From the very first day that it was opened to the public, VITM became a firm favourite with the people. Having received the blessings of Sir M Visvesvaraya himself, it received support of prominent business leaders and was inaugurated by none less than Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. This had built up a keen interest in the residents of Bengaluru to enter the much talked about institution.
The museum quickly emerged as a major tourist destination, and over a period of time, came to attract almost a million visitors annually. On March 23, 2012 at 1.00 pm, the millionth visitor walked into VITM, recording the highest number of visitors in any year till that date. The numbers have grown exponentially, taking the count of visitors in the last 50 years close to 40 million – an impressive testament to VITM’s innovative practices in bringing science to the people.
The Museum’s vital mission is to popularise science among the masses through various initiatives such as new galleries on science and technology, travelling exhibitions on contemporary science and technology topics, mobile science exhibitions, workshops, popular science lectures, science demonstrations, publications, and related activities.