Climbing the Limitless Ladder A Life in Chemistry This page intentionally left blank IISc Press-WSPC Publication Climbing the Limitless Ladder A Life in Chemistry C N R Rao Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India World Scientific NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TA I P E I • CHENNAI Published by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library CLIMBING THE LIMITLESS LADDER A Life in Chemistry Copyright © 2010 by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd All rights reserved This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher ISBN-13 ISBN-10 ISBN-13 ISBN-10 978-981-4307-85-7 981-4307-85-8 978-981-4307-86-4 (pbk) 981-4307-86-6 (pbk) Printed in Singapore Lakshmi - Climbing the Limitless Ladder.pmd 5/27/2010, 12:08 PM Dedicated to Indu 01_climb_dedicate.indd 5/25/2010 3:20:53 PM This page intentionally left blank Prologue For more than a decade, many of my friends in India and abroad have been asking me to write about my life in science The first time I was asked this, I had just turned 60 I felt shy writing about myself since I was not sure that I was eminent or old enough to write an auto­ biographical memoir The only difference since then is that I have become older I am now 75 years old and have spent more than half a century doing research in India Many of my colleagues and friends have convinced me in the last few months to write about my career in science Their view is that my experiences in doing science for several decades may inspire young people I have written this book in the form of an autobiographical essay It was difficult to subject myself to a self-examination I had to use a telescope as well as a microscope More importantly, I had to be honest and truthful I have avoided exaggeration and the use of superlatives as far as possible and written this book in simple language, recognizing that simplicity of expression demands clarity of thought I did not want the book to be a record of events or a progress report Neither did I want it to be a directory listing all the people that I have met I have written it in a way that hopefully conveys a message I have included a few of my essays as appendices to elaborate on some of my beliefs and aspirations mentioned in the text In the last few decades, there have been considerable changes India has changed, and the world has changed Science has changed, and the way we science has changed I have tried to reflect on these changes and also the way that I have tried to accomplish something in science, working in India I hope that the book will provide an insight to a feeling of how, in spite of many limitations, one can try to climb the limitless ladder of excellence I would like to be excused for any omissions and errors in judgment vii 02_climb_prologue.indd 5/25/2010 3:21:01 PM viii climbing the limitless ladder It is with great pleasure that I dedicate this book to Indu who has stood by me for over half a century I am delighted that the book is being published by World Scientific in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science