Director's Gallery

Krishnan Aditya Varman Pandalai was born in 1928 in Jamshedpur. His father, Shankunni Pandalai, was Chief Engineer at the Tata Steel Plant at Jamshedpur. Prof. Pandalai was the third Director of IIT Madras. Prof. Pandalai did his early education in Kerala, after which he got a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Physics from Loyola College, Madras University in 1947. He obtained his Masters in Aeronautical Engineering in 1950, and his doctorate in the same field in 1955, from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York. In 1967, he was invited to set up the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at IIT Madras. During his tenure as the Director, six Research Centres were established in the Institute including the Regional Sophisticated Instrumentation Centre (RISC), Centre for Energy Research, Composite Structures (FRP) Research Centre, Materials Science Research Centre, Design Engineering Centre and Industrial Consultancy Centre. Prof. Pandalai is remembered as someone who taught former President of India Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, at Madras Institute of Technology.