Union Minister Jitendra Singh inaugurates solar-cell facility and incubation centre at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS)

Key facts

• The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), founded in 1876 by Mahendralal Sircar in Kolkata, is regarded as India’s first research institution established by Indians for modern scientific research.
• IACS is recognized as the birthplace of the Raman Effect discovery by Nobel laureate C. V. Raman.
• Union Minister Jitendra Singh inaugurated an indigenously developed Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) system at IACS for the fabrication of India’s first amorphous silicon solar cell.
• The institute launched a new incubation centre named RETINA (Research Entrepreneurship for Translation, Innovation and Navigation).
• IACS has nurtured prominent scientific minds including Jagadish Chandra Bose, Meghnad Saha, Satyendra Nath Bose, and C.V. Raman.
• The institute's research contributions include quantum materials, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, battery materials, cancer biology, environmental technologies, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy treatment, toxic waste remediation, biosensors, and sustainable energy materials.