I am proud of my long association with the Institute which has been the birth place of many fine scientists and great institutions May 2010 Bangalore, India 02_climb_prologue.indd C.N.R RAO 5/25/2010 3:21:01 PM Contents Prologue vii Those Days Pilgrimage for Knowledge: Banaras to Berkeley 19 In Search of a Place and a Purpose 39 A Long Journey 71 Labyrinths of Power 111 Great Fraternity 131 Reflections 149 Epilogue: Doing Science as a Way of Life 175 Appendices 189 Chemistry of Materials: A Letter to a Young Friend 191 Science and Spirituality: Personal Reflections 203 Science in the Future of India 207 Scientific Collaborators 211 Subject Index 217 ix 03_climb_contents.indd 5/25/2010 3:21:13 PM 208 climbing the limitless ladder And the government has begun appropriate administrative reforms as well For example, two new government departments dealing with Earth system science and health research have been created In addition, the Indian parliament has approved creating a National Science and Engineering Research Board, an entity somewhat similar to the U.S National Science Foundation (NSF), that will be responsible for funding scientific research It will provide competitive grants and establish new facilities in priority areas Like NSF, the board will also produce annual “science indicators”: detailed analyses for measuring progress in S&T from year to year This is all good news But the human resources essential for supporting an expanded S&T agenda are lacking Young graduates today are readily attracted to professions other than those related to science and engineering; thus, banking, business, and information technology have become immensely popular India must now focus on creating a large body of outstanding young people interested in taking up professions in science and engineering To improve the quality of the university education system, new support is being provided For example, five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research have been established in the past years Admitting undergraduates on the basis of competitive examinations (as the IITs), these new national institutes will encourage bright young students to pursue science as a career, at both the undergraduate and Ph.D levels In addition, to meet the demand for top-class engineering graduates nationally and internationally, the country will increase the total number of IITs to 15 Sixty percent of the Indian population is below the age of 25, and most reside in villages This untapped talent represents a great potential asset Around 600,000 scholarships are now available each year for talented school students from these areas, with an emphasis on those living in poverty One million science awards are being given to students to promote interest in science, and 10,000 scholarships are available to support students who wish to pursue education beyond high school In addition, the new government has already initiated important structural reforms in the education sector 15_climb_append03.indd 208 5/25/2010 3:24:26 PM science in the future of india 209 India’s citizens have risen to the occasion with their vote The tasks and challenges for the new government are clear but daunting: It must now satisfy the aspirations of a billion people 15_climb_append03.indd 209 5/25/2010 3:24:26 PM This page intentionally left blank Scientific Collaborators Post-graduate Research Students Agarwal, D.C Agarwal, U Agrawal, V Aiyer, H.N Arulraj, A Anupama, T.R Arunarkavalli, T Ayi, A Ayyappan, S.