Sri Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, was a notable Indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore during 1912 to 1919. He was a recipient of the Indian Republic's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955.

He was knighted as a commander of the Indian Empire by Kind George V for his myriad contributions to the public good. Every year, 15 September is celebrated as Engineer's Day in India in his memory.

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was an eminent engineer and statesman and played a key role in building of modern India when Sir M. Visvesvaraya celared his Assistant Engineer at Nasik. As an engineer, he achived some marvelous some marvelous feats. He planned a way of supplying water from the river Sindhu to a town called Sukkur.

Visvesvaraya achieved celebrity status when he designed a flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad. He was instrumental in developing a system to protect Vishakapatnam port from concept to inauguration.

Upon graduating as an engineer, Visvesvaraya took up a job with the Public Works Department (PWD) of Mumbai and was later invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission. He implemented an extremely intricate system of irrigation in the Deccan area.

He also designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates that were first installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla Reservoir near Pune.