Prof. Braj Bansi Lal, a renowned archaeologist, was the Director General of Archaeology Survey of India from 1968 to 1972. His excavations vary from Palaeolithic times to early historical times. At Kalibangan, Rajasthan, he unearthed a prosperous city of the Indus Civilization. He conducted many excavations in and around the world. In Egypt, he conducted excavations that threw light on Egyptian prehistory. Prof. Lal publications include over 150 seminal research papers, published in scientific journals, both in India and abroad. He authored books The Earliest Civilization of South Asia (1997); India 1947-1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization (1998). In 1994 Prof. Lal was awarded D. Litt (Honoris causa) by the Institute of Archaeology, St. Petersburg, Russia. He has been the Chairman and member of several committees of UNESCO. In 1976, Asiatic Society, Bengal, awarded him S.C. Chakarvarti Medal, & in the year 1979, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara conferred him with the title Mahamahopadhyaya. In recognition of his valuable contribution to archaeology, the President of India honoured him with Padma Bhushan in the year 2000.
The B. B. Lal Chair was instituted by Mr. Vrajesh Lal (BT/MME/1970) in honor of Prof. Braj Bansi Lal, a distinguished archaeologist. This Chair is open to faculty members at IIT Kanpur who have made significant contributions to science and technology in the field of archaeology.