Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee is the nation’s seventh IIT located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand. IIT Roorkee was established in 1847 by the then lieutenant governor James Thomason as Thomason College of Civil Engineering (1847-1948) and it was given university status in 1949 and remained the University of Roorkee till 2001. It was converted into IIT in 2001 by an act of Government of India and an ordinance is now converted into the act by parliament to make IIT, Roorkee an Institution of National Importance.
The IIT Roorkee has produced many alumni who played important roles in the technological development of India and made a significant impact on the corporate world. Among them, ten alumni have won Padma Bhushan awards and 25 have been Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology awardees.