From simple combinations of lenses, microscopes have evolved into complex tools giving us unparalleled insight into cellular secrets January 1665 saw the publication of Robert Hooke’s Micrographia. The beautiful illustrations of fleas, flies and other insects in it gave humanity an insight into the sheer beauty of the hitherto unobserved world of small creatures. […]
A behind-the-scenes look at the transformation of an empty space into a full-fledged research lab Setting up a new lab can be an exhilarating episode in the career of a faculty member. But it can also be a long and arduous journey, one that needs fellow travellers — often this caravan includes graduate students, […]
The first example of academic entrepreneurship from IISc was an attempt to revolutionise personal computing in India The year 1998 was the calm before the storm. India had just declared to the world that it had successfully tested weaponised nuclear warheads. The then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, congratulated the scientists and engineers involved […]
An annual synthetic biology competition has spurred UG students to develop novel solutions In the early 1960s, French scientists Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod figured out how gene expression in bacterial cells is regulated. Since then, scientists began dreaming of manipulating these regulatory circuits in the bacterial genome (the entire set of its genetic […]
Research and teaching aside, the Department has also contributed to the creation of many new programmes and centres on campus Times were tough for IISc in the 1930s. It faced a serious cash crunch – income from both the Mysore Government and JN Tata’s Bombay properties had dwindled. World War II was looming on […]
A closer look at how industrial acoustics and noise control research began at the Institute In 1896, Henry Ford drove his first experimental automobile down the streets of Detroit in the United States. “My gasoline buggy … was considered something of a nuisance, for it made a racket and scared horses,” he wrote in […]
Scientists from IISc are addressing questions about the biological world using their engineering skills Most mechanical engineers do what we think they do – design and fabricate aircraft, machines, and other such human-made objects. But it turns out that some members of their tribe are also curious about how living things work. One of […]
A glimpse into the origins and evolution of product design at IISc In a cotton field in Gujarat, the pickers have a delicate and labour-intensive task before them. That task is now less tiresome than earlier because they are trying out a light-weight, battery-powered device which makes their job faster and easier. These are […]
How ME research aims to make a difference in clean energy, manufacturing, healthcare and more JN Tata, IISc’s founder, strongly believed that scientific research played a role in social and economic transformation. The Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME), one of the largest in IISc and currently celebrating its 75th year, has had a history of […]
Developing COVID-19 solution hasn’t been easy for researchers working since the pandemic began, as well as for those who jumped into the foray recently When the country was rocked by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021, oxygen conservation became a prime concern. As hospitals designated for COVID-19 became swamped, patients […]
