Happy Engineers Day: Remembering Sir M Visvesvaraya

Engineers play an important role in the making of a nation. In India, Engineers Day is marked on the birth anniversary of the most beloved engineer, India has ever produced Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.

The 48th Engineers' Day is being celebrated with the theme of "Engineering Challenges for Knowledge Era".

Who is M Visvesvaraya?

Visvesvaraya, who was a proud recipient of India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1955, was born on Sept 15, 1860. He is best known for his cutting edge research, innovation and hard work.

He was also a scholar, statesman and Diwan of princely state of Mysore for seven years from 1912 to 1919.

With his engineering acumen, Sir MV accomplished several complex projects that include Krishna Raja Sagar dam built near Mysore, which is now the Brindavan gardens, the flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad and the plan for road construction between Tirumala and Tirupati.

He also designed the Khadakwasla Dam near Pune, Tigra Dam in Gwalior and handled several projects across the country.

Born in Muddenahalli village (40 kms away from Mysore), Sir M Visvesvaraya did his primary schooling in Chikballapur and attended high school in Bangalore.

He pursued his graduation from Madras University in 1881 and then he did civil engineering from Poona University in 1884.

He began his engineering career from the Public Works Department (PWD) of Bombay. Later, he received several international offers to work on bigger challenges.

He took voluntary retirement in 1908 and in 1909, he was appointed as Chief Engineer of Mysore State.

He was awarded several honorary doctorate degrees from eight universities of India.

In 1917, he played a key role in the foundation of the Government Engineering College at Bangalore, one of the first engineering institutes in India. Later, it was renamed as the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering.

To honour the contribution of the 'Father of India's Engineering', many educational institutes, colleges and universities are named after him, as a remarkable tribute.

The visionary penned down his experiences of over 30 years in an autobiography "Memories of my working life".

Sir MV, who passed away on April 14, 1962 at the age 101 years in Bangalore, is remembered for his astute achievements in the field of engineering on this day.

Engineering: Not everyone's cup of tea!

Unlike other educational streams like commerce, humanities and other professional courses, engineering is considered as one of the toughest field. Engineering students need to be abreast of all the latest technologies and no doubt they are considered to be geniuses!

They have to do lot of in-depth research on the subject they are studying and it requires coding, and esoteric programming languages.

Indian engineering institutes like IIT and other top and reputed engineering institutes produce lakhs of engineers every year.

In India, startup culture has mushroomed to an all together a booming level and engineers are to be credited for this feat.

On the micro-blogging site Twitter, #EngineersDay was trending through out the day. Here's how Twitterati wished Engineers:

From @makeinindia to @_DigitalIndia, India's engineers have a pivotal role in realizing the aspirations of 125 crore Indians. #EngineersDay

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 15, 2015

My dear engineer friends, greetings to you on #EngineersDay I salute your hardwork & innovation, which has benefitted India immensely.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 15, 2015

Engineers are making remarkable contribution in creating a new world.#HappyEngineersDay#EngineersDay pic.twitter.com/ZXYDuU1aVO

— Dr Raman Singh (@drramansingh) September 15, 2015

Remembering #BharatRatn Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya on his Birth anniversary, celebrated as #EngineersDay pic.twitter.com/zSJKNhbgS5

— Kalraj Mishra (@KalrajMishra) September 15, 2015

Engineers have an integral role to play in nation building. All my best wishes to the Engineers on #EngineersDay for this journey !

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) September 15, 2015

My tribute to Sir M. Visvesvaraya on his Birth Anniversary & wishing all Engineers engaged in nation building a very Happy #EngineersDay

— Amit Shah (@AmitShahOffice) September 15, 2015

Happy #EngineersDay to renowned Engineers Nal & Neel..Way they construct Raam Setu & supervise entire operation to help Ram is inspirational

— Paresh Rawal saab (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) September 15, 2015

Only Engineer has the ability to prepare himself/herself forIIT-JEE, AIEECAT, GRE, GMATGATEIASTCS-INFOSYS Walk-In #EngineersDay

— उमर अब्दुल्लाह (@abdullah_0mar) September 15, 2015

Our tribute to Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya,an engineer & played a vital role in building India #EngineersDay pic.twitter.com/3fvE8vpYrK

— INC India (@INCIndia) September 15, 2015

#MustWatch Nice Films Division Documentary on Visvesvaraya (from 1960 celebrating his 100th birthday) http://t.co/8jW3K63HsL #EngineersDay

— Amit Paranjape (@aparanjape) September 15, 2015

Tributes to the greatest engineer of India, Bharatratna Shri Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Wishing every engineer a happy #Engineersday

— P Muralidhar Rao (@PMuralidharRao) September 15, 2015

Rich tributes to the great #Engineer Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. #EngineersDay wishes to all the engineers.

— Naveen Jindal (@MPNaveenJindal) September 15, 2015

Tribute to Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary. Also extending best wishes to the engineers on the #EngineersDay

— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) September 15, 2015

Scientists come up with great ideas and Engineers put those ideas into practice for the benefit of Mankind. Happy #EngineersDay to all.

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) September 15, 2015

Engineers put great ideas into implementation for benefit of Human Race. From one Engineer to all, a very Happy #EngineersDay

— Arvind Gupta (@buzzindelhi) September 15, 2015

On Sir M Visvesvaraya's birthday, I wish all the Engineers and urge you to follow the life and values of Sir MV. #EngineersDay

— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) September 15, 2015

Happy #EngineersDay and our tribute to Dr. M Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary. pic.twitter.com/YVrgJhgK20

— Sandeep Pandey (@isandeeppandey) September 15, 2015

Tribute will be to build Engineering marvels that would make Sir.MV proud #EngineersDay @GOKUpdates @KarnatakaVarthe pic.twitter.com/bYZc2mnXlB

— Vinay Kumar Sorake (@vksorake) September 15, 2015

World has some magnificent structures. Pyramids, Ang kor Vat, Big Temple, Puri Rath. Thousands of years old, going strong. #EngineersDay

— Sniper (@avarakai) September 15, 2015

Happy #EngineersDay pic.twitter.com/7wV1SVpC7k

— NayanG (@nayu_g) September 15, 2015

Salute to all the engineers who help in making the world a better place!