The article shows the life and engineering activities of the electrician Jēkabs Barkāns — a long-time lecturer at Riga Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Riga Technical University (RTU), RTU emeritus professor, state emeritus scientist in the second half of the 20th century and in the early 21st century. The lifelong work of the inventor and pedagogue J. Barkāns is still echoed at Riga Technical University, where he trained future engineers and paved the way for several well-known Latvian scientists. He also worked for a long time at “Latvenergo”, performing research and obtaining patents for 66 inventions in addition to his daily work. J. Barkāns’ main research directions were the management of electric power systems, their automation and protection of power systems. At the end of the article, there are statements of contemporaries and successors praising electrical engineer J. Barkāns’ professionalism and human qualities as a scientist and a university teacher.