P. K. Iyengar
| P. K. Iyengar | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 June 1931 Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala |
| Died | 21 December 2011 (aged 80) Mumbai, India |
| Residence | Mumbai, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Fields | Nuclear Physics |
| Institutions |
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Atomic Energy Commission of India Government College University |
| Doctoral advisor | Bertram Neville Brockhouse |
| Known for |
Nuclear Program of India Operation Smiling Buddha Operation Shakti Neutron scattering Cold fission |
| Notable awards |
Padma Bhushan (1975) Bhatnagar Award (1971) |
Padmanabha Krishnagopala Iyengar (29 June 1931 – 21 December 2011; best known as P. K. Iyenger), was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely known for his central role in the development of the nuclear program of India. Iyengar previously served as the director of BARC and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, he raised his voice and opposition against the nuclear agreement between India and the United States and expressed that the deal favoured the United States.
During his last years of his life, Iyenger engaged in peace activism and greatly exhorted the normalization of bilateral relations between India and Pakistan.
Iyengar joined the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Department of Atomic Energy in 1952 as a junior research scientist, undertaking a wide variety of research in neutron scattering. He later got shifted to Atomic Energy Establishment (later renamed as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) when it was formed in 1954. In 1956, Iyengar was trained in Canada working under Nobel laureate in Physics Bertram Neville Brockhouse, contributing to path-breaking research on lattice dynamics in germanium. At the DAE, he built up and headed the team of physicists and chemists that gained international recognition for their original research contributions in this field. In 1960s, he indigenously designed the PURNIMA reactor and headed the team that successfully commissioned the reactor on 18 May 1972 at BARC.
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