15/09/2023
*Happy Engineers Day* 😊
🏗️
: "A Stalwart of Indian Engineering" 🙂
Engineer’s Day in India is celebrated as a tribute to the greatest Indian Civil Engineer & Bharat Ratna “Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya”, popularly known as “Sir M.V.”
**Let’s take a quick peek into his life:-
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was a prolific Indian Civil Engineer, Dam Builder, Economist and Statesman. He was also the 19th Diwan of Mysore, serving from 1912 to 1919 under the Monarchy of KrishnaRaja Wodeyar IV.
He received India's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the British Indian Empire (KCIE) by King George V for his contributions to the public good.
His birthday, 15 September, is celebrated as Engineer's Day not only in India but in other countries too like Sri Lanka & Tanzania in his memory.
He was the Chief Engineer of Krishna Raja Sagara dam in the north-west suburb of Mysuru city, and also served as one of the Chief Engineers of the flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad.
**Birth: 15 September 1861, Muddenahalli, Chikkaballapura, Kingdom of Mysore (now Karnataka, India)
**Demise: 12 April 1962 (aged 101) Bangalore, Karnataka
**Alma Mater:-
• Central College, Bangalore
• University of Madras
• College of Engineering, Pune
• University of Bombay
When Sir Visvesvaraya was the Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918, he transformed the state into what was then known as a 'model state'. For his numerous industrial, economic and social projects, he was called "Father of Modern Mysore".
Sir Visvesvaraya was also the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the Krishna Raja Sagara Dam in Mysore, the biggest in Asia at that time. In 1909, when the city of Hyderabad was in danger of getting flooded, he was appointed as special consultant engineer to make the city flood-proof. His inventive engineering work saved the Visakhapatnam port from sea erosion.
Sir Visvesvaraya is credited with inventing the new system of irrigation i.e. “Block system”-automated doors that close the water overflows. He designed and patented the floodgates which were first installed at the Khadakwasla reservoir in Pune in 1903.
He was instrumental in establishment of Govt. Engineering College at Banglore in 1917, one of the 1st engineering institutes in India. Later it was named University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering.
**Awards and honours:-
• Appointed as a ‘Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire’ (CIE) in 1911.
• Was knighted as a ‘Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire’ (KCIE) by the British for his contributions to the public good in 1915.
• Conferred with nation's highest honour, the ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1955.
• Was awarded an honorary membership of ‘London Institution of Civil Engineers’.
• A Fellowship from the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), and several honorary degrees including D.Sc., LL.D., D.Litt. from eight universities in India.
• Was the president of the 1923 session of the ‘Indian Science Congress’, as well as the most popular person in Karnataka, according to the newspaper Prajavani .
