View source for Prof R Narasimhan

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=Briefly=
[https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=22_04_2026_022_004_cap_TOI Srinivasan Ramani, April 22, 2026: ''The Times of India'']

''' Rangaswamy Narasimhan '''

'' April 17, 1926 – Sept. 3, 2007 ''

 Narasimhan was a computer and cognitive scientist, regarded by many as the father of computer science research in India. He led the team that developed TIFRAC (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic Calculator), the first Indian indigenous computer, and was instrumental in the establishment in 1975 of CMC Ltd, an Indian govt company, later bought by Tata Consultancy Services. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1977.

==Details==
Much has been written about Prof R Narasimhan (RN) – computer pioneer, institution builder, and one of the sharpest minds of his generation. 

 This article is about the RN I knew as a person – my mentor, my PhD co‑guide (along with Prof J R Isaac), and a remarkable human being whose influence shaped my early academic life. 

''' Lunches, Conversations, And A Curious Mind '''

 RN was a true gentleman, and a natural magnet for researchers from wildly different fields. Most afternoons, you could find him in the TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) West Canteen, talking to computer scientists and biologists, and an occasional psychologist, radio astronomer, or nuclear engineer at a six-seater table. I was lucky to be part of that circle.

 These were not casual lunch-table chats. RN was deeply fascinated by cognitive psychology and brain sciences. He believed – long before it became fashionable – that artificial intelligence must learn from animal and human behaviour and the functioning of the brain.

 Because of this, our table had biologists more often than physicists. Many of them were studying C. elegans, the tiny millimetre long worm with just 302 neurons that still manages to learn and remember. RN loved that fact. It fit perfectly with his conviction that understanding simple biological systems could illuminate the future of AI.

My friend Ramesh Sinha from radio astronomy would join us sometimes. And occasionally, M R Srinivasan – founder-chairman of the Nuclear Power Corporation – would walk from his office across the street and sit with us. He was RN’s friend. 

''' Bananas, Cheese, And A Life Of Simplicity '''

 RN had a small ritual at the end of lunch. He would buy two bananas and a cube of cheese from the canteen, wrap them carefully in paper napkins, and take them home. That was his dinner.

 There was something touching about that simplicity. “High thinking, modest living” was not a slogan for him – it was his way of life. 

''' NCST Days And Guest House Stories '''

 Later, when many of us from the TIFR computer group moved out to create the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST), RN became a key member of our governing council. After retiring from TIFR, he moved to Bengaluru, but continued to visit NCST and stay in our guest house.  

The guest house had two rooms. On rare occasions, RN had to share it with another governing council member – an eminent computer scientist I will call Prof 2. I lived on the same floor, so I often heard the stories.  

RN had a strong dislike for house lizards. If he spotted one, he would immediately call the building watchman to come and chase it out. The guest house had a common bathroom, and Prof 2 once told me that RN politely asked if he could take his shower first. “I don’t like a wet bathroom,” he said.

 These small moments captured the man perfectly – brilliant, disciplined, gentle, and quietly particular about the things that mattered to him. 

''' Looking Back From Today’s AI World '''

 When I think back to those lunches and conversations about brains, behaviour, memory, and learning, I feel a quiet pride. RN’s focus and judgement were decades ahead of its time. Today’s AI revolution is based on artificial neural networks – ideas that echo the very biological inspirations RN had urged us to pay attention to. 

PS: I had written the first version of this article but had asked MS Copilot if it would help in improving the long sentences and passive sentences. Copilot did that but had the gumption to offer to create a “polished, blog‑ready, informal version of my article – warm, readable, and faithful to my voice”. It offered to keep it “conversational, reflective, and lightly narrative, the way a personal centenary tribute should feel”.  

I said “go ahead. Here is my article,” and gave it the text of my article. What you see above is the version Copilot produced! Then, I asked it to produce a painting-like image from a photograph of RN. I had that image two minutes later! I have reproduced it here.  

I wish RN were here to see the levels AI has reached!