CONTENTS of Indian Nuclear Programme.pdfASSET Bulletin 1 August 2011 CONTENTS Editorial V. K....

1ASSET Bulletin August 2011

CONTENTS

Editorial V. K. Manchanda 2

Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha M. G. K. Menon 3

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai S. C. Gupta 9

Dr. Homi N. Sethna R. K. Garg 14

Dr. Raja Ramanna S. S. Kapoor 18

Dr. M. R. Srinivasan P. D. Sharma 22

Dr. P. K. Iyengar B. A. Dasannacharya 27

Dr. R. Chidambaram S. K. Sikka 34

Dr. Anil Kakodkar R. B. Grover 38

Dr. S. Banerjee T. K. Mukherjee 44


Editorial

During the birth centenary year of Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the founder of the Department ofAtomic Energy, it was thought apt to recall the contributions of various distinguished Scientists who steeredthe Atomic Energy Programme of India for more than five decades. Each one of them had made a gallantmarch to realize the dreams of Dr. Bhabha, who envisioned great potential of nuclear energy in transformingIndia from a developing nation to a developed nation. Each one of them added a new chapter for strengtheningthe indigenously developed Indian Nuclear Programme aimed at improving the quality of lives of hiscountrymen.

However, soon it dawned that the task was stupendous to be achieved as the number of individualswho made significant contributions to nurture numerous facets of the programme were too large to beincluded in one volume. Consequently, it was thought prudent to deal with the subject in stages. In the firststage, it was decided to focus on people who were responsible to steer the Indian Nuclear Programme asChairmen of Atomic Energy Commission.

In all nine distinguished Scientists / Engineers occupied this position starting with the original architectof Indian Atomic Energy Programme, Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, during the period 1948-1966. Other men ofdistinction who had served in this capacity are:

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai (1966-1971)Dr. Homi Sethna (1972-1983)Dr. Raja Ramanna (1983-1987)Dr. M.R. Srinivasan (1987-1990)Dr. P.K. Iyengar (1990-1993)Dr. R. Chidambaram (1993-2000)Dr. Anil Kakodkar (2000-2009)Dr. S. Banerjee (2009- onward)

It was a challenge to identify the close colleagues of each of these stalwarts who could not only writea brief biography of their mentors but also reminiscence their own experiences and thus allow the readers apeep into the multidimensional personae of these men of distinction. I am happy that I could reach the rightpersons eventually who responded promptly to my request in spite of their several commitments.

I earnestly hope that ASSET members and others would enjoy reading this special ASSET bulletinwhich may also inspire youngsters to emulate these great sons of India , each one of whom have left footprints on indigenous Indian Nuclear Programme in his own distinct way. I would like to acknowledge theprompt help of Dr. P.N. Pathak who interphased with printer and SIRD, BARC for providing pictures ofdignitaries.

V. K. ManchandaPresident, ASSET & Editor


Dr. Homi Jehangir BhabhaChairman, AEC, India (1948-1966)

At the Annual General Meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences held in Nagpur in 1941, Prof. C.V.Raman, while introducing Homi Bhabha said: “Bhabha is a great lover of music; a gifted artist; a brilliantengineer; and an outstanding scientist . . . . . . He is the modern equivalent of Leonardo de Vinci”.

That was the person we lost when the Air India plane, the Kanchenjunga, scheduled to fly into Genevaon 24 January 1966, crashed into Mont Blanc, killing all the 117 passengers and crew on board.

On his death, rich tributes were paid to Homi Bhabha from all over the world, by scientists, by scientificinstitutions and Academies, by international organizations, and by persons from all walks of life, from thehighest to the lowest. They all paid tribute to great qualities of this many-splendoured genius. Amongst thesespontaneous tributes, the most succinct was the one published in the New York Times. It was signed bymany, including Prof. Victor Weisskopf, one of the great theoretical physicists of the world, who had beenDirector General of CERN (The European Council for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, perhaps the largestinternational organization for research in pure science and particularly devoted to the areas of high energyelementary particle physics that were closest to Homi Bhabha’s heart. Other signatories included Dr. JeromeWiesner who had been Scientific Advisor to the President of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy;Dr. Oliver Cope, the well-known surgeon, who was Head of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston;and others. This tribute included a sentence: “When Homi Bhabha of India was killed in the air plane crashon Mt. Blanc on January 24, the world lost one of its greatest citizens”.

Since the Association of Separation Scientists and Technologists is bringing out a Special Bulletinregarding architects of the Indian nuclear program, it would be most appropriate if I focus in this article onthe manner in which Homi Bhabha envisioned the concept of nuclear science for India. Not only does itbring out the visionary that he was, but also illustrates the manner in which he was an institution-builder, anda person able to overcome all hurdles that came in his way – political, bureaucratic and administrative, aswell as technical.

Homi Bhabha was born on 30th October 1909 in Bombay at Kenilworth on Pedder Road. It was in one

half of this bungalow, that the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was first located, when it was set upin Bombay; the bungalow has now gone and there is a multi-storeyed structure there; the property belongsto the Department of Atomic Energy and is used for housing its staff.

Homi was brought up in a well-to-do family in an atmosphere of learning. He had access in his earlydays to the finest library that anyone could wish for - collected by his grandfather and father: of literature(particularly English and French), architecture, art and paintings. He also had the opportunity to develop hisdeep love for music from the excellent gramophone records belonging to his aunt which he, his brother, andclose friends, would listen to with rapt concentration.

Apart from his formal schooling, and his great interest in science and things mechanical, he acquired awell-rounded education through the atmosphere in his home. His paternal aunt was Lady Meherbai (Dorabji)


Tata. He was, therefore, privy to many discussions, both of the Tata household, and on his mother’s side ofthe Petit house, relating to the nationalist movement, and to issues of industrialization, energy needs and thelike.

His schooling was in the Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay and, later, briefly at theElphinstone College and the Royal Institute of Science. It is a matter of great pride for me that on the marbleslab, immediately inside this Institute, my name is there, with Homi’s name above it. He went to Cambridgeto join Gonville and Caius College for the Mechanical Science Tripos, in which he obtained a First. This wasas desired by his father, who thought that with a good engineering degree from Cambridge, Homi would dowell in the House of Tatas, which was into activities connected with India’s industrialization. Thereafter, hedid what he wanted to do most; which was to do his Mathematics Tripos in which he also got a First.

He was in Cambridge as a student when Lord Rutherford was heading the Cavendish Laboratory.That was the time when Cambridge was the Mecca for nuclear physics. The Dirac Equation; Chadwick’sdiscovery of the neutron; the counter-controlled cloud chamber of Blackett and Occhialini and discovery ofelectron-positron pair production from gamma rays; the first transmutation of light elements with theCockcroft-Walton Accelerator; the discussions in the Kapitsa Club; and much else was the stuff that highlightedCambridge of those days.

Through a number of studentships and fellowships, he was able to spend time in Europe to work withPauli in Zurich, with Fermi in Rome, with Kramers in Utrecht and with Neils Bohr in Copenhagen. This wasthe period when he became a theoretical physicist in the front rank: through the first calculations for electron-positron scattering, known after him as Bhabha Scattering; the Bhabha Heitler Cascade Theory, and theconclusion that the very penetrating particles, observed at ground level and underground, had to be of amass, intermediate between the electron and the proton prediction of relativistic time dilatation effect in themeasured lifetime of the meson; and much else. Homi Bhabha thus played a prominent role in the earlyhistory of the development of quantum electrodynamics and, later on, of meson theory following the work ofYukawa and others. In the fields in which he was engaged, he was right at the forefront. He had abilities inmathematics, which he could handle with great generality and with exactness. On the other hand, he wasvery close to experimental observations, and achieved great success in explaining these. Had he continuedwith his research in Europe or USA as he was then engaged on, I have no doubt that he would have won aNobel Prize.

In 1939, he returned to India on a short holiday. Because of the outbreak of the World War, he could notreturn to his research in Europe. He, therefore, accepted a position as a Reader in the Indian Institute ofScience.

There is the famous poem by Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” which says: Two roads diverged ina yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both . . . . I took the one less traveled by, And that has made allthe difference.”

Indeed it did make a fantastic difference to India with his commitment to the growth of modern sciencein India, to developing the needed human resources over a wide range of the most advanced areas ofscience and technology and building institutions, administrative and management patterns and infrastructureto support all of this. India has cause to be grateful for the turn of events.

