Indian American mathematician T N Subramaniam dead
Dr T N Subramaniam, an eminent Indian American mathematician and creator of Route One company & server for General Motors, simplifying the credit approval process for GM dealers, passed away in Michigan on Tuesday. He was 76..
Subramaniam, who migrated to the US in 1979, was renowned in academic circles in India and the US for a rich legacy of mathematical models and theories. He taught maths at Philadelphia university for some years and then shifted to Oakland where he taught for several years.
Later, he founded the Route One company for the automotive manufacturing company, which handles auto-financing for all GM cars and GPS systems. He was the architect of the server for the site for General Motors in Troy, Michigan, in the US.
Subramaniam is survived by his wife, daughter, and son-in-law, who work for the Biden administration in Maryland. His younger brother, TN Ashok, is International Blogger of TNA Talk and former Editor (Economics) of Press Trust of India.
“T N Subramaniam has just passed away in Michigan, USA. In the late 60s and early 70s, he was quite a legend in IIT Mumbai – first as a student, and later as a lecturer,” Indian National Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote in a tribute on X.
“He was involved in the making of Mood Indigo the trademark annual cultural festival of the institute. He left for the US in 1979 and switched to research and teaching in advanced mathematics and computer science, where he made a name for himself.
“TN, as he was popularly known, was the star of a very well-known Films Division documentary released in 1967 called ‘I am 20’ which fortunately is available in its entirety on YouTube,” Ramesh recalled.
“It featured conversations with a cross-section of youth who had turned twenty that year. His appearance in that film even invited a letter to him from the-then (Indian) PM (Indira Gandhi), a letter that I was able to locate in the National Archives a few years back,” he wrote.
“Dunu Roy, the trailblazing social activist and a batchmate of TN’s, is also in the documentary. Dunu, who stayed back in the country after graduating, is still very much active in public causes,” according to Ramesh.