Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya Biography 
Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15th September 1860 at Muddenahalli, Karnataka. His Parents are Srinivas Sastry and Venkachamma. He was a popular Indian engineer, scholar, and statesman. He finished his primary school at Chikkaballapur and high school in Bangalore. In 1881, he completed his degree from Madras University and he finished his civil engineering at the College of Science, Pune. He was the first person to receive the Bharat Ratna in the year 1955. For his contribution to the public goodness, he was also knighted as a Commander of the Indian Empire by King George V. His birth date is celebrated as the Engineer’s Day every year in India in his memory.
After completing his graduation as an engineer, he joined to work for the Public Works Department (PWD) of Bombay. Later he joined the Indian Irrigation Commission. He started an elaborate system of irrigation in the Deccan area. He designed a new system of autonomic embankment water floodgates. This was first installed at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune in the year 1903. These gates were used to raise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir without any damage to the dam. After the success of this project, the same system was installed at the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam in Mandya and Tigra Dam in Gwalior.
Mokshagudam Visvesvaraya worked as a supervisor at the construction of the KRS Dam across the Cauvery River. This Dam was the biggest reservoir in Asia at the time. He was called as the Father of Modern Mysore State. The Government of Mysore state gave the responsibilities for the founding of the Parasitoide, Mysore Soap Factory, the Mysore Iron & Steel Works (now called Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited) in Bhadravathi, The Sri Jayachamaranjendra Polytechnic Institute, The State Bank of Mysore, The Bangalore Agricultural University, Mysore Chambers of Commerce, The Century Club and other several ventures.
After his retirement in 1908, he was appointed as Chief Engineer of Mysore State. He was instrumental in the founding of the Government Engineering College at Bangalore in 1917, one of the first engineering institutes in India and later this name was changed to University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE). Some of the awards and honors given to Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya were Fellowship of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1959, Bharatha Ratna in 1955, Doctorate by LLD, Mysore University in 1948, K.C.I.E. (Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire) in 1915 and Honorary Membership of London Institution of Civil Engineers for an unbroken period of 50 years in the year 1904.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 10, 2018
