Newsletter of the Indian Academy of Sciences

Inside...1. 2007 Annual Meeting .................. 1

2. 2008 Elections ............................. 3

3. Special issues .............................. 5

4. Public lectures ............................. 8

5. Discussion meeting ..................... 9

6. Refresher Courses .................... 10

7. Lecture Workshops .................... 12

8. Obituaries................................... 17

No. 47 March 2008

The seventy-third Annual Meeting of the Academy was held atThiruvananthapuram during 1– 4 November 2007. It was a return to this locationafter twenty six years, and the hosting institutions this time were the National

2007 Annual Meeting

Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Vikram Sarabhai SpaceCentre, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute forMedical Sciences and Technology, and University of Kerala. About 130 Fellowsand 41 invited teachers attended the meeting.

In a departure from past practice, the inauguralsession, including introduction of Fellows andthe President’s address, was held on the eveningof the opening day. The Presidential addressby D. Balasubramanian was titled “Approachesto understand and treat eye diseases”. Hedealt with both the avoidable kinds of blindnessin the Indian population – about nine millions –and those which have no ready solutions – somethree millions. The former include cataract cases

and uncorrected refractive errors, the latter cover corneal dystrophies, glaucomas

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EDITORN. Mukunda

Published byIndian Academy of SciencesBangalore 560 080, IndiaPhone: (080) 2361 2546, 2361 4592email: office@ias.ernet.in

This newsletter is available on theAcademy website at : www.ias.ac.in/patrika/

To receive a regular copy of theNewsletter, please write to theExecutive Secretary of the Academy(madhavan@ias.ernet.in)

Forthcoming Events –200819

th Mid-Year Meeting, Bangalore

(4–5 July 2008)

74th

Annual Meeting, Delhi(31

st October– 2 November 2008)

Refresher CoursesExperimental physicsBharathiar University, Coimbatore16–31 May 2008

Experimental physicsPondicherry University7–23 July 2008

Lecture WorkshopsMathematicsPondicherry University3–5 April 2008

Frontiers in chemistrySt. Thomas College, Pala10–11 April 2008

Medical biotechnologyNMKRV College, Bangalore10–11 April 2008

Molecular biologyMangalore University, Madikeri11–12 April 2008

Probing electronic states in molecularmaterials, Bharathidasan Univ,Tiruchirappalli, 24–27 September 2008

and retinal disorders. Work at the LV Prasad Eye Institute is atthe molecular genetic and biochemical levels, and goes evenas far as the use of adult stem cells to repair damaged corneas.It was very moving to see how much can be done to relievesuch distressing afflictions, how much is being done, and yetremains.

M.L. Munjal’s special lecture on“Towards quieter automobiles’was in many ways an ‘ear-opener’. He described the rangeof the human ear – much largerin a sense than the eye – andthe harmful effects of excessivenoise. The 1997 EU limits onautomobile noise levels are nowin force in India, and by 2010 thecurrent EU limits will beenforced. The sources of automobile noise, design of mufflersto bring down noise levels, and the counter intuitive idea thatall noise generating machines should be located near one anotherrather than far apart, were explained beautifully.

Sulochana Gadgil’s speciallecture ‘Foretelling the monsoon’gave a historical-cum-technicalaccount of a notoriously difficultsubject, often the target ofhumour. The enormouseconomic consequences of thequality of the monsoon are wellknown even to lay persons.Paradoxically, while the Indianmonsoon is a quite reliable

event in the tropics, swings within the normal 10% variationscan go from drought conditions to disastrous flooding, over andabove spatial variations. Modelling is also extremely difficult,evidence the absence of predictions of the 2002 and 2004droughts. There are efforts currently to generate forecasts atthe district level. The influences of the El Nino SouthernOscillation over the Pacific and the Equatorial Indian OceanOscillation over the Indian Ocean, and our improvedunderstanding of these global scale phenomena, were broughtout in dramatic fashion. There is hope that in the near future wemay see substantial improvement in simulation skills and qualityof predictions of our monsoon.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Public Lecture ‘Danceof the Enchantress’ was a brief spoken introduction to his

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recent documentaryfilm on the classicaldance formMohiniyattam, followedby a screening of thefilm. The latter was avisual treat, theunobtrusive cameracapturing in a lyricalmanner the grace,dignity and eleganceof the movements of this dance form and itsmusical and rhythmic accompaniments. The lushbackground scenery of the region also made a strikingimpression.

There were two symposia, one on ‘Space sciences andapplications’ and another on ‘Re-emerging infections inIndia’. The first one covered solar system studies,space transportation systems, earth viewed from space,and the numerous societal contributions of our thrivingspace programmes. The second symposium dealt withthe Chandipura encephalitis, re-emergence ofchikungunya in India, the malaria problem, and theproblems of prediction and control of recurring infections.The earlier cases of chikungunya involved the Asiangenotype, mainly in urban areas; the more recent2005–2006 occurrence affected about 13.6 millionpersons mainly in rural areas, and was caused by theAfrican genotype.

The S. RamaseshanMemorial Public Lecturedelivered by LotikaVaradarajan describedthe ‘Seafaring traditionsof the Indian WestCoast’. This was afascinating journeyin both space andtime, with splendidvisual material,highlighting the different kinds of seagoingvessels crisscrossing the Arabian Sea, the PersianGulf and the Red Sea. One could see the greatdifferences as compared to the Eastern Coast,the cultural features and continuity of skills overcenturies.

2008 ELECTIONS

Anil KumarNational Geophysical Research Institute, HyderabadAreas of interest: Earth sciences; isotopegeochemistry; palaeomagnetism

Fellows:

Apte, Shree KumarBhabha Atomic Research Centre, MumbaiMolecular biology; biotechnology;physiology, biochemistry; stress biology ofbacteria and plants

Bhalla, Upinder SinghNational Centre for Biological Sciences, BangaloreSystems biology; computational neuroscience;systems neurobiology

Chandy, MammenChristian Medical College Hospital, VelloreHematology; bone marrow transplantation;molecular genetics of blood diseases

The meeting included a good number ofpresentations by recently elected Fellows andAssociates, covering a wide variety of subjects:symmetry of solutions of differential equations;prospects of India becoming a leader in wirelesstechnology; lopsided spiral galaxies; the faunalresponse to India’s northward drift and collision with Asia;and several others.

As has become normal, the quality of presentations andof logistic arrangements were both extremely high, andall participants felt this was a rewarding and memorablemeeting.

Cultural Programme during Annual Meeting

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Chaudhuri, ArabindaIndian Institute of Chemical Technology, HyderabadOrganized surfactant assemblies; bioorganicchemistry; liposomal delivery systems

Das, Puspendu KumarIndian Institute of Science, BangalorePhysical chemistry; laser spectroscopy anddynamics; nonlinear optics

Dey, Gautam KumarBhabha Atomic Research Centre, MumbaiPhase transformations in metals and alloys;electron microscopy; metallic glasses andnanocrystalline materials

Goswami, RavinderAll India Institute of Medical Sciences, New DelhiAutoimmune endocrine disorders; sporadicidiopathic hypoparathyroidism; metabolic bonedisorders in India

Gupta, Anil KumarIndian Institute of Technology, KharagpurPaleomonsoon; paleoclimatology;paleoceanography

Gupta, YashwantNational Centre for Radio Astrophysics, PuneAstronomy and astrophysics; radio astronomyinstrumentation; signal processing

Karanth, K UllasCentre for Wildlife Studies, BangaloreCarnivore ecology; animal populationanalysis; conservation biology

Kesavan, SrinivasanThe Institute of Mathematical Sciences, ChennaiPartial differential equations; homogenization;isoperimetric inequalities

Krishnakumar, ETata Institute of Fundamental Research, MumbaiAtomic collision processes; moleculardynamics; electron-controlled chemistry

Krishna Kumar, KIndian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, PuneMonsoon dynamics; predictability andprediction; climate change and impacts;climate applications

Kundu, Tapas KJawaharlal Nehru Centre for AdvancedScientific Research, BangaloreMechanisms of transcriptional regulation;nonhistone chromatin proteins in genomicintegrity; chemical biology

Manna, IndranilIndian Institute of Technology, KharagpurStructure-property correlation of engineeringmaterials; nanostructured materials; surfaceengineering

Nangia, AshwiniUniversity of Hyderabad, HyderabadOrganic chemistry; crystal engineering;supramolecular chemistry

Panda, DulalIndian Institute of Technology, MumbaiBiochemistry; cell biology; biophysics

Pandit, Aniruddha BInstitute of Chemical Technology, MumbaiDesign of multiphase reactors, cavitationphenomena; environmental engineering

Parnaik, Veena KCentre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, HyderabadCell biology; molecular biology

Roy, SujitIndian Institute of Technology, KharagpurOrganometallic chemistry; catalysis for finechemicals; C-H functionalization

Sarkar, UtpalPhysical Research Laboratory, AhmedabadTheoretical high energy physics; particlephysics and cosmology; astroparticle physics

Sharma, Surinder MohanBhabha Atomic Research Centre, MumbaiCondensed matter physics under highpressures; synchrotron beamlines; moleculardynamics and first principles calculations

Chattopadhyay, JoydevIndian Statistical Institute, KolkataMathematical modelling on ecology;epidemiology; eco-epidemiology

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Honorary FellowsSharma, YogendraCentre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, HyderabadBiophysics; biochemistry; protein structure andfunction

Siddiqi, ImranCentre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, HyderabadGenetics; plant development; geneticrecombination

Singh, MewaUniversity of Mysore, MysoreAnimal behaviour; wildlife ecology;sociobiology

Somasundaram, KumaravelIndian Institute of Science, BangaloreCancer biology; genetics; virology

Srianand, RaghunathanInter-University Centre for Astronomy andAstrophysics, PuneQSO spectroscopy; cosmology; structuralformation

Suresh, VenapallyUniversity of Hyderabad, HyderabadAlgebra; quadratic forms and divisionalgebras; arithmetic geometry

Thomas, K GeorgeNational Institute for InterdisciplinaryScience & Technology, ThiruvananthapuramPhotochemistry and photophysics;nanostructured materials; photoresponsivematerials

Tyagi, Jaya SAll India Institute of Medical Sciences, New DelhiMolecular biology; mycobacteriology; geneticengineering

Vijayamohanan, KNational Chemical Laboratory, PuneElectrochemistry/physical chemistry;nanotechnology; materials chemistry

Waghmare, Umesh VasudeoJawaharlal Nehru Centre for AdvancedScientific Research, BangaloreMulti-functional oxide materials; nano-structures and their properties; applications ofgeometric phases in materials science

Chakravarti, AravindaJohns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimore, Maryland, USA

Jansen, MartinMax-Planck-Institut für FestkörperforschungStuttgart, Germany

SPECIAL ISSUESTransportation research

Guest Editor: Dinesh MohanSadhana, Vol. 32, No. 4, August 2007, pp. 279–478

Most large cities in the world are already located inlow and middle income countries and many more citiesin these countries are expected to have populationsof ten million or more in the next few decades. Allthese cities are faced with serious problems ofinadequate mobility and access, vehicular pollution,road traffic crashes and crime on their streets.Increasing use of cars and motorized two-wheelersadds to these problems and this trend does not seemto abate anywhere. However, many recent reportssuggest that improvements in public transport andpromotion of non-motorized modes of transport canhelp substantially in alleviating some of these problems.Current evidence shows no success in reducing theuse of personal motorized transport for long distancetrips anywhere in the world and for urban trips in mostlocations. Most efforts to reduce environmental pollutiondue to road transport, therefore, focus on the controlof exhaust emissions. This has produced somesuccesses in reducing CO, SO2 and NOx , in a fewlocations, but not CO2 anywhere. As long as we usefossil fuels for combustion this problem is unlikely tobe resolved unless we can shift modal shares towardsnon-motorized and public transport.