In Bangalore his work was principally concerned with Cosmic Rays and Elementary Particles. OnCosmic Rays he continued his work on shower phenomena, particularly using powerful mathematicaltechniques, taking note of fluctuations from the mean. He and his colleagues worked on stochastic processes.He also did some experimental work by designing Geiger counter telescopes and flying them on AmericanAir Force planes to measure the hard component of cosmic rays. In the area of theoretical physics, heworked principally on what is referred to as the ‘Bhabha Equation’. He dealt with the classical theory ofpoint particles moving in the general field. While he was in Bangalore he was elected a Fellow of The RoyalSociety in 1941, at the age of 31; his name was proposed by C.V. Raman.

It was while he was in Bangalore that he really established the great feeling of identity betweenhimself and his country. He came to the realization that science and technology were key to the transformationof India to a developed country. He knew that knowledge through science, and its application through


technology, would not only lead to economic prosperity but also social change. I am personally aware of therole he played in drafting the Scientific Policy Resolution which was introduced in Parliament by JawaharlalNehru on 4

th March, 1958 and expresses the various ways in which the nation can advance on the basis of

knowledge gathered through science. It is a unique statement to have been adopted at the highest politicallevel expressing the faith of a developing nation in science as the prime agent to bring about change. Itrepresented the remarkable combination of the political vision of Jawaharlal Nehru and the practical visionof a brilliant engineer scientist.

Homi expressed himself equally forcefully in his last public lecture, the invited talk he gave to theInternational Scientific Union in Bombay on 7

th January, 1966. This was shortly before he passed away.

As he contemplated on these questions in Bangalore, the lack of adequate support for, and consequentshortcomings of science in India, impressed themselves on him. This was the motivation for his letter ofAugust 1943 to Mr. J.R.D. Tata. He particularly appealed in this letter for the nurturing of pure or fundamentalresearch. Encouraged by a positive response from Mr. Tata, Homi Bhabha wrote a formal proposal to SirSorab Saklatwalla, Chairman of Sir Dorab Tata Trust, in which he proposed the setting up of an institution,which has since become the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

It was in this letter that he said: “Moreover, when nuclear energy has been successfully applied forpower production, in say a couple of decades from now, India will not have to look abroad for its experts butwill find them ready at hand.” This was his vision of abundant economic nuclear power, which he felt was sovital for the development of India. I would like you to remember that this was written by one sitting inBangalore in 1944; this letter was written more than a year before Hiroshima; the work on the atom bombwas being carried out with the greatest secrecy in the West; the only knowledge Homi Bhabha had was thatnuclear fission had been discovered.

I have had long discussions with Homi on what caused him to make such a prophetic statement. Hesaid that he had become aware of the fact that the greatest of the nuclear physicists of the world were notpublishing in recognized journals. He knew through friends that while some of them, like Lord Blackett, wereworking on the war front, on different aspects, many others seemed to have gone into hiding. He knewintuitively that they would all be working on releasing, through the relationship between mass and energy, theenormous stored energy in the nucleus. He had second guessed the possibility of Manhattan project.

The story of development of atomic energy in India has been recorded in many different places. Itssuccess was essentially because of close relationship between an enormously capable, clear sighted, tenaciousand ambitious individual that was Homi Bhabha; and his friendship with the most powerful and charismaticfigure of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, whom he addressed as ‘Bhai’.

A Board of Research on Atomic Energy was constituted with Bhabha as Chairman, and as part ofCSIR, soon after Independence. He was clear that the field of atomic energy would call for internationalcollaboration, as also a great deal of confidentiality. He felt that this could not be done under the auspices ofCSIR or of a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which was then being proposed. He also didnot want to be burdened with potentially argumentative individuals like Megh Nad Saha. Through Nehru’sintervention, and JRD Tata’s support, the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust provided the wherewithal to M.N. Saha tobuild a cyclotron.

Through Homi’s persuasion, Nehru piloted in Parliament the Atomic Energy Bill, creating the AtomicEnergy Commission with Bhabha as Chairman. He later established a separate Ministry of Atomic Energyin August 1954, charged solely with the development of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. Bhabha wasappointed Secretary to this Ministry. Shortly before then, the AEC had decided to build a large establishmentat Trombay, initially called the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay, which has been renamed after Bhabha’sdeath as ‘Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’. He had the headquarters of AEC and DAE located in Bombayon the grounds that the basic capabilities for the field lay at TIFR and AEET and the Department needed tobe close to these. This example was followed, in less than two decades thereafter, where the Department ofSpace was set up, with its headquarters in Bangalore, closer to the great centers for Space Research andTechnology in India.

Bhabha sent huge numbers of scientists for training abroad in the initial stages. These, after returning,became the trainers for the new generation, for which a training school was set up. He used his personal


influence and friendship with individuals like Cockcroft, W.B. Lewis, Glenn Seaborg, Francis Perrin, andmany others; not for anything personal, but to benefit the program he had in mind for India.

He was able to develop capabilities that covered the complete nuclear fuel cycle from prospecting foruranium, purification of nuclear materials, design and fabrication of reactors and their components, going onto the building of reactors from the first Apsara research reactor to power reactors of Indian design, handlingof fuel rods and the extraction of highly radio active material from them, and in defining the three stageprogram which is the basis for India’s thrust at the moment. He also envisaged the applications of nucleartechnologies in agriculture, food preservation, nuclear medicine, in material science and much else. Greatcapabilities and infrastructure was set up in each of these.

In all of this, by his single-handed effort, in the incredibly short space of two decades, he converted hisvisions of the mid-forties to realities. He staked his entire reputation to achieve the most difficult tasks, andset up new traditions in administration, attitude and relationships among those concerned. For me, there aremany personal reminiscences and memories over the short period of a decade that I intensely interactedwith him. All I can conclude is that it was my good fortune to have known him as closely as I did; and to seethe motivation that drove him restlessly to work with an urgency that had to be seen to be believed.


Dr. Homi Bhabha with Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru

Dr. Homi Bhabha briefing the then Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri atUranium Metal Plant, AEET. Also seen at rear is Dr. Raja Ramanna


About the Author

Prof. M.G.K. Menon, Former Director, TIFR, Mumbai

Professor M.G.K. Menon is presently Advisor in the Department of Space/Indian Space ResearchOrganization (ISRO) and President, India International Center, New Delhi. He is the President of IndianStatistical Institute, Calcutta, and Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.

Prof. Menon took his Ph.D. from the University of Bristol, UK in 1953. He is Honorary Member of theInstitution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Rome(1981), Honorary Fellow of The Institute of Physics UK (1997), a Founding Fellow of the Third WorldAcademy of Sciences. He was President of the International Council of Scientific Unions (1988-93). Prof.Menon has been a recipient of many awards including those given by the President of India: Padma Shri in1961; Padma Bhushan in 1968; and Padma Vibhushan in 1985. Prof. Menon has been Director of TataInstitute of Fundamental Research, Bombay (1966-1975), and Secretary to the Government of India for 12years (1971 - 1982).

He was Member of the Planning Commission with the rank of Minister of State (1982-1989); ScientificAdviser to the Prime Minister (1986-1989) and Chairman of the Science Advisory Committee to the Cabinet(1982-1985); Minister for Science & Technology, as also for Education in the Government of India; Memberof Parliament (Rajya Sabha) during 1990-96.


Dr. Vikram SarabhaiChairman, AEC, India (1966-1971)

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971) founding father of the Indian Space programme, continues to be thedriving force behind all initiatives of ISRO. His memory remains evergreen in Vikram Sarabhai SpaceCentre (VSSC), inspiring the space community, to make more and more tangible contributions to societalapplications.

Vikram Sarabhai was a great living legend and a fountain of inspiration. Every event connected withhim has a special significance for those who had the privilege of working with him. VSSC was his mostfavourite Karmabhumi, as may be deduced from many facts: he was the chief of a vast network ofsupercharged establishments all over India, some of them were engaged in the strategic areas of atomicenergy and space research. It was not his wont to sit in his office and direct people to come in and presenttheir progress report. Instead, he visited all the places of work under his charge as he wanted to interactdirectly with them. Notwithstanding his continuous travel to attend numerous international forums, he visitedVSSC at least once a month and put in not less than 18 hours of work per day during a visit. Nonetheless,after every visit he reportedly told those extremely close to him that more than any other place here he feltmentally and bodily refreshed. Remarkably, the personnel here felt immeasurably inspired and began to lookforward to his next visit. Such was the alchemy of mutual attachment between him and VSSC, named afterhis untimely death.

