SSC
The M. P. Birla Planetarium is located in:
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Answer: Option A — Kolkata
Detailed Solution
The M. P. Birla Planetarium is located on Jawaharlal Nehru Road (Chowringhee), near the Victoria Memorial, in Kolkata, West Bengal.
About the M. P. Birla Planetarium:
- It was opened on 2 July 1963 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
- It was established by the Birla Education Trust and named after Madhav Prasad Birla, an industrialist of the Birla family.
- It is the oldest planetarium in India and the largest in Asia (and one of the largest in the world).
- Its design was inspired by the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi, with a large white dome.
- It shows programmes on astronomy, the solar system, stars, galaxies and space exploration in several languages, including English, Bengali and Hindi.
- It also has an astronomy gallery and an observatory, and conducts research and courses in astronomy.
Other Birla planetariums and science institutions:
- M. Birla Planetarium: Hyderabad (1985).
- M. Birla Planetarium: Chennai (1988), part of the Periyar Science and Technology Centre.
- M. Birla Science Centre: Hyderabad.
- Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM): Kolkata (1959), India's first science museum, under the NCSM.
Other planetariums in India:
- Nehru Planetarium: Mumbai (1977), New Delhi (1984), Bengaluru (Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, 1989).
- Swami Vivekananda Planetarium: Mangaluru, India's first 3D planetarium.
About Kolkata's scientific heritage:
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (1876), where C. V. Raman discovered the Raman Effect.
Bose Institute (1917), founded by Jagadish Chandra Bose.
Indian Statistical Institute (1931), founded by P. C. Mahalanobis.
Other landmarks nearby:
Victoria Memorial (1921), St. Paul's Cathedral and the Maidan.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Bengaluru has the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium.
Hyderabad has the B. M. Birla Planetarium.
Chennai has the B. M. Birla Planetarium.
Quick tip
Remember: M. P. Birla Planetarium = Kolkata (opened 1963 by Nehru; oldest in India, largest in Asia; dome like the Sanchi stupa); B. M. Birla Planetariums = Hyderabad and Chennai.
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