S. P. Chakravarti

Prof. Siddheshwari Prasad Chakravarti was an Indian engineer, researcher, and educator. He was known as the father of electronics and telecommunications engineering in India.

Education

He was educated at the University of Lucknow and Imperial College London.

Career

Academia

He served as Head of the Electrical engineering department at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, as the founding Principal of Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, the oldest technical institution in central India, where he established the first Electronics & Telecommunications engineering department of India, and as the first Dean of the Faculties of Engineering of the University of Saugor and the University of Jabalpur. The State Technological University of Madhya Pradesh has instituted a gold medal in his memory.

Research

Post retirement from academia, he joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation, in 1959, upon request of the then Defence Minister of India, V K Krishna Menon, as Dy. Chief Scientific Officer. During his tenure at DRDO, he was responsible for the founding of three major research laboratories of DRDO, viz., Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) Bengaluru, Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) Hyderabad and the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) Delhi. He served as the first Director of the Laser Science and Technology Centre (LASTEC) Delhi.

Professional

He was the National Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers. He was a distinguished fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers.

Posts

During his career, he held the following posts:

Lecturer, Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Lecturer, Department of Applied Physics, University of Calcutta
Officer on Special Duty, Department of Commerce, Govt. of India
Radio Controller, Department of Industries and Supply, Govt. of India
Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical Technology at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Head of the Central Workshop
Principal of Government Engineering College, Jabalpur
Dean of the Faculties of Engineering of the University of Saugor and the University of Jabalpur
Dy-Chief Scientific Officer Defence Research and Development Organisation
Director of Electronics R & D, Ministry of Defence (India).
Technical Director, Scientific Research Cell, R & D, Ministry of Defence and Director Weapons Evaluation Est., R & D.
Director, Scientific Liaison, Headquarters, Ministry of Defence.
Director, Defence Science Laboratory, Metcalfe House, Delhi
Member of Electro Technical Council, Indian Standards Institution for 4 years.
Chairman Electronics and Telecommunication Group, and then of DIVISION, for a total period of 9 years. During this period, he was responsible for raising Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering Division to a major DIVISION.
Member of Faculty of Engineering of Pune University for 3 years.
Member of Faculty of IIT BHU for 4 years.
Member of the Court of Nagpur University for 9 years.
Member of the Court of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for 8 years.
Member of Radio Research Committee, Government of India, 1944–47 and again 1959-63.
Member of Defence Electronics Research Committee for 5 years.
Member of the Defence Electronics Development Panel for 5 years.
Convenor of Study Panels of Institution of Engineers (India) on Instrumentation and Automation for 2 years.
Paper Setter and Examiner of Union Public Service Commission.
National Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers

Publications

He contributed to more than half of India's total research in electronics and telecommunications engineering at the time

On Atmospherics & Electrical Interference in Radio Broadcasting in India

1. "Atmospherics at Bangalore during the Polar Year" by S.P. Chakravarti & B.H. Paranjpye.
2. "Field strength of Atmospherics on Wave-lengths from 10 to 500 metres at Calcutta" by S.P. Chakravarti.
3. "Wave-form of Atmospherics at Calcutta" by S.P. Chakravarti..
4. "Atmospherics at Radio Broadcasting Reception at Calcutta" by S.P. Chakravarti, P.B. Ghosh & H. Ghosh.
5. "Electrical Interference in Radio Broadcast Reception" by S.P. Chakravarti & N.L. Dutt..

On Radio Problems

6. "Field Strength of Delhi 3 and Delhi 4 at Calcutta during Solar Eclipse on 21st September 1941" by S.P. Chakravarti.
7. "On Possible Effect of Atomic Bomb Test at Bikini on Radio Reception on 25th July 1946" by S.P. Chakravarti.
8. "On Echo Suppression in Radio and Wire Telephony" by S.P. Chakravarti.
9. "Special Radio Test Transmissions on 12th and 13th March 1935" by S.P. Chakravarti.
10. "A New Secrecy Device for Communication Systems" by S.P. Chakravarti...
11. "On Jamming of Distant Radio Signals" by S.P. Chakravarti..
12. "On Stability in Communication Apparatus or System and its Measurements" by S.P. Chakravarti..

On VHF Microwave and Laser Communications

13. "On Some measurements on Micro Radio Waves of Wavelengths from 15 to 19 cm" by P.N. Das & S.P. Chakravarti..
14. "Investigations on the Possibility of Ultra-Short-wave FirstGrade Broadcasting in India" by S.P. Chakravarti.
15. "Ultra Short Waves to Replace Medium Waves in Regional Broadcasting in India" by S.P. Chakravarti.
16. "On Propagation of Radio Waves beyond the Horizon" by S.P. Chakravarti..
17. "Some Recent Advances in Micro-wave Engineering" by S.P. Chakravarti.
18. "Modem Electronics Communication Techniques" by S.P. Chakravarti.
19. "Laser Communication" by S.P. Chakravarti.390 J. INSTN ELECTRONICS & TELECOM. ENGRS., Vol. 28, No. 8, 1982
20. "Tropospheric Scatter Micro-Wave Links" by S.P. Chakravarti.
21. "Development of Telecommunication Network in India since 1950" by S.P. Chakravarti & V.V.L. Rao, January 1970, Published in JIE.

