Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar
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Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar FNA, FRS (6 August 1930 – 8 March 2004) was an Indian physicist who won the
Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...
in 1994. He was the founder-president of the International Liquid Crystal Society. Chandrasekhar was born on 6 August 1930 at
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
, to (sister of C.V. Raman) and . He received his MSc degree in
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
with first rank from Nagpur University in 1951. Subsequently, he joined the
Raman Research Institute The Raman Research Institute (RRI) is an institute for scientific research located in Bengaluru, India. It was founded by Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman in 1948. Although it began as an institute privately owned by C. V. Raman, it became an ...
(RRI),
Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
to work for his doctoral degree in physics under the guidance of his maternal uncle, C. V. Raman. The main topic of his research was related to optical rotatory dispersion measurements on several crystals. He received the D Sc degree from Nagpur University in 1954. Then he went to the
Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...
on an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship and obtained a second doctorate degree from
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
mainly for his work on the corrections for extinction in
neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The Discovery of the neutron, neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nucle ...
and X-ray scattering from
crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
s. His subsequent postdoctoral work in the University College and the
Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
at London also dealt with crystallographic problems. He returned to India in 1961 as the first Head of the Department of Physics, which had just been started in 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 ...
at Mysore. It was here that he turned his attention to
liquid crystals Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal can flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a common direction as i ...
, a subject which at that time was just coming out of a long hibernation.


Research

Liquid crystals made of rod-like molecules had been discovered in 1888, and many compounds had been synthesized at
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,
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in the 1920s and 30s. Some physical studies had been undertaken by the German and Russian schools during that era, but the subject later languished till the mid-fifties. Starting in the late fifties, the systematic synthetic effort by George William Gray in the UK and the physical studies by Wilhelm Maier in Germany (including the well-known Maier–Saupe or MS theory) started a revival of the subject. Chandrasekhar and his co-workers made contributions to the application of the dynamical theory of reflections to study the fascinating optical properties of cholesteric liquid crystals which have a helical structure with a pitch which is usually ~ 0.5 mm, and to the extensions of the molecular theory of nematic liquid crystals beyond the MS model. Chandrasekhar was invited to establish a liquid crystal laboratory in RRI after the Department of Science and Technology started supporting it in 1971. The move had a highly positive impact on his productivity. Along with a couple of former students who moved with him to RRI, in a short time, he developed a laboratory with all the essential facilities needed for research in the chosen area. Realizing that cutting-edge research would not be possible without an in-house capacity to produce new materials, a synthetic organic chemistry laboratory was set up. Soon many new experimental and a few theoretical results emerged and the Liquid Crystal Laboratory at RRI became one of the leading centres of research in the world. The twisted nematic
liquid crystal display A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other Electro-optic modulator, electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liq ...
was invented in Europe in 1971 and recently, LCDs have displaced CRTs as commercially the most important displays. In cooperation with Chandrasekhar and his colleagues, the
Bharat Electronics Limited Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, public sector aerospace and Military, defence Electronics, electronics company, headquartered in Bangalore. It primarily manufactures advanced electronic products ...
(BEL), Bangalore, developed indigenous know-how for the manufacture of simple LCDs for the domestic market.


Columns

The pinnacle in Chandrasekhar's scientific career came in 1977, when he and his co-workers discovered the columnar phase of liquid crystals made of disc-shaped
molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...
s, rather than the well-studied rods. Through
supramolecular assembly Supramolecular chemistry refers to the branch of chemistry concerning chemical systems composed of a discrete number of molecules. The strength of the forces responsible for spatial organization of the system range from weak intermolecular forces ...
, the discs exhibit a mesophase which has a two-dimensional, periodic order. The paper announcing the discovery of this
state of matter In physics, a state of matter is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist. Four states of matter are observable in everyday life: solid, liquid, gas, and Plasma (physics), plasma. Different states are distinguished by the ways the ...
was published in the Indian physics journal
Pramana ''Pramana'' (; IAST: Pramāṇa) literally means " proof" and "means of knowledge".
, and is one of the most highly cited papers in the field of liquid crystals. Subsequently, a few thousand compounds with disc-like molecules were synthesized. The columnar liquid crystals are noted for their highly
anisotropic Anisotropy () is the structural property of non-uniformity in different directions, as opposed to isotropy. An anisotropic object or pattern has properties that differ according to direction of measurement. For example, many materials exhibit ver ...
conducting properties, which is exploited in device applications. The subject has had yet another resurgence in 1996, when Japanese scientists discovered new types of liquid crystalline phases exhibited by compounds made of another new type of (banana-shaped) molecule having bent-cores. Many such compounds exhibit columnar liquid crystalline phases.


Publications and honors

The year 1977 also saw the publication of Chandrasekhar's book on liquid crystals by the
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
. The book is popular amongst workers in the field, and has been translated into Russian and Japanese. An enlarged second edition of the book was published in 1992. Chandrasekhar also organized several international conferences, including the one in 1973 on the occasion of the
Silver Jubilee Silver Jubilee marks a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, the 25th year of a monarch's reign or anything that has completed or is entering a 25-year mark. Royal Silver Jubilees since 1750 Note: This ...
of the founding of the RRI. Many stalwarts in the field of liquid crystals like Glen H. Brown, George William Gray, Alfred Saupe and
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (; 24 October 1932 – 18 May 2007) was a French physicist and the Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 1991. Education and early life He was born in Paris, France, and was home-schooled to the age of 12. By the age of ...
(who was to receive the Nobel Prize in 1991, partly for his work on liquid crystals) participated in this conference. He was awarded A. Cemal Eringen
Medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...
in 1996. Other major conferences Chandrasekhar organized include the Ninth International Liquid Crystals Conference in 1982 and the Second Asia-Pacific Physics Conference in 1986. After retiring from the RRI in 1990, Chandrasekhar started the Centre for Liquid Crystal Research in a building made available by BEL in
Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
. Chandrasekhar's scientific achievements brought him many honours. He was elected Fellow of all the three scientific academies in India, including 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 ...
(FASc, 1962) and the Indian National Science Academy (FNA, 1978). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1983, and was also a fellow of the
Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...
(London) and of the Third World Academy of Sciences. He was a member of several international and national committees on science and education. Chandrasekhar was the founder president of the International Liquid Crystal Society for 1990–92, and was an editor of the journal ''Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals'' for 20 years. He was the recipient of the Bhatnagar Award (1972), the Homi Bhabha (1987) and Meghnad Saha (1992) medals 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 ...
, C.V. Raman Centenary Medal of the
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in basic sciences under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. Established on 29 July ...
(1988), the Royal Medal of Royal Society (1994),
Niels Bohr International Gold Medal The Niels Bohr International Gold Medal is an international engineering award. It has been awarded since 1955 for "outstanding work by an engineer or physicist for the peaceful utilization of atomic energy". The medal is administered by the Danis ...
of UNESCO (1998), and the Freedericksz Medal of the ''Russian Liquid Crystal Society'' (2000). He was also the recipient of the Karnataka Rajyotsava award (1986),
Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...
(1998) and the honour of Knight of the Order of Academic Palms by the French Government (1999). Chandrasekhar was largely responsible for placing
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
on the international map in the field of liquid crystals. Chandrasekhar hailed from the most illustrious family of physicists in India.


References

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External links


Obituary: Professor Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar
published in ''
Times Online ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...
'', 11 May 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, Sivaramakrishna 1930 births 2004 deaths Royal Medal winners 20th-century Indian physicists Fellows of the Royal Society Academic staff of the University of Mysore Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering TWAS fellows Sivaramakrishna Scientists from Kolkata Alumni of the University of Cambridge