* Bahadur, D Balasubramanian, A Basu, P.K Behera, J.N Bhaskar, K.R Bhat, S.N Bhat, S.V Biswas, K Chakrabarti, A Chaturvedi, G.C Chitara, B Choudhury, A.* Dan, M Das, B Deepak, F.L Dwivedi, P.C Ebenso, E.E Eden, C Ganapathi, L Ganguli, A.K.* Ganguly, S.* Gautam, U Ghosh, Anupama Ghosh, Anirban Ghosh, M Ghosh, S Gomathi, A Gosavi, R.K Govindaraj, A.* Gundiah, G Gupta, A Harikumar, K.R Ita, B Jayaram, V Jayaraman, K Kalaiselavam, M Kalyani Kutty Kamath, P.V Kannan, K.R Kulkarni, G.U.* Kundu, A Madhusudan, W.H Mahesh, R Maitra, U Manivannan, V Matte, H.S.S.R Mehrotra, P.N Mohan Ram, R.A Murthy, A.S.N.* Murugavel, P Murugesan, T Nagarajan, R.* Natarajan, M Nath, M Neeraj, S.* *also worked as postdoctoral associates 211 16_climb_append04_Collaborators.indd 211 5/25/2010 3:25:02 PM 212 climbing the limitless ladder Om Parkash Panchakarla, L.S Parashar, S Parthasarathy, R Patil, K.C Prabhakar, S Prabhakaran K Pradeep, T.* Ch Pulla Rao Raidongia, K Raina, G Raju, A.R.* Rajumon, M.K Rama Rao, G Ramasesha, S.* Ramasesha, S.K Ramdas, S.* Ranga Rao G.* Rangavittal, N Rao, A.M.K Rao, K.J.* Rout, C.S Sahu, J.R Sankar, G.* Santra, A.K Sardar, K Sarma, D.D Sastry, R.L.N Satish Kumar, B.C Seikh Motin Sen, P Sen, R Other Post-graduate Collaborators Bouet, L Buttrey, D Chakraborti, P Chandrabhas, N 16_climb_append04_Collaborators.indd 212 Serrao, C.R Seshadri, R Shukla, A.K.* Singh, S Sivashankar, K Somasundaram, P Srinivasan, A Srinivasa Gopalan R Subbanna, G.N Subba Rao, G.V.* Subrahmanyam, K.S Sudheendhra, L Swamy, H.R Tantry, K.N Thomas, P.J.* Thirumurugan, A Uppal, M.K Vanitha, P.V Varghese, N Varma, V Vasudevan, S Vaidhyanathan, R Venkataraghavan, R Vidyasagar, K Vinod, C.P Vijayakrishnan, V Vijayaraghavan, R Vijayasarathy, K Vivekchand, S.R.C Voggu, R Yashonath, S Yoganarasimhan, S.R Ghosh, A Guha, A Jadhao, V Jagadeesan, D 5/25/2010 3:25:03 PM scientific collaborators Kalyanaraman, V Kam, K Ch Laurent Loehman, R Mahendiran, R Nanjundaswamy, K.S Ramachandran, J Ramanan, A Postdoctoral Associates Bandekar, N Bharati, S Bhat, V Bhattacharya, R Chandrashekhar, G.V Chandrashekhar, M Chatterji, S Desiraju, G.R Durrant, M.C Eswaramoorthy, M Fernández, J.R Ganguly, P Grantscharova, E Gundakaram, R Hegde, M.S Husseini, J Jagannathan, K Jagannathan, N.R Kudchadkar, S.A Kumar, P Kumardhas, P 213 Singh, K.K de Santos (Antonio) Singh, K.P Somasundaram, T Sreedhar, K.