Indian Scientist

1. Homi J. Bhabha

Homi Jehangir Bhabha (30 October 1909 – 24 January 1966) was an Indian nuclear physicist, founding director, and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.^[2] Colloquially known as "father of the Indian nuclear programme",^[3] Bhabha was the founding director of two well-known research institutions, namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment (now named after him); both sites were the cornerstone of Indian development of nuclear weapons which Bhabha also supervised as its director

Early life

Homi Jehangir Bhabha was born into a wealthy and prominent industrial Parsi family, through which he was related to Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, and Dorabji Tata. He was born on 30 October 1909, in an illustrious family with a long tradition of learning and service to the country. His father was Jehangir Hormusji Bhabha, a well known lawyer and his mother was Meheren.^[4] He received his early education at Bombay's Cathedral and John Connon School and entered Elphinstone College at age 15 after passing his Senior Cambridge Examination with Honors. His father's name, Jehangir, is from Persian (جهانگیر), meaning "conqueror of the world."^[5]

He then attended the Royal Institute of Science until 1927 before joining Caius College of Cambridge University. This was due to the insistence of his father and his uncle Dorab Tata, who planned for Bhabha to obtain a degree in Mechanical engineering from Cambridge and then return to India, where he would join the Tata Steel Mills in Jamshedpur as a metallurgist.

2. Prem Chand Pandey

Prem Chand Pandey was born 10 August 1945. He  is an Indian scientist and academic in the fields of Satellite Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Atmospheric Science, Antarctic and Climate Change

Education and career

Pandey obtained his Masters and Bachelor's degrees in Electronics and science respectively from Allahabad University. He completed his D.Phil. degree from the same university^[2][3] (on microwaves) in 1972.^[4]

In 1966, Pandey became a lecturer in DAV Degree college, Azamgarh. From 1968 to 1972 he was Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Research Fellow at the microwave research laboratory of the Department of Physics, University of Allahabad, and from 1973 to 1977 a research officer at the Central Water and Power Research Station, Khadakwasla. During 1997-2005, he was the founding director of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR)/Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Goa.^[6] At the initiative of Murali Manohar Joshi he founded the K. Banerjee Centre of Atmospheric and Ocean Studies (KBCAOS)^[7] to initiate the Atmospheric and Ocean Science Studies in Allahabad University which is now full-fledged faculty academic centre of Allahabad University.

Membership in special national and international expert committees/ bodies (past/present)

·  IIT Kharagpur Nominee : Ocean Atmospheric Science and Technology Cell of MoES

·  Advisory Board Member, Text Books for Higher Education : The Energy Research Institute, New Delhi

3. Har Gobind Khorana

Har Gobind Khorana(9 January 1922 – 9 November 2011),^[4][5] was an Indian-American biochemist who shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that showed how the order of nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell, control the cell’s synthesis of proteins. Khorana and Nirenberg were also awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in the same year.^[6][7]

Khorana was born in Raipur, British India (today Tehsil Kabirwala, Punjab, Pakistan) and later moved to become an Indian citizen after the partition of 1947. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1966,^[8] and subsequently received the National Medal of Science. He co-directed the Institute for Enzyme Research,^[9] became a professor of biochemistry in 1962 and was named Conrad A. Elvehjem Professor of Life Sciences at University of Wisconsin–Madison.^[10] He served as MIT's Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry, Emeritus^[11] and was a member of the Board of Scientific Governors at The Scripps Research Institute.

Research work

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) with three repeating units (UCUCUCU → UCU CUC UCU) produced two alternating amino acids. This, combined with the rachit and Leder experiment,^{[citation needed]} showed that UCU codes for Serine and CUC codes for Leucine. RNAs with three repeating units (UACUACUA → UAC UAC UAC, or ACU ACU ACU, or CUA CUA CUA) produced three different strings of amino acids. RNAs with four repeating units including UAG, UAA, or UGA, produced only dipeptides and tripeptides thus revealing that UAG, UAA and UGA are stop codons.

4. Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (12 August 1919 – 30 December 1971)^[8] was an Indian scientist and innovator widely regarded as the father of India's space programme. Sarabhai received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal in 1962.^[9] The nation honoured him awarding Padma Bhushan in 1966 and Padma Vibhushan (posthumously) in 1972.

Personal life

Son of Sheth Ambalal Sarabhai, he came from the famous Sarabhai family of India who were major industrialists committed to the Indian independence movement. Vikram Sarabhai married the classical dancer Mrinalini in 1942. The couple had two children. His daughter Mallika gained prominence as an actress and activist, and his son Kartikeya Sarabhai too became an active person in science.^[7] During his lifetime, he practiced Jainism and belonged to the Shrimal Jain community of Ahmedabad.^[11]

Professional life

Known as the cradle of space sciences in India, the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) was founded in 1947 by Vikram Sarabhai. PRL had a modest beginning at his residence, the RETREAT, with research on cosmic rays.

The institute was formally established at the M.G. Science Institute, Ahmedabad, on 11 November 1947^[12] with support from the Karmkshetra Educational Foundation and the Ahmedabad Education Society. Prof. Kalpathi Ramakrishna Ramanathan was the first Director of the institute. The initial focus was research on cosmic rays and the properties of the upper atmosphere. Research areas were expanded to include theoretical physics and radio physics later with grants from the Atomic Energy Commission.

