A peek into the IISc Archives and the world of archiving Among the IISc Archives’ many treasures is a large, heavy book called the “Distinguished Visitors Book”, a record of signatures from famous visitors to the Institute from 1948 to 1973. To look at, it is a worn book with crumbling pages onto which […]
Author: Deepika S
‘People often think that a therapist gives advice, but that isn’t true’
With four new consulting psychologists as of March 2022, IISc’s team of counsellors has expanded significantly to six. We spoke to Shridhar BG and MS Savitha, both clinical psychologists who have been counselling IISc students on campus since 2018, and are part of the team of mental health professionals (including psychiatrists and wellness coordinators […]
The Pandemic and Mental Health at IISc
A look at some of the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have affected the IISc community Abhishek Aggarwal arrived in Denver, Colorado, on 1 March to attend the American Physical Society March Meeting 2020 – an annual physics hub that sees around 10,000 delegates from all over the world attending scientific […]
The Race for Five Million Dollars
IISc-TCS was the only Indian team to compete in the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge 2020 The competition was only a few days away. With one drone having crashed already, all eyes were locked nervously on the two drones over the airfield outside the Department of Aerospace Engineering. During the final testing at […]
How Can We Prioritise Mental Health on Campus?
“Do people in highly competitive spaces lack empathy?” That was a question a student had for a panel of mental health professionals at an event on 9 November 2019 called Shades of Blue: Understanding Depression. With increased concerns about students’ mental health on campus (two students took their lives this year), this was a student-organised […]
‘An unusually successful cruise’
A 2016 Indo-UK monsoon experiment collected a detailed set of data that is still being analysed On 27 July 2016, the oceanographic research vessel Sindhu Sadhana sailed back to Chennai through terrible weather after a month at sea in the southern Bay of Bengal. Field experiments in the ocean are often risky and challenging during […]
Who Was Kempananjammani Vani Vilasa Sannidhana?
While historical accounts have plenty to say about her husband, Chamarajendra, and her son, Krishnaraja, little is known about her life in comparison IISc was set up in Bangalore was because of the generous grant of land and money by the Maharani of Mysore, Kempananjammani Vani Vilasa Sannidhana, who headed the princely state of Mysore […]
Dining at IISc
A short history of the messes In 1954, Morris Travers, who had been IISc’s first Director, wrote to AG Pai, the then-Registrar. In a letter looking back on his time at IISc, Travers (who had worked at theInstitute from 1906 to 1914, and had been involved in setting it up) said: “When I first went […]
‘They Still Remember Our Food’
When VC Amanan joined IISc in 1980, he was 26 years old. He had wanted to be a scientist, and applied to the Government Arts and Science College near KR Circle for a course in Chemistry, Biology and Zoology. But as luck would have it, he missed the interview for the seat as the letter […]
Women and the Institute
On the day IISc first opened its doors to students, as the Institute’s Annual Report for 1911 tells us, one hostel block was ready for occupation. What the Annual Report doesn’t mention, however, is that the “students’ hostel” was only meant for men. In 1909, plans had been made for staff quarters, two blocks of […]