Praveen Chaudhari
| Chaudhari Praveen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 30, 1937 Ludhiana, India |
| Died | January 12, 2010 (aged 72) Briarcliff Manor, New York |
| Occupation | physicist |
| Spouse(s) | Karin Praveen |
Dr. Praveen Chaudhari (November 30, 1937 – January 12, 2010) was an Indian American physicist born in Ludhiana, India, who migrated to the United States in 1961 and contributed to the field of material physics.
Chaudhari was employed by IBM's Research Division, headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York after coming to the United States. Praveen researched the structure and properties of amorphous solids, defects in solids, mechanical properties of thin films, superconductivity, quantum transport in disordered systems, liquid crystal alignment on substrates, and the magnetic monopole experiment.
His career with IBM lasted 36 years during which he was appointed director and later vice president of science in 1981 and 1982, until he stepped down as director of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in 2006, citing his wish to continue with the laboratory as part-time, following President George W. Bush's allowance for increased funding to the department in his budget. Chaudhari had been hailed for successfully navigating BNL through a series of significant funding challenges. In his official statement he had cited his decision that "The laboratory is in very good shape and I feel it is time for me to make a change: to spend more time at home and to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities to do science at BNL."
Praveen died on January 12, 2010, at the age of 72 in his home in Briarcliff Manor, New York, after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Karin; his son, Ashok; and his daughter, Pia.
Chaudhari held a number of positions, starting as a visiting scientist in 1964 at the Danish Atomic Energy Commission. In 1966, he joined both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a research associate and the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center as a research staff member. At IBM, he was promoted to manager in the Physical Sciences department in 1970, followed by various management positions in that decade, including that of co-ordinating the magnetic bubble, optical recording and Josephson technology programs in the physical sciences. In 1974, he became a visiting faculty member at Harvard University in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In 1980, Chaudhari became the acting director of the Physical Sciences department, followed by his promotion as the director of the Physical Sciences Department in 1981. From 1982 until 1991 he was the vice-president of science, and from 1989 until 1990 he participated as a member of the Corporate Technical Committee. Chaudhari was the founding member of the IBM Academy of Technology in 1990, and throughout this time, beginning in 1966, kept his position as a research staff member at IBM until 2003. From 2003 until 2006, he was the director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory.
...
Wikipedia