Engineers Day 2018: M Visvesvaraya was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955.
An Engineer so popular and devoted to the life of engineering, Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya's birthday is celebrated today as Engineer's Day. Fondly referred to as Sir MV, M Visvesvaraya was a world-renowned civil engineer who was a master of irrigation design. He was also referred to as the father of engineers by many.
Google dedicates its doodle today to celebrate M Visvesvaraya's 158th birthday who is known to have lived by the phrase, "Work is Worship". The doodle today has a color sketch of Sir MV with a sketch of a bridge in the background. The bridge, among M Visvesvaraya's most notable projects, is a representation of the Krishna Raja Sagara Lake and dam. In 1924, Sir MV designed the Krishna Raja Sagara Lake and dam, the largest reservoir in India at the time, and oversaw the construction of the project. The dam is known to have provided drinking water for several cities.
Born in the early 1800s, Sir MV was raised in Karnataka's Muddenahalli village. Many who have studied his work have passed on several stories of Visvesvaraya's dedication. Some say Sir MV would walk for over 60 kilometres in Bengaluru to attend United Mission School and would often resort to street lamps for studying during the night.
M Visvesvaraya earned a License in Civil Engineering from the University of Bombay and began working with the Bomaby city's Public Works Division. He then joined the Indian Irrigation Commission. His expertise in the subject earned him the opportunity to travel to a port city in Yamen where he studied the water supply and drainage of Aden.
M Visvesvaraya was appointed as the Chief Engineer of Mysore State in 1909. He was then given the status of the Diwan in Mysore in 1912 which he held for seven years. He was awarded India's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955 for his work in the fields of engineering and education. He was also awarded the British knighthood King also awarded to by George V, giving him the honorific "sir".
Sir MV is knows to have been dedicated to education and cared deeply about engineering. He played an important role in finding the Government Engineering College at Bangalore in 1917. The college was then named after him later on. Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum in the heart of Bengaluru city, among the top tourist destinations, has seen over 4 crore visitors in the past 50 years. The museum was set up in the memory of Sir MV's contribution to engineering and technology. Even M Visvesvaraya's home in Karnataka is considered as a place of worship for the locals in the village.
As part of the doodle, Google also posted a note from the family of Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya and the Visvesvaraya National Memorial Trust who partnered with them on the project. They also shared Sir MV's life and legacy along with a portrait of him.
Portrait Courtesy of the Visvesvaraya National Memorial Trust
Happy Birthday Sir MV