Birla Industrial & Technological Museum

Birla Industrial & Technological Museum

Formation	2 May 1959
Type	Science Museum
Legal status	Government
Purpose	Educational
Headquarters	Kolkata
Location	India
Region served	West Bengal, Bihar & Odisha
Membership	Schools and l public
Official language	English, Hindi & Bengali
Director	V. S. Ramachandran
Main organ	Galleries on scientific topics
Parent organisation	National Council of Science Museums
Affiliations	Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India
Budget	Rs.2229.71 lakhs
Staff	103 [As on 31 March 2015]
Volunteers	6 trainees
Website	[1]
Remarks	Visitors 2,21,950 [As on 31 March 2015]

Birla Industrial & Technological Museum (BITM), a unit under National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is at Gurusaday Road, Kolkata.

History

The first science museum in India was set up by the industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla at BITS, in Pilani in a hall (185 sq.mt area) of the Tower Building. The museum depicted mainly the industries and business enterprises of the Birlas. The museum was opened to the public in 1954. Ten years later the museum was shifted to the present building.

The second science museum was mooted by KS Krishnan, physicist and the then Director of National Physical Laboratory (NPL), he was inspired and encouraged by the then prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. R Subramanian was appointed to develop science museum and planetarium project by NPL in 1956. The science museum of 555 sq.mr floor space in Delhi was opened for public in 1956, but it was close down by the authority after few years, although it was appreciated by general visitors.

Bidhan Chandra Roy, the former Chief Minister of West Bengal and physician was impressed to see Deutsches Museum of Munich. He thought to set up a science museum and a planetarium in Calcutta. Roy requested to GD Birla for a help. Birla donated his residential house to the former prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. The three storied Victorian style architectural building along with five bighas land of ‘Birla Park’, where they had lived for thirty five years.

Former Directors
Amalendu Bose, 1959 – 1965 & 1971 – 1974 Saroj Ghose, 1965 – 1971 & 1974 – 1979 Samar Bagchi, 1979–1991 Samaresh Goswamy, 1991–2004 Jayanta Sthanapati, 2004–2008 Sk. Emdadul Islam, 2008-continuing till date

Existing galleries

The Children’s Gallery (April 2013.)

The Mathematics Gallery (March 2011.)

• Biotechnology
• Children's Gallery. Inaugurated on 14 November 2012
• Electricity
• Fascinating Physics
• Life Science
• Mathematics
• Metals
• Mock-up Coal Mine
• Motive Power
• Popular Science
• Television
• Transport

Regular activities

• 3D film show, 'Lost World'
• Coal mine show
• Science shows on Magic & Miracle, Surprising Chemical Reactions, Super Cool Bodies, Fun Science and Fire-y-tale
• Sky observation
• Taramandal (Portable inflatable planetarium)

Satellite units

• Bardhaman Science Centre, Babur Bagh. Inaugurated on 9 January 1994. Covered floor area 952.7 Sq. metres.
• Digha Science Centre & National Science Camp, New Digha. Inaugurated on 31 August 1997. Covered floor area 2589 Sq. metres.
• Dhenkanal Science Centre, Odisha. Inaugurated on 5 June 1995. Covered floor area 1147 Sq. metres.
• District Science Centre, Purulia. Inaugurated on 15 December 1982. Covered floor area 1637.40 Sq. metres.
• Kapilas Science Park, Dhenkanal. Inaugurated on 5 June 1995. Area 4.8 Acres
• North Bengal Science Centre, Matigara. Inaugurated on 17 August 1997. Covered floor area 1875 Sq. metres.
• Regional Science Centre, Bhubaneswar. Inaugurated on 18 September 1989. Covered floor area 3819 Sq. metres.
• Srikrishna Science Centre, Patna. Inaugurated on 14 April 1978. Covered floor area 3523 Sq. metres.

See also

• Swami Vivekananda Planetarium, Mangalore