Prof Shyamapada Patra memorial lecture: Remembering a respected teacher and guide
Times of India | 5 January 2026
KOLKATA: On a cold winter afternoon, reminiscences of one man spread warmth around the seminar hall at the electrical engineering department of Jadavpur University. The occasion was the Prof Shyamapada Patra Memorial Lecture, organised by the Jadavpur Electrical Engineers’ Welfare Association (JEEWA) on Wednesday, to mark his centenary which falls on June 1, 2026.
Speaker after speaker, mostly ex-students, recollected how interactions with ‘Patra Saheb’, as he was fondly called, and his teaching left a lasting impact on their lives. They spoke about Prof Patra’s compassion towards fellow teachers, staff and students, and how he was meticulous in his actions and always firm in his decisions. Some of his students later became professors in the same department.
Nirmalendu Chatterjee, former professor and an ex-student, said, “While tutoring students after retirement, I could remember the lessons Prof Patra taught as they were still clear before my eyes. I didn’t have to brush up on those subjects again because he taught the concepts so well.”
The memorial address was delivered by Bikash Pal, professor of power systems at Imperial College London (ICL). He got his BE degree from JU in 1990. Prof Patra taught him one semester in his 4th year and guided him in his final-year project. He described Prof Patra as a bright, kind and humble man, who gave him advice on his PhD from ICL and kept contact with him through letters.
Prof Pal spoke on the topic, ‘Protection for low carbon power networks: Challenges and opportunities’. He reviewed the success of existing technologies in relaying and protection of electricity supply systems and their limitations in the current context of inverter-driven power networks. He also touched upon control measures to make power swing stability and protection functions.
The welcome address was given by Manik Chandra Ghosh, president of JEEWA, while Prof Madhubanti Maitra, head of department (HoD), electrical engineering, also spoke.
Prof Patra joined the then College of Engineering and Technology (CET), Jadavpur, as a lecturer of electrical engineering in 1949. In 1956, he went to the UK on a scholarship for an integrated MSc & PhD course in the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He returned in 1959 and was promoted as a reader at CET, which had by then become a part of JU. At the time he was the only doctorate teacher in the department. At a young age, he was tasked with setting up the syllabus of the newly introduced PG course in power systems and teaching the subject-oriented papers alongside then HoD, Prof H C Guha. Under his guidance, the power systems laboratory was developed. Due to funds crunch, costly equipment was built indigenously in the lab during the period from 1962-70. In 1982, Prof Patra took up the task of writing a textbook on ‘Power System Protection’, with the help of Prof S.K. Basu and Prof Samiran Choudhuri. It was published in 1983 with a price of Rs 53. The book was of great help to students so much so that Prof Pal remembered that the title was present in the library shelf of his PhD guide in ICL. The book is now out of print. Prof Patra superannuated in 1986 but continued teaching in JU till 1991. A few months after his retirement, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and he succumbed to the disease on Oct 31, 1992.