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Dr. A. L. Mudaliar (b. 1887) assumed office as the first Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT Madras on 1st January 1959. He served as Chairman from 1959 to 1969 for a period of 10 years and made significant contributions to the Institute during his term. Doctor, educationist and statesman, Dr. Mudaliar made significant contributions in each of his roles. He completed his training in medicine at Madras Medical College after having graduated from Madras Christian College. Dr. Mudaliar was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Madras for 27 years and thus has the distinction of…

Sri Haravu Venkatanarasingha Verada Raj ‘H. V. R.’ Iengar (b. 1902) served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT Madras for a period of three years, from 1969 to 1972. H. V. R. Iengar (1902-1978) was the sixth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. H. V. R. Iengar studied at Central College, Bangalore (1919) and became a member of the Indian Civil Service. He also served as Chairman of State Bank of India and then went on to become the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1957-1962). During his term, he facilitated a number of changes to the Indian Coinage System. For instance…

Prof. K.T. Chandy (b. 1913), served as the third Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT Madras, from 1972 to 1978. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in law from Bombay University, K. T. Chandy went on to complete his master’s degree in law from London School of Economics. He was an educationist, administrator and business executive. He was also the founder-director of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, the first IIM. K. T. Chandy also played a significant role in the formation of Hindustan Lever Limited, which was later renamed Hindustan Unilever.

Arunachalam Murugappa Murugappa Arunachalam, also known as A. M. M. Arunachalam, was born on 1 March 1918 at Pallathur, located in the present day Sivaganga District. He served as the Chairman, Board of Governors at IIT Madras from 1978 to 1981. He was a Managing Trustee of the AMM Foundation, which runs many schools and hospitals across India. He also served as the Executive Chairman of the Murugappa Group for a period of three years (from 2006 to 2009), after decades of working in the group in key leadership positions. Murugappa Group companies were early partners of IIT Madras in…

Sri A. Sivasailam served as the Chairman, Board of Governors, of IIT Madras from February 1981 to December 1987. Born in 1934 at Alwarkurichi, Sri A. Sivasailam was an Indian industrialist, educationist and philanthropist. He was the Chairman and Managing Director of the Chennai-based Amalgamations Group of Industries, founded by his father, Mr. S. Anantharamakrishnan. The Government of India honoured Sri A. Sivasailam for his contributions to Indian industry with the fourth highest civilian honour in the country, the Padma Shri, in 2007.

Sri A. L. Mudaliar served as the sixth Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Madras, from December 1987 to January 1991. He was the son of Dr. A. L. Mudaliar, the first Chairman, and the younger brother of Dr. A. Ramachandran, the second Director of the institute. Sri A. L. Mudaliar worked at the ICI group in several capacities before becoming its Chairman in 1976. He has also served as a non-executive director in various companies. Mr. Mudaliar also served as the Chairman of India Cements, Titan Industries and Bata India.

Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, who served as the seventh Chairman of the Board of Governors (from 1991 to 1997), is an Indian geneticist and administrator known for his role in India’s Green Revolution. He played a significant role in introducing and developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India. After completing bachelor’s degrees in biology, zoology and agricultural science, he went on to complete his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1952 and undertake post-doctoral research at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Swaminathan has received various awards from the Government of India,…

Prof. Udupi Ramachandra Rao served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Madras from January 1997 to February 2000. He was an Indian space scientist and a former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. He was also the Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Thiruvananthapuram. Known as the “Satellite Man of India,” he played a major role in the launch of India’s first satellite, Aryabhatta, in 1975.

Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan (b. 1940) served as the ninth Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Madras from 9 February 2000 to 14 April 2005. He is an eminent Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1994 to 2003. After completing his Master of Science in Physics from the University of Mumbai, he obtained his doctoral degree in experimental high-energy astronomy in 1971, working at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. He also served as the Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University. He obtained three major civilian awards from the…

Dr. A. E. Muthunayagam (b. 1939) served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Madras from 2005 to 2008. Dr. Muthunayagam served as a leading space scientist at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was the chief architect of rocket propulsion in the country. He was responsible for the creation of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre.

Dr. Rajagopala Chidambaram (b. 1936) is an Indian physicist who served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT Madras for three years, from 2008 to 2011. He completed his B.Sc. with honours in physics from Madras University in 1956. After completing his M.Sc. in physics from the same university, he went on to obtain his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1962. He is known for his significant role in India’s nuclear weapons programme. He also coordinated the test preparations for Pokhran-I (1975) and Pokhran-II (1998). He served as the Principal Scientific…

Prof. M. M. Sharma (b. 1937) is an Indian chemical engineer who served as the twelfth Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Madras. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT, now the Institute of Chemical Technology). He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University. He returned to UDCT to work as a professor at UDCT for a period of 33 years, later becoming the Director of the institute. Prof. Sharma was the first Indian engineer to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,…

Dr. Pawan Goenka (b. 1954) is an Indian businessman and the present Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Madras. Dr. Goenka obtained his B.Tech. in mechanical engineering from IIT Kanpur. He obtained his Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr. Goenka was formerly the Managing Director of Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, Mumbai and the Chairman of SsangYong Motor Company, South Korea. He is also a national council member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Prof. Bibhutibhushan Sengupto (1905 – 1983) was the founding Director of IIT Madras and joined the Institute in 1959. He played a pivotal role in the rapid growth that took place during the initial years of the Institute. He was the force within the establishment that spurred the development of infrastructure, administration and education, thereby laying the foundation of what the Institute is today. Prof. Sengupto’s active leadership and involvement in every aspect of the institute, led to IIT Madras rapidly becoming one of the best technical academic institutes. Prof. Sengupto retired from…