Dr. Sarabhai was a keen detector of systemic deficiencies which impeded development and growth. Inorder to overcome the deficiencies, he built up appropriate institutions in an impressive variety of fields, togenerate life enhancing skills and knowledge. For instance he founded and nurtured the Physical ResearchLaboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, for providing budding scientists a rare congenial environment. Having imbuedhis characteristic into PRL, he could trust it to be the caring nurse maid of the space program. Similarly, hefounded the Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association, AITRA, with the objective of improvingthe technology and management system in textile industry. Also he founded and nurtured Indian Institute ofManagement, IIM, Ahmedabad with the objective of developing modern education and research in the fieldof management. So did he set up the Community Science Centre, Darpan Academy for performing Arts,Nehru Foundation for Development, and a host of other institutions, all at Ahmedabad. Also he set up theOperations Research Group at Baroda. Setting up of similar institutions elsewhere in the country in subsequentyears is proof of the appeal that these institutes evoked as well as of the strength of his concepts. Thus, hewas a pioneer in institution building, besides being a role model.

Attending to the needs of industry, education and research was his vocation, but getting rid of thebackwardness in the basic infrastructure of India by harnessing modern science and technology was hispassion. His vision was to develop space technology, which enabled services in the basic areas like,telecommunication, mass communication, weather observation and forecasting and remote sensing of theresources on earth. He was confident that the space technology route is both cost and time effective. Hewas sure that the country could leap-frog, skipping safely some of the steps trodden by the developedcountries. This way India could save precious time and scarce resources.


There were several approaches to achieve this result. Some countries like Indonesia bought and installedcommunication satellites and ground stations to establish satellite communication services. But, he was clearthat this route will not satisfy the needs of the vast country like India, neither will this buy and operate modebe sustainable under the prevailing financial stringencies. Also, there will be an inevitable time gap betweennew developments and their availability in the country. Further, he was aware of the multitude of humanresources in the country waiting to take on challenges. He had faith in them and would trust them to achieveself reliance in the entire spectrum of space technology, namely satellites, ground stations, applicationtechniques, and satellite launch vehicles. Matching the breadth of his vision, he conceived the institutionsneeded to be built, the human resources to be organized and the work culture to be cultivated. He gave atime-line to the country by outlining profiles of the varied space systems to be deployed during a decade.Thus he earned the legitimate appellation, “Father of India’s Space Programme”.

In order to instill confidence, he arranged to demonstrate the technological feasibility of direct to hometelevision, which was still under validation even in the developed countries. He managed to borrow fromNASA the ATS-F satellite, in geo-synchronous orbit for a period of one year. This made possible the holdingof the path breaking experiment, SITE, Satellite Instructional Television Experiment. While the Americansatellite was moved for one year in its synchronous orbit to a location suitable for direct-reception by TVreceivers in India, the TV sets employing advanced technology were developed and produced in India.About 1800 such TV sets were placed in the most inaccessible villages, located in six relatively morebackward regions of India. SITE covered all aspects of development communication. It was a mix of a welldesigned experiment in arousing social consciousness, mounting successfully indigenous technological andmanagerial efforts and collaborative utilization of space assets of other countries. It was characteristic ofDr. Sarabhai to visualize all essential aspects of a program, and derive the maximum possible benefits.

Similar demonstration of the technological prowess of satellite communication to interlink the countrytook place under Projects STEP with the use of a Franco-German satellite, SYMPHONY, and participationof the communication establishment of the country.

Only doubts in the minds of some were about the reliability and longevity of satellites and thereby abouttheir services. Dr. Sarabhai was aware of such valid apprehensions. He was confident that the self-relianceroute will enable timely replacement of the ageing satellites in service and concurrently modernize themsteadily, at affordable cost, thus ensuring uninterrupted and ever improving services.

He sought to achieve self-reliance through a strong and growing organization to meet the technologicaland managerial challenges. His action was to form the Indian space organization and set up an impressivearray of cohesive and coherent R&D Centers. These centers would specialize in a wide variety of disciplinesencompassing space science and technology. In this context, he set up TERLS, SSTC, RFF, RPP, SHAR,ESCES, ESD, MASEG and DECU.

Dr. Sarabhai had an uncommon faith in the abundance in our country of intellectual capabilities,resourcefulness and dedicated individuals, as already mentioned. Of course, there were some skeptics, whowere over awed by the esoteric nature of the required technologies, complexity of the systems to be built,and the utter lack of commensurate industrial infrastructure. They also cited the absence of institutional rolemodels in achieving such tasks. Even the academic community in the country was unfamiliar with the fastemerging disciplines which comprised space science and technology. So, they suggested outright import ofneeded space systems, and set up the services, to be operated at best by Indians. This is what the countryhad been doing in the fields like Civil Aviation, and most of the defense equipments. But, such skepticism didnot deter Dr. Sarabhai from aiming at self-reliance.

Secondly, in his quest for self reliance, Dr. Sarabhai was keen on collaboration with academics, R&Dlaboratories and industry in India. He recognized several benefits in tapping the existing intellectual,technological and manufacturing apparatus in the country outside ISRO. He worked to enlarge the pool ofspecialists, sophisticated facilities and manufacturing professionals in the country, whose area of work mayhave contiguity with space and technology. Due to their association with a vigorous and wide ranging spaceprogram of the country, they may be motivated to grow their expertise in fields relevant to the spaceprogram and contribute to the program by their independent critical reviews and research. Thus, a numberof eminent professors of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, the various Indian Institutes of technologyand other premier academic institutions have since contributed significantly. A variety of special facilities,


such as, wind tunnels, precision machine shops, special alloys production facilities, miniature electronicassembly shops became available to the space programme, without requiring huge investments, and withinstipulated time frame from scarce resources. Indeed this association actuated by national interest has had aclear resource multiplier effect as envisoned by Dr. Sarabhai.

He did not miss any opportunity to build up all-round capabilities of his colleagues to face challenges.He entrusted responsibility unhesitatingly to uninitiated persons provided they were of the self -generatingtype. The self -generating type requires to be told only the objectives. They themselves figure out the totaleffort that is needed to achieve the objective. An opportunity arose for building satellite communication earthstation at Arvi near Pune for international service. The initial plan was to award a turnkey contract to aforeign company. Instead, he intervened and undertook to build the station indigenously. He seized this rareopportunity to organize an Indian team, comprising members of his own colleagues and personnel from otherinstitutions in the country. Dr. Sarabhai visualized that this was a challenging opportunity to put up to a farreaching use the training received by his team during setting up of ESCES, with financial help from the UN.Eventually, the station was built on schedule and the international body declared it to be one of the best of itskind. Later, that team designed and built a large number of Earth stations for the space programme.

He had his own enlightened management concepts of entrusting responsibilities and enabling his teamto succeed, which proved to be sound time and again in the conduct of the space programme. His sense ofassigning responsibility was unorthodox. Towards setting up a Space Science and Technology Centre, firsthe assembled a Rocket Research and Development Group and named it the Rohini Group. In the RohiniGroup, he formed divisions, such as, Aerodynamics, Propellant, Propulsion, Structures, Materials and QualityControl, Mechanical Engineering, Control Guidance and Instrumentation, Electronics, Systems and Computers,without identifying their areas of technical jurisdiction. He named the head of each Division, but left it to thecreating interpretation of each Division Head to identify their area of work. He also allowed them to organizethe Division, form sections and propose additional manpower, budgets and plan of activities.

Dr. Sarabhai built up numerous institutions, worked tirelessly to nurture them and created in themenabling working environment. He tried to assemble in these institutions highly impressionable, creative andenergetic persons, who turned out to be largely young and uninitiated in the fields specific to the areas of thenew institutions. He enunciated the mission, but did not impose his ideas about the pathway to achieve it. Hegave complete freedom to choose the pathway. They configured the systems to be developed and theapproaches to be adopted to realize them. However, he insisted on considering more than one approach andsubjecting each one of them to rigorous peer reviews.


Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Shri V. N. Meckoni with the thenPrime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi at CIRUS

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai with the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi


About the Author

Dr. S. C. Gupta, Former Director, VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram

Dr. Suresh Chandra Gupta (born 1934) had his education at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He joined Thumba EquatorialRocket Launching Station in 1965. Dr.Gupta rose to become Director VSSC in 1985 after holding a numberof important positions: Technical Coordinator, Rohini Group; Head of Control, Guidance and InstrumentationDivision; Director, Avionics Group and Associate Director, VSSC. He was also a Member of Space Commission(1993-94). He was Dr. Bramha Prakash Distinguished Professor ISRO from March 1994 to February1997. He received a number of prestigious awards, such as, the National Systems Awards-1975, Shri HariOm Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research Award-1979, SICO-NaSci Award-1989, VASVIKResearch Award for Electrical Sciences and Technology-1990, Aryabhatta Award-1996 for lifetimecontributions.

[The article is based on Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture delivered by Dr. S. C. Guptaformer Director, VSSC in August 2008. Editor would like to acknowledge the help of Dr. K. Krishnamoorthy, VSSC, for providing the manuscript.]


Dr. Homi N. SethnaChairman, AEC, India, (1972-1983)

Homi N. Sethna was the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1971 to 1983, the longesttenure for any chairman, after Dr. Bhabha. He has been one of the earliest pioneers of the Atomic EnergyProgramme in India with the greatest contribution, again only after Dr. Bhabha. He has the distinction ofgiving the country the capability to make the nuclear explosive device through the production of Plutonium.The period after the first Pokharan test in 1974 was very difficult in view of the sanctions imposed by thedeveloped countries on supply of critical materials, components and equipments required for the programme.To continue with the progress of various projects in hand and even to sustain the on-going activities wasindeed a challenging job. It was due to the leadership of Dr. Sethna, his personal relations with people atdifferent levels in the country and abroad and his clear grasp of the problem and their solutions that theprogramme could make headway, although with some delays. He has been known as an eminent chemicalengineer, an able administrator, a person with excellent project management skill, quick decision maker, onewho always talks to the point and has confidence in himself and his colleagues. He obtained B.Sc.Tech.degree from the University Department of Chemical Technology (now UICT), Bombay University in 1944and then M.S. from the University of Michigan, USA in 1946. He worked with the Imperial ChemicalIndustries in U.K. for some time. In 1949, on invitation from Dr. Bhabha, he joined the Atomic EnergyDepartment. His first assignment was the setting up of the Rare Earth Plant at Alwaye, Kerala in 1952 forprocessing of monazite, to separate rare earths and thorium-uranium concentrate. This was followed by hissetting up of the Plant at Trombay, Bombay in 1955 to produce thorium nitrate and a Uranium concentrate.The Uranium Metal Plant for producing uranium metal of nuclear purity was commissioned in 1959 underhis supervision and guidance. This plant produced the material which after fabrication fuelled the researchreactor (CIRUS). The spent fuel from this reactor was processed to produce plutonium, the core materialfor the nuclear explosive device. The Plutonium Plant to extract plutonium from the spent fuel, a technologyconsidered very complex and developed by only five other countries, was commissioned in 1964. A uraniummill for processing low grade uranium ore available in Bihar (now Jharkhand) to obtain uranium concentratewas commissioned in 1966 in Jaduguda near Tatanagar. This plant supplied the basic fuel material for boththe research reactors and the power reactors. The preliminary work on uranium enrichment studies wasalso initiated under his direction.

All the above fuel cycle activities, including the development work on heavy water production processesand other isotopic separations, formed part of the Chemical Engineering Group of which Dr. Sethna was theDirector, before he became Director, BARC after Dr. Bhabha’s death. The Rocket Propellant Plant for theSpace Programme was also set up at Thumba near Trivandrum by the Chemical Engineering Group. In viewof his reputation for completing projects in time, he was also made Project Manager for the CIRUS reactorduring part of the construction stage (1956-58). From 1966 to 1972 he was Director, BARC and during thisperiod plan for the construction of another research reactor (DHRUVA), larger than CIRUS, was prepared.

As mentioned earlier, during his chairmanship (1971-83), the Pokharan Test was conducted in 1974.Thereafter the nuclear power plant and other projects were delayed due to non-supply of materials andequipments by the Western Countries. However, this led to greater interaction between the local industry


and the department and indigenous development of equipments and components got an impetus whichproved to be a long term gain.

My interaction with Dr. Sethna started from the first day of my joining the Uranium Metal Plant Teamin 1956. On meeting him I found that he was also the Chairman of the Selection Committee which hadinterviewed me. This interaction continued for a long time, till his retirement as Chairman, AEC in 1983, andgave me the opportunity of knowing him as a professional as well as at the personal level and of observinghis style of functioning. I am sure many others who worked closely with him would have similar observations.

One distinct aspect of his personality was the handsome confidence he would repose in persons workingwith him. Once he had chosen a person for a particular job, he would give him full responsibility as well ascomplete freedom of action. Any matter which required Dr. Sethna’s decision would never get delayed,provided the person seeking the decision was clear in his own mind about the matter. He had a remarkablegrasp of a wide range of nuclear technology and general project engineering. Therefore, a person engagingin a Technical discussion with him had to be thorough and should have done adequate home work. He wasgifted with a sharp memory. He would not like people to beat about the bush. He believed in hitting the nailon the head straight away. Meetings and discussions with him were never long drawn out. He was verypunctual. Even at airports he would reach one hour before the departure of the flight. He would fully protectpeople, if they made genuine mistakes during their work, provided they did not try to hide things. It was apleasure to work with him for those who could understand him.


Dr. H. N. Sethna, Dr. R. Ramanna, Dr. P. K. Iyengar, Dr. R. Chidambaram at pressconference on Pokharan-I, at Old Yacht Club (May 20, 1974)

Dr. H. N. Sethna with the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at BARC


About the Author

Shri R. K.Garg, Former Director, Chemical Engineering Group, BARC

Shri R.K.Garg was born in 1930. He did his M.Sc. Tech from Punjab University in 1952 and SpecialGraduate Course at University of Missouri Rolla (USA) under IAEA fellowship in 1963-64. He was theDirector of Chemical Engineering Group, BARC till 1986 and later held important positions, such as, Chairmanand managing Director, IRE Ltd (1986-1990), Director UCIL (1971-1990), Chairman, Environmental AppraisalCommittee (Industries) Ministry of Environment, Govt. of India (1990-1992), Member EnvironmentalResearch Committee, Ministry of Environment, Govt. of India (1994-1996). He continues to hold importantpositions, including, Chairman, Armament Research Board, DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Chairman, AdvisoryCommittee for Project safety review, AERB, Chairman, registration Committee, central Pollution ControlBoard, etc. He is a fellow of national Academy of Engineers as well as Indian Institute of Chemical Engineersand is President Emeritus, national Solid waste Association of India.


Dr. Raja RamannaChairman, AEC, India (1983-1987)

In the passing away of Dr. Raja Ramanna on September 24, 2004, India lost one of its most eminentnuclear scientists. Being his Ph.D student and having had a close scientific and personal association withhim for more than four decades, it is still very painful for me to accept the fact that Dr. Ramanna is no moreamongst us. It was just about ten days before his death, when he had called me on phone to ask me to sendhim some overhead projections relating to his research interests in the areas of nuclear fission, heavy- ionreactions and super-heavy nuclei. When I asked him the purpose, he said he was planning to give lecturesto students and research scholars to convey to them the excitement of basic research. He added that it isimportant that we motivate our young talents to opt for careers in the pursuit of science and technology.Dr.Ramanna was always concerned about how to attract the best talents to pursue research and developmentin science and technology. He truly believed that the most important input for our scientific progress is thequality of the manpower engaged in the research and development work. He himself had a great passion forbasic research; so much so that he strenuously attempted to find time to pursue his own research interests,even while effectively shouldering the great responsibilities of scientific administration which go with the toppositions he occupied in our Department of Atomic Energy .