Most cities in the world are not successful in doingthis. Even worse, transportation issues are so complexthat there is little agreement internationally on whatpolicies will help reduce vehicle-dependent travel without

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sacrificing social welfare. This volume of Sadhanacontains a set of eleven articles that posit the problemand illustrate the complexity of analysis and expertisenecessary to deal with sustainable transport issues.They deal with health hazards of road transport trafficplanning, the question of subsidy for quality transport,and traffic safety.

Sustainable transport concerns involve many moretechnical and scientific issues than included in thisvolume. However, they inform us that transportationpolicies that may result in reducing the adverse healthimpacts of road transport will require sophisticatedinterdisciplinary research efforts, and a great deal ofcross-disciplinary communication. At present there areno educational or research institutions in India or otherlow and middle income countries that have givenadequate importance to developing this expertise. Theexpertise that exists works mostly on individualinitiative without enabling institutional frameworks andfunding mechanisms. The purpose of this volume isto demonstrate that such work can only be done inan interdisciplinary set-up involving a high level ofscientific expertise. This will need policy decisions atthe highest level in each country.

Theoretical chemistry symposium

Guest Editors: Sourav Pal and P VenuvanalingamJ. Chem. Sci. Vol. 119, No. 5, September 2007,pp. 325–580

Theoretical chemistry is experiencing rapid growth inrecent years and has become multifaceted.Development of newer methodologies and novelapplications in materials, life sciences and other areashave contributed to this enormous growth.

This special issue of the Journal contains 29 originalpapers presented at the Theoretical ChemistrySymposium (TCS 2006) held at BharathidasanUniversity in Tiruchirapalli during December 2006, whichis the tenth of the series. This meeting formed part ofthe silver jubilee celebrations of the University.

The papers presented in this issue cover severalimportant areas such as theoretical and computationalmethodologies, density functional and wave function-based quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics andits applications, classical and quantum simulation ofcomplex systems, electronic structure and

spectroscopy of molecules and clusters, chemicaldynamics, reactivity and catalysis, chemistry atsurfaces and interfaces, nonlinear phenomena anddynamics, molecular materials and nano-systems, softcondensed matter, biology-inspired theoreticalchemistry, equilibrium and nonequilibrium processes incondensed phase, chemo and bioinformatics, andmodelling.

LCWS 06Guest Editors: Rohini M Godbole and Atul GurtuPramana, Vol. 69, Nos.5/6, November/December 2007,pp. 693–1225

The first InternationalLinear Collider (ILC)Workshop was held inBangalore in March2006 under the aegisof World-Wide Studyfor Future LinearColliders. Theseconferences havebeen the maininternational fora fordeveloping thephysics case andreviewing detectordesigns andtechniques for an electron-positron linear collider.These workshops started in 1991 have travelled allaround the world. History has taught us that electronand hadron accelerators are complementary in theexploration of new physics frontiers. The high energyphysics community in the world has reached an accordthat a linear collider operating at 0.5–1.0 TeV wouldprovide both unique and essential scientificopportunities; it has endorsed with the highest prioritythe construction of such a machine. A major milestonetowards this goal was the approval by the InternationalCommittee on Future Accelerators of therecommendation of the International TechnologyRecommendation Panel for the cold technology of thefuture International Linear Collider. LCWS 06 was thefirst International Linear Collider Workshop after thechoice of this technology was announced.

This volume containing the proceedings of theWorkshop brought out in two issues of Pramana includesome of the plenary talks such as the overview of

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the physics and experiments at the ILC, the detectorconcepts, as well as a large number of talks presentedin the parallel sessions. A large number of contributionsrelated to detectors and the machine design interfaceand γγ,eγ option are some of the special featuresof these proceedings.

CRSI Anniversary

Guest Editors: S Chandrasekaran and V KrishnanJournal of Chemical Sciences, Vol. 120, No.1, January2008, pp. 1–222

The Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI)established in 1999 completed its tenth year duringthe Tenth National Symposium in Bangalore inFebruary 2008. The society has been providing a forumfor chemists to discuss and share their researchcontributions with colleagues and foster the growth ofchemical research and education. CRSI has grownsteadily over the years to more than thousand activemembers and remains vibrant in all its activities. Ithas established links with UK and Italy and organizesannual meetings at different places in the country withthe active participation of large number of members.Many distinguished chemists from abroad areassociated with CRSI as Honorary Members and takepart in the deliberations of NSC. This symposium hasmany integral components — mini-symposia onfocused themes (nanomaterials, theoretical chemistry,conducting polymers, catalysis, weak interactions inchemistry, chemical education and others), joint CRSI-RSC symposia for young scientists of the twocountries, medal lectures, distinguished named-lecturesand others.

The special issue brought out to mark the successfulcompletion of a decade of CRSI showcases theexcellent research contributions of a representativegroup of members of the chemistry community in thecountry. The volume covers a range of topics randomlychosen to provide a flavour of chemical researchpursued by the members in the country.

MESODIS 2006

Guest Editors: R Prasad and SA RamakrishnaPramana, Vol. 70, No.2, February 2008, pp. 191–380

This special issue consists of some of the paperspresented at the International Workshop on the Physics

of Mesoscopic andDisordered Materials(MESODIS–2006)held at IndianInstitute ofTechnology, Kanpur inDecember 2006. Theaim of the workshopwas to review therecent progress in theareas of mesoscopicphysics anddisordered materials,and explore emergingdirections in both basic physics and technologicalapplications of the materials. The lectures at theworkshop covered a wide variety of topics such asnanomaterials, mesoscopic physics, disorderedmaterials, superconductivity, computational andsimulation methods etc. The workshop was intendedto bring theorists and experimentalists to a commonplatform to foster multidisciplinary research and cross-fertilization of ideas.

New emerging areas such as spintronics, newideas in the study of nonequilibrium statisticalproperties of mesoscopic systems and new materialssuch as graphene and photonic metamaterialswere also discussed in the workshop. Novel nanoscalefabrication and characterization techniques as wellas the tremendous enhancement of computationalpower have made possible accurate comparisonbetween experiments and theory. The enhancedcomputational power has made it possible to includeelectron-electron interaction effects in the study ofdisordered materials. New theoretical andcomputational approaches have been evolved to studystrongly correlated electronic systems and there havebeen great advances in the areas of electronicstructure calculations and density functional theory.The discussions in the workshop explored connectionsbetween these varied areas and indicated futuredirections of research likely to emerge. The twentypapers contained in these proceedings, consisting ofboth invited papers and contributed papers, representthese discussions.

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PUBLIC LECTURESThe orphan tsunami of 1700 — Atransoceanic detective story

Brian AtwaterUniversity of Washington, Seattle, USA3 October 2007, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Brian Atwater is knownfor uncovering earthquakeand tsunami hazards atthe Cascadia subductionzone, which extends 1100km along the pacificcoast of North America.As part of this year'sIRIS/SSA distinguishedlecture series, In thislecture Atwater traced thegeologic detective story of

the 1700 Cascadia earthquake, which attained magnitude9 as judged from Japanese accounts of the associatedtsunami. He also presented new geologic findings abouttsunami hazards on Indian Ocean shores.

To the fifth dimension and backRaman SundrumJohns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA18 December 2007, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Physicists studying themicroscopic laws ofNature have been drawnto the idea that there areextra dimensions ofspacetime, hidden fromeveryday experience (andintuition) by theirextremely small size. Inrecent times, theories ofh i g h e r - d i m e n s i o n a lspacetime have beenproposed that can elegantly explain some currentmysteries of the Standard Model of fundamentalphysics. Particle collider experiments are nowapproaching the power and resolution to be able to putsome of these ideas to the test. This talk explained

how to think about higher dimensions without highermathematics, and reviewed how they fit with the twinpillars of modern physics: quantum mechanics andrelativity. What an experimental discovery of an extradimension in the near future would look like, and whatit would mean were also explained.

Sundrum has made many significant contributions tohigh-energy physics, especially at the interface betweenstring theory and phenomenology. He is famous for hispioneering work on possible observable consequencesof extra dimensions of space-time.

A dialogue on science andmathematics in India

K.R. SreenivasanThe Abdus Salam International Centre for TheoreticalPhysics, Trieste, Italy28 December 2007, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

There has been muchdiscussion on the state ofscience in India. Thespeaker presented aperspective even as herealized the difficulties inadding new substance tothe debate. His perceptionwas shaped by threefactors: personal interestin the subject, a broadunderstanding of the state

of science in other parts of the world, and numerousdiscussions with Indian scientists visiting ICTP. Thesevisitors are both seasoned and novice, and come frompremier research institutions as well as universities inremote parts of the country. The speaker hoped thatsome new elements will emerge from the dialogue.

Photonic band gap materials:Engineering light-matter interactions

Sajeev JohnUniversity of Toronto, Ontario, Canada3 January 2008, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Photonic band gap materials are microstructuredmaterials that "cage" or trap light, controlling light in amanner more versatile than how electronic microchips

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DISCUSSION MEETINGPhenotypic and developmentalplasticityEstuary Island, Thiruvananthapuram16–20 December 2007

Increasingly, biologists are making use of approachesbased on physics and mathematics to understand theorganization and functioning of living systems. This isespecially true with regard to studies that look at group-level traits in terms of the properties of the interactingunits that make up the group — whether they benetworks of genes within a cell, developmentalmodules in an organism or cooperating individuals thatform a social group. Since they are free of thetraditional fixation on specific organisms, theseattempts also carry obvious implications for anevolutionary understanding of complex biologicalsystems. Indeed it is becoming apparent that suchstudies, often clubbed under the head of 'systemsbiology', or 'evolutionary developmental biology', definethe thrust of what will be truly significant in basicbiological research for the next few decades. All thismakes it vital for researchers who are specialists indifferent areas of biology to get together periodicallyin small groups to exchange information on recentadvances made by using techniques from other areas,

process electricalsignals. These"semiconductors of light"mould the flow of lightthrough a spectral rangecalled the "photonic bandgap" (PBG) in which theusual interactions of lightwith atoms (quantumdots) or other elementaryexcitations can bepartially or completely

suspended, but restored where desired. PBG materialshave applications in optical communications, providethe world's smallest lasers, and offer hollow-core fibersfor life-saving laser surgery. They are also platform foradvances in basic science. The speaker presented anoverview of history of this subject, described theunderlying physics, and pointed out some new directionsin this burgeoning field.

and more importantly, theoretical insights that are madeavailable by those advances.

