Engineering teachers integrates critical thought, examination of emotion and moral values and factual data to broaden the learning experience and make it more relevant to everyday life situations. The importance of a teacher as an architect of our future generations demands that only the best and the most and competent members of our intelligentsia be allowed to qualify for this noble profession.
If the role of a teacher is to teach, the role of a student must be to learn. However, it has been agreed that learning is not only an exercise in reading and reciting facts, but in gaining a deeper insight of events and situations. Given below are five inspiring teachers who have inspired generations of engineers.
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya
Engineer’s day his celebrated in his memory. He was one of the most notable Indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Central College, Bangalore then affiliate of the University of Madras in 1881 and later studied civil engineering at the prestigious College of Engineering, Pune. He is known as the father figure who have inspired generations of engineers through his ideals and books.
E. Sreedharan
Popularly known as the “Metro Man”, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan is an Indian civil engineer and a retired IRSE officer.
He is credited for changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2001, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2005 by the French government. His primary education was from Government Lower Primary School Chathannoor near Pattambi in Palakkad district. He completed his education at the Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School and then went to the Victoria College in Palghat. He later-on completed his Civil Engineering degree from the Government Engineering College, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, presently known as JNTUK. Through his leadership skill he has inspired professionals across the country.
Verghese Kurien
Popularly known as the ‘Father of the White Revolution’ in India. He was a social entrepreneur whose “billion-litre idea”, Operation Flood, the world’s largest agricultural dairy development programme, made dairy farming India’s largest self-sustaining industry and the largest rural employment provider, being a third of all rural income, with benefits of raising incomes and credit, riddance of debt dependence, nutrition, education, health, gender parity and empowerment, breakdown of caste barriers and grassroots democracy and leadership. It made India the world’s largest milk producer from a milk-deficient nation, which doubled milk available per person and increased milk output four-fold, in 30 years.
He schooled at Diamond Jubilee Higher Secondary School, Gobichettipalayam, in Coimbatore district (now in Erode district, Tamil Nadu) while his father worked as a civil surgeon at the government hospital there. He joined Loyola College in Madras (now Chennai) at the age of 14, graduating in science with physics in 1940, and then got a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindywhich at that time was part of University of Madras, in 1943.
He had the foresight to shrewdly use the clout resulting from its recognition, by employing his networking skills and resources at his command effectively, in negotiating international help and support from the governments of at least nine prime ministers of the country over more than five decades, all on the terms set by him.
Satish Dhawan
Popularly known as the father of experimental fluid dynamics research in India. Satish Dhawan (25 September 1920 – 3 January 2002) was an Indian mathematician and aerospace engineer.Dhawan was one of the most eminent researchers in the field of turbulence and boundary layers, leading the successful and indigenous development of the Indian space programme.
Dhawan was a graduate of the University of the Punjab in Lahore, India (now in Pakistan), where he completed a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics, a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Arts in English Literature. In 1947, he completed a Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and an Aeronautical Engineering Degree from the California Institute of Technology, followed by a double PhD. in mathematics and aerospace engineering under the supervision of his advisor Dr. Hans W. Liepmann in 1951.
Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam(APJ Abdul Kalam)
Popularly known as the Missile Man of India, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam.was an aerospace scientist who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India’s civilian space programme and military missile development efforts.
After completing his education at the Schwartz Higher Secondary School, Ramanathapuram, Kalam went on to attend Saint Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli, then affiliated with the University of Madras, from where he graduated in physics in 1954. He moved to Madras in 1955 to study aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology. He was a stounding leader and a teacher and has inspired generations of engineers.