Soon after commissioning of our first reactor, Apsara in 1956, he had initiated and led the basic researchin nuclear fission using reactor neutron beams from this reactor and also later from the Cirus reactor in theareas which were very contemporary in those days. I was fortunate to join his research group in 1959 afterpassing from the training school. A gridded ionization chamber-cum-scintillation detector system with 2pidetection capabilities of fission fragments enabled us to compete with similar research programs beingpursued by scientists in USA and Europe, who had the benefit of having stronger fission sources. Dr.Ramannahad earlier done his Ph.D. work at King’s College London on a new kind of ion chamber which couldmeasure not only energy of a nuclear particle but also its angle with respect to the chamber’s electric fielddirection. He had started his research program at Apsara based on this new technique coming from hisPh.D. work.

Thus our research work during the sixties on prompt neutrons and gamma rays and also on occasionallyemitted alpha particles in fission, which was carried out under his guidance by further developing thistechnique, had already put India in those early years on the world map in nuclear fission research. At thattime if we could not only compete but even publish ahead of the other laboratories having better resources,it was mostly due to the ingenious experimental techniques involving gas detectors developed under hisguidance and also the drive and motivation which he provided to his team. Often on holidays, he would pickus up to bring to Trombay in his official car. He always encouraged open and critical scientific discussionswithout any inhibitions with respect to hierarchy. In those early days, when some eminent scientistaccompanying him, together with Dr. Bhabha, was being taken around the various experiments at theApsara reactor, Dr Ramanna , always eager to project his students, would often ask me to explain what wewere doing. He indeed knew how to encourage and motivate his young co-workers. His very presence wasa source of great inspiration.

Dr Ramanna had started his research career from TIFR and together with holding important otherpositions in the DAE, he continued to be a professor at TIFR till the end. In the early sixties he had utilized


the 1MV Cascade Generator that had been set up by his group in the premises of the new TIFR campus atColaba. With this machine, Ramanna and his group studied slowing down of neutrons and its diffusion inwater and beryllium oxide. He also led a program to study occasionally emitted long range alpha particles in14 MeV neutron induced fission using this accelerator. When the 5.5MV Van de Graaff accelerator wasinstalled and commissioned at Trombay in 1962, he led challenging experiments to study correlations betweenfragment mass - asymmetry and anisotropy in the 4 MeV neutron induced fission of U-235, using the novelion chamber techniques. While pursuing this work, he became deeply interested in the mechanism of thefission process responsible for the asymmetric mass distribution. He tried to understand this complexmechanism by choosing a line away from the beaten track. In the sixties, while reading Prof. S.Chandrasekhar’s paper on Random Walk, he applied those ideas to have a completely original approach tounderstand mass distributions in nuclear fission on the basis of Markovian process of nucleon exchangesbetween the two nascent nuclei evolving from saddle-to-scission in fission. This approach to understand themechanism of nuclear fission was totally unconventional and new. When he wrote to Prof. Eugene.P.Wignerabout this work, Prof. Wigner had replied with the comment that we should also see this nucleon exchangeprocess in heavy-ion reactions and some years later when several heavy-ion accelerators became operationalin the laboratories around the world, this process of nucleon exchanges between the two colliding heavy ionsat medium energies indeed became an important subject of study.

In India, the first Peaceful Nuclear Explosion (PNE) was carried out in 1974 when Dr. Raja Ramannawas the Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, and his pivotal role in this work is a commonknowledge now. He had provided direct leadership also to so many of other important programs in nuclearscience and technology, be it related to the Kolkata cyclotron Centre, DHRUVA reactor at BARC, IndiraGandhi Centre of Atomic Research (IGCAR), or the Centre for Advanced Technology at Indore, now re-named in his honor as Raja Ramanna Centre of Advanced Technology (RRCAT). About RRCAT, he oftensaid that his vision was to see this centre grow in accelerator facilities to become like CERN for this part ofthe globe.

It is now well realized that a concrete way of achieving the scientific manpower development in DAEcame about by the setting up of the DAE training school in 1958, under the leadership of Dr.Ramanna. Overthe last 50 years of the DAE training school, the school has produced more than 6000 scientists and engineerswho have served as the core of the scientific manpower of the department.

Raja Ramanna was born on 28th January 1925, in Tumkar, Karnataka, and his autobiography “Year ofPilgrimage” (Penguin Books India (P) Ltd., 1991) gives a vivid account of his life, particularly of early years.In the biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy, Vol. 28, ProfessorB.V.Sreekanthan, former Director, TIFR, has written on Dr. Raja Ramanna in more detail and I quote belowa few selected lines from his write-up:

“Raja Ramanna was a rare combination of a scientist, technologist, administrator, philosopher, musicianand musicologist who played a dominant role for over 5 decades in the advancement of science and technologyin the post-independence era of India. His genial temperament, very positive and helpful attitude, extremetransparency in dealings made every one comfortable to interact with him both at professional and personallevels. He was a Colossus in terms of achievements, but very simple and modest in his daily life.”

“A glance through the publication list of Dr. Ramanna’s research papers, books, convocation addresses,interviews, shows the versatile character of his involvement in science, technology, administration, politics,public welfare, sanskrit, music, spirituality and philosophy”

Dr. Ramanna held many important positions. He was Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre(BARC), Mumbai (1972-1978; 1981-1983), Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary to theDepartment of Atomic Energy, Government of India (1983-1988), Scientific Advisor to the Ministry ofDefence, Director General, Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO), Government ofIndia (1978-82), President, Indian National Science Academy (INSA) (1977-1978), Minister of State forDefence, Government of India, (January-November 1990), Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (August1997-August 2003), Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore (August 1987-December1989, December 1990-June 1997). He was decorated with many awards including Shantiswarup BhatnagarMemorial Award (1963), Padma Shri (1973) Padma Bhushan (1983) and Padma Vibhushan (1995).

The best tribute which we can pay to his memory is to strive hard to follow his footsteps to continue toexcel in the field of nuclear science and technology with emphasis on achieving self-reliance in this importantfield.


Dr. Raja Ramanna, with the then Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi at BARC

Dr. Raja Ramanna and Dr. P. K. Iyengar with the thenPrime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi at VECC


About the Author

Dr. S.S. Kapoor, Former Director,Physics and Electronics & Instrumentation Groups, BARC

Prof. S. S. Kapoor retired as Director, Physics and Electronics & Instrumentation Groups, BARC, inJune, 2000 and later occupied the prestigious chair of DAE -Homi Bhabha Professorship at BARC. Presentlyfrom July, 2008, he is Emeritus INSA Honorary Scientist. He has a large number of publications in reputedinternational journals on his research work in nuclear physics covering areas of nuclear fission, heavy ionphysics, accelerators and detectors. He has also co-authored a book on Nuclear Radiation Detectors. AsProject Director, he was responsible for setting up of the BARC-TIFR nuclear physics facility based on 14MV tandem Van de Graaff (Pelletron) accelerator at TIFR for research with accelerated heavy- ion beams,which has grown to become a major centre for heavy - ion based research in India, since its commissioningin 1989. He was the chairman of the co-ordination committee, which has worked out a road-map for thedevelopment of Accelerator Driven Reactor Systems with respect to the nuclear energy programs in thecountry. An internationally renowned nuclear physicist, he is recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize forPhysical Sciences in the year 1983 for his outstanding contributions to physical sciences. He was alsoawarded the Goyal Prize for the year 1996 for his pioneering work in Nuclear Physics. He is a fellow of allthree National Science Academies.


Dr. M.R. SrinivasanChairman, AEC, India (1987-1990)

Dr. M.R. Srinivasan, recipient of Padma Bhushan award for his immense contributions to nuclearscience and technology was born in 1930 in Bangalore. He retired as Chairman Atomic Energy Commissionand Secretary Department of Atomic Energy in 1990 as one of the towering personalities who ably guidedIndian Nuclear Programme. Post retirement he has been inspired by his family and friends to pen down hisexperience. Compilation of his papers and experience have been published in the form of three books. Hewas member planning commission from 1996 to 1998. He played crucial role during three years of politicallyand technically exciting but tense period of Indo-US nuclear deal. Presently at the age of 78 he is memberAEC, DAE. He is keenly interested in sports and nature. That perhaps explains the decision to settle inOotacamund in Nilgiris in 1992. His father Mr. M.S. Ramaswamy was a school teacher. His early educationwas in schools in Bangalore, Madhurigi, Mandya and Mysore where he studied in famous Maharaja’s HighSchool. The outstanding teaching faculty of the school instilled in him the desire to pursue excellence.

