Prof. S. Sampath addresses the audience at Prof. Sengupto’s farewell function, 1967

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Farewell to Prof Sengupto

Institute Events , Administrators , Faculty

Prof. Srinivasa Sampath (Deputy Director) served as Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras. He was instrumental in the academic development and growth of the Institute.

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. The farewell function was held on 5 December 1967, and Prof. Sengupto mentions in his article ‘A Personal Remembrance of Things Past’, that he left the Institute on 21 January 1968. One of the last events Prof. Sengupto attended was the German Academic Exchange Service (D. A. A. D.) seminar which was held between 18 and 21 January. There is a photograph of him in Album 0167 from the D. A. A. D. event.

From left, a gentleman (yet to be identified), Prof. W. Koch (Physics Department), 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), Prof N. Klein (Gymkhana President), Mr. C. V. Sethunathan (Registrar) and Prof. Sampath (Deputy Director) addresses the audience from the podium.

An identical photograph can be found in Album 0051 with the ID 001/0051/IMG_1610_1.

Collection:

Gourishankar Collection

Album Name:

Farewell to Prof Sengupto

Photograph ID:

001/0233/IMG_0660

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.