The attempt to understand the basis of variation intraits exhibited by cells, groups of cells and individualorganisms is among the most exciting areas ofresearch in contemporary biology. Until recently, theonly significant source of variation for evolution, andby implication for all of biology, was genetic variation.Because it was assumed that non-genetic variationwas of no relevance for evolutionary change, thisattitude persisted in spite of the long-standing evidencefor the existence of variation due to environmentalcauses or different developmental outcomes. It hasbecome increasingly obvious that such a viewpoint isno longer tenable. Indeed, what is referred to as theplasticity of the phenotype is occupying centre stagewith regard to a large number of major issues inbiology. In cellular and behavioural biology, theseissues include: the ability of stochastic geneexpression, and the structure of the dynamical systemsby which genes and their products interact, to lead tomore than one stable outcome in terms of cellularstates; the possibility that such outcomes can becomplementary to each other; and the further possibilitythat this can de-link cooperative group behaviour froma requirement for shared genes. In developmentalbiology, phenotypic plasticity has been invoked as thecentral concept necessary for an understanding of theevolution of pattern formation. In order to discuss thesethemes a discussion meeting on "Phenotypic anddevelopmental plasticity" was organized.

There were 24 formal presentations and 10 posters.The total number of participants was 44, out of whom8 were students. The participants were from tencountries and had rather varied backgrounds. Bothfactors helped in making the proceedings lively. Inorder to allow time for debate, and as was the practiceat previous meetings, the number of persons invitedto make formal presentations was relatively small; butthey covered a wide range of topics within the broadtheme of phenotypic and developmental plasticity. Theparticipants took part actively in the discussions thatfollowed each oral presentation and, less formally, atposter viewings.

It would be worth trying to run meetings such as thison a regular basis, say every two years. Their broadaim would be to clarify conceptual issues in ourunderstanding of how developmental forms haveevolved. Within this overall framework, one can cover

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Extracts from the report: The birth of oceanography,especially 'the marine geology and geophysics' beganwith the HMS Challenger expedition (1972-76) to theWorld Ocean. Although Andhra University, Waltair madepioneering marine investigations in 1950s, theInternational Indian Ocean Expedition (1962-65) was thelandmark for marine geology and geophysical studiesin the Indian Ocean. Subsequently in 1966 the NationalInstitute of Oceanography (NIO) was established forunderstanding the seas surrounding the country. Sincethen systematic studies have been carried out in andaround the seas of India and enormous knowledge hasbeen generated in different branches of oceanography.NIO felt the need to disseminate knowledge generatedby its scientists for betterment of society and to inspirethe younger generation to undertake research in marinesciences. This Refresher Course is part of our effortsto meet this obligation.

The course consisted of lectures under different areas.Eight lectures were delivered on physical oceanographicprocesses around Indian margins, marine hazards onthe Indian coast, dating of rocks and position fixing atsea. Ten lectures were on 'minerals and mineraldeposits'. The topics included the environment offormation of marine minerals on the continental marginsand deep sea, gas hydrates and its applications,volcanogenic and hydrothermal minerals in the vicinityof sub-marine ridges and plate boundaries. Six lectureswere on 'Sea level and global change'. These includedobserved sea level rise in the past century and inferredsea level and neo-tectonic activity along the Indiancontinental margins since Last Glacial Maximum (18,00014C years BP), bio-geochemical processes and ocean-land and atmospheric interactions and global change.Thirteen lectures were delivered under'Palaeoceanography'. The lectures included the basicsof stable isotopes (C, N, O), applications of stableisotopes in land and oceans, cyclicity of monsoonsand forcing mechanisms, applications of radiogenicisotopes (Sr, Nd) for the sediments of Bay of Bengaland Andaman Sea, Neogene ocean circulation, climateand deep-sea Hiatusses and DSDP/ODPaccomplishments, principles and instrumentation ofenvironmental magnetism and their applications inunderstanding palaeoclimate, and the role of Antarticaand Southern Ocean in the present and past globalclimate changes. Under 'applied aspects of marinegeology' three lectures were delivered; these includedmarine archeological investigations in inferring shoreline/sea level changes and applications of multibeambathymetry and underwater photography in

a large number of sub-themes; only a small fractionof them can be taken up in any one meeting. Thereis no doubt that the need exists and that they areextremely useful. Both students and research workerscan benefit enormously from them.

REFRESHERCOURSES

Marine geology and geophysicsNational Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa22 October–2 November, 2007

No. of participants: 37 teachers and scientists fromAllahabad, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kadapa,Kharagpur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Salem,Thiruvananthapuram, Tirupati, Trichi, Vadodara, andVishakhapatanam

Course Directors: V Purnachandra Rao/KS Krishna(National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula)

Resource Persons: MM Sarin and R Ramesh ( PRL,Ahmedabad); Arun Bapat (Central Water and PowerResearch Station, Pune); KM Sivakholundu (NIOT,Chennai); Masood Ahmad and Kalachand Sain (NGRI,Hyderabad); Meloth Thamban (NCAOR, Goa); IVRadhakrishna Murthy (Andhra University); Shiva K Patil(KS Krishnan Geomagnetic Research Laboratory,Allahabad); SWA Naqvi, Dileep Kumar, Satish Shenoi,AR Gujar, JN Pattan, B Chakraborty, R Nigam, PDNaidu, Unni Krishnan, AL Paropkari, MV Ramana, MVSGupta, Rahul Sharma, Shyam Prasad, KH Vora, GCBhattacharya, AK Chaubey, K Sree Krishna, TRamprasad, BN Nath, V Purnachandra Rao (all fromNIO, Dona Paula, Goa).

Jointly sponsored by IASc (Bangalore),INSA (New Delhi) and NASI (Allahabad)

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understanding sea floor. Under 'marine geophysics'eleven lectures were covered. These included magnetic,gravity and seismic measurements of the continentalmargins, demarcation of continent-ocean boundary,tectonic readjustments within the lithosphere, etc. Alsoincluded were lectures on ambiguity in interpretingpotential field data and geophysical evidences fordemarcation of new Exclusive Economic Zone.

The participants were each given a book The IndianOcean, Vol. 2 (eds R Sengupta and E Desa) as itcontained several state-of-art reviews on marine geologyand geophysics of the Indian Ocean. They were alsogiven detailed lecture notes prepared by the ResourcePersons.

Experimental physicsMar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram22 October–2 November, 2007

No. of participants: 35 teachers and 15 MSc students

Course Director: R Srinivasan (Bangalore)

Unlike other courses in experimental physics which wereof an all-India character, the present course was intendedonly for the teacher participants from the affiliatedcolleges of Kerala University. The Board of Studies ofthe Kerala University had introduced ten of theseexperiments in their BSc and MSc curricula. The coursewas designed to train the teachers in carrying out theseexperiments.

Vistas in zoological teachingUniversity of Allahabad, Allahabad30 January–13 February, 2008

Course Director: UC Srivastava (University ofAllahabad)

Participants: Teachers from Agra, Amaravati,Bharawari, Bhilai, Bhopal, Dehradun, Faizabad,Gholaghat, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Khammam.Kushinagar, Lalitpur, Malappuram, Meerut, Mumbai,Pithoragarh, Rewa, Rishikesh, Sagar, Saidabad, Satna,Sikkim, Sultanpur, and Trichi. There were also 29participants from the University of Allahabad.

Resource Persons: Pratima Gaur, UC Srivastava,Krishna Kumar, Anita Gopesh, RR Tiwari, BanlataMohanty, Abhay Pandey, Anjana Pandey (all fromUniversity of Allahabad), Niraj Kumar (Institute of AppliedSciences, Allahabad) and Vimlesh Chandra (Allahabad)

Topics of lectures: General trends and theories inevolution; concept building in zoology; analyticalappraisal of linkages between traditional and modernconcept of evolution; systemic division of animaldiversity; evolution through the ages; radiation in animalkingdom; antioxidants: a boon for the life of humanbeings; ultrastructure of cytoplasmic inclusions; exoticfishes of Allahabad; gene organization; microbial gutinteraction; anatomical evolution with physiologicaladaptation; physico-chemical evolution on nutritionalpattern in man; biochemical evolution; diversity in fish;transition of life from water to land; lessons from studieson molecular endocrinology of water buffaloes;bioinformatics in biology; structure and physiology ofmale and female reproductive organs; molecular biology;new dimensions of vector-borne diseases and its control;biodiversity and conservation; global warming.

Besides lectures, there were practical sessions onspecimen preparation and preservation, HRP-TMBreaction, Barr-body by methylene blue and mitochondria,

Course Co-ordinators: VK Vaidyan (University ofKerala) and VS Jayakumar (Mar Ivanios College)

Resource Persons: R Srinivasan (Bangalore), KRSPriolkar (Goa University), JBC Efrem D'Sa (CarmelCollege, Goa), SB Gudennavar (Christ College,Bangalore), SM Sadique (Goa University).

Experiments covered: Construction of voltage regulatorusing LM317; dielectric constant of liquids; electricaland thermal conductivity of copper; measurement ofmutual inductance (lock-in amplifier); measurement ofrelaxation time constant (signal generator); self-inductance AC bridges; series, parallel resonancecircuits and inexpensive AC bridge; Stefan's constantand emissivity; temperature coefficient of resistanceand band gap of a semiconductor; thermal diffusivity ofbrass.

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random-amplified polymorphic DNA–polymerase chainreaction (RAPD-PCAR), preparation of chromosomalslides, anthropometric measurements and BMIinterpretation in terms of health index, preparation ofkaryotype, and DNA probe and slicing.

There were also interactive sessions and groupdiscussions in which the participants and resourcepersonnel took part. The participants were taken to theZoological Museum in Allahabad and the Aqua-bioreserve and Magh Mela.

Statistical thermodynamicsUniversity of Mysore, MysoreSeptember 7–9, 2007

Convener: R Srinivasan (Mysore)Co-ordinator: D Revannasiddaiah (University of Mysore)

Speakers: AV Gopala Rao (Univ. of Mysore), GautamMenon (IMSc, Chennai); NS Vidhyadhiraja (JNCASR,Bangalore) and SR Shenoy (Univ. of Hyderabad).

Participants: 141 students and faculty from theDepartment of Physics of University and colleges inand around Mysore.

Topics of lectures: foundations of statisticalmechanics; classical statistical thermodynamics andapplications; Fermi–Dirac statistics and applications;Bose–Einstein statistics.

Modern trends in chemistryVivekananda College, Tiruvedakam (Madurai Dist.)September 19–20, 2007

Convener: R Ramaraj (Madurai Kamaraj University)Co-ordinator: T Rajendran (Vivekananda College,Tiruvedakam)

Speakers: M Palaniandavar (Bharathidasan University,Tiruchirapalli); S Rajagopal and K Pitchumani (MaduraiKamaraj University); P Ramamurthy (Univ. of Madras,Chennai); D Ramaiah (NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram); NChandrakumar (IIT, Chennai).

