Vellore Chelvaraj Venkatesh

Prof. V.C. Venkatesh, a luminary in the field of manufacturing engineering, passed away leaving behind a legacy of academic excellence and groundbreaking contributions to field. Born in India, he received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the University College of Engineering, Bangalore. His pursuit of knowledge led him to France, where he earned a Master's degree from the Institute Superieur des Materiaux in Paris, followed by a PhD from the University of Sorbonne and a DSc from the University of Pierre & Marie Curie.

Prof. Venkatesh began his illustrious teaching career at IIT Madras, making significant contributions to metal cutting and machine tool engineering. He was instrumental in organizing All India Machine Tool Design & Research Conferences and guided 25 PhD students and over 30 Master's dissertations. His prolific research output included over 100 published papers and more than 200 conference presentations, establishing him as a cornerstone in production engineering.

Internationally recognized, Prof. Venkatesh held academic positions at prestigious institutions such as the National University of Singapore, Tennessee Technological University, Nanyang Technological University, University of Technology Malaysia, Multimedia University and UNLV. He was a pioneering Indian member of CIRP, International Academy for Production Engineering.

His accolades include fellowships with SME, ASME, and CIRP, the Vasvik Gold Medal, the Sri R.N. Mukherjee Gold Medal, SME's Hans Ernst Memorial Plaque, and several medals for his inventions like the TiC-coated Tungsten Carbide insert and bondless diamond grinding wheel. His textbooks "Precision Engineering" and "Experimented Techniques in Metal Cutting" are seminal works in their field.

Prof. Venkatesh is survived by his wife Gita, their sons Vasisht and Kaushik, daughters-in-law Shruti and Kirti, grandson Rohan, and granddaughter Innaya.