Guwahati: If the Tatas are investing in a state of the art semiconductor plant at Jagi Road in Assam, it is not without a firm footing not just in industry but in science itself.

One of Tatas’ contribution to India, is what is now considered to be an institute of repute not just in India but the entire world. Doctorates Pradip Kumar Gogoi and Ashwini Kumar Phukan at the Dibrugarh and Tezpur universities, respectively and Pankaz Kumar Sharma at Cotton University, are all alumni of from this institution – The Indian Institute of Science or IISc.

The IISc at Bengaluru, was envisioned by Jamsetji Tata and was brought to fruition after his death by his successors, following his resolute ambition and dedication.

A special event was held at the IISc to mark 100 years of the JN Tata Memorial on March 17, 2023. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons, and President of the IISc Court, presided over the function.

The seeds of the plan to establish The Indian Institute of Science were sown in Jamsetji Tata’s mind at a time when there were no true institutions of higher learning in science and engineering in India. Jamsetji’s dream of setting up the IISc was greatly motivated by Lord Reay, Bombay’s popular Governor. During a Convocation Address in 1889, Lord Reay had stated that education could no longer develop if universities remained purely examining bodies. He asked for “real universities which will give fresh impulse to learning, to research, to criticism, which will inspire reverence and impart strength and self-reliance to future generations.” This speech had a profound impact on Jamsetji who decided to set up a university and in 1896, he wrote to Lord Reay proposing his scheme. In 1898, he announced an offer that was to astonish men of his day. He set aside 14 of his buildings and four landed properties in Bombay for an endowment to establish this institution. His donation was worth Rs 30 lakh in those days, which was half of his wealth. The other half he left to his two sons — Dorab and Ratan.

Jamsetji wanted a university that covered every spectrum of learning from technology and engineering, physics and chemistry, to the philosophy of education, Indian history, archaeology, statistics and philology. He sent educationist, Burjorji J Padshah to study the working of universities of Europe and America.

Besides conditions from Lord Curzon and the government of the time,Jamsetjialso believed that Indian princes, sardars and municipalities would join in this university of his dreams and hence he did not want his name associated with it.

A number of sites for the university were discussed including Bombay, Calcutta, Poona, Deolali and Nagpur. But since the Maharajah of Mysore, one of the most advanced of the Indian states, had offered 371 acres of land in Bangalore, Rs 5 lakh towards the cost of building the Institute and an annual subsidy of one lakh, the site for the Institute came to be Bangalore.

In October 1899, Jamsetji Tata was invited to Simla by Lord Curzon who had by now formed a high opinion of his character. The Viceroy called the Chief Legal Advisers and Directors of Education from the principal provinces. The outcome of the conference was a government resolution expressing confidence that the proposed university will meet a great need and will contribute to the advancement of higher education and development of the resources of the country.

The Government of India had suggested that the project should be further examined by a well-known scientist, a suggestion to which Jamsetji readily agreed. For this purpose, the Provisional Committee, on the advice of Padshah, recommended Professor William Ramsay (later recipient of the Nobel Prize). When Jamsetji visited England in 1900, he met Ramsay and apprised him of the project. Professor Ramsay proceeded to Bombay and remained in India for over two months. The whole expense of his visit was borne by Jamsetji. Professor Ramsay suggested that the British Government should give at least £5,000 a year, if not £8,000, to match Jamsetji’s contribution of £8,000 a year.

After years of negotiations with British government, on May 19, 1904, Jamsetji Tata died at Bad Nauheim, Germany.

In 1905, Sir Dorabji Tata was in England and met Curzon who was on a holiday at Bexhill, South England. The matter of the university was re-opened by Dorab Tata to a sympathetic Curzon, who promised that his government would match Jamsetji’s share earmarked for the university scheme. What Jamsetji had hoped for had come to pass, barely a year after his death.

The proposal was finally approved by Lord Minto in 1909 with a Vesting Order of the Government for what was called the Indian Institute of Science. The order spoke highly of Jamsetji Tata ‘the enlightened promoter and the donor.’ It went on to state that the Governor General in Council had no desire to associate himself intimately with the actual administration of the Institute or to claim a determining voice about the lines of research and instruction to be followed. There would be a Senate, a Court and a Council of the Institute to look after these aspects, this autonomy of the Institute and its academic freedom have been honoured from its inception to the present, which is due to the liberal attitude shown by the British Government and the succeeding Governments of India.

A tripartite venture of Tatas, the Government of India and the Government of Mysore (now Karnataka), the Indian Institute of Science finally came into existence on May 27, 1909, following the Vesting Order. Jamsetji’s dream, which did not see the light of day during his lifetime was finally fulfilled after a long and relentless struggle.

The IISc, the first of its kind in Asia, finally opened its doors on July 24, 1911, with 24 students joining the Institute. Its first Director was the English chemist, Morris Travers. The Institute started with just two academic departments: General and Applied Chemistry and Electrical Technology.

Over the years, the IISc has grown into a premier institution of research and advanced instruction. Several eminent scientists such as CV Raman, the Nobel Laureate known for his work in the field of light scattering and the first Indian Director of IISc in 1933, Homi J Bhabha, the founder of India’s nuclear programme, Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space programme, Anna Mani, the meteorologist, Kamala Sohonie, the biochemist and nutrition expert, CNR Rao, solid state and materials scientist and Satish Dhawan, the eminent aerospace engineer, have been associated with the Institute.

As a tribute to his munificence and vision, the Institute celebrates March 3, the birth anniversary of the Founder as the Founder’s Day every year.

(Excerpted from a write up on Tata Sons heritage archives)