Sir Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar | |
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Born |
Hindi: शांति स्वरूप भटनागर) 21 February 1894 Bhera, Shahpur District (now in Pakistan), British India |
Died | 1 January 1955 New Delhi, India |
(aged 60)
Residence | India |
Citizenship | India |
Nationality | Indian |
Fields | Chemistry |
Institutions |
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Banaras Hindu University |
Alma mater |
University of the Punjab University College London |
Thesis | Solubilities of bi- and trivalent salts of higher fatty acids in oils and their effect on surface tension of oils |
Doctoral advisor | Frederick G. Donnan |
Known for | CSIR India |
Notable awards |
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Sir Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar OBE, FRS (21 February 1894 – 1 January 1955) was a well-known Indian scientist, a professor of chemistry for over 19 years. He was the first director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and he is revered as the "father of research laboratories". He was also the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
To honour his name and achievements, CSIR instituted an award Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, since 1958 for outstanding scientists who made significant contributions in various branches of science.
Bhatnagar was born in Bhera, Punjab region of British India, in a Hindu kayastha family. His father, Parmeshwari Sahai Bhatnagar, died when he was eight months old and he spent his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather, an engineer, from whom he developed a liking for science and engineering. He used to enjoy building mechanical toys, electronic batteries, string telephones. From his maternal family he also inherited a gift of poetry. He studied elementary education at the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School, Sikandarabad. In 1911 he joined the newly established Dayal Singh College, Lahore, where he became an active member of the Saraswati Stage Society. Bhatnagar earned a good reputation as an actor. He wrote a Urdu one-act play called Karamati (Wonder worker), the English translation of which earned him the prize and medal of the Saraswati Stage Society for the best play of the year 1912. Bhatnagar passed the Intermediate Examination of the Punjab University in 1913 in first class, and joined the Forman Christian College from where he obtained BSc with major in physics in 1916, and MSc in chemistry in 1919.