Childhood
and Education
C.N.R. Rao was born (June,
30, 1934) in Bangalore
in a Kannada
family to father Hanumantha Nagesa Rao, and mother Nagamma Nagesa Rao. Part of his
high school was in the Acharya Patashala in Basavanagudi and one of the epochal
events here was the love for chemistry. He completed his high school exam in
first class in 1947. Armed with an early interest in science he joined Central
College, Bangalore, passing BSc in first class at the age of 17. He obtained
his bachelors degree from Mysore
University in 1951, obtaining a masters from BHU two years later, and
obtained his Ph.D. in 1958 from Purdue
University. In 1961 he received DSc
from Mysore University. He joined the faculty of Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur in 1963. Dr. Rao has Honorary Doctorates from 60 Universities
worldwide.
Profession
Rao is currently the National Research
Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary
President of Jawaharlal
Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research,Bangalore
which he founded in 1989. He was appointed Chair of the Scientific Advisory
Council to the Indian Prime Minister in January 2005, a position which he had
occupied earlier during 1985–89. He is also the director of the International
Centre for Materials Science (ICMS).
Earlier, he served as a
faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur from 1963 to 1976 and as the Director of the Indian Institute of Science from 1984
to 1994. He has also been a visiting professor at Purdue University, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and University of
California, Santa Barbara. He was the Jawaharlal Nehru Professor at the
University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow at the King's College,
Cambridge during 1983-1984.
Rao work on transition metal oxides has led to basic
understanding of novel phenomena and the relationship between materials
properties and the structural chemistry of these materials. Rao was one of the
earliest to synthesize two-dimensional oxide materials such as La2CuO4.
His work has led to a systematic study of compositionally controlled
metal-insulator transitions. He is the author of around 1500 research papers.
He has authored and edited 45 books. Rao serves on the board of the Science Initiative Group.
Awards
Professor Rao has been
awarded the Padma
Shri (1974) and Padma Vibhushan (1985) by the Government of India, as well as the Karnataka
Ratna by the Karnataka State Government. On November 16,
2013 Government of India declared that it would
confer the Bharat Ratna on Prof. Rao. He became the first
recipient of the India Science Award, instituted by the
Government of India, for his contributions to solid state chemistry and
materials science, awarded in 2004. In 2005, he was conferred the title Chevalier
de la Légion d'honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by France, awarded by
the French Government. He is a foreign fellow of Bangladesh Academy
of Sciences.[16] He
was also awarded an honorary Doctor
of Science by the University of Calcutta in 2004.
Dr. Rao has also been conferred with China's top
science award for his important contributions in boosting Sino-India scientific
cooperation. The award was given by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in
January 2013, which is China's top academic and research institution for
natural sciences. He received 'Distinguished academician award' from IIT Patna
in 2013.
He is a member of many of the world's scientific
associations, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences,
American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the Royal Society (London; FRS, 1982), French
Academy, Japanese Academy, Serbian Academy of Sciences and
Arts and the Pontifical Academy.
Personal Life
Dr.Rao is married to
Indumati Rao in 1960. They have two Childerns Sanjay & Suchitra. His son
Sanjay Rao is engaged in popularising science in Bangalore's schools. His
daughter Suchitra is married to K.M. Ganesh, the director of the Indian
Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Pune, Maharashtra.
