Dr. A. L. Mudaliar addresses the audience at Prof. B. Sengupto’s farewell function, 1967

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Institute Events , Visiting VIPs , Administrators

In an issue of the magazine Pradeep, there is a brief mention of the farewell function given to Prof. B. Sengupto. “Prof. B. Sengupto laid down office as Director, I.I.T. Madras on 10th December 1967. At a farewell function held on 5th December, glowing tributes were paid to his role in the development of this Institute by the staff and students of this Institute.”

Dr. Mudaliar was the first Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Madras. He served as Chairman from 1959 to 1969. His contributions to IIT Madras were immense and he was described by Prof. Ajit Kolar as one of the ‘Second Trinity of IIT Madras’ along with Prof. B. Sengupto (Director) and Mr. R. Natarajan (the first Registrar of IIT Madras).

Prof. Sengupto was the first Director of IIT Madras (1959 to 1967). He was responsible for the growth of IIT Madras in its early years. It was under his guidance that most of the infrastructure at the Institute, including the academic complexes, workshops and hostels came into existence.

Seated, from left, Dr. W. Koch (Physics Department), Prof. S. Sampath (Deputy Director), Prof. B. Sengupto (Director), Mrs. Shanti Sengupto, Dr. Karl Pfauter (Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany), Prof. R. G. Narayanamurthi (Head of Mechanical Engineering Department), Prof. N. Klein (Gymkhana President) and Mr. C. V. Sethunathan (Registrar). To the extreme right is Dr. A. L. Mudaliar (Chairman, Board of Governors).

An identical photograph can be found in Album 0051 under the ID 001/0051/IMG_1600_1.

Collection:

Gourishankar Collection

Album Name:

Farewell to Prof Sengupto

Photograph ID:

001/0233/IMG_0655

Album ID:

0233

Date:

5 December 1967

Place:

Open Air Theatre (OAT)

Event:

Prof. Sengupto’s Farewell Function

Photographer:

C. Gourishankar (1936-2002). A geologist by qualification, Gourishankar started his career as a photographer after working for many years with the Geological Survey of India. In everything that he did, Gourishankar strove to achieve flawlessness and impeccable quality. Thus his photography too was characterised by this drive for perfection. Every photograph that Gourishankar took was meticulously planned and shot and printed with diligence and patience. Gourishankar carried out most of the official photography at IIT Madras in the 1960s.