LECTUREWORKSHOPS

Jointly sponsored by IASc (Bangalore),INSA (New Delhi) and NASI (Allahabad)

Participants: 250 undergraduate students and facultyfrom Tiruvedakam and other colleges.

Topics of lectures: Bio-inorganic chemistry;photoinduced intramolecular processes in bimetallicsystem; greener solvents for the future; fluorescencespectroscopy; photodynamic therapy; photochemistry oflasers; electron sharing and the covalent bond; and NMRimaging.

Science workshop for teachersChrist College, BangaloreSeptember 22, 29, 2007

Co-ordinator: Mayamma Joseph (Christ College,Bangalore)

Speakers: Mythily Ramaswamy (TIFR-CAM, Bangalore),AS Vasudeva Murthy, B Ananthanarayan, NRavishankar, N Srinivasan and Usha Vijayraghavan (allof IISc).

Participants: 103 students and faculty from variouscolleges in Bangalore.

Topics of lectures: Vector calculus; line and multipleintegrals; integral theorems and applications; high energyphysics; nanoparticles; bioinformatics; and transgenicorganism.

Advances in basic sciences andmathematicsMES College, BangaloreSeptember 24–27, 2007

Convener: TN Guru Row (IISc, Bangalore)Co-ordinator: TT Srinivasan (MES College, Bangalore)

Speakers: Anil Kumar, SA Shivashankar, G Rangarajan,DN Rao, V Venkataraman, MK Ghosh, MRN Murthy,TN Guru Row, Siddharth Gadgil, PN Rangarajan, GMugesh, V Nagaraja, Diptiman Sen and Gautam Bharali(all of IISc, Bangalore); G Srinivasan and NVMadhusudana (RRI, Bangalore).

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Topics of lectures: Excitement of nanoscience;analysis of NMR spectra; materials in microelectronics;DNA structure, polymorphism and topology;metalloproteins; separation science; solid statechemistry and auto exhaust catalysis; human genomics;aromatic and heteroaromatic annulation; and greenchemistry.

Trends in medical biotechnologyVIT University, VelloreNovember 27–29, 2007

Convener: A S Balasubramanian (Vellore)Co-ordinator: G Anilkumar, (VIT University, Vellore)

Participants: 250 students and teachers from MES andother local colleges.

Topics of lectures: NMR; nanomaterials; chaos andsynchronization; restriction-modification enzymes;physics of semiconductor heterostructures; probability;fascination of proteins; amazing world of symmetry;what is topology; traditional, modern and futuristicvaccines; the accelerating universe; bioinorganicchemistry; central dogma; superconductivity; liquidcrystals; Euclid's fifth postulate.

Concepts in chemistryRamananda College, BishnupurSeptember 28–30, 2007

Convener: BM Deb, IISER, KolkataCo-ordinator: Kartick Gupta, Ramananda College,Bishnupur

Speakers: A S Balasubramanian, Nihal Thomas, B SRamakrishna (CMC, Vellore), K A Balasubramanian,(Meenakshi Medical College, Chennai), T Subramoniam(NIOT, Chennai), Arun Balakrishnan (Nicholas Piramal,Mumbai), David S Durica (University of Oklahoma, USA).

Participants: 354 students and faculty from VITUniversity, and other colleges.

Topics covered: Technological advances in DNAsequencing: inherited lysosomal storage disorders;immunogenetics of inflammatory bowel diseases; stemcell biology and its applications; high through roboticsin screening of bioactive and understandingcombinatorial drug mechanism; bacterial peritonitis inliver cirrhosis; recent advances in the assessment ofthe energy expenditure and body composition; evolutionof nuclear receptors and endocrine signalling.

Frontiers in biosciencesSophia College for Women, MumbaiNovember 29–30, 2007

Conveners: Tarala Nandedkar (National Inst. forResearch in Reproductive Health, Mumbai ) and RoshanD'Souza (Sophia College, Mumbai)

Speakers: BM Deb; DS Ray (IACS, Kolkata), R Biswas(SN Bose Centre, Kolkata), PK Chattaraj (IIT,Kharagpur).

Participants: 152 students and faculty from collegesin West Bengal.

Topics of lectures: Symmetry in chemistry; excitementin nonlinear dynamics; solvent dynamics in chemicalevents, chemical reactivity.

Frontier lectures in chemistryVV Pura College of Science, BangaloreNovember 5–6, 2007

Convener: HA Ranganath (Bangalore University)Co-ordinator: KG Srinivasa Murthy (VV Pura College,Bangalore)

Speakers: KJ Rao, N Suryaprakash, SA Shivashankar,K Muniyappa, G Mugesh, MS Hegde and SChandrasekaran (all of IISc, Bangalore), Arun Kumar(GE–JFWTC, Bangalore), MRS Rao (JNCASR,Bangalore), Ila Junjappa (Jubilant Biosys, Bangalore).

Participants: 150 M.Sc students and teachers from theChemistry Department of Bangalore University

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Speakers: D Modi (NIRRH, Mumbai); J Bellare (IIT,Mumbai); KB Sainis (BARC, Mumbai); V Mangoli(Fertility Clinic, Mumbai); GR Raman (Nicholas Piramal,Mumbai); Indira Ghosh (IBB, Pune).

Participants: 300 students and faculty from collegesin Mumbai.

Topics covered:.Nanotechnology; vaccines andimmunotherapy; assisted reproductive technologies inhuman; genomics and proteomics; bioinformatics;industrial application of biosciences.

Frontiers in neurosciencesSophia College for Women, MumbaiJanuary 4–5, 2008

Convener: Veronica Rodrigues (TIFR, Mumbai)Co-ordinator: Yasmin Khan (Sophia College, Mumbai)

Frontier topics in physicsNGM College, PollachiJanuary 22–24, 2008

Convener: M Lakshmanan (Bharathidasan University,Trichy)Co-ordinator: K Anandan (NGM College, Pollachi)

Speakers: Shubha Tole and Vidita Vaidya (TIFR,Mumbai), Neeraj Jain and Rema Velayudhan (NBRC,Manesar), Sumantra Chaterjee (NCBS, Bangalore), MCArunan (Sophia College, Mumbai), Probal Banerjee (Coll.of Staten Island, USA).

Participants: 169 students and faculty from collegesand institutions in Mumbai.

Topics covered: Signals and responses: how the brainis built; principles of organization of sensory systems;plasticity in the rat somatosensory cortex; adultneurogenesis and adult neural stem cells; learning andmemory: synapses, cells & circuits; neuroscienceeducation; target the flippase, label as 'trash', or pullthe trigger.

Speakers: M Lakshmanan and S Selvaraj(Bharathidasan University, Trichy) D Mangalaraj andP Kolandaivel (Bharathiar University, Coimbatore),V Balakrishnan (IIT, Chennai), K Porsezian (PondicherryUniversity), H S Mani (IMSc, Chennai), K Ganesan(Vellore Institute of Technology).

Participants: 157 students and staff from colleges andinstitutions in Coimbatore.

Topics covered: Relevance of equations in physics;nonequilibrium statistical physics; introduction tobiophysics; nanostructured materials/ thin films for gassensing applications; optical fiber communications;India-based neutrino observatory; need of densityfunctional theory; nonlinear dynamics of spin currentsin nanoferromagnets and novel memory devices; chaos-based encryption systems.

Mathematical analysis andapplicationsMaharani Lakshmi Ammani College for Women, BangaloreJanuary 31–February 2, 2008

Convener: Mythily Ramaswamy (TIFR-CAM, Bangalore)

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principles in catalysis and kinetics; analytical methodsto determine gene structure and function; introductionto computational biology and systems biology; enzymes:concepts and promises; microbial diversity andmetagenomics.

Frontier topics in physicsBishop Heber College, TiruchirappalliFebruary 4–5, 2008

Convener: M Lakshmanan (Bharathidasan University,Tiruchirappalli)Co-ordinator: T Kanna (Bishop Heber College,Tiruchirappalli)

Co-ordinator: Sandhya JV ( Maharani Lakshmi AmmaniCollege, Bangalore)

Speakers: Alladi Sitaram (IISc, Bangalore), PrashanthK Srinivasan, Mythili Ramaswamy, AS VasudevaMurthy, Amit Apte (TIFR-CAM, Bangalore), JosephSamuel (RRI, Bangalore)

Participants: 150 students and staff from colleges andinstitutions in Bangalore.

Topics covered: Differential calculus of one dimension;integral calculus of one dimension; differential calculusof multi dimension; vector calculus; multiple integrals;surface integrals; integral theorems; applications tophysics; applications of differential equations.

Gene structure and function—concepts to new developmentsMar Athanasios College, Thiruvalla, KeralaJanuary 31–February 1, 2008

Convener: V Nagaraja (IISc, Bangalore)Co-ordinator: Biju Dharmapalan (MACFAST, Thiruvalla,Kerala)

Speakers: Umesh Varshney, S Mahadevan, DebnathPal, V Nagaraja, DN Rao (all of IISc, Bangalore)

Participants: 339 students from colleges in Thiruvalla.

Topics covered: Nucleic acid structure and sequencing;from double helix to gene regulation; introduction tothermodynamics in molecular biology; problems in DNAreplication; microbial survival strategies; enzymes:

Speakers: G Baskaran, R Simon, Rahul Sinha (IMSc,Chennai), N Gautham (University of Madras), MLakshmanan ( Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli),CS Sundar (IGCAR, Kalpakkam)

Participants: 178 students and staff from colleges andinstitutions in Tiruchirappalli

Topics covered: Excitements in nanoscience;entanglement in polarization optics; protein structure,prediction and protein folding; the quest for the buildingblocks of the universe; nanomaterials; relevance ofequations in physics.

Pharmaceutical chemistry and drugdesignSri Kaliswari College, SivakasiFebruary 11–12, 2008

Convener: R Ramaraj (MKU, Madurai)Co-ordinator: S Alagappan (Sri Kaliswari College,Sivakasi)

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Speakers: Uday Maitra (IISc, Bangalore), MPalaniandavar (Bharathidasan University), H SuryaPrakash Rao (Pondicherry University), V Subramanian(CLRI, Chennai)

Participants: 213 students and staff from colleges andinstitutions in Sivakasi.

Topics covered: Enzyme inhibitors as drugs;metallodrugs; development of small molecules as drugs;molecular modelling and drug design.

Novel materialsUniversity of Mysore, ManasagangotriFebruary 22–24, 2008

Convener: R SrinivasanCo-ordinator: T K Umesh (University of Mysore)

Speakers: K J Rao, Anil Kumar, K K Nanda (IISc,Bangalore)

Participants: 100 students and staff from colleges andinstitutions in Mysore.

Topics covered: Ceramic oxide materials andamorphous materials; GMR and spintronic materials;nanomaterials.

Computational chemistryMar Ivanios College, ThiruvananthapuramMarch 7–8, 2008

Convener: MS Gopinathan (Indian Institute ofInformation Technology, Thiruvananthapuram) andAbraham George (Mar Ivanios College,Thiruvananthapuram)

Speakers: MS Gopinathan, TK Manojkumar, KRSrivasthan (all of IITM-K); TP Radhakrishnan (Universityof Hyderabad); CH Suresh (NIST, Thiruvananthapuram);ED Jemmis and SS Ramasesha, (IISc, Bangalore),Abraham George.

