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Professor AVS Prabhakara Rao

About

Professor AVS Prabhakara Rao
(April 4, 1930 - March 9, 2014)
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Professor AVS Prabhakara Rao was born on April 4, 1930. He did his B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. from Andhra University and Ph.D. from Bombay University (based on his work carried out at Indian Institute of Science).

Professor Prabhakara Rao joined IIT Kanpur on July 25, 1966 as Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering and started, along with Professors GD Agarwal and RH Siddiqui, the Environmental Engineering specialization in the same year. He became Professor in 1971 and served as Head of Department from January, 1986 to February, 1988. He settled at Hyderabad in 1990, after retirement from the Institute.

Professor Prabhakar Rao served as Visiting Professor/Scientist at JNTU, Hyderabad till the age of 80 years. He guided several Master's theses there and was part of the 'Cloud Seeding' project undertaken there.

At Hyderabad, Professor Prabhakara Rao had been staying with his son. He had been ailing for some time. He breathed his last in the early hours of March 9, 2014.

Professor Prabhakara Rao was a teacher with vision of tomorrow and was popularly known as "Teacher of Tomorrow". He had great passion for Environmental Engineering. He also motivated several students for the cause of environment and life sciences. He was the first person to start a course on Life Sciences, as soft core for all B.Tech. students in 1970's. He was a huge capacity builder in terms of technical, cultural, social and spiritual upliftment for the overall development of students. He was part of cultural activities from his student days, and even at the Institute, he remained active in such activities. He was a disciple of Swami Chinmayananda and enriched campus life by starting Bala Vihar. He was involved in all the schools activities in the Institute.

Professor Prabhakara Rao is survived by his son Professor Angara Raja, daughter-in-law Jyotsna and two grand daughters.

The Institute expresses its deepest condolences to the family of Professor Prabhakara Rao on his sad and sudden demise.

Professor AVS Prabhakara Rao

Professor AVS Prabhakara Rao

( 1966-1990 )
Head of Department, Civil Engineering
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Read others message for the grieved family

I was one among the last students privileged to have completed M Tech Thesis with him in Jan 1986. Our deepest condolences to the family of Professor Prabhakara Rao on his sad and sudden demise.

Prof Vijay K. Minocha
11 Mar 2014

Some individuals come to us as a gift, and for the students of Dr. AVS Prabhakara Rao, he was a rare gift...a teacher and an inspiration we cherish. It was my privilege to have studied under Dr. Rao 25 years ago. I can still see his smile and his curious eyes. His light never fades. His memory lives on and multiplies through all his students. My deepest condolences to his family.

B. R. Ravishankar
12 Mar 2014

I fondly recall my association with Prabhakar Rao and his family at IIT K campus and later in 2003-4 when I was on a brief stint at Hyderabad. A person of high ideals, very helpful and affectionate nature will be very much missed. Vijaya, Siddharth and Ranjani join me in offering our condolences to Raja and Jyotsana and hope you will have the strength to bear the loss.

R. Ramachandran
20 Mar 2014

I have come to know about passing away of my dear Prof Prabhakar Rao today. He was a great soul, always full of kind words. I loved him and his family for weekly kirtans which gave me strength to survive in IIT/Kanpur. He was a great devotee of Satya Sai Baba. some times I used to be invited for dinner also which I loved to have with him. May his soul rest with the Master he prayed all the time.

Rajendra P. Misra
03 May 2014

It is very sad to hear about passing away of Dr. Prabhakara Rao. I was his student in the final B. Tech. years and during M. Tech. He definitely understood the difficulty that us slow learners faced. His way of teaching has been responsible for the success of many of us. Raja was little at that time. many of us dropped by the Rao house from time-to-time and Mrs. Prabhakara Rao kept us full with dosas, idli, sambhar and other southern delicacies that were so much of a treat for all of us. We all will miss him for the rest of our lives.

Chandra Shekhar Trivedi
12 May 2014

bade duke ke sath hain

R. K. Manish
29 May 2014