Case
Study: C.N.R Rao
Dr Rao is one of the world's foremost solid state and materials chemists. He has contributed to the
development of the field over five decades
Early
life and education
C.N.R. Rao was born in Bangalore in a Kannada family to Hanumantha Nagesa Rao and
Nagamma Nagesa Rao. He was an
only child, and his learned parents made an academic environment. He was well
versed in Hindu literature from his mother and in English from
his father at an early age. He did not attend elementary school but was
home-tutored by his mother, who was particularly skilled in arithmetic and
Hindu literature. He entered middle school in 1940, at age six. Although he was
the youngest in his class, he used to tutor his classmates in mathematics and
English. He attended Acharya Patashala high school in Basavanagudi Bangalore, which
made a lasting influence on his interest in chemistry.
He studied BSc at Central College, Bangalore. Here
he developed his communication skills in English and also learnt Sanskrit. He obtained his
bachelor's degree from Mysore
University in 1951, in first class, and only at the age of
seventeen. He initially thought of joining Indian
Institute of Science (IISc) for a diploma or a postgraduate degree in chemical engineering, but a teacher persuaded him to attend Banaras Hindu
University. He obtained a master's in chemistry from BHU two years later. In 1953 he was granted a scholarship for
PhD in IIT Kharagpur. But four foreign universities, MIT, Penn State, Columbia and Purdue also offered him financial support. He chose Purdue. His
first research paper was published in the Agra
University Journal of Research in
1954. He completed PhD in 1958, only after two years and nine months, at age
twenty-four.
Profession
Dr.Rao returned to Bangalore in 1959 to join IISC as a
lecturer.. He started his own research with six PhD students. After three years
he got permanent appointment in the Department of Chemistry at IIT-K Kanpur. The Director directly appointed him as
Head of the department. He worked there from 1963 to 1976.
In 1964, he was elected as a fellow of the Indian Academy of
Sciences. In 1976 he returned to IISc to set up a solid state and structural
chemistry unit. He became
Director of the IISc from 1984 to 1994. He has also been a visiting professor
at Purdue University, the University
of Oxford and the University of Cambridge
Rao is currently the National Research Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary
President of Jawaharlal Nehru
Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore which he founded in 1989.
He was appointed Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to the
Indian Prime Minister in January 2005, a position which he had occupied earlier
during 1985–89. He is also the director of the International Centre for
Materials Science (ICMS).
Rao is one of the world's foremost solid state and materials chemists. He has contributed to the
development of the field over five decades
Rao was one of the earliest to synthesize two-dimensional oxide
materials such as La2CuO4. His work has led to a
systematic study of compositionally controlled metal-insulator transitions.
Such studies have had a profound impact in application fields such as colossal
magneto resistance and high temperature superconductivity.
He has made immense contributions to nano materials over the last two decades,
besides his work on hybrid materials.
He is the author of around 1500 research papers. He has authored
and edited 45 books. Rao serves
on the board of the Science
Initiative Group.
No comments:
Post a Comment