Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, (15 September 1861 – 12 April 1962) was an Indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918. He is a recipient of the Indian Republic’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the British Indian Empire (KCIE) by King George V for his contributions to the public good. Every year, on his birthday, 15 September is celebrated as Engineer’s Day in India in his memory. He is held in high regard as a pre-eminent engineer of India. He was the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the Krishna Raja Sagara dam in Mysore as well as the chief designer of the flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad.
Visvesvaraya was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1911.In 1915, while he was the Diwan of Mysore, Visvesvaraya was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) by the British for his myriad contributions to the public good.After India attained independence, he was awarded with the nation’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955.Sir M.V. was awarded honorary Membership of London Institution of Civil Engineers.He was also awarded a fellowship of the Indian Institute of Science (based in Bangalore). He was awarded several honorary doctoral degrees including D.Sc., LL.D., D.Litt. from eight universities in India. He was president of the 1923 Session of the Indian Science Congress. He was the most popular person from Karnataka, in a newspaper survey conducted by Prajavani.
(Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Visvesvaraya & www.iloveindia.com)