Paramasivam Natarajan (17 September 1940 – 18 March 2016) was an Indian photochemist, the INSA Senior Scientist at the National Centre for Ultrafast Process of the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

and the director of Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He was known for his research on photochemistry of co-ordination compounds and

macromolecular A macromolecule is a "molecule of high relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises the multiple repetition of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low relative molecular mass." Polymers are physi ...

dye coatings for stabilization of electrodes. He was an elected fellow of the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

(IUPAC) and the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada'') is a research and development (R&D) organisation in India to promote scientific, industrial and economic growth. Headquarter ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1984, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Biography

Born on 17 September 1940 in the south Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, Paramasivam Natarajan graduated in chemistry from the

in 1959. He started his career as a lecturer at the Government Arts College of the Madras University in 1959 but later moved to the NGM College,

Pollachi Pollachi is a town and municipality in Coimbatore district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Pollachi taluk. It is situated near the center of the South Indian Peninsula, surrounded by Western Gha ...

in 1963. The next year, he joined the

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

(BHU) as a CSIR Junior Research fellow and during the tenure of the fellowship, obtained his master's degree in 1963. After continuing at BHU for a year more, he became a lecturer at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) where he stayed till 1970. Later he went to the US as a teaching assistant at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, simultaneously pursuing his doctoral studies under the guidance of John F. Endicott. He secured a PhD in 1971 and did his post doctoral studies under his PhD guide, Endicott, at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

as the latter had moved to the Michigan-based university by that time. Natarajan returned to India in 1974 and joined his alma mater, Madras University, as a reader of the department of physical chemistry. In 1977, he became a professor in charge of the Post Graduate Centre of the university in

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of T ...

. In 1982, he returned to the university headquarters in Chennai as the head of the department of inorganic chemistry. In 1991, he was deputed by the university as the director of Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), a post he held till 1996. After the completion of the assignment at CSMCRI, he resumed his duties at the university and became a senior professor in 1998. At time of his superannuation in 2001, he held the post of an INSA Senior Scientist at the National Centre for Ultrafast Process of the university and served as a member of the university syndicate. Natarajan was married to Sivabagyam and the couple had two daughters, Shiva Sukanthi and Shakthi. He died on 18 March 2016, at the age of 75, survived by his wife, children and their families.

Legacy

Focusing his research on photochemistry, Natarajan studied various areas of the discipline such as polymer dynamics using fluorescence,

flash photolysis Flash photolysis is a pump-probe laboratory technique, in which a sample is first excited by a strong pulse of light from a pulsed laser of nanosecond, picosecond, or femtosecond pulse width or by another short-pulse light source such as a fl ...

studies using picosecond and

femtosecond A femtosecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10 or of a second; that is, one quadrillionth, or one millionth of one billionth, of a second. A femtosecond is to a second, as a second is to approximately 31.6 ...

lasers and solar energy conversion. He demonstrated that micromolecular dye coatings of electrodes used in

photoelectrochemical cells A "photoelectrochemical cell" is one of two distinct classes of device. The first electricity generation, produces electrical energy similarly to a dye-sensitized solar cell, dye-sensitized photovoltaic cell, which meets the standard definition of ...

returned high

current density In electromagnetism, current density is the amount of charge per unit time that flows through a unit area of a chosen cross section. The current density vector is defined as a vector whose magnitude is the electric current per cross-sectional ...

. This led to his subsequent studies of solar energy conversion using chemically modified electrodes. He published his research in peer-reviewed journals including

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

Journal of the American Chemical Society The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' (also known as JACS) is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ...

Journal of Physical Chemistry A ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry A'' is a scientific journal which reports research on the chemistry of molecules - including their dynamics, spectroscopy, kinetics, structure, bonding, and quantum chemistry. It is published weekly by the Ame ...

Inorganic Chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with chemical synthesis, synthesis and behavior of inorganic compound, inorganic and organometallic chemistry, organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subj ...

and Chemical Communications for a total of 107 articles. He was granted patents for four of his findings. He mentored over 30 doctoral scholars and was associated with a number of journals as their editorial board member. He also was on a number of government committees including those of the Department of Science and Technology and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and delivered several featured talks and orations.

Awards and honors

The

awarded Natarajan the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Shanti or Shanthi may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1984. He received the Best Teacher Award from the

Government of Tamil Nadu The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary. Under the Const ...

the same year. In 1999, he was awarded the Acharya P.C. Ray Memorial Award by the Indian Chemical Society. He held the National Lectureship and the National Fellowship of the University Grants Commission of India during 1986–87 and 1989–91 respectively. Sir M. Visweshwaraiah Chair of the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

(1999), Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Chair of the University of Hyderabad (2004),

Raja Ramanna Raja Ramanna (28 January 1925 – 24 September 2004) was an Indian nuclear physicist. He was the director of India and weapons of mass destruction, India's nuclear program in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which culminated in Smiling Buddha ...

Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology (2006–09) and the senior scientist professorship of the Indian National Science Academy (at the time of his death) were some of the other notable positions he held. He was an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Tamil Nadu Academy of Sciences, Society of Bio-Sciences and Gujarat Academy of Sciences and a member of

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...

: The Scientific Research Society.

Selected bibliography

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Notes

References