On completion of his schooling with a high first class, he joined the Intermediate College, Mysore inscience stream. He also elected to study English and Sanskrit. This proved to be very useful in later yearsof professional career when he demonstrated tremendous and unparallel command in English language in allits forms. I experienced it myself in early eighties when I was asked to write a draft of a keynote address onMaterial Problems in Nuclear Power Plant. As I did not receive any briefing to the extent of coverage, Iproduced a draft running into several typed sheets. My boss Mr. S.K. Chatterjee, Head Nuclear Design,had a quick look at the draft and decided we should meet Dr. M.R. Srinivasan, who was Deputy Director,PPED at that time. There was a mixed reaction from him. He used the draft to produce a wonderfulhandwritten presentation overnight that left a lasting impression on me about the nuances of writing a goodtechnical paper with focus, good flow of language and continuity.

During his college days he not only excelled in studies but also took keen interest in sports. Secondyear of his intermediate college he completed from Bangalore as his father was transferred there. Thoughhis first love was physics, he deferred to the wishes of his elders and joined Engineering College started bythat eminent son of Mysore State Dr. M. Visvesvarya. He chose mechanical engineering as his subject. Hewas amongst the best students in the college and received merit scholarships and also an endowmentscholarship. Scholarship amounts were small, but he was thrilled with the thought that he was of help to hisfather who was burdened with bringing up a large family.

He completed the Engineering Degree in 1950 securing various distinctions. During the final year ofhis college his interest was kindled to do his post graduation studies in gas turbines. He was sponsored for ascholarship under the Colombo Plan for studying at the McGill University in Canada. For the Master ofEngineering Programme, he took course in Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Applied Mathematics, etc. Hereceived his first exposure to nuclear science and technology at this college before he got engrossed in theGas Dynamics Laboratory. His interaction with students of different nationalities and the requirements todesign, fabricate and set up experimental facility, gave an all round development to his personality. Apartfrom spending long hours in the laboratory, he also indulged in tennis and badminton during spare time. Hisinterest in sporting activities and cricket was also prominent and visible during his professional carrier; so


much so that from his busy and long schedule of running PPED, he would get time to enquire about cricketscore of an on-going test match. In late seventies I used to be his cricket correspondent also. There wasnothing official about it!

After completion of his masters degree in a period of one year or so, he was offered a researchfellowship which enabled him to work for a doctorate. He completed his thesis and received the doctoraldegree in September 1954. His thesis was rated “Magna cum Laude”. He had started working at Ruston &Hornsby in UK, when he was picked up by Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, Chairman, Indian Atomic Energy Commission.Dr. Bhabha was looking for young Indian Scientists and Engineers to join his newly created organization. Hejoined the department as Senior Research Officer in September 1955. He was immediately deputed to UKAtomic Energy Authority for an international course in reactor technology at Harwell. His first assignmentwith DAE on completion of training course was to work with the group responsible for the construction offirst research reactor of Swimming Pool Type - later named as Apsara.

In 1959 a project group was constituted for setting up our first nuclear power plant. He was appointedas the Principal Project Engineer. He very nostalgically narrated his experiences of site selection for thisproject during one of his road journeys to Tarapur when as a Director of NPCIL, I was escorting him for afunction. Tarapur was one of the potential sites. He and M.N.Chakraborty, Head of the Group, made areconnaissance visit and set off to Tarapur by road. Manor-Palghar stretch with middle hump posed ahazard to engine crack case. Eventually there was an oil leak and the car packed off. It was monsoon timeand in that lonely stretch, they received help with great difficulty. From Tarapur, that is the ancestral homeof Dr. Bhabha to the site near the light house, they had to use a bullock cart as it was the only way to reachdestination. Tarapur was eventually selected as the site for our first nuclear power station as it fulfilled allthe expectations and requirements. It was a revelation to learn that our first project did not have a foreignconsultant from supplier country as was customary for new countries to appoint such a consultant to assistin the formulation of plant specifications, review of bids and in contract negotiations. It was because ofimmense initiative shown by this group and Dr. Bhabha reposing faith in their abilities to take up thesechallenges. He always backed them to the hilt. A contract with General Electric Company was finalized forsetting up two Boiling Water Reactor type nuclear power plants of 210 MWe each. This was one of thelargest single contracts entered into by India with any country at that time.

Dr. Srinivasan met Geetha in 1961 on one of his visits to Bangalore. They got married in 1962 and havetwo bright and lovely children - Son Raghuvir was born on December 10, 1963 and daughter Shardha wasborn on January 16, 1966. In early eighties, when I was General Secretary of PPED Staff Club, Shardhagave a scintillating dance performance during an annual function. Dr. Srinivasan continues to enjoy a happyand healthy family life.

In early 1967, he was appointed as the Chief Construction Engineer of Madras Atomic Power Project.It was the first indigenously designed Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor based on CANDU technology.The construction work at the power station involved many new and challenging techniques in civil engineering.A circular diaphragm wall as a cut off for ground water was built for the first time. The reactor building inpre-stressed concrete was the first such construction. Then there was this underground tunnel 150 feetbelow the ground to draw sea water for cooling the condenser. In a true Swadeshi spirit all these challengingtasks were performed by Indian Construction Companies.

In 1973, the then Chairman of AEC, Dr. H.N. Sethna asked him to take up new position of DeputyDirector, PPED. He moved to PPED, Mumbai in temporary sheds near TIFR Complex. Till that time healways considered that design and procurement hub at PPED, Mumbai was responsible for the delays insupply of materials that eventually got translated into overall delays in the project. It took him time to settledown and appreciate the difficulties of PPED Engineers who were most of the time tied down by bureaucraticprocedures. He was made Director, PPED in 1974. Dr. Srinivasan never hesitated in giving the creditwhere it was due. In 1981, when I was heading Reactor Auxiliaries Section, a suggestion came from thehighest authority to reduce perennial heavy water losses from our operating unit. I was asked to examinethe suggestion. Since the studies involved principles of Chemical Engineering, I was taken to Dr. H.N.Sethna to explain the techno-economic relationships. I being a small log in the big wheel was apprehensiveabout facing the top boss. But Dr. Srinivasan provided me with support and courage to meet Dr. Sethna. Imust admit the meeting turned out to be the most fruitful of my career which appeared crumbling to me at


that time. On another occasion, when a senior of mine was explaining a proposal to Dr. M.R. Srinivasan ona subject I had developed some expertise, I intervened to make some improvements. Dr. Srinivasan got veryangry and minced no words in giving me a piece of his mind. Though eventually my suggestions proveduseful, I learnt a lesson of my life - never speak out-of-turn.

Dr. Srinivasan, once convinced about the merit of a proposal, supported you to the hilt even when someof his colleagues may be having different opinion. In late seventies I had acquired some good knowledgeabout behavior of materials, corrosion problem and selection of materials for our nuclear power plants. I wasasked to examine the need of Condensate Polishing Plant (CPP) for Madras Atomic Power Station basedon techno-economic analysis. A CPP was considered essential for condensers cooled by sea-water. Basedon an innovative approach for which I received lot of inputs from my colleagues, it was established thatintroduction of Condensate Polishing Plant is not only feasible but also a sound technical solution for longterm economic benefits. The high cost proposal was reviewed by experts in the field. When the D-day camefor giving final clearance to the proposal, the key-opponent of the proposal did not turn-up for the meetingchaired by Dr. Srinivasan. But he proceeded with the discussions and review as planned and the gatheringgave its consent to implement the scheme. In hind-sight the scheme has been found to be very useful tomanage sea water leaks through condenser tubes.

In early 1987, Dr. Srinivasan was given the reign of DAE upon the retirement of Dr. Raja Ramanna. Itwas a difficult period for the nuclear industry in general because of the nuclear accident in Chernobyl in1986. No other activity had shaken the public faith in nuclear power more than this accident. His main taskwas to restore public acceptance and faith. He is reported to have ushered in an era of glasnost in atomicenergy affairs. He hastened the process of setting up Nuclear Power Corporation for giving momentum tothe first stage of Indian Nuclear Power Programme which was on course to achieving maturity. He wasappointed the first Chairman of the corporation when it was set-up on September 17, 1987. Dr. Srinivasanfinished his formal association with atomic energy family in February 1990. He can claim to have had ahighly satisfying and record breaking career of planning and executing eighteen nuclear reactors in all.Seven of these were operating, seven were under construction and four more reactors were in the planningphase. In 1984, he was awarded Padma Shri by President of India, Zail Singh. He was decorated withPadma Bhushan by President R. Venkataraman in 1990. He served as an advisor on energy and environmentto the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 1990 to 1992. He was appointed member ofplanning commission from 1996 to 1998.

