CharliVangundy at 02:31, 19 July 2025

2025-07-19T02:31:51Z

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{{Short description|Indian academic/software developer (born 1940)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = K. P. Rao
| image = Kprao.png
| alt = K P Rao
| caption = Rao in 2023
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1940|02|29}}
| birth_place = Kinnikambala, India
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation = Retired professor
| employer = Manipal Institute of Technology
| years_active =
| known_for = Kannada computing
| notable_works = Sediyapu, later became popular as KGP Nudi<ref>{{cite web|title=Kannada Rajyotsava|url=http://www.cmrit.ac.in/event/kannada-rajyotsava|publisher=[[CMR Institute of Technology]]|access-date=26 June 2016|archive-date=11 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811193221/http://www.cmrit.ac.in/event/kannada-rajyotsava|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| awards = {{ubl|Nudisiri award - 2009
|Nadoja (Teacher of State) - 2013
|Karnataka Rajyotsava Award - 2013
|Eminent Aloysian - 2016
|Presidential Print Award by All India Federation of Master Printers - 2021}}
}}

'''Kinnikambala Padmanabha Rao''' (born 29 February 1940) is a retired [[professor]] at [[Manipal Institute of Technology]]. Commonly known as '''K. P. Rao''', he is credited with the development of the Kannada keyboard<ref>[[:commons:File:Kannada_Keyboard_Layout_KPRao_(Nudi-KGP).png, 2012-02-11]]{{Circular reference|date=May 2022}}</ref> and software to use [[Kannada]] language on computers, thereby effectively paving the way for the expansion of the use of other Indian languages in software.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/10/31/stories/2002103100190300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030324215358/http://thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/10/31/stories/2002103100190300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2003-03-24|title=Program's progress|website=[[The Hindu]]|date=2002-10-31|access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vishvakannada.com/uncategorized/from-font-to-data/|title=From font to data|website=vishvakannada.com|access-date=2020-02-13}}</ref>

==Early life==

Rao was born in a remote village near [[Mangalore]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Panini of Modern times: Prof. K P Rao |work=KnowYourStar |date=20 April 2013 |access-date=8 June 2021 |url=http://knowyourstar.com/2013/04/20/k-p-rao-interview/ }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> From a young age, he was influenced by the diversity of language and culture that was around him, specifically [[Sufi music]], [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] church services, and the temple [[bhajan]]s.

Kinnikambla is a multilingual and multi-ethnic village where people coexist despite their religious and cultural differences. The village is inhabited by [[Hindus]], [[Muslims]], and [[Christians]] with all their [[Caste system in India|castes]] and sub-castes. The languages spoken are Hyderabdi-Dakahani [[Urdu]], Bambaiya [[Hindi]], three or four varieties of [[Konkani language|Konkani]], four varieties of [[Tulu language|Tulu]], [[Kannada]], and English. Rao believes that this diversity has enhanced the process of receiving knowledge from any linguistic source rather easy.

In school, he was surrounded by the finest teachers who encouraged learning by doing. Rao had to attend high school and college 20 km away from home and would travel using the public bus service. While at college, he spent a lot of time at the college library and also attended most of the public meetings including [[Jawaharlal Nehru|Nehru's]] [[Political campaign|election campaign]] speeches and Swami Chinmayananda's Geeta Jnana Yajnas. He also worked part-time as an accounts keeper in motor garages and as a proof reader in printing presses. These experiences have influenced in shaping Rao's career.

Rao completed his [[Bachelor of Science]] in [[chemistry]] from [[St. Aloysius College, Mangaluru|St. Aloysius College, Mangalore]].

==Career and mentorship==
===Bhabha Atomic Research Centre ===
Immediately after graduation, Rao proceeded to [[Mumbai|Bombay]] and took up small jobs for a few months. He joined the third batch of the Training School of Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay of the [[Department of Atomic Energy]] in August 1959. The Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay was renamed [[Bhabha Atomic Research Centre]] (BARC) after the demise of Dr. [[Homi J. Bhabha|Homi Bhabha]]. While he was trained as a chemist, he enjoyed [[mathematics]], [[quantum chemistry]], [[electronics]], and [[semiconductor]]s.

It is here that Rao learnt and practiced new methods of learning, using the libraries of [[TIFR]] (Institute of Science, Bombay) and AEET's Chemistry Division extensively. During this time, he also came in close association with [[Shrinivasa Shridhar Dharmatti|S. S. Dharmatti]], [[Asok Kumar Ganguly|A. K. Ganguly]], [[Raja Ramanna]], PR Dastidar and others.

After completion training, Rao took up a job assignment in the electronics division of the BARC. While at BARC, he had the distinction of working alongside scientists like [[Homi J. Bhabha|Homi Bhabha]] and [[D D Kosambi]]. Rao was enchanted with Kosambi's ideas of continuous learning. To his day, Rao ensures he completes a course online every two months.

His main work was on semiconductor materials and crystal growing and processing. That was a time when most of the equipment had to be built in-house. Crystal growing systems, zone refining systems, furnaces, compound semiconductors, junction laser devices, thermo-electric systems were all home- made.