Topics covered: Quantum chemistry; molecules inmaterials; computing reaction paths; computationalchemistry: web resources, variational and perturbationalmethods; chemoinformatics; virtual advanced school inchemistry; Gaussian programmes.

Foundations of chemistryVYT PG Autonomous College, Durg, ChhattisgarhMarch 7–9, 2008

Convener: PK Chattaraj, IIT, KharagpurCo-ordinator: Ajai Kumar Pillai (VYT College, Durg)

Speakers: PK Chattaraj (IIT, Kharagpur), SBhattacharaya (Jadavpur University, Kolkata), AmitBasak (IIT, Kharagpur), R Biswas (SN Bose Centre,Kolkata), P Chakrabarti (Bose Institute, Kolkata).

Participants: 149 students and staff from colleges fromDurg, Rajnandgaon, Vaishali Nagar and Bhilai.

Topics covered: Physical chemistry; electron spinresonance; organic chemistry; reaction dynamicsand spectroscopy; aspects of biochemistry and drugdesign.

Frontier lectures in physicsBangalore UniversityMarch 11–12, 2008

Convener : HA Ranganath (Bangalore University)Co-ordinator: Ramani (Bangalore University)

Speakers: SV Bhat, GS Bhat, S Ramasesha,J Srinivasan, Diptiman Sen (all of IISc, Bangalore),N V Madhusudana (RRI, Bangalore)

Participants: 169 students and staff from the Universityand colleges in Bangalore

Topics covered: Fascination of manganite magnetism;liquid crystal research; clouds; molecular electronic,magnetic and optic materials; science of climate change;electrical transport in low dimension.

Frontier lectures in biologyBangalore University, BangaloreMarch 19–20, 2008

Convener: HA Ranganath (Bangalore University)Co-ordinator: RM Ranganath (Bangalore University)

Speakers: R Gadagkar, DN Rao, MRN Murthy, UshaVijayRaghavan (all of IISc, Bangalore), K VijayRaghavan(NCBS, Bangalore), TS Raju and V Ravi (NIMHANS,Bangalore)

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Asoke Mookherjee(elected 1990) was born on23 May 1931 in Gopalpur ofWest Bengal. He securedhis B.Sc (Hons) in Geologyin 1952 with a distinctionand M.Sc in Geology in1954 with a first-class-first,both from CalcuttaUniversity. In 1963 heobtained his Ph.D inGeology from IIT, Kharagpur. His research careerstarted in 1960 at Princeton University as a RidgefieldFoundation Fellow. In 1965 he moved over to the LeighUniversity as an NSF visiting scientist, and between1966 and 1967 he worked in Canada as an NRCvisiting scientist at the University of Western Ontario.Returning to India in 1967 he joined the Indian Instituteof Technology at Kharagpur and served at IIT for 32years retiring in 1991 as Professor of Geology, afterwhich he joined the Jadavpur University as an EmeritusScientist.

Mookherjee is among the earliest workers in India toinitiate research in modern ore-geochemistry. Applicationof phase equilibrium relationships among ore mineralphases, elucidation of physico-chemical nature of orefluids and their environment of deposition, and linkingregional metallogeny to the geologic history of crustalevolution of Precambrian tracks constitute the thrustarea of his research activities. He is well known amongore-geologists in India and abroad for his singularcontribution towards understanding the modifying,creative and destructive roles of metamorphism inore genesis. He discovered a new mineral (Rayite)and described several rare minerals from Indiandeposits. He is credited for introducing the termmetamorphogenic ores, distinct from those that aremetamorphic. In 1970, he proposed formation of sulphide

OBITUARIES

neo-magmas due to post-ore intrusion of dykes intosulphide ore bodies.

Now to some details of Mookherjee's contributions. Hiswork on Zawar constitutes the earliest attempt in thiscountry to reconstruct the physico-chemical environmentof mineralization. It was demonstrated that, contrary tothe prevailing notion, metal-zoning in ore bodies is nosimple function of temperature alone. Another intriguingproblem during the fifties was: How does the ore-formingfluid perform the seemingly impossible task of holdingboth metal ions and sulphide ions together, avoidingprecipitation? Complexing of metal ions was consideredas a possible answer. He furnished a vital clue bydemonstrating through radioactive tracer techniquethat partitioning of Cd, between a solution andcrystals of sphalerite (Zns) precipitating from thesolution, is markedly changed when the solution ischloride-free and chloride-rich, implying thereby asignificant difference in stabilities of zinc and cadmiumchloride complexes.

Most ore deposits in ancient shield areas (like those inthe Indian, Canadian and Scandinavian shields) have along, billion-year post-depositional history. Post-oregeologic events like deformation metamorphism andigneous activities had left their marks on such deposits,often to blur their pristine characteristics almost beyondrecognition. Surprisingly, recognition of the imprints oflater events on ore deposits — unlike the case ofmetamorphism and deformation of common rocks —had been slow. Some of the earliest work onmetamorphism of sulphide ores stands to the credit ofMookherjee. Work along these lines generated somenew ideas on regional metallogeny of the Indian shield;it also involved investigations in minute details that ledto the discovery of one new and several extremely raresulphide/sulphosalt minerals from Indian deposits. Theearliest attempt in this country in applying trace elementgeochemistry to solve problems of ore genesis was dueto him with increasing sophistication of analytical andtheoretical approach.

Interpretation of ore textures has always been a trickyproblem. Mookherjee showed refreshingly originalapproach in this field by considering thermodynamicaspects and chemical mass-balance phenomenoninvolved in the evolution of some ore-textures.Characterization of the progressively-changing physico-chemical variables that influence hydrothermal

Topics covered: insect societies; how fly assemblesthe machinery that allows it to walk; brain and behaviour;traditional, modern and futuristic vaccines; restriction-modification enzymes; structural biology; geneticregulators of the rice flowering stem and floral organs;HIV infection.

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mineralizing systems, through thermodynamics andanalytical formulation approach, was also taken up byMookherjee.

Mookherjee was elected to the Fellowship of IndianNational Science Academy and the Geological Societyof India. He was a recipient of the GSI NarayanaswamyAward (1985), National Mineral Award (1987–88), theNN Chatterjee Medal of Asiatic Society (1964) and theIIT Silver Jubilee Research Award.

He passed away on 17 February 2006 after a prolongedillness. Unfortunately this information reached theAcademy only recently.

Bal Krishan Anand(elected 1975) was born on18 September 1917 inLahore when he received hisearly education at the DAVHigh School andGovernment College. Hewas a brilliant student andrecipient of variousdistinctions, medals,honours, and meritscholarships. After qualifying for the MBBS degree fromKE Medical College in Lahore in 1940, he moved toAmritsar in 1943 as a teacher in physiology and obtainedthe M.D. degree of Punjab University in 1948. At theage of 32, he was appointed Professor and Head of theDepartment of Physiology at the Lady Hardinge MedicalCollege in New Delhi, which became the first medicalcollege in the country to introduce human andmammalian experiments in physiology in 1953. He heldthis till 1957, when the All India Institute of MedicalSciences, New Delhi chose him as the Head of itsPhysiology Department. He continued at AIIMS from1957 to 1974 during when he was also its Vice Dean(1966–69) and Dean (1969–74). At AIIMS hedemonstrated his dynamic leadership by helping tostructure the MBBS course to three phases of threesemesters, each followed by a year of internship thatincluded three months of rural posting. This pattern wasfollowed by other Universities in the country. In 1974he became an Adviser of the WHO South-East Asiaregion and in 1975 became the Assistant Director ofHealth Services in WHO until September 1977 when herejoined AIIMS as an Emeritus Professor. Concurrentlyhe served as the Director of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of

Medical Sciences in Srinagar until 1982. In 1977 hewas also appointed as Vice-Chanceller of BHU but couldnot take it up due to health reasons.

Anand was the first to describe the presence of a"feeding centre" (which refers to the existence of a neuralsubstrate responsible for regulating food intake) and"satiety centre" in the hypothalamic region of brain in1951. Later he made extensive studies to establish themechanisms involved in their regulation of feedingbehaviour. He established the regulation of variousvisceral responses from the limbic system of brain linkingemotional and aggressive behaviour with theseresponses, which explain certain psychosomaticdisorders. He studied the hypothalamic regulation ofsome endocrinal responses, especially involved inreproductive behaviour. He pioneered investigations onmeditative 'yogis' especially on their central nervousresponses. He assisted Indian Defence Services inworking out adaptation and acclimatization to highaltitude.

Besides his research, Anand was credited with severalother contributions. He established the Association ofPhysiologists and Pharmacologists of India and theJournal of Physiology and Pharmacology, that isconsidered one of best medical journals in the country.He received several awards (ICMR Amir Chand Awards1955 and 1962; GJ Watumull Award 1961; ShantiSwarup Bhatnagar Award 1964; Padma Shri 1969), andfellowships including the Indian National ScienceAcademy, the National Academy of Medical Sciencesin which he served also as President, NeurologicalSociety of India (President) and the Indian Associationfor Advancement of Medical Education (President).

He passed away on 2 April 2007.

Ashesh Prosad Mitra(elected 1974) passed awayon 3 September 2007 aftera month's illness. Only a fewmonths earlier, his eightiethbirthday had beencelebrated at NPL, theinstitution with which hisname had been inseparablyassociated for the last halfa century.

Mitra was born on 21 February 1927 in Calcutta wherehe received his early education. He obtained his Masters

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degree in physics in 1948 securing a first-class-firstfrom Calcutta University from where he also obtainedhis D.Phil in 1955. After a brief stint as a ColomboPlan Fellow at the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics(1951) and a visiting professorship at the PennsylvaniaState University (1952–54) he joined the NationalPhysical Laboratory in 1954 as a scientist heading theRadio Science Division. He continued at NPL for 32long years and finally became its Director from 1982 to1986. In 1986 he was appointed the Director General ofCSIR for a 5-year term. After retiring from CSIR herejoined NPL as a Bhatnagar Fellow. In 1996, he wasappointed the Director of the South Asia RegionalResearch Centre in Delhi.

Mitra's contributions cover atmospheric environment,radio communication, ionospheric physics, atmosphericchemistry and space research. His pioneering work onthe use of cosmic radio noise for studies of the upperatmosphere resulted in a whole series of scientificdiscoveries in ionosphere, solar physics and cosmicrays. He introduced new techniques of detecting solarflares including the use of cosmic radio noise, set upat NPL a radio flare system that in the sixties was oneof the most extensive anywhere in the world, introducednew techniques of analysis of flare effects of theatmosphere, and in a pioneering work showed thatatmospheric chemistry changes during a flare. Theseresulted in a comprehensive book that is only one ofits kind. He developed an atmospheric model fromobservations of satellite drag and initiated new D regionrocket experiments. Mitra's work on ion and neutralchemistry in the upper atmosphere, and especially onthe minor constituent nitric oxide, provided the basisfor much of our present knowledge of the lowerionosphere. At NPL he introduced a method ofionospheric prediction that has been the base of radioforecasts for HF and MF communication systems. Heset up in early 1970 a school on tropospheric monitoringand propagation systems and on microwave radiometryand established an International Spacewan Systemand International Ursigramme and World Day Service.In late seventies his group introduced for the first timein this part of the world an acoustic radar (SODAR) andcarried out work on atmospheric ducting, pollution andinstability.

