Rajagopala Chidambaram
| Rajagopalan Chidambaram | |
|---|---|
Chidambaram at the 2008 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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| Born |
12 November 1936 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, British Indian Empire |
| Residence | New Delhi, India |
| Nationality | India |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions |
Atomic Energy Commission (India) Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai Department of Atomic Energy International Atomic Energy Agency Defence Research and Development Organisation Indian Institute of Technology University of Hyderabad |
| Alma mater |
University of Madras, Indian Institute of Science |
| Known for |
|
| Notable awards |
Padma Shri (1975), Padma Vibhushan (1999) |
Rajagopala Chidambaram (born 12 November 1936, PhD), is an Indian Physicist who is known for his integral role in India's nuclear weapons program; he coordinated test preparation for the Pokhran-I (1975) and Pokhran-II (1998).
Currently serving as the principal scientific adviser to the federal Government of India, Chidambaram previously served as the director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)— and later as chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of the Government of India and he contributed in providing national defence and energy security to India. Chidambaram was chairman of the board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during 1994–95. He was also a member of the Commission of Eminent Persons appointed by the Director-General, IAEA, in 2008 to prepare a report on "The Role of the IAEA to 2020 and Beyond".
Throughout his career, Chidambaram played a key role in developing India's nuclear weapons, being a part of the team conducting the first Indian nuclear test (Smiling Buddha) at Pokhran Test Range in 1974. He gained international fame when he led and represented the team of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) while observing and leading efforts to conduct the second nuclear tests in May 1998.
Chidambaram completed his early education in Meerut and Chennai, completing his B.Sc. with honors in physics, having stood first rank at the departmental and the university level of the Madras University in 1956. After enrolling in master's program, Chidambaram taught introductory physics laboratory courses and obtained M.Sc. in physics, writing a fundamental thesis on analog computers from the same institution, in 1958. He was accepted for the doctoral programme of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and was awarded the PhD in 1962. His thesis contained the research work on the development of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and was conferred with the Martin Forster Medal for the best doctoral thesis submitted to the Indian Institute of Science. Chidambaram is a versatile scholar, interest first in physics. After graduating, his interest in nuclear physics diminished and his research interest in physics did not keep him motivated to contribute in his field. Instead, Chidambaram found himself interested in crystallography and condensed matter physics, writing scientific articles which later played an influential role in the development of modern materials science. His contribution to the enhancement of condensed matter physics and material science led him to be conferred with a D.Sc., in physics by the IISc after submitting his doctoral thesis on experiments which he conducted at IISc. He has been conferred doctoral degrees in physics by eight Indian universities. After the test of the nuclear device at Pokharan in 1974, Chidambaram started ‘open research' in the area of high pressure physics. For this a complete range of instrumentation such as diamond anvil cells, and gas-gun for launching projectiles were indigenously built. He also laid the foundation of theoretical high-pressure research for calculation of equation of state and phase stability of materials by first principles techniques. The papers published by his high pressure group are also well cited. The one on ‘Omega Phase in Materials’ is considered a textbook by researchers in Condensed Matter Physics/ Materials Science.
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