Sir Konkoth Ramunni Menon (14 September 1872 – 1949) was an Indian educator who was the vice chancellor of the University of Madras from 1928 to 1934.

Biography

Menon received a B.A from the University of Madras and proceeded to England for higher study to

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

. He obtained first class honours in both parts of the

Natural Sciences Tripos The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, ...

and returned to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

after obtaining his M.A. In 1910 he became professor of zoology at the Presidency College, Madras. The Department of Zoology of University of Madras was established in 1927 and Menon was made its honorary director after he became the vice chancellor of the University of Madras in 1928. He was knighted in the

1933 New Year Honours The 1933 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 30 December 1932. The recipients of honour ...

list and invested with his knighthood on 3 March 1933 by the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

, the Earl of Willingdon, at New Delhi. He served as the vice chancellor until 1934. During his time he first introduced music as a subject at Madras University.

Legacy

Menon was invited to preside over the annual Music Academy's Sadas in 1944 and was also one of the founding fathers of the

Tamil Isai Sangam Isai Mandram is a music association started to promote pure form of ancient Tamil music popularly known as the tamizh Isai throughout Tamil Nadu. The current president of the association is Judge P.R.Gopalakrishnan. The main premises are located in ...

. He is also the maternal grandfather of musicologist Indira Menon. He first proposed in a letter to

G. H. Hardy Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...

dated 28 July 1920 to pay Ramanujan's wife a monthly annuity of 20 rupees per month for handing over her husband's documents. A species of amphibian, Menon's caecilian ('' Uraeotyphlus menoni''), is named for him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, K. Ramunni 1872 births 1949 deaths 19th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian zoologists Vice Chancellors of the University of Madras Indian Knights Bachelor Date of death missing Dewan Bahadurs Educators from British India Zoologists from British India