Mitra's contributions to atmospheric science startedwith the International Geophysical Year (IGY). He wasthe driving force behind the Indian programme of IGY

in 1957–58; the International Quiet Sun Year (IQSY)1964–1965; the Middle Atmosphere; IGBP; LGAS (AsianLow Cost Greenhouse Gas Strategies) 1997–1998;INDOEX (Indian Ocean Experiment) 1998–1999; themethane campaign in India 1991 and the methane Asiacampaign 1998.

The areas in which Mitra made outstanding contributionsin global and climate change and atmospheric chemistryinclude (a) the first effort to examine global changesignals over the entire atmospheric environment fromsurface to 1000 km ; (b) the pioneering and path-breakingmeasurements of methane emission from paddy fields,and (c) the INDOEX programme. His initiatives madean impact on the global discussions about theresponsibility of various countries with regard togreenhouse gas inventories, current emissions and likelyfuture scenarios.

In a monograph brought out in 1992, Mitra discussedfor the first time the question of effects of humanactivities over the entire atmospheric environmentextending from the surface to 1000 km. This was atthat time the only work of its kind covering not only thetroposphere and the stratosphere but also the middleand upper atmosphere and the ionosphere. Referenceozone atmosphere over India as well as referenceprofiles of minor constituents (surface to 100 km) wereformulated. A totally new perspective was the recognitionof the role that ions play even at stratospheric andtropospheric levels. Human activities included not onlythe use of fossil fuels in landuse and land cover change(resulting in GHG emissions) but also the use ofhighpower radiowave heating and spacecraft effluents.This approach of considering the total atmosphericenvironment, after a lull of some two decades, led tovigorous international efforts on changes in middle andupper atmosphere.

In the eighties Mitra led a very extensive middleatmosphere programme in India as part of theinternational programme. A major aim was to evolve afirst-order reference middle atmosphere over India. Thiswas achieved through the use of over hundred rocketexperiments and establishment of new facilities (suchas the laser heterodyning facility at Delhi). On minorconstituents, measurements of ozone were the mostcomprehensive providing several key results: low ozonecontent at equational regions and anomalies associatedwith passing weather disturbances.

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A campaign initiated in 1991 and later continued aspart of the ALGAS (Asian Lowcost GreenhouseGas Strategy) programme and MAC-98 (MethaneAsia Campaign, 1998/1999 in which he was theleader) led to a downward revision of the estimateof methane flux (from India and globally) and led tothe formulation of the revised IPCC methodology of1996. This emission in India was found to be in nearly1/10th of the early US-EPA estimates. This work led tonew global efforts, including those in several countriesin Asia (such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, andIndonesia.

A major international event which substantially modifiedthe perspective of climate change at regional and sub-regional levels was the INDOEX (Indian OceanExperiment) campaign of 1999 in which Mitra led theIndian scientific team. INDOEX was an internationalprogramme involving several hundred scientists fromthe USA, Europe, India and the island countries ofMaldives, Mauritius and Reunion. The experimentsrevealed the existence of an extensive brownish layerof pollutants and particles resulting from biomassburning and fossil fuel use. This has been followed upas an UNEP Assessment Report on "The South AsianBrown Cloud: Climate and other Environmental Aspects" by an International Panel chaired by Mitra.. A majorconsequence has been the recognition that greenhousegas warming, urban pollution and atmospheric ozoneare all inter-related problems. There are serious impactsof such clouds on hydrological cycle, on health and onagriculture.

Spanning over five decades Mitra's activities covereddifferent components of the atmospheric environmentat different times, but all orchestrating to provide apicture of the changing atmosphere over India.

Among the large number of recognitions that he receivedincludes: Fellowships of the Royal Society (1988) andthe three national Science Academies as well as theThird World Academy; Padma Bhushan (1989), ShantiSwarup Bhatnagar Fellowship (1991–1996) and Award(1968), C V Raman Award (1982), S. K. Mitra CentenaryMedal (1995) and Vasvik Award (2002). He was electedPresident of the International Union of Radio Sciences(1984–87).

He is survived by his wife Sunanda and twodaughters.

Birendra Singh Chauhan(elected 1952) was born on2 May 1915 at Hoshangabadin Madhya Pradesh. Afterobtaining his B.Sc in 1937and M.Sc in 1939, he joinedthe Indian Council ofAgricultural Research towork in one of theirschemes to work out theparasitic (helminth) infestorsand infestations particularly of domestic pets.Simultaneously he worked for his Ph.D and securedthe degree from Nagpur University in 1944. In 1945 hejoined the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) as asuperindent zoologist and was placed in charge of theGeneral Invertebrate Division covering the animal groupsof Protozoa Porifera, Coecenterate, Platyhelminthes,Nemathelminthes, Armelida, Echinodermata,Protochordata etc.

In 1956 he also obtained a DSc degree from the NagpurUniversity. Chauhan published over 80 original researchpapers in helminthology and systematic and generalzoology, many of which are of monographic nature.Subjects of his special interest have been parasitology(general helminthology), medical and veterinary withspecial reference to trematodes, cestodes, nematodes,Acanthocephala, Temnocephala, fish parasites anddiseases, fisheries, systematic zoology, morphology,zoo-geography, wild life fauna, conservation of naturalresources, ecology and enviromnental studies andpollution. He was the first in the country to studyMonogenetic trematode parasites of Indian marine fishesfrom the Bombay coast. The guidelines laid down byhim have revolutionized research on HumanSchistosomiasis in India resulting in his discovery of anew molluscan intermediate host Feressia tunis of thehuman blood fluke Schistosoma haematobium. Similarlyhe made a singular contribution by discovering a newintermediate mite host Schelerobates chauhani namedafter him.

In 1968 he became the Director of the Zoological Surveyof India and in 1973 was appointed the Vice-Chancellorof the University of Saugar.

Chauhan was awarded the Dorabji Tata Gold Medal,and the GD Bhalerao Memorial Gold Medal for hiscontributions to Indian Zoology and helminthology. Afestschrift publication in his honour was brought out bythe Zoological Survey of India. He served as Editor of

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journals published by ZSI and Helminthological Societyof India, the two societies which he had the honour ofacting as the President.

Chauhan passed away in Narsinghpur (MP) on 4February last year but the information became knownto the Academy only recently.

India has a rich tradition inastronomy and mathematicswhich goes back to theperiod of the Vedas.Krishna DamodarAbhyankar got attracted bythe stars in his childhoodwhen his father DamodarKeshav Abhyankar pointedout to him the Saptarishis(the Great Bear), Dhruva(the Polaris) and the 27 Nakshatras (lunar mansions)which have been in use in India for thousands of yearssince Vedic times. He later said, "It is these Nakshatrasand not the right ascensions of stars which still helpme to orient myself in the sky".

Abhyankar (elected 1974) was born on 21 June 1928 inIndore in Madhya Pradesh. He was always anoutstanding student. He received gold medals forsecuring the first rank in both high school andintermediate examinations. He received his M.Sc.degree in physics from Agra University in 1951. He thenworked for a short while at Holkar College, Indore as aJunior Lecturer. He was greatly interested in researchand got the opportunity to work at the KodaikanalObservatory during 1952–1954. During this period heworked on the problems of the Sun and studied basicastrophysics. He determined the difference between theSun's temperature at the pole and at the equator usingWooley's method of Ca ionization. He also determinedthe excitation temperatures of sunspots for Fe 1 andCr 1 by a curve of growth procedure.

Abhyankar then got a scholarship at the University ofCalifornia in Berkeley to do his Ph.D. degree. His thesiswas on "A study of some close binary systems" inwhich he studied some close binary stars to understandstellar evolution. He discovered a short period variableAD CMi. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree inastronomy in 1959. He spent another year at Berkeleyas a Junior Astronomer and worked on the problem ofthe stability of the straight line solutions in the restricted3-body problem.

On his return from USA, he rejoined the KodaikanalObservatory before taking up the position of Reader atOsmania University in 1960. In Osmania he introducedteaching of astronomy at both B.Sc. and M.Sc. levels.He also spent considerable time and effort in installinga new 48-inch telescope, which was then the largest inIndia.

Abhyankar then spent a year 1963–1964 at DavidDunlop Observatory, Toronto, Canada as a post-doctoralfellow where he carried out theoretical work on theSchuster problem for moving stellar atmospheres. Hewas made a full Professor in Astronomy in Osmania onhis return from Canada in 1964, a post which he heldwith distinction until his retirement in 1988. Abhyankaralso worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory inPasadena, USA from 1967 to 1970 when he wrote aseries of papers (in collaboration with A. Fymat) on thetheory of scattering in inhomogeneous and imperfectRayleigh scattering atmospheres. The technique waslater used in the study of planetary atmospheres.

Abhyankar worked largely on stellar atmospheres andbinary stars. His theoretical work on stellar atmosphereshas been widely published and well recognized. Hiswork in binary stars was also of a high standard andinspired many others to adopt this line of research.Abhyankar was a good observational astronomerand theoretical astrophysicist. He published over150 research papers and numerous popular articles.The following are his important contributions:(a) photometric, spectroscopic, spectrophotometric andperiod studies of about three dozen eclipsing andvariable stars with a view to determine their orbitalparameters, absolute dimensions and evolutionarystatus; (b) solved several problems in radiative transferin moving inhomogeneous and imperfectly scatteringsemi-infinite and finite atmospheres; (c) calculated theintensity and polarization line profiles in planetary andterrestrial atmospheres; (d) made MK morphologicalstudy of Am stars which led to the discovery of atransitional class between Ap and Am stars as wellas classification of the Am stars into subgroups;(e) developed a method of using the Fourier transformspectroscopic method for determining the Stokesparameters of polarization as a function of wavelengthin the optical region.

Abhyankar wrote 4 books Astrophysics — Stars andGalaxies (1922) and Astrophysics of the solar system(1999). The third book on Pre-Siddhantic IndianAstronomy was released after he passed away. The

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fourth on An overview of basic theoretical physicswritten in collaboration with A.W. Joshi is underpublication.

Teaching of astronomy was dear to Abhyankar. His lucidexposition made his lectures interesting. He alwaysemphasized on broadbased training in all branches ofastronomy instead of concentrating on one or two topicsthat are of interest to the teachers. He also tried tostimulate interest in the field of ancient Indian astronomyamong active astronomers in India. He was the nationalrepresentative of India to IAU Commission on Teachingof Astronomy for many years. He emphasized thatastronomy should be taught in schools and colleges.He gave talks on All-India Radio and wrote populararticles in Marathi.

