in the empire.
Without knowing most of the knowledge, since his father did not allow him to learn anything more than necessary, he felt left out. Hence, now liberated, he found himself in an environment where learning was not only encouraged but celebrated.
After trying out various things and understanding the differences between different disciplines, he immediately chose the optical department in the realm of physics since he felt a lot more interest in the things he was already doing.
He felt like he would be more successful in this field as he realized that his life experience as a glass craftsman could aid in his study of optics. Although it was really the environmental pressure that drove him to become a professional in the glassmaking industry, it is not that he hated it; on the contrary, he loved it.
The only thing he hated was being denied a chance to try different ideas he had in his mind. But now that the chance was no longer denied, he still preferred learning the way glasses of different kinds worked and how they interacted with the environment. He felt like he could contribute a lot of information and knowledge to this new field of the empire.
After delving into various scientific principles, he concluded that while most sciences were intellectually stimulating, he didn’t feel a strong affinity for fields such as the study of forces, spring mechanisms, or even the concept of the indivisible particle known as Khanna (atom), among others.
Nonetheless, he was deeply impressed by the diverse knowledge streams offered by the Academy of Sciences and the colleges of the Empire. Feeling fortunate to have the opportunity to acquire this knowledge, he remained steadfast in his decision to pursue studies in the optical department.
Ganapatra is still very doubtful and disbelieving about how his majesty convinced his father to let their family’s secret mirror-making technique, which his father considered the lifeblood of their craft, be sold to the empire. However, he does not care about it anymore.
As long as his father is alright, he has no worries about working for the empire, and since Ganapatra constantly talks with his father through the post, that worry can be put aside. Hence, he is very satisfied as the Director of Pillai Optics.
He can now experiment with various interesting things he could not before while also overseeing the production of mirrors according to their family techniques.
Ganapatra had already finished training the workers a few days ago, and the production of mirrors has also achieved mass production, as the quality of each mirror produced in the Pillai Optics company now matches 95% of the hand-made mirrors of their family.
With his main tasks being completed, Pillai went on to make a lens of the highest magnification possible after being inspired by the magnifying glass he saw at the Bharathiya Academy of Sciences. So, out of curiosity and with the constant birth of ideas in his mind, he began to produce the glass lens he wanted.
*GRRRR*
The grinding disc slowly came to a halt as Ganapatra took out the ground glass. He inspected the small glass, bringing it closer to his eyes and staring at it for a few seconds before polishing it in order to remove all the scratches and roughness on its surface. For polishing, he used a tool called a pitch lap, which is made up of a type of resin embedded with a fine abrasive powder.
This pitch lap is used due to its ability to conform to the shape of the lens during polishing. Ganapatra later used various fine polishing compounds such as pumice or cerium oxide to finish the polishing of the lens. His eyes were intently focused on the lens, watching as the scratches decreased right in front of his naked eye.
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Then, he brought the polished lens closer to his eyes again. As he inspected the magnification, he frowned because the lens still did not meet his expectations. After conducting a few more tests, he concluded that the lens could still withstand a few more layers of grinding. So, he started grinding again. Placing his left hand on the handle of the grinding wheel, he began the process anew.
His face regained its high concentration, and his tongue stuck out, a habit that emerged whenever he was fully concentrated on something. This continued until Ganapatra was ultimately satisfied with the finished product he had achieved.
By the time he finished with his lens, his table was filled with powdery glass and loads of coarse sand that had dropped from the grinding wheel. Overall, his table was very messy, but he did not care. What he held in front of him was a magnifying glass that he was sure no one in the world had invented. He was even more convinced that it was the glass with the highest magnification possible.
With the knowledge that his prediction had a high possibility of being the truth, Ganapatra was very satisfied with the lens he had manufactured. He placed it onto a brass holder with a hole in the centre to accommodate the lens, which he had already prepared.
Next, he installed the various parts of the device he had designed, including the sample translator, sample holder, focus knob, and screwing mechanism. These components allowed him to move the sample forward and backwards on top of the brass holder, adjusting its position as needed.
With the device assembled, he brought it closer to his eyes. The device was meant to be handheld and looked somewhat similar to a bronze plate the size of a mobile phone of the 21st century. This bronze plate, with a small pinhole containing the lens, was brought closer to his eyes as he viewed various inanimate objects like tables, chairs, sand, and other things up close.
He saw many small crystalline structures of these inanimate objects and was very happy with the functioning of the microscope.
There was a smile on his face, his tired expression not hiding his joy as he happily took out a blank sheet and started drawing the design of what he had manufactured.
Due to Ganapatra Pillai’s lack of traditional education, he used to build whatever he wanted and then reluctantly put his inventions on paper to show them to others.
Originally, he wasn’t even fond of drawing designs, but as the director of Pillai Optics, it was impossible for him to manage the production line and train the workers without knowing how to draw. Hence, out of necessity, he had to adopt the normal practice of creating design drawings in his day-to-day work.
With a final stroke of the pen, Pillai looked at the design drawings one last time before immediately mailing them to his majesty Along with the microscope and going to sleep.
Sadly, Unknown to him, Ganapatra Pillai missed a significant opportunity in his life by not testing his invention on living objects, which could have made him the first person in the world to discover the microscopic world.
Additionally, the invention he had made closely resembled the microscope made by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in the 1670s. By inventing the same device nearly 15 years in advance, Pillai could have been the first to discover the microscopic world, as Antonie had discovered white blood cells, red blood cells, yeast cells, sperm cells, and bacterial cells for the first time.
Although it was a missed opportunity for Ganapatra Pillai, it was a golden opportunity for the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire.
The medical and navigational technology of the empire would take a huge leap forward in the coming months with the introduction of this microscope, immediately propelling the empire’s optical technology to an advanced level almost reaching the level of the Dutch, who were currently the most dominant in optical technologies.
Despite missing the opportunity of a lifetime, Ganapatra Pillai’s contributions would be numerous in the future. His invention of the world’s first microscope and multiple other optical innovations placed him among the top 10 brightest minds in the world, as mentioned in a 21st-century journal from the future.
In this list, his position was alongside prominent scientists like Newton, Giovanni Borelli, Robert Boyle, and some other Indian scientists who managed to secure spots on the list. However for the people of the 21st century in the future, it didn’t come as a surprise, as it was expected that many Indian scientists would dominate the list.
However, in Vijay’s past timeline, the publishing of this journal titled "Ten Brightest Minds of the 17th Century" could cause quite a stir in the academic circles in the nation and could lead to multiple riots.
Maybe someone called Sam Potato would come up with a statement saying " How come black Africans in South India come up with such an advanced intellectual system"