Dr. Srinivasan has led a very active post retirement life. When he was not busy in answering the callfrom Government of India as member, planning commission, he was busy in lecturing and more importantlywriting his memoirs. He wrote the story of Indian Atomic Energy Programme in his famous book “FromFission to Fusion”. The book was first published by Penguin Books India in 2002 and reprinted by NPCIL in2008. The book presents the story of Indian Nuclear Power Programme through all its tribulations, hurdlesand glory and tries to give credit where it is due. Dr. Srinivasan was very active from 2005-2008 in presentinghis views to Secretary, DAE as well as PMO on now famous Indo-US Nuclear deal. He was alwayssupportive of the deal which eventually emerged the winner and a defining moment in the history of IndianNuclear Power Program. It opened the gates of nuclear commerce between India and the rest of the worldafter more than three decades of technology denial and nuclear isolation. Dr. Anil Kakodkar, the thenChairman of AEC and Secretary DAE received moral, technical support from many illustrated luminaries ofDAE. Dr. Srinivasan was always in the forefront in supporting the deal. Even at the age of eighty when mostwill hang their professional tools, he continues to lead a professionally and physically active life. I saw him infull zeal and action during INSAC-2008 conference organized by Indian Nuclear Society from 24 to 26November 2008. His association with Department of Atomic Energy is continuing. Today he is a member ofAEC, DAE.

I express my humble salute to this ever green personality of Indian Atomic Energy Establishment andnuclear power programme.


Dr. M.R. Srinivasan with Prof. M.G.K. Menon, Prof. Virendra Singh and Dr. S.S. Kapoor, at TIFR during the inauguration of Pelletron accelerator.

Dr. M.R. Srinivasan and Shri K.S.N. Murthy with the then Prime MinisterShri Rajiv Gandhi at MAPS


About the Author

Shri P. D. Sharma, Former Sr. Ex. Director, NPCIL, Mumbai

Shri. P.D. Sharma retired from NPCIL in 2005 as Distinguished Scientist and Senior Executive Director(Projects and Procurement). During his long and meritorious career of nearly 36 years he held variouspositions in design, procurement, safety review, project execution and commissioning of PHWR basednuclear power plants. He was a key member of the engineering team constituted to design First-of-its-kind500 MWe PHWR from its inception. Project was also executed under his guidance, which set a record ofachieving criticality in less than 5 years in March 2005. He made significant contributions in the en-massecoolant channel replacement at RAPP-2 and helped in completion of the project ahead of schedule forwhich he was given award by NPCIL. Internationally he has carried out expert missions for IAEA; beenconsultant to them for writing TECDOC on infrastructure requirements. Mr.Sharma is a Fellow of IndianInstitution of Engineers. He was advisor to Larsen & Toubro and Sargent & Lundy till recently.


Dr. P. K. IyengarChariman, AEC, India (1990-1993)

My Mentor, Padmanabha Krishnagopal Iyengar, started his scientific career as a young ResearchAssistant at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in 1952 when he was about twenty years. Heretired from his formal scientific, technical, administrative career in 1993 as Chairman, Atomic EnergyCommission. He was the first Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission who was entirely trained within thecountry, except for a short stint of eighteen months with B.N. Brockhouse at Chalk River Nuclear Laboratoriesin Canada. Indigenisation of the atomic energy programme started by Dr. Bhabha in the fifties was, in away, completed with his becoming the Chairman, AEC.

That this article was written in the centenary year of one of the great sons of India, Homi JehangirBhabha, is truly appropriate since Bhabha was young Krishnagopal’s motivator and inspiration. Lookingback, I have a feeling that this was because the values which were dear to Iyengar in a semi-conscious orlatent way were externalized and confirmed by HJB. Love of ones country, need for confidence in oneselfand conviction in the ways in which basic science plays out in nature were all common traits of the two. Inan interview he gave to the news paper HINDU he said this about Bhabha, “He was more Indian than anyIndian I have seen, confident of Indian culture and Indian spirit”. This applies to Dr. Iyengar aptly.

In his talk on the occasion of his retirement from the Chairmanship of Atomic Energy Commission hehas adduced to the early part of his life. Born in 1931 he went through schooling at a time when ourindependence movement was at its peak. I, some six years younger, have felt the atmosphere at that timewhich crept into the lives of people in Banaras Hindu University. They were charged with an indescribable,indeed unimaginable, national feeling and urge to accomplish something - anything - in the cause of India. Noone was untouched by the atmosphere pervading the whole country. Around 1940 he read a book by acongressman from Chennai, which left a deep impression on his mind. The book said, “The dhotis I wear aremade of Indian cotton, but manufactured in Manchester; the pencil with which I write is made in Germany;the needle with which my wife sews clothes is made in Birmingham; the bicycle I ride is manufactured inEngland; the books I read are printed in Oxford and Cambridge; the kerosene lamp which I use for light ismade in Sheffield and the glass comes from Belgium”. Iyengar’s talk continues by saying that “these strikingfacts are the result of colonial rule for over two hundred years. Inspite of India having had a civilisation withexcellent technology, whether in producing muslin cloth or huge lamp posts in the temples (deepastambams),by systematic policy the colonial government had reduced society to depend on foreign manufactured goodseven for day-to-day requirements and thus destroyed the local economy …. fascination for foreign goodsresulted in the inhibition of creativity and consequently in a continuous dependence on foreign technology,goods and even methodology, which exists even today”. Gandhian insistence on self-sufficient village-stylelife and this utter dependence on foreign goods and technology made Iyengar come to believe that if Indiahas to survive, it has to provide for itself through its own science and technology.

Krishnagopal passed his M.Sc in Physics (1952) from Trivendrum (now Thiruvananthapuram) andimmediately thereafter got an appointment as a Research Assistant at TIFR. The appointment letter, unlikethe terse ones which one normally received from government offices (laboratories included) was a friendlyone in tone and made his friend remark, “this must be a very different kind of institution to have written such


an inviting appointment letter, even though you are just a raw university graduate”. Iyengar attributes this toBhabha’s eagerness to attract the best talent for science and one of Bhabha’s ways of showing confidencein his coworkers, which, in turn, enthused them in their work. My personal experience is that Raja Ramannaand P.K.Iyengar had similar characteristics. They had this common trait of standing by their colleagues evenwhile standing up to their critique and scrutiny in scientific and technical matters. This, to my mind, issomewhat a ‘western’ trait which often does not exist in our feudal minded universities and laboratories.

Iyengar started his career as a Research Assistant in Dr. Ramanna’s Group at TIFR, Bombay. A 1-million-volt Cockroft-Walton accelerator had been installed at the Institute, which then existed in old militarybarracks by the Arabian Sea at the southern tip of Bombay in the Naval area. The new TIFR building hadstill not started to be built. This is where he got his initial training in detection of nuclear radiation and inbuilding electronics required for counting nuclear particles and in fabricating pulse-height and time analyserfor measurement of slowing down of 14 MeV neutrons in different media. This period of about five years oflearning and experimentation instilled in him a style of working which became a part of his personality inyears to come.

Apsara, India’s first nuclear reactor became critical on Saturday, August 4, 1956. The neutronmeasurements at TIFR were a preparation for the utilisation of neutrons from Apsara. However, evenbefore the criticality of Apsara India had signed an agreement with Canada for building a bigger reactor atTrombay similar to their NRX reactor at Chalk River, Canada. A large team of engineers and a few scientistswere sent to Chalk River for training. Iyengar had the good fortune to be chosen to work with B.N.Brockhouse-an extraordinary scientist who went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics (with C.G.Shull) in 1994.Brockhouse was a scientist who had an intuitive approach and could get to the heart of a problem withoutgetting embroiled in details of the mathematical tools, necessarily used in Physics. Iyengar was of similartype and there was a complete match in their approach to science; the eighteen months in 1956-58 that hespent with Brockhouse turned out to be a period of great value as it consolidated his belief in himself andkindled his innovative sprit for developing new methods and devices for doing novel and better experiments.Let it be recalled that Brockhouse was given the Nobel Prize, among other things, for introducing themethod known as “constant-Q method” which led to highly accurate measurement of phonon and magnondispersion relations in materials. Brockhouse and Iyengar did a very important measurement of dispersionrelations of phonons in Germanium - a landmark in the field.

