Pioneer and innovator

While browsing through the Internet reader Mickie Sorabjee of Dadar came across an item on the 206th birth anniversary on October 6, 2014 of Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia who was the "first to introduce gas lights in Bombay and lit up his own house in 1834.” As the email contained no further information, Parsiana, with interest piqued and wanting to know more about the man, sought information on Wikipedia.

Scion of the Wadia family of shipbuilders, Ardaseer was an engineer noted for having been the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, reveals Wikipedia. "He is also recorded as having introduced several (at the time) novel technologies to the city of Bombay,” including the sewing machine, steam pump driven irrigation and electro-plating.
Ardaseer joined his father Cursetjee at the dockyards at the age of 14 and by the age of 25 had launched a small 60 ton ocean-going ship of his own design with a steam engine, the Indus. This achievement warranted a mention in his nomination for the Royal Society of London. On March 10, 1834, in the presence of the Governor of Bombay, Ardaseer had his house and gardens at Mazgaon lit using gas. Three years later, in 1837 he was elected a non-resident member of the Royal Asiatic Society, and in 1841 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, Wikipedia reveals.
The story of Ardaseer’s overland journey to England to learn more about marine steam power on behalf of the East India Company was recounted in The Diary of an Overland Journey from Bombay to England, published in London in 1840. In 1855 he was elected a justice of the peace. He remained chief engineer of the family shipbuilding firm until his retirement on August 1, 1857 subsequent to which he returned to England where he lived until his demise in 1877 aged 69, notes Wikipedia.
The Indian Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in recognition of his contributions as "pioneer and innovator” on May 27, 1969.