AMN / Troy City (Michigan), March 26
Dr T N Subramaniam, an eminent mathematician and creator of the Route One co and the architect of the server for the site for General Motors in Troy in Michigan, passed away in a city hospital here at noon today. He was 76.
He is survived by his wife Lalitha, daughter Geeta and son in law , both of whom work for the Biden administration in the USA in Maryland. He also leaves behind his only younger brother TN Ashok, International Blogger of TNA Talk and former Editor (Economics ) of PTI. He was associated with several MNCS as their consultant in the corporate world for about two decades.
Both his parents predeceased the TN brothers. His father TS Nilakantan was the chief executive of PTI in 1977 to 1979 and advisor in 1980, He was personally known to the then Prime Ministers Mrs Indira Gandhi, Mr Moraji Desai, Finance minister TTK Krishnamachari, Taml Nadu Governor KK Shah, Andhra Pradesh Chief minister Dr Chennai Reddy and the President Dr Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy besides Mr Karan Singh and Mr V C,shukla.
Dr Subramaniam was a brilliant student who passed out of the DTEA in Delhi, got his mechanical engineering degree from IIT Bombay, then did his MSc in maths from Bombay University coming 2nd in the rankings topped by his own student who got the gold medal. He taught English, Logic and Philosophy in IIT Mumbai under Dr PH Prabhu , HOD, who held him in high esteem for his knowledge on these subjects and appointed him to teach undergraduates despite being an engineer.
He migrated to the USA in 1979 and obtained his Phd doctorate for his thesis on probability from Brandeis University in Boston, the same university where Dr Henry Kissinger got his Phd. Dr Subramaniam taught Maths at Philadelphia university for some years and then migrated to Oakland college where he taught for several years. When the Bush administration cut funding to educational institutions he lost his tenureship as a professor but studied in the same university to get a computer science degree.
He was picked up by General Motors to build mathematical models for GM cars. He was the head of the project who would assemble his team’s packages of car designs. Later he founded the Route One company for GM which till today handles auto financing for all GM cars and GPS systems. He was the architect of the server. He was interviewed in several US publications on the server model.
Dr Subramaniam is renowned in academic circles in India and the USA where has spent over 35 years and held on to his Indian passport for a long time before acquiring American citizenship. He leaves behind him a rich legacy of mathematical models and theories for the world of maths.
Dr Subramanian, whilst as a student in IIT Mumbai, acted in the iconic documentary of films division ” I am 20″ where youth, who had achieved the age of 20 in 1967 , the independence children , of their future of India. He was the lead player who said India would be a great industrial nation one day.
Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi was impressed by his future of India and wrote him a letter saying ” India will be proud of you one day”. Dr Jai Ram Ramesh, spokesman of the Congress and his junior in college, was a great admirer of his and rproduced the letter of Mrs Gandhi in his book to illustrate how she kept contact with people. She took time off once from her busy schedule in while on a tour and met with him personally and encouraged him to be innovative and do things that the country could be proud of him.
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