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PROFESSOR S. K.
RANGARAJAN (1932 –
2008) Sarukkai
Krishnamachari Rangarajan (fondly referred to as SKR by his friends,
colleagues and students) passed away on 29th April, 2008. He was a genius, a man
of many talents, unique in that his ability in science was matched by his
fineness as a human being.
SKR
was born on September 9, 1932.
He obtained his B.A. (Hon) in mathematics from the Madras Christian
College (MCC), in 1953. After
graduation, he started off as a film critic, and also wrote for a Tamil
arts magazine “
At that time, the Central Electrochemical Research Institute
(CECRI) was headed by the very distinguished electrochemist, Prof. K.S.G.
Doss. He had just discovered the phenomenon of faradaic rectification, and was looking for some one
to develop a proper theory for the process. Doss approached SKR, expecting the
theory to be developed in about a year, but the problem was solved in a
day! Doss was so
impressed that he persuaded SKR to join the CECRI. He did so in 1960 but left in
1970, after the retirement of Doss. Doss who had
contributed very significantly to electrochemistry, is reputed to have
said “my most significant contribution to electrochemistry was finding
SKR”. SKR
spent the next two years as a Homi Bhabha fellow at
the National Aeronautical Laboratory and continued there as a scientist till 1975,
when he was invited by Prof. S. Dhawan, Director
of the Indian Institute of Science,
to join the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry (IPC) as
a professor. During his term at this department, he was a visiting
professor at At
the IISc, SKR had a very active group and had
several bright students, who continue to be very active in the field. SKR
worked mainly on theoretical problems in electrochemistry. In addition he
also continued to work on mathematics, biophysical chemistry, theoretical
physics and even mechanical engineering. After retiring from the IPC
department in 1993, he was a senior professor at Matscience for three years, and after that he was a
visitor at the Raman Research Institute. The IPC department very much
wanted him to spend time in the dept. and persuaded him to visit them once
in a week and he had been visiting this department roughly once in a
week. He was very active
until the very end, and was working on an interesting and important
problem, and had solved it just the day previous to his death. A week
before his death, he had come to the IPC and excitedly told us that he was
planning to give a series of lectures on “Stochastic Problems in Chemical
Sciences” and that he would start in a week’s time. SKR was an outstanding
theoretician and electrochemist. Though the only degree that
he ever had was a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, he was a world renowned
theoretical electrochemist, and was in the editorial boards of
international journals in the field.
While at IISc and elsewhere, he was
an inspiration to a large number of
bright students, even though they were not working with him. To quote one such, He was well recognized by the
usual standards - was elected as FASc, FNA and
FTWAS. In addition, he
was given Alumni Award (1993) of the IISc and
the lifetime achievement award of the Chemical Research Society of India
(2008), in addition to many other awards and honors. However, to those who were
privileged to know him closely, his abilities were far more than what
these awards convey.
He
is survived by his wife, daughter and four sons. His eldest son, Sunder Sarukkai works at NIAS, and is well known in his own
right. In SKR’s death, the country has lost an outstanding
scientist. Personally, I have
lost my brilliant, warm hearted, affectionate, kind “Guru”, a sorrow
shared by all his students and admirers. He will live on in our memory for
ever. K.L. Sebastian
( Professor, Department of
Inorganic and Physical Chemistry Indian Institute of
Science |