After retirement, he worked as UGC Emeritus Professorfrom 1989–1991. During 1995–1998 he worked on theINSA project: "New light on Pre-Siddhantic astronomy".Abhyankar initiated the formation of AstronomicalSociety of India and served as its Secretary, Treasurerand President (1980-1982). He was a member of theInternational Astronomical Union, Royal AstronomicalSociety, and Astronomical Society of the Pacific,and a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.He was founder member of Andhra Pradesh Academyof Sciences and Maharashtra Academy of Sciences.He also served as the Chairman of the AdvisoryCommittee of the Positional Astronomy Centre inKolkata.

He received the Best Teacher Award from the AndhraPradesh Government; NSSA Award for patent rights ona new technique of measuring optical polarization; INSAVainu Bappu Award, and the M.P. Birla Award.

He developed kidney problems after a knee operationand passed away in Hyderabad on 8 November 2007.

Shyam Lal Yadava(elected 1999) was bornon 5 July 1953 atGhanshyampur, UttarPradesh to Tahalal Yadavaand Lakhani. During his earlydays in middle/high schoolhe was more interested inwrestling than in studies! Hewas a regular trainee in his

village Akhara (wrestling camp). He suffered a fracturein his left leg due to a fall from a tree. As a result hecould not pursue his primary interest for a long time.During this period he started taking interest in his studiesand never looked back. He completed his BSc in 1974from Gorakhpur University. He then joined the BanarasHindu University (BHU) and completed his MSc inmathematics in 1977 with record marks. In BHU heworked for his PhD in differential geometry. Hecompleted his doctoral work in two years and in 1979joined the TIFR Centre in Bangalore as a participant ofthe joint IISc–TIFR programme in Appications ofMathematics. After completing this programmesuccessfully he became a staff member of TIFR in1981. From 1981 to 2007 he served in TIFR at variouspositions: Research Assistant: 1981–1987; ResearchAssociate: 1987–1990; Fellow: 1990–1992; Reader:1992–1997; Associate Professor: 1997–2000; andProfessor from 2000. He also held several visitingpositions across the globe.

He initially took interest in stochastic processes anddid some work in stochastic calculus in locally convexspaces. After a brief stay in the world of stochasticprocesses, his research interest shifted to partialdifferential equations (PDE) in which he madeoutstanding contributions to the theory becoming aninternational expert. His major contributions were in thearea of semilinear elliptic equations in a boundeddomain. These equations have tremendous applicationsin diverse areas such as differential geometry,mathematical biology, astrophysics, etc. At the sametime they are also challenging from a mathematical pointof view and attracted the attention of leadingmathematicians. He, along with his collaborators, provedexistence/non-existence and uniqueness results forthese equations satisfying critical growth conditions onthe nonlinearity with various types of boundaryconditions. In this context he obtained relevantconnection between the concentration points of minimalenergy solutions and the critical points of the meancurvature of the boundary of the domain. He solved awell-known conjecture in this area. This body of workearned him a name as one of the leading researchersin this area. In recognition of his landmark contributionshe was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy ofSciences in 1999 and the Indian National ScienceAcademy in 2002.

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Yadava was Convener of the TIFR Centre during1999–2001 when he introduced several novel initiatives.To promote training and development of mathematicsin India he organized several workshops/symposia forresearch students and teachers.

Yadava was a strong person both physically andmentally. He was expert in Yoga. He used todemonstrate very difficult yogic exercises with relativeease. His enthusiasm for sports and other activities wasindeed contagious.

In 2001 Yadava fell ill and succumbed to his prolongedillness on 7 June 2007. His wife, Krishnavati, pre-deceased him in 2004. He is survived by a son.

Thekkepat Ramakrishnan(elected 1974) passed awayon 15 February 2008 inBangalore. He was sufferingfrom Parkinson's disease forthe past few years and thesyndrome reached anadvanced state before hisdemise, although the causeof his death waspneumonia. In his demise,the country has lost anexcellent scientist with great vision.

Born in Bangalore on 14 March 1922, Ramakrishnanwas the son of late K Karunakaran Nair, a Professor ofZoology and Principal of the prestigious Maharaja'sCollege at Ernakulam in Kerala. Brought up by the strictdisciplinarian father (he lost his mother at an youngage), he was an extremely studious and disciplinedindividual. He obtained his BA degree in 1943 from theMaharaja's College in Kerala (then affiliated to MadrasUniversity), securing distinction in all three parts(English, Sanskrit and the subjects). His M.Sc in 1950was from Madras University by carrying out researchat the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute ofScience. He pursued his doctoral research at theUniversity of British Columbia in Vancouver obtaining aCommonwealth Fellowship and a Ph.D in biochemistryin 1955.

Returning to India he joined as a Lecturer in the erstwhilePharmacology Laboratory (presently the Microbiologyand Cell Biology Department) at Indian Institute of

Science (IISc) Bangalore in 1957, following a one-yearstint as an INSA post doctoral fellow. TR, asaffectionately referred to by his associates andcolleagues, started the pioneering work onMycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative organism forTB. By far, his largest scientific contributions have beenon the metabolism and molecular biology ofM. tuberculosis, for which he was internationallyrecognized. In the initial years, his research groupexplored the major metabolic differences between thevirulent and avirulent strains of M. tuberculosis. Hismajor contention was that the failure of avirulent strainsto cause infection in the host should correlate to themetabolic differences between them. The operations ofall the metabolic pathways involved in the breakdownof carbohydrates were documented in Mycobacteria byhis team and several of the enzymes in these pathwayswere purified and characterized. The enzyme isocitratelyase, which provides a link between the carbohydrateand lipid metabolism from Mycobacteria, was firstreported by his group, and this enzyme found animportant place as a potential drug target. TR's researchgroup worked on other metabolic pathways includingpurine and pyrimidine biosynthesis, amino acidbiosynthesis and catabolism, nucleic acid and proteinsynthesis in Mycobacteria. All these analyses were fromthe point of view of understanding the mechanisms ofaction of known antitubercular drugs as well as foridentifying potential targets for drug action and thedevelopment of drug resistance by the bacterium.

A particularly notable contribution from TR's group wasthe isolation of a transducing mycobacteriaphage, thefirst ever reported transducing phage for Mycobacteria.This discovery opened up the possibilities of carryingout genetic analysis of Mycobacteria, which was till thenconsidered to be nonamenable to genetic studies. Thisphage was subsequently exploited by his otherassociates to understand the unique susceptibility ofMycobacteria to the potent drug Isoniazid.

TR was a great academician and a visionary way aheadof his times. He was the first to initiate molecular biologyresearch at IISc notwithstanding the opposition posedby conventionalists. He also introduced a formal teachingand training programme in microbial genetics andmolecular biology at IISc. Towards this goal, heorganized two international laboratory workshops in theemerging areas of molecular genetics with support fromUNESCO and invited some of the most leading

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international scientists in that area to conduct theworkshop.

TR was courageous to start research activities on thetubercle bacillus at a time when it was not considereda fashionable area and the containment facilities forworking with pathogenic organisms at best wereprimitive. He had realized the importance of tuberculosisas a public health problem in this country. In fact, whenthe Centre for Genetic Engineering was established atIISc in the 1980s, it was agreed that a thrust area ofresearch at this centre would be on Mycobacteria,making use of the more powerful experimental tools thatbecame available through the advances in recombinantDNA research.

Ramakrishnan also initiated for the first time at IISc ananimal tissue culture laboratory for carrying out researchon animal viruses. The initial studies were on rinderpestvirus, an important pathogen of veterinary significancein India, and Rous sarcoma virus, as an experimentalmodel system. TR also brought the Rotavirus systemto the department after a brief sabbatic stint in Australia.This activity served as the core for nucleating themolecular virology programme at IISc. Around the sametime he also set up a plant tissue culture facility inassociation with C S Vaidyanathan, which also becamea major area of research in the department insubsequent years.

Ramakrishnan was a strict disciplinarian, which heenforced on his students and associates, and pursuedhis own activities in a disciplined manner. He was highlyacademic and studied scientific literature with passion.He guided over 20 students for their Ph.D degree beforeofficially retiring from the department in 1982. Hereceived international grants from the NuffieldFoundation, Watumull Foundation and RockefellerFoundation with which he equipped the department andextended the facilities to all other colleagues. Hepublished nearly 100 research papers during his career.He was a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy,New Delhi and was the recipient of the Watumull awardin microbiology (1966), the FIE Foundation award (1982)and the Ranbaxy award (1985).

Ramakrislman's wife Devi passed away in November2007 due to cancer. He is survived by two sons and adaughter.

Sipra Guha-Muherjee(elected 1988), a widelyrespected member of theplant biology community,died rather suddenly on 15September 2007 on accountof cancer of the brain. Shewas born in Calcutta on 13July 1938 and did herbachelors and masters inscience from DelhiUniversity in 1957 and 1959 respectively. She obtainedher Ph.D in 1963, also from Delhi. Her research careeras a post-doctoral fellow started in 1963 at the DelhiUniversity. Between 1966 and 1968, she joined as aresearch associate in the Michigan State Universityand worked on isozyme patterns in peroxidases.Returning to India in 1968, she joined IARI as a PoolOfficer (1968–69) where she worked on the productionof haploids in rice and observed the genotypicdifferences in response to culture of haploids. In 1970she joined as a faculty at the West Virginia Universitywhere she mainly worked on production of mutantsdeveloping a new replica plating technique for isolationof mutants. Returning to India, she joined the JawaharlalNehru University (JNU) at New Delhi initiating the workon plant tissue and protoplast culture and starting workon regulation of enzyme synthesis in higher plants. AtJNU, she started as an Assistant Professor (1970–72),was promoted as Associate Professor (1972–79)becoming a full professor in 1979.

Guha-Mukherjee worked on the physiology andbiochemistry of cultured cells mainly on thebiochemistry of cell division and regeneration in tissueculture. With her colleagues she reported the presenceof an enzyme glyoxalase-1 in plants for the first time.This enzyme was found to control cell division in Daturacallus. She also worked on various aspects of protoplastculture, fusion of protoplasts and carrying on mutationexperiments in cultured cells. She also did research tounderstand the biochemistry and differentiation of plantcells in tissue culture. Working on the lipids of theplasma membrane which is related to regenerationshe found a correlation between phosphotidyl inositolcontent and regeneration of cells in culture. Thesestudies helped in understanding and controllingregeneration of cells and protoplasts, a major problemin genetic engineering.

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Her work on the production of haploids in tissue culturehad an impact on genetics and agriculture throughoutthe world and the technique was successfully adoptedfor plant breeding purposes in many countries. Sheworked not only on the technique of production ofhaploids but also on the constraints and genotypicdifferences which impede regeneration. Her work onbiochemistry of regeneration of protoplasts and plantcells also received great attention as this can ultimatelyprovide an insight as to why all cells do not regeneratein culture. Her work is of great importance in nationaldevelopment since the success of genetic engineeringof plants depends on successful regeneration ofengineered cells, and the haploid will provide theimportant system for genetic manipulation of economicplants.

Sipra's work is cited in almost every book of plant tissueculture. She received many honours and awards. Shereceived the Om Prakash Bhasin award inbiotechnology, and the Kanishka award of the LionsClub. She served on several committees and governingcouncils of various institutions. Specially noteworthy areher contributions as member of the Task Force andScientific Advisory Committees and University GrantsCommission.

