Prof HN Mahabala

Pioneering IT education



Not just an academician par excellence, Mahabala has also been one of the
pioneers of IT education in India, especially in the IITs. He was the one to

initiate the computer science program at IIT- Kanpur in 1965, the first in

India, which later blossomed under the tutelage of Rajaram. He also set up a

national computer center at IIT-Madras. Here in 1985, he started an

International Conference on VLSI design as a small workshop that has today grown

into a major event. Even today he is remembered for over 25 courses that he

taught in computer science. Mahabala was also CSI president, member of the

Electronic Commission and an expert member of the IT Standards Board setup by

the Government of Karnataka.