C.N.R. Rao, 79, was on Saturday conferred with the Bharat
Ratna along with former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. President Pranab Mukherjee
announced the award to the expert on solid state and materials chemistry. From the Archives - An exclusive interview
with CNR Rao
"Prof Rao has published over 1,400 research papers and
45 books. Prof. Rao's contributions have been recognized by most major
scientific academies around the world through conferment of memberships and
fellowships. He has been honoured with several national and international
awards," said a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.
Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao is the founder of
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore
and has also been a chairman of science advisory council to the Prime Minister.
He has been a visiting professor at famous universities, including Purdue,
Oxford and Cambridge and director of International Centre for Materials Science
(ICMS).
In an interview with India Today Aspire in 2010, Rao
recounted his life's journey.
"For someone in the early 1920s or 1930s my father
Nagesa Rao and my mother Nagamma were well read. The only son to my parents, I
grew up in the old part of Bangalore in the Basavanagudi area and I fondly
recall my mother telling me lots of mythological stories and her daily pujas
greatly impacted me. I think by six or so my mother had narrated in Kannada all
the episodes of the Ramayana and Mahabaratha.
It influenced my own journey into spirituality. My father
wanted me to speak in English too, and it helped that there was an academic
atmosphere at home. While I was in the middle school World War II broke out and
the freedom movement was in full swing. Part of my high school was in the
Acharya Patashala in Basavanagudi and one of the epochal events here was the
love for chemistry. I passed my high school exam in first class in 1947.
I listened to the heart-stirring speeches by leaders like
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. I also took part in
some of the freedom movement meetings in whatever capacity I could. Armed with
an early interest in science I joined Central College, Bangalore, passing BSc
in first class at the age of 17. College also gave me a chance to hone my
skills in English, debates and other activities. I had also learnt Sanskrit by
then. Those were also the days when I enjoyed the little joys of life like set
dosas or ragi muddes (ragi balls) or even surviving on half a cup of coffee.
The early years gave an opportunity to meet great Kannada
literary giants such as DV Gundappa. One of the fondest memories was meeting
Nobel laureate professor CV Raman when he visited our school in 1946. Later, we
had the privilege of seeing his lab, a great and humbling experience that had a
big and lasting effect on me.
Armed with a BSc in 1951, I could have settled for a cushy
job but the thirst for learning instead of earning was always there. At a time
when I was thinking of joining IISc for a diploma or a postgraduate degree in
chemical engineering a college lecturer suggested that I try Banaras Hindu
University (BHU). All it took was a plain paper application to BHU and I got a
telegram within two days from professor SS Joshi admitting me to MSc course.
Professor Joshi wanted me to start my research for MSc right
away. We had to work hard in the nights due to power shortages. Professor Joshi
also helped us enlarge our vision by asking us to prepare abstracts for
presentation in the annual science congress sessions. We gained fresh insights
into our fields of study interacting with great scientists who stopped by at
BHU. My first paper was in the Agra University Journal of Research in 1954.
Back in Bangalore in 1953 after a great time in BHU, a
scholarship worked out for me for a PhD in IIT Kharagpur. But I felt a stint
abroad would be useful.
Four universities - MIT, PennState, Columbia and Purdue -
were offering admission with financial support, but I chose Purdue. More than
twenty days by ship from Mumbai, I was in New York ready to begin a new life. I
completed my PhD in two years and nine months, a record of sorts. It was also
at Purdue that I met the great chemist Linus Pauling. Life was on a swing and
the academic climate was great but somehow the home pull was greater and in
1959 I landed in Bangalore to join the IISc as a lecturer on a monthly salary
of Rs.500. The conditions at IISc were no match to the American centres but it
is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
With just six PhD students, we had a seminar system, doing
research and experiments. My monograph on ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy
using molecular orbital notations eventually resulted into a book in 1960.
Great scientists such as C.V. Raman were also ready to lend a helping hand.
Raman even allowed to record some infrared spectra in his lab. That gave enough
material to write another book on infrared spectroscopy.
It was a hot day when my family alighted at the Kanpur
railway station in April 1963. A new life at IIT Kanpur that would carry on
till 1976. Its director PK Kelkar had an immense faith in me, making me HOD at
29. In 1964, Sir CV Raman wrote to me that I was elected a fellow of the Indian
Academy of Sciences; the recognition only reinforced a commitment to pursue
scientific activities. Another big high was the Marlow Medal in 1967 by the
Faraday Society of England for outstanding contributions to physical chemistry
by young scientists below 33.
Later, I was back in Bangalore to set up a solid state and
structural chemistry unit at IISc from 1976 and became a director in 1984.
Another big milestone was to found the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced
Scientific Research in Jakkur.
We must leave a legacy. We created CNR Rao Education
Foundation from a part of the million-dollar Dan David Award from Tel Aviv
University, Israel, because if the youth don't catch on to science at a young
age, we will lose whatever science and technology advantage we have now. My
wife, Indumati has been leading the work of this foundation along with members
of the family. We want to see India emerge as a scientific giant.
At the Hall of Sciences at JNCASR stands a bust of my guru
Pauling - one of the two greatest scientists of the 20th century (the other
being Einstein) and I tell school children who visit JNCASR that they have to
dream big, study hard, and study science. I tell them how I myself took to
understanding chemical properties while being in school.
Another big feather in the cap is the unique honour for
India when I will be the only overseas scientist to deliver an address at the Convocation
of the Fellowship of the world's oldest existing scientific academy Royal
Society in London in June 2010, the main formal event for the science body's
350th anniversary celebrations. It is a honour for me as an Indian to be the
only scientist to address such an audience."
Tendulkar (40) and Rao (79), both of whom are recipients of Padma Vibhushan -- the country's second highest civilian honour, will join a list of 41 eminent personalities who have been conferred with the award that is given in recognition of exceptional service of the highest order since it was instituted in 1954.
Master batsman Tendulkar, who retired from international
cricket on November 16 last year, will be the first sportsman to be bestowed
with the honour by the President at a function to be held in 'Durbar Hall' of
Rashtrapati Bahavan.
In a fitting finale to a record-breaking career spanning 24
years, Tendulkar, a former India Captain, was chosen for the prestigious award,
after his farewell 200th Test against the West Indies in Mumbai on November 16,
2013.
An official statement had said Tendulkar has been a true
Ambassador of India in the world of sports and his achievements in cricket are
unparallelled, the records set by him unmatched, and the spirit of sportsmanship
displayed by him exemplary.
"That he has been honoured with several awards is
testimony to his extraordinary brilliance as a sportsman," it said, noting
that Tendulkar has played cricket across the world and won laurels for the
country during the last 24 years since a young age of 16.
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