An eye for talent: Islam

When the industrial magnate, G.D. Birla (1894-1983), was thirty years old, he received a letter from an unknown student in Calcutta. This is what the student, in an informal and forthright manner, had written: “If only you can help me with an amount of Rs 22,000 for the purchase of a special type of instrument which has to be imported, I may assure you that I may be able to get the Nobel Prize for my discovery.”

The effect of this appeal was immediate. Mr Birla replied to the student’s letter at once, enclosing a cheque for Rs 22,000. With this amount the student ordered the instrument he needed from abroad and carried on with his research. His estimate proved correct. When the results of his research came before the public, he won such acclaim that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for science.