During my college days, I developed deep respect and admiration for several influential authors who profoundly shaped my academic journey and teaching philosophy. Their dedication and expertise in their respective fields have inspired me and countless others. This blog is dedicated to those exceptional writers whose work has left an indelible mark on my life. Principal S B Junnarkar was one of them.
Principal S B Junnarkar was a distinguished figure in the field of structural engineering . He was gold medallist of London University. Despite having lucrative job opportunities, he chose to dedicate his life to academia and became a professor in an Engineering College.
His commitment to teaching and his ability to present complex topics in an accessible manner have made his books valuable resources. His work, continues to inspire and educate future generations of engineers.
Junnarkar hailed from a small village of Junnar in Maharashtra State. After completing his graduation from Kings College, London; and serving briefly in some departments, he joined Nadirshaw Edulji Dinshaw (NED) Engineering College in Karachi as vice principal and later became principal there in 1935. He Worked there until August 1947. After the partition he returned to India and joined Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyala (BVM) at Vallabh Vidyanagar as the founder principal. He accepted to construct college building and stayed in 10*10 room with family till the college started functioning in June 1948. Gradually, he invited his team of NED to join BVM. Prof. N D Bhat, the author Engineering Drawing was a student of BVM. He drew the figures and sketches for Junnarkar’s books.
Junnarkar was an excellent human being and a dedicated, learned teacher who wrote books on Applied Mechanics, Mechanics of Structure and Theory of Structures. He meticulously constructed the problems for these books. He included some of the challenging problems from Cambridge University Examination, converting those from FPS to MKS system.
When BVM received a government grant, they decided to dispose of all the machinery and equipments. Prof. Jani, former principal of BVM had good relations with our chairman, Nana Saheb Vijay Naval Patil, the former Central minister. Prof. Jani suggested purchasing these items for Navalnagar College, because some of them were still in good condition and could be used for demonstration purposes; and that too at very nominal cost. After his suggestion, we went there for inspection. Prof. Soni, who was from Vallabh Vidyanagar and my colleague at Navalnagar was with me. We purchased all the equipments and machinery. I stayed there for a month. Dismantled all those items, arranged transportation and sent to Navalnagar with the help of the cooperative people of BVM.
During my stay, I came to know, magnificent work done by Principal Junnarkar and the painstaking efforts he had taken for the development of the college. I saw the deep respect in the eyes of the faculty members of BVM for him.
This experience further deepened my appreciation for Junnarkar's legacy and the impact he had on engineering education.
Dr. Mahendra Ingale, Former Principal
Government Polytechnic, Jalgaon
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