Every year, lakhs of aspiring students battle it out to ace one of the fiercest exams in India, to get into the weaver-of-dreams institute, IIT. Apart from being a trusted brand, IITs offer a plethora of opportunities for gaining immense exposure and enhancing technical skills.

Closer home, IIT-Kanpur comes in the creamy layer of all IIT institutes. With notable alumni’s like N.R. Narayana Murthy - founder of Infosys, Lalit Jalan - CEO of Reliance, Ashoke Sen - Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee, Muktesh Pant - CEO of KFC, among many, many others, IIT-K continues the carry the badge of one of the most premier institutes the country.

Read on to know 7 facts about IIT-K that would free you of the age-old question 'Yeh IIT-JEE itna tough kyun hai yaaar?'

Established in 1959, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur is one of eminent technical institutes of India. It would be a shocker to know for many IIT aspirants that the esteemed institute commenced its operations, in a room in the canteen Building of the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute at Agricultural Gardens in Kanpur. The esteemed institute was moved to its present location in 1963.

IIT Kanpur was established under the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP) that was a conglomerate of nine leading American universities : M.I.T, University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Case Institute of Technology and Purdue University.

In today's age and times, colleges offering the reputed computer science education programmes are mushrooming across India. One can't help but wonder, where did it all begin ?

Back in 1963, under the leadership of economist John Kenneth Galbraith, IIT Kanpur was the first institute in India to offer Computer Science education. The very first computer courses started at IIT Kanpur in the month of August 1963 on an IBM 1620 system.

In a bid to foster innovation, research, and entrepreneurial activities of tech-based areas, IIT Kanpur has set up the SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre (SIIC) in collaboration with the Small Industries development Bank of India (SIDBI). The start-up provides a platform to business newbies to develop their ideas into commercially viable products. Also, just FYI, do you happen to recognise the man in the picture? That's Narayan Murthy, Founder & Chairman of Infosys casually chilling at his alma-mater IIT-K.

The institute is pegged to be the developer of India’s first nano satellite 'Jugnu'. It was designed and built by a team of students, working under the guidance of faculty members of the institute and scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Jugnu was successfully launched in orbit on 12 October 2011 by ISRO's PSLV-C18.

IIT-K is touted as the first academic institution in the country to have a helicopter ferry service. The service was started by IIT-K on 1 June 2013 and is being run by Pawan Hans Helicopter Limited. In the initial phase, the ferry service only connects IIT Kanpur to the Lucknow airport, but the plans to extend it to New Delhi later, are already in motion.

At present, there are two flights daily, to-and-fro to Lucknow Airport with a travel time of 25 minutes. The ferry service provides access to the Lucknow Airport, which operates both international and domestic flights to all major cities and countries. IIT Kanpur is also said to have its own airstrip for Aeronautical Engineering students.

Along with Jugnu, IIT-K boasts of many firsts to it's name. Some of these are: In 2021, IIT-K developed a portable soil testing device called 'Bhu Parikshak' that can detect soil in health in just 90 seconds through an embedded mobile application. The device is set to assist farmers for obtaining soil health parameters with recommended dose of fertilisers.

In July 2021, IIT Kanpur created the Swasa Oxyrise bottle. It's a portable device that can be carried anywhere to meet the emergency need of oxygen. The portable oxygen canister by IIT Kanpur was created to address shortage of oxygen during the pandemic. Reportedly, 10 litre of oxygen has been compressed in each 180 gram bottle.

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