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{{Short description|Indian scientist (1909-1990)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Purushottam Kashinath Kelkar
|image =Pkkelkar.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1909|6|1}}
| birth_place = [[Dharwar]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1990|10|23|1909|6|1}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], Maharashtra, [[Republic of India]]
|workplaces = [[Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute]]<br />[[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]]<br />[[Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai]]
| alma_mater = [[The Institute of Science, Mumbai|Royal Institute of Science Mumbai]]<br />[[Indian Institute of Science]]<br />[[University of Liverpool]]
| website ={{URL|pkkelkar.info/}}
| awards = [[Padma Bhushan]] (1970)
}}
'''Purushottam Kashinath Kelkar''' (1909-1990) was an Indian scientist who is best remembered for being the founding director of the [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]], which was established in 1959.<ref name="Kelkar">{{cite web
|publisher = iit.ac.in
|url = http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/iitk/newhtml/history.htm
|title = History of IIT Kanpur
|access-date = 1 April 2010
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091010172800/http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/iitk/newhtml/history.htm
|archive-date = 10 October 2009
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref>
He was also involved in the planning process for the establishment of the [[Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai]] and served as its third director, for a period of 4 years.<ref>{{Cite web | title=IIT Bombay - Directors | url=http://www.iitb.ac.in/about/directors.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010413080534/http://www.iitb.ac.in:80/about/directors.html | access-date=2025-11-21 | archive-date=2001-04-13}}</ref>
Kelkar was instrumental in securing USA's technical collaboration in the establishment of IIT Kanpur, by persuading the then USA ambassador, [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] to locate the fledgeling institution on the outskirts of Kanpur, in North India.<ref name="Life">{{cite web
| publisher=iit.ac.in
| url=http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/iitk/history/extracts.html
| title=Convocation Address by Dr. P.K. Kelkar
| access-date=1 April 2010
}}</ref>
The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of [[Padma Bhushan]] in 1970.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=July 21, 2015 | archive-date=15 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Education==
PK Kelkar (PKK) was born on 1 June 1909, in [[Dharwad|Dharwar]], [[Karnataka]], India. His father, Kashinath Hari Kelkar, was a professor of philosophy. He was, therefore, subject to transfers within the area. As a result, PKK received his elementary and secondary education in both Mumbai and [[Pune]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-09 |title=IIT Kanpur's 1965 batch pledges Rs 2.5 crore to set up Research and Innovation Award |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iit-kanpur-1965-batch-pledges-rs-2-5-crore-to-set-up-pioneering-research-innovation-award-jee-main-https-indianexpress-com-article-education-cbse-class-12th-board-exams-2025-maths-paper-analyis-ques-9/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>

He graduated with honours in Physics in 1931 from the then [[Royal Institute of Science]], Mumbai. The next year he joined the [[Indian Institute of Science]] in Bangalore. He obtained the Diploma in Electrical Engineering in 1934. After that, instead of taking a job in industry, he decided to further his education.

He joined the University of Liverpool as a PhD student. This was possible because of a scholarship from the Ichalkaranji Trust, which was established for financing deserving students. His subject for PhD involved acoustical measurement and the performance of synchronous machinery on load. He completed his Doctorate in Electrical Engineering in 1937, under the guidance of Dr. J.C. Prescott. Just before finishing his doctoral work there was a fire in the laboratory. He lost a lot of his data and had to do the work all over again. After getting his PhD, he worked at [[Metropolitan-Vickers]] as an intern in power systems.<ref name="Career">{{cite web
| publisher=iPage
| work=Dr. P.K. Kelkar
| url=http://pkkelkar.info/
| title=Info Page on PK Kelkar
| author= Madhura Gopinath
| access-date=2 March 2011
}}</ref>

==Career==
PKK returned to India soon afterwards and joined his alma mater, IISc., as lecturer in Electrical Engineering from 1937 to 1943. While he was there, he edited a newsletter for the electrical engineering department. Among his colleagues were well known physicists like Nobel Laureate [[C.V. Raman]], [[Homi J. Bhabha|Homi Bhabha]], and [[Vikram Sarabhai]]. However, it seems that the politics of the institute was not favourable to his growth and success.

In 1943, he accepted the post of Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the [[Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute]] in Mumbai (VJTI), where he continued until 1956. Some of his colleagues, who knew PKK from Bangalore, thought it was a step down in going from a research institution like [[Indian Institute of Science]] to [[VJTI]], which is an engineering institute.

His involvement with the planning of the [[Indian Institutes of Technology]](IIT) began in mid-1955 shortly after it had been decided to be set up in Mumbai as the second such institute. [[IIT Bombay]] was to be set up with financial and academic assistance from the [[USSR]], mediated by the [[UNESCO]].<ref name="Career"/>

According to Prof. M.V. Hariharan of IIT Bombay,{{cquote| Kelkar was a teacher–philosopher, able to see years ahead. He said that if engineering were the muscle for development, science was the brain. And that only with humanities could engineering education have a heart. Because then the instruction imparted to students became, in some sense, relevant to social needs.<ref name="Career"/>}}

When Kelkar moved to IIT Kanpur in 1959 as its first director, he set about infusing that institute with the same characteristics: accomplished faculty from diverse schools of thought, and a healthy curricular presence for the sciences and the humanities. By the mid-1960s, just a few years into its operations, as much as 40% of the B Tech curriculum at IIT Kanpur was given over to these foundations. According to a book on IIT Kanpur's history, Prof. Kelkar's influence helped IITK in ‘breaking out from the dark clouds of traditional systems in technical education’.<ref name="Career"/>

After a completing his tenure at Kanpur, Dr. Kelkar returned to Mumbai as the 2nd director of IIT Bombay from 1970 to 1974.

==Death==
Dr. Kelkar died in October 1990. IIT Kanpur, in 2002 renamed its central library as the P. K. Kelkar Library.<ref name="Career"/> The Kelkar Alumni Lecture was also instituted in recognition to a person who had made distinct contribution to the technical education in India through building and developing IIT Kanpur.<ref name="Lecture">{{cite web
|publisher = iit.ac.in
|work = IITKAA Lecture Series
|url = http://www.iitkalumni.org/lectures/index.htm
|title = Introduction to Kelkar Memorial Lecture Series
|access-date = 19 April 2010
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100612210217/http://www.iitkalumni.org/lectures/index.htm
|archive-date = 12 June 2010
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> Kelkar was a distant cousin of, [[Dinkar G. Kelkar]] who belonged to the same ''[[Noble house (term)|gharana]]'', and was also a distant relative of [[Panditrao Agashe|Panditrao]] and [[Dnyaneshwar Agashe]] through their mother.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kelkar |first1=B. S. |last2=Kelkar |first2=G. R. |last3=Kelkar |first3=Y. S. |title=Kelkar Kulavruttanta |date=1993 |publisher=Yashodeep Typesetting |location=[[Thane]]|pages=75, 84, 89}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://pkkelkar.info/ Webpage on PK Kelkar]
* [http://www.iitk.ac.in IIT Kanpur Official Website]
* [http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/25feb2010/570.pdf Current Science, Vol.98, No.4, Feb. 25, 2010]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100612210217/http://www.iitkalumni.org/lectures/index.htm IITKAA – Kelkar Lecture Series]
* [http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/25feb2010/570.pdf IIT Kanpur Formative Years ]– [[Arun Kumar Biswas]]

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1970–79}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelkar, P. K.}}
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:Marathi people]]
[[Category:IIT Kanpur people]]
[[Category:People from Dharwad]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Science alumni]]

P. K. Kelkar - Revision history

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