On the occasion of the 63^rd Anniversary celebration of BITM, BITM inaugurated a Gallery on ‘Motive Power’.

Ms. Melinda Pavek, US Consul General, Kolkata inaugurated the Gallery in the presence of Mrs. Devi Kar, Director, Modern High School for Girls, and V. S. Ramachandran, Director, BITM.

The Birla Industrial & Technological Museum (BITM) was founded 63 years ago at the request of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, Dr. B. C. Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, and Ghanshyam Das Birla, an eminent industrialist. The imposing Birla family residence, donated by G. D. Birla, was converted into a science museum, and the BITM opened its doors on May 2, 1959.

The gallery on Motive Power tells visitors a connected and systematic story of the evolution of power since the beginning of time. It’s divided into eighteen sections. They are Muscle Power, Minimizing Muscle Power, Cottage Industry, Wind Power, Animal Power, Making Steam Work, The Machine Age Begins, Harbinger of the Industrial Revolution, Steam Engine, Walschaert Gear, Howe’s Locomotive Valve, Engine Valves, Steam Generators, Steam Turbines, Thermal Power, Gear Mechanism, James Watt Steam Engine, and Power Quiz. The gallery depicts the human effort to maximize efficiency in order to achieve socio-economic development through artifacts, Dioramas, and scale-down models.