During this time, he also worked on rocket and weaponry systems.

===ECIL and Dharwar===
In 1968 and as a part of the small team to do so, he moved to [[Hyderabad]] from BARC to set up the [[Electronics Corporation of India Limited|Electronics Corporation of India]]. After a short stint, he found the place difficult and went to start a semiconductor activity of his own in Dharwar manufacturing [[silicon controlled rectifier]]s. The effort did not succeed and he found limitations in both the fields, technical and commercial. Dharwar exposed Rao to diverse fields of knowledge and enabled him to form a friendship with literature enthusiasts and writers. This was where he met Dr. [[Shankar Mokashi Punekar]] and his assistance in writing the book on Indus Valley Seals is mentioned in the Preface of the book<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mokashi-Punekar|first=Shankar|title=Mohenjodaro seals, read and identified|date=1984|publisher=Caxton Publications|location=Delhi|language=English|oclc=12552871}}</ref>

===Tata Press===
Rao found refuge in the Tata Press limited, Bombay as a service engineer of electronics equipment and innovative use of [[Digital printing|electronic printing]] equipment.{{When|date=September 2021}} Here, he modified the English photo [[typesetting]] equipment to photo compose Indian scripts. The first electronically composed book in the [[Indus script]] was produced at Tata Press. Tata Press purchased a [[Computer font|digital font]] based typesetting machine from Alpha Type, a Chicago-based electronics company. Rao was deputed to Chicago to learn about the maintenance of this machine. While in Chicago, he travelled to [[Stanford University|Stanford]] to commission a machine for Prof. [[Donald Knuth]]. He continued to innovate and made possible early scanners for printing, digital types for Indian scripts, [[pagination]] programs, photo chemical procedures in printing and many more. One of the first tasks assigned in Tata Press was a solution to the problem of creating a font of Indus Valley Seal Symbols for a typesetting machine.<ref>{{Cite web|title=I Mahadevan — a catalyst in Titan's founding|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/books/i-mahadevan-a-catalyst-in-titans-founding/article25648810.ece|access-date=2021-09-27|website=@businessline|date=2 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

===Monotype===
Rao joined Monotype, a British firm known in the field of printing as the pioneer of mechanized type and automated composition.{{When|date=June 2021}} They also made and sold the first ever laser based typesetter, Laser Comp. Monotype. India had plans to make a table top type setting machine in collaboration with Alpha Type, Chicago. Rao shifted to Bangalore where Monotype India had its manufacturing facility. He visited Chicago, Monotype headquarters at Sussex and Monotype Advanced Development group at Cambridge Industrial park. Discussions with Dr. David Hedgeland followed. Alphatype were not amenable to parting with their digital machines and he hence reluctantly agreed for an 8080-based mechanical setter. The laser comp was adapted to set Indian scripts and the phonetic input system was developed. The first machines to use such an input system were in Telugu in the year 1982.

===Manipal University===
After retiring from Monotype at the age of 55, Rao took up teaching. He joined the department of printing technology and taught virtually everything related to printing. All the knowledge acquired in color separation, typesetting, type-design, page and publication design, printing machines design, plant layout. etc. – and all that he had taught himself. He effectively managed migration from print to e-print, with the strength of mathematical tools.

He retired again at age 58 and 60 to go to Delhi and take up an assignment with Quark-Xpress at Chandigarh. He returned to Manipal to teach the post graduate classes in printing.

===IIT Guwahati===
Rao was also assigned to [[IIT Guwahati]] for a teaching assignment for M.Des. in the Department of Design. He returned to Manipal to teach and retire at the age of 70.

==Printing and typography==
In the 1980s, K.P Rao provided a keyboard layout to Dr.Srinivasan, Canada, who had developed an editor for DOS to type Kannada. The text was input with the standard English keyboard. The typed text was saved in ASCII.

A small program for converting the text into available Indian script printer specific fonts was written. The editor was dedicated to his grammar teacher, Sediyapu. The Kannada version was popularly known as the Sediyapu Editor and the keyboard layout was known as the KPRao layout which later was accepted by Karnataka Govt. as the official keyboard. The editor was offered free of cost to the public.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vishvakannada.com/uncategorized/from-font-to-data/|title=From font to data {{!}} Vishva Kannada|website=vishvakannada.com|access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/406081/k-p-rao-grapples-another.html|title=K P Rao grapples with another font to read Devanagari in Kannada|date=2014-05-11|work=Deccan Herald|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en}}</ref>

The editor was also available for all ''[[Sanskrit|Paninian]]'' Indian scripts.

The ambitious Tulu [[lexicon]] project of the Govinda Pai regional resources center at Udupi was to bring out the text in many volumes of print.

