Tata medical philanthropy in colonial India was not confined to investing in bricks and mortar but also aimed at creating a culture of medical research.
Category: History
The Birth of Wipro’s Computer Systems Business
IISc’s role in helping Wipro launch its minicomputers in 1981 As one of India’s leading technology companies, Wipro is today largely known for its Information Technology (IT), engineering, and consulting services. But what brought Wipro into the IT industry was its computer systems business in the 1980s. The origins of the company’s most flourishing business […]
‘People took pride in their work and in the Institute’
Jawaharlal Vaid, 88, was at the Institute from 1951 to 1957 at the Department of General and Applied Chemistry (eventually renamed Inorganic and Physical Chemistry), doing his Master’s and PhD. He went on to have a distinguished career in industry, working for the Indian Telephone Industry, and setting up India’s first capacitor plant for Jay […]
Vikram Sarabhai’s years at IISc
2019 is the birth centenary of Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space programme, who was born in Ahmedabad on 12 August 1919. Sarabhai, pursuing his studies at Cambridge when WWII broke out, returned to India to work with CV Raman at IISc, where he also met Homi J Bhabha. In these excerpts from her […]
When Raman Brought Born to Bangalore
11 December 2019 marks the 137th birth anniversary of Max Born, who came to IISc on CV Raman’s invitation The Mysterious Number 137 was the title of a lecture that Max Born delivered to the South Indian Science Association in Bangalore on 7 November 1935. Called the fine structure constant α, 137 is a dimensionless […]
The Many Avatars of the Journal of the Indian Institute of Science
Looking back at over 100 years of its publication I once asked the students at one of my lectures whether they had heard of the Journal of the Indian Institute of Science. The response I received was depressing, particularly because I happened to be the Journal’s Editor at the time. Except for a few hands […]
MONTBLEX: India’s First Major Monsoon Experiment
The first national effort to understand the meteorological phenomenon For about four months from May to September 1990, the Indian summer monsoon was the subject of unprecedented nationwide attention. While the monsoon winds raced from Kerala to the northwest of India in 35 days, less than its usual 45, researchers on land, air and sea […]
‘Ours was a small group, like one family’
Syed Ameenulla, who joined IISc as a lab assistant and went on to be a scientific officer, recalls his involvement in the Institute’s monsoon experiments In the monsoon of 1979, Chandipur beach in Balasore, Odisha was host to a small group of researchers from Bangalore. The team, from IISc and the National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL), […]
IISc Turns 110
On May 27, 1909, the Government of India published a Vesting Order and a Scheme for the Management of the Institute in the Gazette of India, officially creating the Indian Institute of Science. The years preceding and following this saw a flurry of activity: designs for new laboratories, construction work to build new departments, plans […]
Building the Institute
The photos here are part of a series marking IISc’s 110th anniversary. Early construction at IISc was done by TCW Skipp, with whom the institute signed a contract in 1908. Before the end of that year, most of the drainage and sewer system had been laid by Pallonji Edulji & Sons. This photo shows the […]
