Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, also known as C.N.R. Rao (Kannada :ಚಿಂತಾಮಣಿ ನಾಗೇಶ ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರ ರಾವ್ ) (born 30 June 1934), is an Indian chemist who has worked mainly in solid-state and structural chemistry. He currently serves as the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. Dr. Rao has Honorary Doctorates from 60 Universities worldwide. He has authored around 1,500 research papers and 45 scientific books. On 16th November 2013, The Government of India decided to confer upon him Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India making him the third Scientist after C.V.Raman and A P J Abdul Kalam to get the award.
Early life and education: C.N.R. Rao was born in Bangalore in a Kannada family to father Hanumantha Nagesa Rao, and mother Nagamma Nagesa Rao. 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.[He has received Honorary Doctorates from many Universities such as Bordeaux, Caen, Colorado, Khartoum, Liverpool, Northwestern, Novosibirsk, Oxford, Purdue, Stellenbosch, Universite Joseph Fourier, Wales, Wroclaw, Notre Dame, Uppsala, Aligarh Muslim, Anna, AP, Banaras, Bengal Engineering, Bangalore, Burdwan, Bundelkhand, Delhi, Hyderabad, IGNOU, IIT-Bombay, Kharagpur,Delhi and Patna, JNTU, Kalyani, Karnataka, Kolkata, Kuvempu, Lucknow, Mangalore, Manipur, Mysore, Osmania, Punjab, Roorkee, Sikkim Manipal, SRM, Tumkur, Sri Venkateswara, Vidyasagar, & Visveswaraya Technological University. Profession: Rao is currently
the National Research Professor and Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, India. He is the founding President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. 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 is one of the world's foremost solid state and materials chemists. He has contributed to the development of the field over five decades.His 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. Such studies have had a profound impact in application fields such as colossal magneto resistance and high temperature superconductivity. Oxide semiconductors have unusual promise. He has made immense contributions to nanomaterials over the last two decades, besides his work on hybrid materials. 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: He will be awarded the Bharat Ratna, as declared by the Government of India on 16 November, 2013. He was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society in 2000, and 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.He had also been given the honours Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan by the Indian Government and Karnataka Ratna by the Karnataka state government. He has won several other international prizes and awards. He was awarded Dan David Prize in 2005, by the Dan David Foundation, Tel Aviv University, which he shared with George Whitesides and Robert Langer.[12] 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.[13]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.[15] 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. Prime Minister's Office has released a statement deciding to confer BharatRatna, the highest civilian award to God of cricket Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C.N.R. Rao. Sachin will be the first sportsperson to receive Bharat Ratna. Prof. C.N.R. Rao is an eminent scientist. He has published over 1,400 research papers and 45 books. He has been honored with several national and international awards. Sachin Tendulkar has taken retirement from cricket today. He has played 200 test matches. For the past 24 years, this legend has served our country and millions of its people with several high class performances. Playing since the tender age of 16 years, Sachin has touched heart of millions across the globe and won laurels for our country. He has been a true ambassador of India in the world of sports. His achievements in cricket are unparalleled, the records set by him unmatched, and the spirit of sportsmanship displayed by him exemplary. The announcement of the award has been described by one and all as a timely and befitting tribute to the legendary player, who has contributed immensely to the game of cricket. They said that it was appropriate that after he bid farewell to the game of cricket, the government had taken the initiative to give him the award. On Friday, veteran playback singer Lata Mangeshkar said Tendulkar deserved the Bharat Ratna and added that he could have carried on playing for at least another year. The scope of the Bharat Ratna, which was earlier restricted to the field of "exceptional services in arts, literature and science, and in recognition of public services of the highest order" has been recently expanded to include the performance of the highest order "in any field of human endeavor" which has enabled sportspersons to dream of the honor. Source: News Track India, Image Courtesy: Money Life, Chemistry Views, Nanodigest, livemint, Indiatechonline, Courtesy: Wikipedia,