Poondi Kumaraswamy

{{Short description|Indian hydrologist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Use Indian English|date=January 2019}}

Ponnambalam Kumaraswamy (often referred to as Poondi Kumaraswamy; October 4, 1930 – March 9, 1988)

was an Indian hydrologist.http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Record/EAR000021872 Catalogue details about a philosophical correspondence of Albert Einstein to Kumaraswamy when he was a young research engineer at Poondi He was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1972http://www.ias.ac.in/describe/fellow/Kumaraswamy,__Ponnambalam list of Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences although his only formal education was a Civil Engineering Bachelor's degree from College of Engineering, Guindy, University of Madras. Before his death in 1988, at 57 years old, he was the only one to have received both the Homi Bhabha Fellowship 1967–1969 http://homibhabhafellowships.com/HomiBhabhaFellowsList.aspx Mr. P. Kumaraswamy (he spent his time at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts doing research in Groundwater modeling) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship 1975–1977,http://www.jnmf.in/flist.html list of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows two of the country's top research awards.

During the period of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship he created the first comprehensive 20 volume hydrological atlas of Tamil Nadu State of India including mathematical models, details of hydraulic structures, among others. He developed also the double bounded probability density function (Kumaraswamy distribution), a probability density function suitable for physical variables that are usually bounded. This distribution is in use in electrical, civil, mechanical, and financial engineering applications. He gave the first practical hard rock well theory

Journal of Hydraulics Division (Vol 108(10), Oct 1982, pages 1194-1207) of the American Society of Civil Engineers for citation of his work on hard-rock well theory that won him the Gold Medal award from Indian Geohydrologists in 1974. He worked also as a design and construction engineer of two major industrial works, namely, the Tiruchirappalli Boiler Plant, and the Tuticorin Harbour Project. In addition he was involved in the hydraulic design of numerous dams, canals, and other hydraulic structures throughout South India.

Kumaraswamy considered explaining the work of the Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology (IHH),{{Cite web|url=https://thefederal.com/states/south/tamil-nadu/poondi-reservoir-at-75-chennais-first-reservoir-to-quench-the-thirst-of-the-city-is-now-parched/|title = At 75, Chennai's first reservoir in Poondi is now parched|date = 14 June 2019}} Poondi to engineers and non-engineers an important duty and often had great success with it.

PK and KLRao.jpg|Showing around IHH to the Central Government Irrigation Minister Dr K. L. Rao

PK at Silver Jubilee of IHH Poondi.jpg|With visitors during the Silver Jubilee celebration of the IHH

PK_showing_around_to_visitors_Periyar,_Maniammai,_and_Veeramani.jpg|Explaining hydraulic models to visitors Periyar, Maniammai, and Veeramani