Sipra is survived by her husband N. P. Mukherjee andtwin daughters.

Manakkal GanesaVaradarajan (elected 1974)was born in Pudukottah inMadras on 9 November1917 to M Ganesa Ayyarand Mangalammal. Heobtained his MBBS in 1944MD in 1947 and a Diplomain Medical Radiology in 1948from the Madras University.He then underwent specialtraining in various hospitals in England under theColombo Plan. He began his professional career in 1944as a venereologist at the Military General Hospital inMadras and then joined the Madras Medical CollegeDepartment of Radiology, first as a Radiologist (1947–61), Tutor (1961–64), Lecturer (1964–67) finally becomingProfessor of Radiology and Director-in-charge, beforeretiring in 1973. After formal retirement he joined as anEmeritus Professor of Radiology at UGC in 1973 and

in 1981 went back to Madras as the Neuro-Radiologist-in-chief at the Madras Neurological Research Institute.

Varadarajan did original and useful research work in softtissue radiography in localization of placenta. Hisresearch also included myodil ventriculography, soft-tissue placentography in pregnant women, percutaneoustranshepatic cholangiography in cases of jaundice andthyroid lymphography in thyroid gland disorders. Hisstudies on the physiological intracranical calcificationin Indian subjects have also been critically acclaimed.He has also done original research on X-ray of opticforaminal in optic atrophy. He published over 140research articles in radiology journals in India and abroadand read a number of papers at conferences in India.He also wrote a monograph on cranial and intercranialepidermoids.

Although he passed away more than 3 years ago on 5October 2004, this information reached the Academyonly recently.

Jacob Chandy (elected1961) was born on 23January 1910 in Kottayamin Kerala. After hisgraduation in 1931, hesecured his MBBS from theMadras Medical College in1936. In 1939 he had a stintof practice at the AmericanMission Hospital in Bahrain.At the height of the secondworld war in 1944, he left India in a troop ship going tothe Trans Pacific infested with torpedos and landed atthe west coast of America for training in neurosurgeryat the Montreal Neurological Institute under WilderPenfield. He also worked as a chief resident inneurosurgery at the University of Chicago in 1948.Returning to India in 1949 he started the Department ofNeurological Sciences at the CMC Hospital in Vellore,then the first department of its kind in India. It attractedtalents countrywide blooming into a premier centre oftraining and teaching in neurosciences wherepostgraduate training in neurology, neurosurgery andallied sciences started in 1960s. A pioneer ofneurosurgery in India, Chandy published severaloutstanding papers on the nature and prevalence ofneurological conditions.

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Chandy was the founder president of NeurologicalSociety of India which has given roots to subspecialitysocieties for neurotrauma, paediatric neurosurgery, aswell as the Society of Cerebrovascular Surgery andStereotoxic and Functional Neurosurgery.

His academic pursuits attracted worldwide attention. Hewas honoured by the American College of Surgeons,W.H.O and the World Council of Churches. In 1989 theWorld Federation of Neurosurgical Societies felicitatedhim by bestowing the medal of honour. The Governmentof India honoured him with Padma Bhushan.

After retirement he became an Emeritus Professor ofNeurosurgery at the Kerala Medical College and pursuedteaching programmes. Jacob Chandy was elected tothe Academy in 1961 and served in its Council from1962 to 1970. In 1971, unable to continue paying thefellowship after retirement, he withdrew from thefellowship of the Academy. In 1981, the Council of theAcademy reinstated his fellowship making him a lifemember without payment of any dues.

He passed away on 23 June 2007, leaving behind twosons and a daughter.

Archana Sharma, (elected1977), a leadingcytogeneticist andcytotoxicologist, passedaway in sleep on 14 January2008. Archana was born on16 February 1932 in Pune inthe family of academicians(her father and grandfatherwere Professors) and hadearly education in Rajasthan.After completing B.Sc. from Bikaner, she joined forhigher studies at the Botany Department of theUniversity of Calcutta and obtained M.Sc. (1951), Ph.D.(1955) and D.Sc.(1960). She had a brilliant academiccareer throughout and was only the second lady to havesecured D.Sc. degree from the University. Archanajoined the faculty of the University of Calcutta in 1967and became Professor of Genetics in 1972 and the Headof the Department of Botany in 1980.

A passionate teacher and a dedicated researcher,Archana developed newer staining and pre-treatmenttechniques for studying chromosome structure that are

now used throughout the world. One of her landmarkfindings published in a series of high quality publicationsincluding Nature is the elucidation of a new conceptof speciation and fixity of chromosome number inobligatory vegetatively reproducing plants. Basedon exhaustive analyses of somatic chromosomebehaviour on a large array of monocot taxa shededucted evidences for regular occurrence ofinconsistency in chromosome complement andparticipation of genetically balanced but chromosomallyvariant cell into new daughter shoot that gives way tonew genotype/cytotype/cryptic species in vegetativelyreproducing plants in the absence of sexual mechanismsof variation. Her other studies relate to induction ofdivision in adult nuclei and cause of polyteny indifferentiated tissue in plants; cytotaxonomicinvestigation on flowering plants; assessment ofchromosomal and genetical polymorphism in normalhuman populations in eastern India and their comparisonwith pathological conditions; differentiated patterns inhuman fibroblasts in relation to polyteny as a factor inaging; genetic polymorphism in relation to environmentalagents on living systems; clastogenic and mutageniceffects of various pesticides and metals on multiple testsystems; assessment of genotoxic and clastogenicactivity of environmental agents in subtoxic doses inexposed populations in relation to different modifyingfactors like diet, genetic predisposition, drug, etc; anduse of dietary factors and plant products in modulatingthe cytotoxicity of known pollutants–metals andpesticides.

A rare combination of brain, beauty and affection, shetrained a large band of researchers in cytogenetics,human genetics, and environmental mutagenesis;supervised the Ph.D work of over 50 students andpublished over 300 research and review papers, writteneight books including Chromosome techniques —Theory and practice published in three editions. Manualof chromosomes (1944), Plant chromosomes —Analysis, manipulation and engineering (1999), Thechromosomes (1976, 1985, 1991) and Handbook ofclinical genetics (1979); Chromosome painting (2001);Plant genome — Biodiversity and evolution (Vols 1–72003–2008).

For her scientific contributions she was recognized byseveral learned and professional societies and waselected to all the three Science Academies of India.She was also elected President of the Indian Botanical

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Society (1989); the Biological Section of the NationalAcademy of Sciences (India); and the Indian ScienceCongress Association (1986–1987). She was awardedthe Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1976); the J.C.Bose Award (1974) and as UGC National Lecturer(1980), FICCI Award (1983); Birbal Sahni Medal (1984)by the Indian Botanical Society; Platinum JubileeLecture (1989) and the Ashutosh Mukherji Medal (1999)of the Indian Science Congress Association, and India'scivilian honour Padma Bhushan (1984).

She is survived by her husband Arun Kumar Sharma,himself a distinguished cytogeneticist and her colleguein the University of Calcutta.

Pramod Karan Sethi(elected 1989) was born on28 November 1927 inVaranasi. He did his MBBSfrom Sarojini Naidu MedicalCollege in 1949 with anhonors in surgery and sixother subjects, and in 1952passed his MS in generalsurgery from the sameinstitution. In 1954 hebecame a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Onhis return to India, Sethi obtained the position of Lecturerin Surgery at the SMS Medical College and Hospital atJaipur, and rose to become its Professor and head ofDepartment of Orthopaedics, and Director of theRehabilitation Research Centre, which position he heldtill his superannuation in 1982.

Sethi not only acquired an outstanding reputationas a teacher in orthopaedic surgery and made Jaipuras one of the major teaching and research centres inthis speciality in India but his contribution towards thewelfare of the physically handicapped has beenremarkable. The lot of amputees and paralytics frompolio and leprosy is especially cruel among rural poorin the developing world where substitutes for missingor withered limbs and for alternative means of livelihoodare few. Witness to this condition is the prevalence ofcrippled beggars. Amputation of a foot or leg frequentlyfollows accidents with cars, trains and in factories. Alsoamputations to halt gangrene result from poisonoussnakebites - a hazard of barefooted farmers. Elaborateartificial limbs developed in industrialized countries didnot fit the needs of rural Indian amputees. The

prostheses were too expensive, difficult to get andrequired shoes. Also they were frequently discardedbecause users could not sit crosslegged, squat or walkon uneven ground.

While investigating each of the foreign designs ofartificial feet and legs, Sethi's group began to improvisean artificial foot that would respond more like areal one. A breakthrough came when a craftsman usingage-old sandcasting methods, produced a die for anatural appearing foot with a separate big toe, whichcould readily be cast in any size. When largemanufacturers refused to try, small Jaipur entrepreneurswho retread truck tyres used their scarp to vulcanizeand shape differing hardnesses of rubber poured intothe die and holding the iron shank reaching up to theleg stump. Eventually the firm-gripping, adaptable"Jaipur foot" was even made in light, medium or darkbrown. Life-like legs were made by villagers whileamputees watched. For polio patients inexpensive,lighter calipers also were fabricated quickly by skilledbut unlettered local artisans who are proud to be sociallyuseful.

Although all relatively cheap, the new devices were stillbeyond the means of penniless cripples who begandesperately making their way to Jaipur as the wordspread. Then in 1975 the Mahaveer Society forPhysically Handicapped offered to Sethi, monies raisedduring a large Jain religious festival. Endowment fundswere established so that each gift of Rs.2,500 earnsannually enough interest to buy an artificial limb plushelp on a railway ticket for those with a long journeyhome. The number thus assisted each year considerablygrew over the years.

While trying to demystify the medical profession, Sethiand his associates continued to devise better artificiallower limbs; patients already can again farm and climbtrees. In the Rehabilitation Research Centre in thehospital servants quarters amputees join in literacyclasses while learning together to walk with fitted limbsand find new comradeship. When a formerly legless manbicycles off to his village, he is a new man with anopportunity to become a productive participant in hiscommunity.

Sethi's work has shown that it is not the technicalvirtuosity of its design features which is exciting.

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Better designs could overrun it. It is valued becauseit represents the first major departure in ourthought processes and our value system. Insteadof looking to the West for our inspiration, it has enabledus to look to our poor peasant for approval. It has taughtus to tap creativity, innovation and participationfrom our humble and under-rated but highly skilledcraftsmen. We realize that education should not beconfused with institutional learning and that creativityis not a prerogative of the elite. The lack of financialresources is not always an obstacle to useful work andthe response of the community can be startling once

they realize that their work is meaningful and relevantto their needs.

Sethi received numerous honours and awards. A few ofthem are Padma Shri (1981), Ramon Magsaysay Award(1981), Guinness Award for Scientific Achievement(1982), RD Birla Award for outstanding Medical Research(1983), Knud Jansen Medal and Oration of WorldCongress in Prosthetics and Orthotics (1989), BC RoyNational Award as Eminent Medical Man (1989).

He passed away on 6 January 2008 leaving behind hiswife Sulochana, three daughters and a son.

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