* Thornton, G Vasan, H.N Vasanthacharya, N.Y Late, D Nag, A Nagaraj, M Pedireddi, V Prakash, B Ponnambalam, V Rao, K.P Randhawa, H.S Reller, A Santosh, P.N Sarode, P.R Schwenzer, B Singh, R.S Sreekanth, C.S Sugandha Sumathy, R Tomar, M.S Ulagappan, N Viswanathan, B Verelst, M Yadav, R.T Senior Collaborators Agarwala, U.C Ahluwalia, J.C Anderson, J.S Attfield, P 16_climb_append04_Collaborators.indd 213 Balaram, P Balasubramanian, D Bando, Y Banerjee, D.K 5/25/2010 3:25:03 PM 214 climbing the limitless ladder Bhattacharya, S Becker, E.D Bhat, S.V Bhide, V.G Bose, M Chakravorty, D Chakraverty, B.K Chandrabhas, N Chandrasekaran, S Cheetham, A.K Clifford, A.F Edwards, P.P Ferraro, J.R Feuer, H Ferey, G George, M.V Goodenough, J.B Gopalakrishnan, J Govindaraj, A Green, J.C Guru Row, T.N Honig, J.M Jefferson, D Jones, W Jortner, J Kasturi, T.R Kern, S Krishnan, V Kulkarni, G.U Krupanidhi, S.B Kumar, N Mahanty, J Maitra, U Maji, T Mittal, J.P Mott, N.F Mueller, A Murugavel, R Nagarajan, R Natarajan, S Nordblad, P Orville Thomas, W Pati, S Proffen, T Ramakrishnan, T.V Ramamurthy, U Ramasesha, S Rao, K.J Ratajczak, H Raychaudhuri, A.K Raveau, B Roberts, M.W Roesky, H Rousset, A Sampathkumaran, E.V Sanyal, M Singru, R.M Sood, A.K Smith, P Srinivasan, R Sundaresan, A Tanaka, Y Tenne, R Thomas, J.M Venkatesan, K Vishwamitra, M.A Vogt, T Waghmare, U Woodward, P.M Yashonath, S Collaboration with fellow Students (1954–59) T.S Chao 16_climb_append04_Collaborators.indd 214 A Czanderna 5/25/2010 3:25:03 PM scientific collaborators P.A Faeth G.K Goldman L.V Gregor C.W.W Hoffman L Kaplan M.J Lewis C Lurie R Oftedal W Page C.N Pillai 215 T.V Rajakumar L Rocks J Ramachandran V.S Ramachandran H Rubinstein C Savides G.B Silverman S Somasekhara W Wahl E Williams The chemists are a strange class of mortals who seek their pleasures among soot and flame, poisons and poverty, yet among all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that may I die if I would change places with the Persian king John Joachim Becher (1625–82) 16_climb_append04_Collaborators.indd 215 5/25/2010 3:25:03 PM This page intentionally left blank Index A Acharya Pathashala, 11, 12 ACS medal, 68 AEC, 130 Ahmed, Rais, 114 Al-Biruni, 181 Alexandrina, Bibliotheca, 146 American Philosophical Society, 95 Amma, 205 Anantharaman, T.R., 49 Anderson, J.S., 65, 66, 67 Anderson, P.W., 88 Arber, W., 123, 134, 138 Arjun Singh, 128 Asia Science Camp, 159 August 15, 1947, 12, 17 BHU, 15, 19, 22, 24 Bikash Sinha, 125 Bilbo, 158 Blackett, 185 Bohr, N., 177 Bose Fellowship, 127 Bose, J.C., 107, 162, 163 Bose, S.N., 46 Brazil Honours, 142 Bronowski, J., 177 Brown, H.C., 29, 30, 153, 187 Bugle rock, Bullock, Lord, 66 Bull temple, C Cambridge, 67, 75, 77, 140, 141, 164 Carbon nanotubes, 93 CDAC, 118 Central College, 3, 5, 13, 14 Chakraverty, B., 139 Chakravorty, A., 58 Chandrasekhar, S., 178 Chandra Shekar, 95, 122 Cheetham, Tony, 66, 98, 136, 141, 161 Chemical Research Society of India, 99 Chemistry of Materials, 76, 152, 191 Chicago, 29, 47 Chickmagalur, 10 Chikkappa, 86 China, 133, 143 CMR, 95 Coleridge, S., 185 Colossal magnetoresistance, 95 Corfu, SS, 27 Correa, Charles, 91 COSIST, 117 CSIR, 116, 118, 122, 151 Cubbon Park, 3, 45 Curie, Marie, 11 B Bacon, F., 179 Balaram, P., 58, 104, 126 Balasubrahmanyam, S.N., 24 Balasubramanian, D., 58, 59, 62 Baldev Raj, 126 Banaras, 19, 23 Banerjee, D.K., 41, 95 Bangalore, 