Odisha’s first woman engineer Sudhira Das passed away on Friday morning. She was 83.
Sudhira was born in an aristocratic family of Cuttack on March 8, 1932. She had an extreme passion for mathematics from her childhood. After graduating from the Ravenshaw College in 1951, she completed her MSc (Tech) in Radio Physics and Electronics from the University of Science & Technology, Calcutta in 1956 at a time when education was generally a taboo for women.
After completing her MSc (Tech), she joined the Berhampur Engineering School, later renamed as Uma Charan Patnaik Engineering School as a lecturer in Science and Mathematics in 1957. later, she became Principal of Women’s Polytechnic, Rourkela.
Sudhira served the State Government from 1957 to 1990 in different capacities. Establishment of the Women’s Polytechnic at Bhubaneswar is considered as a major contribution of hers.