Rao authored a Tulu editor to incorporate the additional vowels of Tulu language and created the Kannada fonts for printing as well. The project was successfully completed. Fonts for Baduga, Tulu, [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]], [[Kharosthi|Kharoshti]], [[Kadamba script|Kadamba]] etc. were also created'''.'''<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/K.P.-Rao-felicitated-for-developing-Unicode-font-for-Baduga-dialect/article14387153.ece|title=K.P. Rao felicitated for developing Unicode font for Baduga dialect|date=2016-06-06|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/tulu-script-brought-out-in-unicode/article6414197.ece|title=Tulu script brought out in Unicode|date=2014-09-16|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://megamedianews.com/index.php/133714/karnataka-tulu-sahitya-academy-releases-unicode-version-of-tulu-script/|title=Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy releases Unicode version of Tulu script {{!}} Mega Media News English|website=megamedianews.com|date=16 September 2014|access-date=2018-11-07}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Apara, a new font with standard English characters and a few modified English characters, was created to help transliterate Indian language words in English-like script.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/software-expert-kp-rao-launches-new-allinone-font-apara/article6661314.ece|title=Software expert K.P. Rao launches new all-in-one font 'Apara'|last=Prabhu|first=Ganesh|date=2014-12-04|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==Publications==
Some of Rao's publications include:

* Properties of Elemental Materials, 1968. Tata McGraw Hill.
* Paper Technology and Paper Selection
* Color Theory and Color separation for printers
* A book written in Kannada by T.G. Srinidhi, named "''Computarige Kannada Kalisida, KP Rao''"
* Serialized Biographical notes being published monthly in Tushara Magazine in Kannada
*A novel written by KP Rao called Varnaka released on 26 September 2021<ref>{{Cite web|title=ವರ್ಣಕ / Varnaka|url=https://ankitapustaka.com/home/857--yayaati.html|access-date=2021-09-27|website=Ankita Pustaka|language=en}}</ref>

==Recognition==
Some of the awards and recognition that K P Rao has received include:

* 2013: The [[Rajyotsava Prashasti|Karnataka Rajyotsava Award]] for Science and Technology<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/rajyotsava-award-winners-announced/article5298838.ece|title=Rajyotsava award winners announced|date=2013-10-31|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bellevision.com/index.php?action=topnews&type=7615|title=Welcome Bellevision.com|website=bellevision.com|access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref>
* 2013: Nadoja (Teacher of the State) award<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/nadoja-conferred-on-kp-rao-seven-others/article4429842.ece|title='Nadoja' conferred on K.P. Rao, seven others|date=2013-02-19|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>
* 2009: Alva's Nudisiri award<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mangaloretoday.com/newsbriefs/Alvas-Nudisiri-Award-Winners-Announced.html|title=Alvas Nudisiri Award Winners Announced|website=mangaloretoday.com|access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/34902/kannadigas-negligence-towards-language-criticised.html|title=Kannadigas' negligence towards language criticised|date=2009-11-08|work=Deccan Herald|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en}}</ref>
*2016: Eminent Aloysian<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/535405/programme-confer-eminent-aloysian-alumni.html|title=Programme to confer 'Eminent Aloysian Alumni Award 2016' today|date=2016-03-19|work=Deccan Herald|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newskarnataka.com/events/st-aloysius-college-to-hold-eminent-aloysian-alumni-awards-2016|title=St Aloysius College to hold 'Eminent Aloysian Alumni Awards 2016'|website=NewsKarnataka|language=en|access-date=2018-11-07|date=2016-03-16}}</ref>
*2021: Presidential Print Award by All India Federation of Master Printers, New Delhi<ref>{{Cite web|title=AIFMP honours 12 print teachers|url=https://www.printweek.in/News/aifmp-honours-12-print-teachers-55135|access-date=2021-09-25|website=printweek.in|language=en-US}}</ref>
*2021: Balavana Award<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-10-10 |title=K.P. Rao from Udupi given Balavana Award |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/kp-rao-from-udupi-given-balavana-award/article36936344.ece |access-date=2023-07-26 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* A biography published on K. P. Rao by the KnowYourStar NGO.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://stories.knowyourstar.com/k-p-rao-biography/|title=Prof. K P Rao {{!}} Stories from KnowYourStar {{!}} STORIES|last=KnowYourStar.com|first=Team|date=2013-04-20|work=Stories from KnowYourStar {{!}} STORIES|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-US|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107145414/http://stories.knowyourstar.com/k-p-rao-biography/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* An article written on K. P. Rao by the KnowYourStar NGO.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://stories.knowyourstar.com/k-p-rao-interview/|title=Panini of Modern times: Prof. K. P. Rao {{!}} Stories from KnowYourStar {{!}} STORIES|last=KnowYourStar.com|first=Team|date=2013-04-20|work=Stories from KnowYourStar {{!}} STORIES|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-US|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107150730/http://stories.knowyourstar.com/k-p-rao-interview/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* A personal account published by a student of K. P. Rao.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://acrazymindseye.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/student-of-life-k-p-rao/|title=Student Of Life- K.P. Rao|date=2013-02-13|work=Crazy Mind's Eye|access-date=2018-11-07|language=en-US}}</ref>

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, K. P.}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian software engineers]]
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2013]]

K. P. Rao - Revision history

CharliVangundy at 02:31, 19 July 2025