The centenary celebrations of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will commence from May 27 and will go on for one full year.

The centenary year celebrations include setting up of five state-of-the-art laboratories, a modern international visitors hostel, international seminars, a special IISc centenary conference, lecture series, documentary film to capture the history and achievement of IISc during the last 100 years.

The celebrations will officially commence with the release of a postage stamp featuring IISc, on May 27, IISc officials said.  Work has already commenced on the new building-cum-labs for the existing departments of aerospace engineering, biological sciences and physical sciences. A new centre for excellence in nano-electronics and a modern well-equipped library are also coming up.  The labs are coming up behind the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) wing in the 443 acre campus.

The celebrations will conclude on May 27, 2009. The date is significant as it was on this day in 1909 that the constitution of the Institute was approved by the Viceroy Lord Minto and the necessary Vesting Order signed. A lot more is happening during the course of the year. A modern international visitors’ hostel which can accommodate more than 100 scientists and researchers will come up in the campus. A documentary film, in association with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting capturing the history and achievements of IISc in the last 100 years will be released. IISc centenary conference is also on the cards.

 Meanwhile, the institute’s Centenary Post-Doctoral Fellowship (CPDF) offered to coincide with the centenary celebration is receiving good responses from across the world. CPDF comes with a fellowship of Rs 25,000 per month plus free accommodation. The fellowship has attracted applicants from across the country besides Germany, Japan and the United States, the officials said.

For the records, the history of IISc goes back to 1898, when Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata envisioned the institute to promote original research in various branches of learning and to utilise them for the benefit of the nation. Early in 1911, the Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone of the Institute and on July 24 the same year the first batch of students were admitted in the departments of General and Applied Chemistry and Electrotechnology.