5. Birbal Sahni

Birbal Sahni FRS^[1] (14 November 1891 – 10 April 1949) was an Indian paleobotanist who studied the fossils of the Indian subcontinent. He also took an interest in geology and archaeology. He founded the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany at Lucknow. His major contributions were in the study of the fossil plants of India and in plant evolution.^[2][3][4] He was also involved in the establishment of Indian science education and served as the President of the National Academy of Sciences, India and as an Honorary President of the International Botanical Congress, Stockholm. He died on 10 April 1949.

ontributions

Sahni worked on living plants species including Nephrotepsis, Niphobolus, Taxus, Psilotum, Tmesipteris and Acmopyle examining evolutionary trends and geographical distributions. His ability to apply theory to observations and make hypotheses based on observations were especially influential on his students. When examining wood remains from Harappa, he noted that they were of conifers and inferred that the people there must have had trade links with people in mountains where conifers could grow.^[13] He recorded foreign pollen in the ovules of living Gingko biloba and noted in the New Phytologist (1915), the problem with assuming that fossil pollen in ovules belonged to a single species. Sahni was among the first to suggest a separate order, the Taxales, within the conifers to contain the genera Taxus, Torreya and Cephalotaxus.

6. Nambi Narayanan

S. Nambi Narayanan is an Indian scientist. As a senior official at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), he was in-charge of the cryogenics division.^[1] In 1994, he was falsely charged with espionage and arrested. The charges against him were dismissed by the CBI in 1996, and the Supreme Court declared him not guilty in 1998.

Career

Narayanan introduced the liquid fuel rocket technology in India in the early 1970s, when A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s team was working on solid motors. He foresaw the need for liquid fuelled engines for ISRO’s future civilian space programmes. He was encouraged by the then ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan, and his successor U.R. Rao. Narayanan developed liquid propellant motors, first building the successful 600-kg thrust engine in the mid-1970s and thereafter moving on to bigger engines.

Demand for Justice

On 7 November 2013, Narayanan was made media discussion that he is seeking justice in this case and want to expose who were behind this conspiracy and said that this case will 'discourage' the youth.

7. Afroz Ahmad

froz Ahmad is an Indian environment scientist and development administrator. He is an advocate for integrating environment and development to ensure sustainable development in India.^[3][4]

On 5 December 2014, Ahmad was appointed Member (Environment & Rehabilitation) of the Narmada Control Authority, Ministry of Water Resources (India) Government of India

Career

Afroz Ahmad discussing Narmada Rehabilitation issue with Narendra Modi, presently Prime Minister of India on July 22, 2006.

In December 2014, Ahmad was appointed Member (Environment & Rehabilitation) in the Narmada Control Authority, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation within the government of India.^[6] Before assuming charge as Member, he was Director (Impact Assessment & Rehabilitation) in the Narmada Control Authority.^[7]

Ahmad has also worked for the G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Ministry of Environment and Forests (India).^[8]

Personal life

Afroz Ahmad married Begum Sadiya Yasmin(Afroz), daughter of poet and Politician Bekal Utsahi. Sadiya is a poetess and social worker.

8. Aditi Pant

Aditi Pant is an Indian oceanographer.^[1] She was a part of the Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1983 and became the first Indian woman to visit Antarctica (along with Sudipta Sengupta)

Early life and education

Aditi was inspired to take up oceanography as a profession when she came across the book The Open Sea by Alister Hardy while she was doing her BSc at the University of Pune. She got a US government scholarship to study an MS in marine sciences in the University of Hawaii.^[3] She did her PhD in Westfield college, London University.^[3] Her PhD thesis was about the physiology of marine algae. After completing her studies, she returned to India to join the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa.

Career

Aditi started her research career at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa after being inspired by the founder of the institute, N. K. Panikkar. From 1973-76, she got involved in coastal studies and toured the whole of west coast of India. She participated in the third and fifth Indian expeditions to Antarctica to research about oceanography and geology.^[4] She was the first Indian woman to participate in an Antarctic expedition.

Awards

Aditi was honored with the Antarctica award with Jaya Naithani and Kanwal Vilku by the government of India for her contributions to the Antarctic program.

 

9. Abhay Ashtekar

Abhay Vasant Ashtekar (born July 5, 1949) is an Indian theoretical physicist. He is the Eberly Professor of Physics and the Director of the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry at Pennsylvania State University. As the creator of Ashtekar variables, he is one of the founders of loop quantum gravity and its subfield loop quantum cosmology. He has also written a number of descriptions of loop quantum gravity that are accessible to non-physicists. In 1999, Ashtekar and his colleagues were able to calculate the entropy for a black hole, matching a legendary 1974 prediction by Hawking.^[2] Oxford mathematical physicist Roger Penrose has described Ashtekar's approach to quantum gravity as "The most important of all the attempts at 'quantizing' general relativity."^[3] Ashtekar was elected as Member to National Academy of Sciences in May 2016.

Biography

Abhay Ashtekar grew up in several cities, including Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra, India. After completing his undergraduate education in India, Ashtekar enrolled in the graduate program for gravitation at the University of Texas at Austin.^[1] He went on to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Robert Geroch in 1978 and held several appointments at Oxford, Paris, Syracuse before settling at Penn State.^[5] He married Christine Clarke in 1986^[6] and the two have a son, Neil Ashtekar.

10. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam better known as A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ⁱ/ˈæbdʊl kəˈlɑːm/; (15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015) was the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. A career scientist turned statesman, Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts.^[1] He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.^[2][3][4] He also played a pivotal organisational, technical, and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.

Kalam was elected as the 11th President of India in 2002 with the support of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the then-opposition Indian National Congress. Widely referred to as the "People's President,"^[6] he returned to his civilian life of education, writing and public service after a single term. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83.^[7] Thousands including national-level dignitaries attended the funeral ceremony held in his hometown of Rameshwaram, where he was buried with full state honours.