1, 2, 3, Bapus, 45 Basavanagudi, 3, 5, 11, 100, 160 Becker, Ted, 68, 132 Bengal, 25 Bergstrom, Sune, 133 Berkeley, 32, 34, 36, 149 Bernal, J.D., 175 Bhabha, Homi, 13, 63 Bhagavadgita, 205 Bhagavantam, S., 36, 40 Bhan, M.K., 130 Bhatnagar Prize, 60 Bhat, S.N., 106 Bhoodan, 217 17_climb_Subject Index.indd 217 5/27/2010 11:42:52 AM 218 climbing the limitless ladder D Dahl, N., 51 Dan David Prize, 106, 140 Dasara, da Vinci, Leonardo, 182 DBT, 116 Deshmukh, Deshpande, R.D., 59 Desikottama, 103 Devaraj Urs, 129 Deve Gowda, 99 Dhande, S., 125, 128 Dharia, Mohan, 122 Dhawan, S., 41, 49, 68, 72, 74, 100, 104 Dirac, 178 DNA structure, 166 Doctorates, honorary, 103, 149 DST, 114 E Education Foundation, C.N.R Rao, 105, 146 Edwards, P.P., 81, 99 Einstein, 177, 203 El-Sayed, M., 132 F Faraday, M., 163, 179, 180, 182, 184, 186 Faraday Society, 56 Father-in-law, 93 Ferey, G., 139 Feuer, H., 56 Feynman, R., 176 FIST, 124 Franklin, 184 Freedom movement, French Academy, 139 Frost, Robert, 152 FRS, 77 Fullerenes, 93 G Gadgil, M., 87, 91 17_climb_Subject Index.indd 218 Galbraith, J., 181 Galileo, 177, 184 Gandhi, Indira, 63, 79, 83, 114, 116, 117 Gandhi, Mahatma, 12, 14, 205 Gandhi, Rajiv, 60, 87, 88, 117, 119, 120, 121 Gandhi, Sonia, 123 Ganesh, K.N., 75, 154 Ganguli, A.K., 150 Ganguly, Ashok, 87 Ganguly, P., 73, 88 George, M.V., 49, 53, 161 Ghosh, J.C., 25, 26, 104 Gita, 14 Gitanjali, 169 Gölitz, P., 140 Goodenough, J.B., 54, 58 Gopalakrishnan, J., 73, 81 Gorbachov, 88 Gordon Conference, 57, 77 Govindachari, T.R., 42 Govindaraj, A., 151 Grandchildren, 84, 98, 107, 154 Grandparents, 5, 6, Graphene, 102 Greenblatt, M., 161 Griffiths, P., 135 Gross, D., 123, 141 Gundappa, D.V., 5, 14 Gurubaksh Singh, 69 H Hagenmuller, P., 54, 139 Haksar, P.N., 86 Hall of Science, 105 Hampi, 104 Hanumantha Rao, Hardy, 178, 179 Hassan, M., 136, 147 Hegde, M.S., 73 Heisenberg, 176, 179 Helmholtz, 179 Himalayas, 62, 155 Hofmann Medal, 107 6/15/2010 2:59:15 PM index Honig, J.M., 32, 56, 58, 140 Hughes medal, 100 Hyderabad University, 69 I ICMR, 117, 126 ICMS, 105 ICSU, 133, 134 IISER, 126, 160 IIT council, 128 IIT Kanpur, 46, 48, 50, 52, 57, 61, 68, 71, 113, 128, 160 IIT Kharagpur, 25 Independence day, 12 Indian Academy of Sciences, 54, 59, 60, 75, 106 Indian Institute of Science, 2, 3, 15, 36, 39, 48, 49, 68, 71, 81, 85, 86, 95, 104, 106, 132, 171 Indian Science Congress, 120 India Science award, 100 Indo–Brazil Science Council, 142 Indo–Japan Science Council, 141 Indu, 44, 47, 63, 67, 73, 97, 159 INSA, 74, 87, 133, 134 IUPAC, 75, 87, 131, 134 J Jansen, M., 140, 156, 161 Jatinder Kaur, 97 Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, 91, 101 Jayachandra, A.N., 102 Jhunjunwala, A., 125 JNCASR, 91, 97, 101 Jortner, J., 132, 161 Joshi, M.M., 125 Joshi, S.K., 161 Joshi, S.S., 15, 20, 21, 24 K Kahn, R., 153 Kakodkar, A., 130 Kalam, Abdul, 104, 114 17_climb_Subject Index.indd 219 219 Kalidasa, 183 Kannada, 5, 10, 11, 25 Kanpur, 49 Kapitza, 182, 185 Karaga, Karnataka Ratna, 100 Karnik, K., 125 Kartik, 84, 107, 154, 155 Kasha, M., 33 Kashi, 23 Kasturirangan, K., 130 Kelkar, P.K., 49, 50, 