Mr. C. V. Sethunathan addresses the audience at Prof. Sengupto’s farewell, 1967

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Farewell to Prof Sengupto

Institute Events , Administrators , Faculty

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.”

Mr. Sethunathan was the second Registrar of IIT Madras. He succeeded Mr. R. Natarajan whose tenure ended in 1965. Mr. Sethunathan previously taught physics at Vivekananda College, Madras and V. O. C. College, Tuticorin. Before joining IIT Madras, he was Principal and Head of the Department of Physics at Sri Sankara College in Kaladi, Kerala.

Prof. B. Sengupto was the first Director of IIT Madras. He served his tenure from 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.

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

An identical photograph can be found in Album 0051 under the ID 001/0051/IMG_1605_1.

Collection:

Gourishankar Collection

Album Name:

Farewell to Prof Sengupto

Photograph ID:

001/0233/IMG_0651

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.