Editing IIT Kanpur (section)

==History==
IIT Kanpur was established by an Act of [[Parliament of India|Parliament]] in 1960 by the Government of India. The institute was started in December 1959 in a room in the canteen building of the [[Harcourt Butler Technological Institute| Harcourt Butler Technological University]] at Agricultural Gardens in Kanpur. In 1963, the institute moved to its present location, on the [[Grand Trunk Road]] near Kalyanpur locality in Kanpur district.<ref>{{cite web|title=IITK History|url=http://iitk.ac.in/new/iitk-history|publisher=Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur|access-date=20 February 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404175309/https://www.iitk.ac.in/new/iitk-history|url-status=live}}</ref> The campus, which is planned and landscaped with the goal of environmental freedom, ease of movement and communication, was designed by [[Achyut Kanvinde]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History - IIT Kanpur|url=https://www.iitk.ac.in/new/iitk-history}}</ref>

During the first ten years of its existence, a consortium of nine US universities (namely [[MIT]], [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]], [[California Institute of Technology]], [[Princeton University]], [[Carnegie Mellon University]], [[University of Michigan]], [[Ohio State University]],
[[Case Western Reserve University]] and [[Purdue University]]) helped set up IIT Kanpur's research laboratories and academic programmes under the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP).<ref name="History">{{cite web
 |last        = Kelkar
 |first       = P.K.
 |date        = 17 March 2006
 |url         = http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/iitk/newhtml/history.htm
 |title       = IIT Kanpur&nbsp;— History
 |publisher   = IIT Kanpur
 |access-date  = 27 May 2006
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20091010172800/http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/iitk/newhtml/history.htm
 |archive-date = 10 October 2009}}</ref> The first director of the institute was [[P. K. Kelkar]] (after whom the Central Library was renamed in 2002).<ref name="Desk">{{cite web |last= |first= |date=28 March 2014 |title=Know IIT Kanpur's journey, from a canteen to India's swanky biotech centre |url=https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/latest-news-iit-kanpur-journey-canteen-to-biotech-centre-34907.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220181437/https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/latest-news-iit-kanpur-journey-canteen-to-biotech-centre-34907.html |archive-date=20 February 2019 |access-date=20 February 2019 |website=indiatvnews.com}}</ref>

Under the guidance of economist [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], IIT Kanpur was the first institute in India to offer [[Computer science]] education.<ref name="Desk"/><ref>E.C. Subbarao: ''An Eye for Excellence, Fifty Innovative Years of IIT Kanpur''; Harper Collins Publishers, India, 2008.</ref> The earliest computer course was started at the institute in August 1963 on an [[IBM 1620]] system. The initiative for computer education came from the [[Electrical engineering]] department, then under the chairmanship of Prof. [[H.K. Kesavan]], who was concurrently the chairman of Electrical Engineering and head of the Computer Centre. Prof. [[Harry Huskey]] of the [[University of California, Berkeley]], who preceded Kesavan, helped<ref name="Desk"/> with the computer activity at IIT-Kanpur.<ref name="Desk"/> In 1971, the institute began an independent academic program in Computer Science and Engineering, leading to MTech and PhD degrees.<ref name="Desk"/>

In 1972 the KIAP program ended, in part because of political tensions between India and Pakistan (as the USA supported Pakistan). Government funding was also reduced as a reaction to the sentiment that the IIT's were contributing to the [[human capital flight|brain drain]].

The institute's annual technical festival, [[Techkriti]], was first started in 1995.