53, 64, 94 Kennedy, Robert, 57 Kharagpur, 25 King, David, 141 King, Martin Luther, 57 King’s College, 77, 80 Klein, M., 142, 161 Kohn, W., 141 Koptyug, V., 132, 137 Kothari, D.S., 74 Krishnan, V., 101, 102 Krishnaraja Wodeyar, Krishna, S.M., 100 Krishnaswami, K.R., 43 Kroto, H., 98, 123 Kumar, R., 86, 161 L Lafayette, 28 Lalbagh, Learning Science, 159 Lederman, Leon, 134 Leela Bai, 44 Lehn, J.M., 80, 123 Lewis, G.N., 32, 152, 162 Lewis, Lord, 84 Lieber, E., 29 Livingston, R.L., 29, 30, 32, 37 Lower Secondary exam, 10 M Madhava Rao, B.S., 13 Madhwacharya, 5/27/2010 11:42:53 AM 220 climbing the limitless ladder Mahabharatha, Mahanty, J., 51 Maharaja College, Maharaja of Mysore, 2, 35 Malavia, Madan Mohan, 20 Malleswaram, 3, 45, 71 Malnad, Manju Sharma, 116 Manmohan Singh, 100, 104, 122, 125, 207 Marchuk, G., 137 Marlow medal, 56 Marriage, 44 Mashelkar, R.A., 91, 101, 161 Masti, 5, 11 Materials Research Centre, 72, 82 Materials Research Society (India), 93 Mayor, F., 135 Medawar, P., 180 Mehta, G., 58, 126 Menon, M.G.K., 82, 94, 116, 118, 120, 133, 144, 161 Michael Angelo, 186 Mirza Ismail, Molecular structure, 26 Mother, 7, 90 Mother-in-law, 107 Mott, N.F., 67, 80, 99, 142, 151, 162, 165, 184 MTR, 1, 10 Mueller, A., 140, 161 Murthy, Music, 158 Muthana, M.S., 25, 49, 62, 64 Mysore State, Mysore University, 14, 20, 36, 46 N Nagakura, S., 132, 142 Nagamma, 7, 90 Nagesa Rao, Nair, K.G., 83, 99 Nanoscience, 102 Nanoworld, 160 17_climb_Subject Index.indd 220 Narasimhan, P.T., 49, 53 Narasimha, R., 87, 91, 125, 160 Narasimhiah, H., 14 Narasimhiah, R.L., Narayanamurthy, Venky, 98 Narayanan, K.R., 92, 101, 118, 170 Narayanaswamy, B.S., 44, 93 Narlikar, J., 87, 91 National Academy of Science (US), 37, 98, 137 National College, 14 National Committee on Science and Technology, 63, 79, 113 Navaratna Rama Rao, 6, 16 Nayudamma, Y., 115, 128 NCL, 41, 42, 48, 69 Nehru Centenary, 90 Nehru, Pandit, 16, 180 Nehru Professor, 77 Nettakallappa, NIAS, 124 NIH, 68 Nittoor Srinivasa Rao, 5, 100 Norden, B., 136 Northwestern University, 103 NSERB, 127 O Omkarnath Thakur, 20, 23 Oppenheimer, R., 35 Opportunity School, 59 Order of Friendship, 109 Order of Merit, 142 Orville-Thomas, W., 138 Oxford, 65, 103, 140, 141 P Padmanaban, G., 97 Padma Shri, 65 Padmavati Bai, Padma Vibhushan, 84 Pal, B.P., 74 Palis, Jacob, 134, 135, 142, 147 Parents, 7, 19, 77 5/27/2010 11:42:53 AM index 221 Partition, 12 Pauling, 24, 26, 31, 35, 152, 162, 166 Piramal, S., 125 Pitroda, S., 87, 118 Pitzer, K.S., 32, 34, 37 Poincare, 178 Pontifical Academy, 108, 138 Poona University, 48 Porter, G., 123 Pradeep, T., 76 Purdue, 26, 28, 30, 47, 56, 76, 103, 140 Rayleigh, Lord, 164 RBI, 113 Roberts, W., 98 Roesky, H., 161 Rouxel, J., 139 Royal Medal, 106 Royal Society, 77, 99, 106, 136, 162, 177, 183 Russian Academy, 137 Russian Federation, 88 Rutherford, Lord, 80, 164 Q Queen Mary, SS, 27 Queen’s Medal, 106 S Sahasrabudhey, R.H., 22 Salam, Abdus, 144 Sane, K.V., 59 Sanger, F., 81 Sanjay, 54, 71, 84, 97, 155 Sankar, G., 150 Sankat Mochan, 23 Sanskrit, 5, 13 Sarabhai, Vikram, 46, 59, 63 Sarma, D.D., 150 Sastri, M.V.C., 