My unsung hero of science: William Adams, the Bombay bureaucrat whose vision of a solar future was dashed by colonial conservatism

sounds like we've been in the wrong timeline for a while

Sometimes I wish we could reach back to them and let them know we finally started adapting their ideas.

Now we have huge fields of mirrors in the desert heating up molten salt on top of towers.

Important background the article doesn't mention: British policy in India had always (since the East India Company days) been about deindustrialization. It's not just about vague conservatism or even not bothering; turning India into a manufacturing hub like Adams wanted would've stood again everything the British Raj stood for. From here I'm speculating, but arguably this consequences of this policy (in place for generations by this point) meant there was no infrastructure for adopting this invention.

That was a fascinating read, thanks for sharing