Distinguished guests Mr. C. Subramaniam (left) and Dr. Erhard Eppler (right) during the inauguration of the Computer Centre, 1973
Inaugurations , Visiting VIPs
The IBM 370/155 system was acquired by IIT Madras in this year. It occupied most of the first floor of the Building Sciences Block in the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to this, IIT Madras did not have a powerful, centralized computing facility and research scholars from the Institute had to rely on the IBM 360 at IISc Bangalore to do their project work. The installation of the IBM 370 meant that IITians would no longer have to depend on any other Institute to conduct research work and to compute.
The IBM 370 was used by students of IIT Madras. Students would use the system for academic work, as well as to enjoy computing. The computer craze caught up among the students and soon the Institute had to provide quotas for students so that everybody who needed to get their work done could do so without the problem of overcrowding. In order to access the facility, one had to register at the counter of the computer centre at around eight in the morning. However, a queue would form upto three hours before the counter opened up for registration.
Mr. Subramaniam was the Union Minister for Industrial Development and Science and Technology during this time. Dr. Eppler was the Minister for Economic Co-operation for the Federal Republic of Germany.
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