K. P. Rao

In the 1980s, K.P Rao provided a keyboard layout to Dr.Srinivasan, Canada, who had developed an editor for DOS to type Kannada. The text was input with the standard English keyboard. The typed text was saved in ASCII.

In 1968 and as a part of the small team to do so, he moved to Hyderabad from BARC to set up the Electronics Corporation of India. After a short stint, he found the place difficult and went to start a semiconductor activity of his own in Dharwar manufacturing silicon controlled rectifiers. The effort did not succeed and he found limitations in both the fields, technical and commercial. Dharwar exposed Rao to diverse fields of knowledge and enabled him to form a friendship with literature enthusiasts and writers. This was where he met Dr. Shankar Mokashi Punekar and his assistance in writing the book on Indus Valley Seals is mentioned in the Preface of the book

Immediately after graduation, Rao proceeded to Bombay and took up small jobs for a few months. He joined the third batch of the Training School of Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay of the Department of Atomic Energy in August 1959. The Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay was renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) after the demise of Dr. Homi Bhabha. While he was trained as a chemist, he enjoyed mathematics, quantum chemistry, electronics, and semiconductors.

Kinnikambala Padmanabha Rao (born 29 February 1940) is a retired professor at Manipal Institute of Technology. Commonly known as K. P. Rao, he is credited with the development of the Kannada keyboard and software to use Kannada language on computers, thereby effectively paving the way for the expansion of the use of other Indian languages in software.