The photos here are part of a series marking IISc’s 110th anniversary. When IISc opened its doors to students in 1911, over 500 applications were received. Of these, only 34 students were selected to join the departments that existed then – General & Applied Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Electrical Technology – though not all of […]
Since its inception, IISc has hosted several distinguished scientists as well as politicians, diplomats and celebrities from around the world. For most of the Institute’s existence, it has maintained a ‘Visitor’s Book’, in which signatures and words of encouragement are collected. To mark IISc’s 110th anniversary, here is a small selection of signatures from IISc’s […]
The photos here are part of a series marking IISc’s 110th anniversary. JN Tata (left), his sons, Dorabji (centre, seated) and Ratanji (right, standing), and RD Tata – JRD Tata’s father. JN Tata was an industrialist who wanted to create an institute of higher learning in India, and began working towards this in 1889. He […]
‘We wish to suggest that the Ladies’ Hostel may be permanently located’ Kamala Sohonie (née Bhagvat) studied biochemistry at IISc in the 1930s. She was said to have struggled to gain admission as CV Raman, who was IISc’s Director from 1933-1937, was resistant to allowing women to study at the Institute. In the first of […]
The State of Mysore played a crucial role in helping establish IISc and influenced its research in the years that followed “Mysore is the best administered state in the world,” John Sankey, the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain and a human rights activist, is said to have declared during the first Round Table Conference in […]
The following extract is a speech made by Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the Maharaja of Mysore from 1894 until 1940, at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of IISc’s Main Building in 1911 Very deep is the responsibility which has fallen on me to-day of laying the Corner Stone of these magnificent buildings, the future home […]
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 […]
KP Sinha, a versatile physicist whose association with IISc stretches back almost fifty years, will turn 90 in July 2019 KP Sinha is an unusual man. Getting one PhD is hard work, but he chose to do two. And rare though it is for theoretical physicists to work in more than one field, Sinha mastered […]
The Centre for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT, now the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering) was established in 1975. The initiative for this Indo-Swiss collaboration was taken by Arvind Shah, who recounts the events in this 2014 memoir. After finishing my studies in Electrical Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, […]
BS Sonde, retired professor of electrical communication engineering, was the founding chair of the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT), renamed the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering in 2012. In this interview, he recalls why the need for CEDT was felt, and how it was founded with Swiss collaboration. What were the developments from […]
