Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (January 2008) |
| Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar | |
| Born | 21 February 1894 Shahpur, British India |
|---|---|
| Died | 1 January 1955 (aged 60) New Delhi, India |
| Residence |  India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | Council of Scientific and Industrial Research |
| Alma mater | Punjab University University College London |
| Doctoral advisor | Frederick G. Donnan |
| Known for | Indian space program |
| Notable awards | Padma Vibhushan (1954), OBE (1936), Knighthood (1941) |
| Religious stance | Hindu / Brahmo |
Sir Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, OBE, FRS (February 21, 1894 – January 1, 1955) was a well-known Indian scientist.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Bhatnagar was born in Shahpur, now in Pakistan. His Brahmo father Parmeshwari Sahai Bhatnagar died when he was only eight months old and he spent his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather, an engineer, where he developed a liking for science and engineering. He used to enjoy building mechanical toys, electronic batteries, string telephones. From his maternal family he also inherited a gift of poetry, and his Urdu one-act play Karamati won the first prize in a competition.
[edit] Education and early research
He went to England on a research fellowship after competing his Master's Degree in India. He received his DSc from the University College London in 1921, under the guidance of chemistry professor Frederick G. Donnan.[1] After returning to India, he was awarded a professorship at Benaras Hindu University. He was knighted in 1941 by the British Government as a reward for his research in science. On March 18, 1943 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. His research interests included emulsions, colloids, and industrial chemistry, but his fundamental contributions were in the field of magneto-chemistry. He used magnetism as a tool to know more about chemical reactions. The Bhatnagar-Mathur interference balance, which he designed along with a physicist R.N. Mathur. This was later manufactured by a British firm. He also composed a beautiful kulgeet (University song) which sung with great reverence prior to functions held in the university.
[edit] Work in India
Prime Minister Nehru was a proponent of scientific development, and after India's independence in 1947, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was set up under the chairmanship of Dr. Bhatnagar. He became the first director-general of the CSIR. He became known as "The Father of Research Laboratories" and is largely remembered for having established various chemical laboratories in India. He established a total twelve national laboratories such as Central Food Processing Technological Institute,Mysore, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, the National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, the Central Fuel Institute, Dhanbad, just to name a few.
After his death, CSIR established the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for eminent scientists in his honour.
[edit] References
- Richards, Norah (1948). Sir Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar F. R. S.: A Biographical Study of India's Eminent Scientist. New Delhi, India: New Book Society of India.
- Seshadri, T. R. (November 1962). "Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar. 1894-1955" ([dead link]). Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 8: 1–17. London: Royal Society. doi:.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Seshadri, p4.