On Transistor & Semiconductor Devices

22. "Current Rectification at Metal Contacts" by S.P. Chakravarti and S.R. Kantabet.
23. "A Note on Internal Noise in Transistors" by S.P. Chakravarti.
24. "On Crystal Resonator with Transistor Negative Impedance Element".

On Thermionic Negative Impedance Elements in Networks and with Wave Filters and Crystal Resonators Band-Pass and Wide-band Effects

25. "On the Nature of Negative Resistance and Negative Resistance Sections" by S.P. Chakravarti.
26 "On the Nature of Dynatron-type Negative Impedances at frequencies from 1 to 40 Mc/s" by S.P. Chakravarti & P.N. Das.
27. "On Voltage Amplification by Wave-filters terminated in Negative Resistances" by S.P. Chakravarti.
28. "On Wave-filters Terminated in Negative Resistances" by S.P. Chakravarti.
29. "On Band-pass effect in Wave-filters Terminated in Negative Resistance" by S.P. Chakravarti.
30. "On the Nature of Band-pass effect in Wave-filters Terminated in Negative Impedances" by S.P. Chakravarti.
31. "Study of the Band-pass Effect by Cathode Ray Oscillograph" by S.P. Chakravarti.
32. "On the Extension of Band-pass Effect at High Frequencies" by Miss Rajeshwari & S.P. Chakravarti.
33. "On Negative Resistance Equalizers for Transmission Systems", by S.P. Chakravarti.
34. "On Some Calculations Relating to Band-pass Effect in Crystal Resonator Associated with Thermionic Negative Impedance" by S.P. Chakravarti & Miss Rajeshawari
35. "Wide Band-pass Effect in Crystals Associated with Negative Impedance Elements and Development of Wide-band Low-loss Crystal Band-pass Filter" by S.P. Chakravarti & N.L. Dutt.
36. "On Theory of Performance of Wide and Ultra-wide-band Lattice Type Crystal Band-pass Filters Containing Stabilised Negative Impedance Elements" by S.P. Chakravarti.
37. "On the Sharpness of the Band-pass Effect" by S.P. Chakravarti.
38. "On the Sharpness of the Band-pass Effect in Quartz Crystal resonators" by S.P. Chakravarti.
39. "The Oscillating Band-pass Effect-A New Secrecy Device for Communication Systems" by S.P. Chakravarti.
40. "On the Design of wide Band Lattice Type Crystal Band-pass Filters Containing Thermionic Negative Impedance Elements" by S.P. Chakravarti.
41. "On the Transient Response in Band-pass Effect" by S.P. Chakravarti..
42. "The Band-pass Effect". by S.P. Chakravarti.

On Multi-Channel Communication

43. "Telephony by Carrier and One Side-band" by S.P. Chakravarti.
44. "Carrier Current Telephony on Non-loaded Cable Circuits" by S.P. Chakravarti.
45. "Telephony by Partially Transmitted Carrier and One Sideband" by S.P. Chakravarti.
46. "Improvement in Telephone Transmission over Phantom Circuits by Bi-band Telephony" by S.P. Chakravarti.
47. "Two-wire Carrier Telephone System for Non-loaded Cable Circuits of Air Space. Paper Core-Type" by S.P. ChakravarU.
48. "Some Experiments on Bi-band Telephony" by S.P. Chakravarti.
49. "Audio-Frequency Constants of Circuits and Telephone Lines" by S.P. Chakravarti.
50. "New Type of Telegraph Repeator Employing Carrier Currents" by S.P. Chakra\arti.
51. "On Dielectric Loss and Leakage in India-make Porcelain Insulator over Frequency Range-1-60 Mcjs" by R.N. Dewan and S.P. Chakravarti.
52. "On Multi-channel Communication in Frequency Range 3 KC/s-3000 MC/s" by S.P. Chakravarti.

On Radio Industrial Problems

53. "On the manufacture of Loudspeakers in India" by S.P. Chakravarti.
54. "On the Manufacture of Wireless Apparatus in India" by S.P. Chakravarti..
55. "Instrumentation and Automation" by S.P. Chakravarti, A.K. Chatterjee & H.N. Rama Chandra Rao.
56. "Development of Electronic industry in India" by S.P. Chakravarti & M.K. Rao.

Inventions

List of inventions of Prof. Chakravarti:

Filter Converter and Width Adjuster & Band-pass Amplifier. "A band-pass filter for electrical communication systems".
"Ultra wide-band low-loss band-pass filter constructed from piezo-electrical crystal or crystals and stabilised negative impedance element or elements for radio and television systems".
"A new secrecy device for communication systems".

Notable students

Some of his notable students include:

B. V. Baliga - Former Managing Director of Bharat Electronics Limited, and the father of B. Jayant Baliga, the inventor of IGBT.
G. S. Sanyal - Former Director of IIT Kharagpur.
Vasant Mulay - Established Doordarshan's first TV station.
Rajeshwari Chatterjee- First female engineer from the state of Karnataka, later went on to become the chairperson of the department of Electrical Communication Engineering at IISc Bangalore.