Yet M Visvesvaraya (1861-1962) is a notable exception, a man whose career and achievements continue to be widely celebrated in India. Born in a small town in the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, Visvesvaraya went on to have multiple careers. Leaving Bombay, he accepted the position of chief engineer of Mysore state and, in 1912, became the state’s diwan or prime minister. HV Cobb, the British resident of Mysore state, complained that Visvesvaraya “resents opposition as though he were a Napoleon”. In China, meanwhile – as the technology writer Dan Wang argues in a new book, Breakneck – an engineer-dominated leadership cadre has even created an “engineering state.”