H. K. Kesavan

Hiremagalur Krishnaswamy Kesavan, known as H.K. Kesavan, (14 June 1926 – 26 November 2014) was Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

In this Indian name, the name Krishnaswamy is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Kesavan.
Hiremagalur Krishnaswamy Kesavan
Born(1926-06-14)14 June 1926
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Died26 November 2014(2014-11-26) (aged 88)
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Alma materUniversity Visvesvaraya College of Engineering
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Michigan State University
Known forElectrical engineering, Systems theory, Linear graph theory, Entropy optimization
Scientific career
FieldsElectrical Engineering
Systems Theory
Information Theory
InstitutionsIndian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
University of Waterloo
Doctoral advisorHerman E. Koenig
Doctoral studentsNumerous

Early life and education

H.K. Kesavan was born on 14 June 1926 in Bangalore, India.[1] He received his undergraduate degrees in science and engineering from the Central College and the Government Engineering College (now called University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering) in Bangalore. He received his M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 1956 and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1959, both in Electrical Engineering. He was an instructor at Michigan State from 1956-1959, and assistant professor in 1959-1960.[1]

Career

Early Career, 1960-63

In 1960, he was appointed as associate professor at the University of Waterloo,[1] eventually serving as chairman of the Electrical Engineering department. During this time, he also spent a year back at Michigan State where he finished co-authoring his first book, Analysis of Discrete Physical Systems, co-authored with Herman Koenig and Yilmaz Tokad and published several years later.[2]

IIT Kanpur, 1964-68

For a period of five years, he returned to India to serve as the first chairman of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and concurrently as head of its nationally significant Computer Centre. He was also the first Dean of Research and Development at the IIT.[3]

Waterloo, 1968-91

He returned to Waterloo to serve as the founding chairman of the Department of Systems Design engineering. He has published numerous technical papers and books on systems theory, applications of linear graph theory and entropy optimization principles.

Science and Philosophy

Kesavan maintained a lifelong interest in the philosophical aspects of science. His book, Science and Spirituality presents a global view of Vedic philosophy from the insights that science and spirituality provide.

References
  1. IRE Transactions on Education, Vol. 4, Issue 3, pub. Sept. 1961, p. 128 (visited 26 November 2014)
  2. Analysis of Discrete Physical Systems, H. E. Koenig, H. K. Kesavan, and Y. Tokad, McGraw-Hill (1967)
  3. See generally An Eye for Excellence: Fifty Innovative Years of IIT Kanpur by E. C. Subbarao, HarperCollins (2008). A picture of Prof. Kesavan giving a tour of the Computer Centre to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 17 September 1966 appears on p. 276.
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