From Waters of the World, by Sarah Dry, on glaciology, geology metereology, and climatology…so far.

Only with the leveraging power of certain technologies was British rule in India even thinkable. Much has been made of the importance of railways, telegraphs, and steamships in drawing the Empire together across time and space. Just as essential but often overlooked were the tools of bureaucracy itself. These took the form of central offices where information could be gathered, sorted, and acted upon. Such offices were the nodes of the great imperial network. They reached their apotheosis in London, but were necessarily to be found also in Calcutta, in Simla, and in remote field stations from which telegraphic messages were sent and received. In these small and well-organized spaces, a few workers with the ability to move information around with as little friction as possible could contribute to the governing of millions of subjects of the crown.