25 Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, 87, 90, 100, 117, 125 Science Resource Letter, 59 Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet, 75, 99, 116 Seaborg, Glenn, 33, 36 Second World War, Seetharaman, D.V., 86 Sengupta, Debi, 86 SERC, 115 Seshacharya, Seshadri Iyer, Seshadri, Ram, 150 Seshadri, T.R., 60, 65, 162 Shantiniketan, 103 Sharma, M.M., 101, 117, 125, 161 Shashi, 102 Sheikh Saud, 136 Shimoga, 10, 11 Shivaram, M., 16 R Radhakrishnan, S., 13 Rajaji, Raj, K.N., 129 Ramachandran, A., 63, 69, 77, 114, 160 Ramachandran, G.N., 43, 46, 60, 74, 77, 83, 162, 164, 171 Ramachandran, J., 35 Ramakrishnan, T.V., 103, 126 Ramalingaswami, V., 63, 162 Raman, C.V., 11, 41, 46, 54, 59, 60, 100, 104, 120, 162, 164, 180, 184, 185 Ramanna, Raja, 42, 63, 74, 92, 93, 95, 114, 119, 121, 125, 162 Ramanujan Fellowship, 127 Ramanujan, S., 186 Ramasami, T., 126 Ramaseshan, S., 41, 42, 45, 49, 75, 81, 100, 114 Ramasesha, S., 150 Rao, K.J., 73, 150 Rao, L.R., 86 Rao, M.R.S., 102 Rao, P Rama, 87, 125, 161 Rao, P.V Narasimha, 120, 123 Rao, U.R., 24 Ratajczak, H., 137 Raveau, B., 139 17_climb_Subject Index.indd 221 5/27/2010 11:42:53 AM 222 climbing the limitless ladder Shukla, A.K., 150 Sibal, Kapil, 126 SIG, 135 Simba, 158 Solar energy, 120 Solid state chemistry, 32, 40, 58, 76, 77, 100, 139, 192 Soviet Academy, 137 Soviet Union, 88, 137 Spectroscopy, 26, 29, 45, 54 Spirituality, 203 Sreedharan, A., 86 SSCU, 73, 82 SSLC, 11 St Catherine’s College, 66, 67 Subba Rao, B.S., 86 Subbarao, E.C., 58, 114 Subbarao, G.V., 150 Subramaniam, C., 63, 114 Suchitra, 45, 47, 76, 84, 98, 154 Suguna, 98, 155 Superconductivity, 88 Susheela, 9, 14 Swaminathan, M.S., 63, 116, 144 Swamy, S.R., T Tagore, Rabindranath, 10, 169 Tantry, K.N., 24 Tata, J.R.D., 83, 84, 93, 124 Teller, E., 35 Tenne, R., 161 Thacker, M.S., 42 Thatcher, 181 Thomas, J.M., 66, 80 TIFAC, 118 17_climb_Subject Index.indd 222 TIFR, 48, 69, 171 Tilak, B.D., 48, 69 Todd, Lord, 22 Townes, C., 123, 138 Tsunami, 155 Twain, Mark, 171 TWAS, 99, 143 U UC Berkeley, 32, 34, 149 UCSB, 98 Understanding Chemistry, 159 UNESCO, 135, 147 University of California, 32, 98, 140, 141 Uppsala, 103 V Varadarajan, S., 161 Varmus, H., 135 Venkataraman, K., 42 Venkataraman, R., 83 Verma, A.N., 122, 123 Viceroy of India, Vijayaraghavan, K., 125 Vijyan Jyothi Shibir, 159 Vishwanath, Kashi, 23 Visveswaraya, M., 46 Y Yeddyurappa, 129 Z Zaheer, H., 64, 65 Zare, R., 136, 161 Zewail, A., 123, 161 5/27/2010 11:42:53 AM ... toy town A special occasion there during the Dasara celebrations was the procession of the Maharaja riding the palace elephant on the last day (Vijayadashami) of the season The day in Hindu culture... The work mainly involved carrying out experiments in the chemistry laboratories My class had students from all over India (Assam, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Bengal and Karnataka)... readily join the Republic of India soon after India gained independence The Maharaja had been wrongly advised by the Dewan and others There was serious agitation in the state against the state government