Impressed by Iyengar’s abilities and independent nature, Brockhouse decided to ask him to stay longerat Chalk River’s expense. However, Iyengar had different plans. He explained to Brockhouse that he hadobligations to his parent institution and to his parents and siblings in India. While at Chalk River, Bhabha hadprovided for his living expenses there and salary in India. He had impressed upon the team members that itwas they who had to establish new science and technology in the Atomic Energy Establishment Trombay(now BARC). Therefore, for Iyengar it was a duty and an obligation to stand up to the expectations reposedin him. Brockhouse appreciated his deep commitment and Iyengar returned to India in March 1958.

Iyengar was full of confidence and ideas about starting a full fledged neutron scattering programme atTrombay. He was encouraged and fully supported by Ramanna in this. Here, it is worth quoting from anarticle by N.S.Satya Murthy in Pramana where, in connection with the growth of neutron beam research inmagnetism in India he writes, “…. We were encouraged and given a free hand for determining the courseof our work by Dr. Ramanna, whose primary interests were in the study of nuclear fission using reactorneutrons. He clearly saw neutron beam research as a fertile training ground for scientists in the broadercontext of mastering reactor and nuclear technologies and left the details to the interests and predilections ofthe individual groups. Today (~1984), if the neutron scattering accomplishments at Trombay are recognisedin India and abroad, it is because of pioneering roles played by Dr Ramanna and Dr Iyengar….” SatyaMurthy and I joined him in August 1958, after graduating from the first batch of the Training School of theDepartment of Atomic Energy. An automatic neutron diffractometer was the first to be built and installed atApsara in less than two years. This was soon followed by an inelastic scattering spectrometer. Measurementson magnetic structure of an alloy of iron and tin and lattice vibrations in iron crystal were the first to bereported in less than three years from start. In parallel more neutron instruments were built for using neutronsfrom Cirus reactor. When Cirus became critical neutron spectrometers from Apsara were shifted there andsome new ones were installed for experiments; inelastic scattering measurements on magnesium andammonium chloride were reported at an international meeting at Chalk River, Canada in 1962. By 1962 the


Trombay group for studying condensed matter with neutrons had more than half a dozen scientists includingV.P.Duggal, N.Umakanth, G.Venkatraman, K.Usha Deniz, N.S.Satya Murthy, B.A.Dasannacharya, K.R.Rao,C.L.Thaper, and A.P.Roy in addition to technical support personnel like J.N.Soni, C.S.Somanathan, VirendraSingh, Y.D.Dande, P.R.Vijayaraghavan, and M.R.L.N.Murthy. R.Chidambaram joined BARC in 1962 andbuilt the neutron crystallography group with A.S.Sequeira and S.K.Sikka.

In recognition of this growth, IAEA accepted our invitation to hold the next international meeting oninelastic scattering of neutrons by solids in winter of 1964 at Bombay. By the time of the meeting severalnew instruments, including a window-filter spectrometer and a multi-arm spectrometer which had interestinginnovative features introduced by Iyengar, were in place. Then on, Iyengar and his group contributedextensively to measurements of phonon dispersion relations and other inelastic scattering studies in severalmaterials. In the area of magnetism the contributions included studies of anti-ferro-magnetic alloys anddynamics of magnetic spins by neutron scattering. The group was well established and many of Iyengar’scolleagues were recognized in their own right as leading workers in the field. On the way Iyengar got a PhDand also the Bhatnagar Award. Iyengar expanded his area of investigations in late-sixties to the studies ofmagnetic alloys and spin relaxation in ferrites using the technique of Mossbauer effect; this led to someinnovations in instrumentation and a number of publications.

Following the 1964 IAEA meeting, a progarmme for introducing neutron scattering at nuclear reactorsin south-east Asian countries was initiated by IAEA at the suggestion of Dr Ramanna & Dr Iyengar. Indiainitially built a neutron diffractometer for the Philippines and a number of physicists from the Philippines,South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan were trained. Some of them visited BARC for further advancedtraining. Under the Regional Cooperation Agreement (RCA) of IAEA, BARC supplied spectrometers tomost of these countries and neutronic study of condensed matter was started. This RCA became a templatefor other regional collaboration programmes of IAEA. This initiative may be therefore be said to havesubstantially contributed to establishing the field of neutron scattering for the study of condensed matter inthe south-east Asia.

The next phase in Iyengar’s scientific career concerns with the development of the fast reactor assembly,PURNIMA-I (short form for Plutonium Reactor for Neutron Investigations in Multiplying Assemblies). It iswell known that Bhabha had enunciated the three stage atomic energy programme early in the history ofAtomic Energy in India. This would need development of fast reactors for breeding Uranium into Plutonium-239 and Thorium into Uranium-233. Homi Bhabha unfortunately died in an aeroplane crash in January 1966.However, he had already laid the foundation for the overall indigenous development of atomic energy. Thefirst Plutonium plant for separating Plutonium from used fuel rods of Cirus reactor was ready by end of 1964and thinking was active about fast reactors. Vikram Sarabai, took charge in May 1966 after the death of Dr.Bhabha. A decision was taken to start a centre at Kalpakkam near Madras for specialising in research,development and growth of fast reactors.

Internationally, sixties saw the development of pulsed neutron sources with a view to using them forneutron scattering experiments. USSR had built a pulsed fast reactor in early sixties and Italy was contemplatingone. Accelerator based photo-neutron and spallation sources were being developed. A team of scientistsunder Iyengar, who by then was Head, Nuclear Physics Division, BARC, was sent to Italy and USSR in1967 to learn about their programmes. It was felt that a pulsed fast reactor could be a possibility for installationat the then proposed reactor research centre for fast reactors at Kalpakkam. However, there was littleexperience in building fast reactor systems and it was instead decided to set up a critical-facility for neutronicexperiments at Trombay. This would provide valuable experience for handling fast neutron prompt criticalassemblies which incidentally is also very relevant in connection with nuclear explosive systems. This wasobviously one of the considerations as following events would prove. With Ramanna guiding the overallphysics programme at BARC, Iyengar spear-headed the programme to design and build PURNIMA 1.How this system was engineered is described in some detail in the book “Atomic Energy in India - 50 years”by C.V.Sundaram, L.V.Krishnan and T.S.Iyengar. Important roles were played by several teams headed byM.Srinivasan for reactor physics and design, P.R.Roy for fuel fabrication and S.N.Sheshadri for controlsystem.

India’s first fast neutron reactor assembly went critical on May 18, 1972. PURNIMA group went on tobuild PURNIMA II, a critical assembly with solution of uranyl (U-233) nitrate as the core. After the required


neutronic studies with this assembly, PURNIMA III, a small reactor with U233-Al alloy fuel was built at thesame position. This was a 30 KW reactor which was shifted to Kalpakkam after its criticality, namedKAMINI (Kalpakkam Mini Reactor) and used for neutron radiography.

Sixties were an interesting period for another reason. After the inauguration of Plutonium plant Bhabha,on being asked whether India can produce an atom bomb, had mentioned that India was in a position to doso in eighteen months. This was relevant in the context of China having tested their nuclear devices justthen. At the IAEA General Conference in 1965 Bhabha referred to India’s difficulty in sustaining a policy ofrestraint in the face of these developments. Both USSR and USA were doing experiments with nuclearexplosives to find their peacetime applications. The results were discussed at the International AtomicEnergy Agency, Vienna. At the same time that Iyengar was sent to Dubna, Ramanna asked Chidambaramto follow this development and examine areas where this could be useful to India. India’s interest in aPeaceful Nuclear Experiment (PNE) for leaching of copper ores was presented at IAEA. Ramanna wasclearly building up the preparedness for a nuclear device. When the time came and Indira Gandhi gave thesignal to go ahead towards the end of 1972, Ramanna chose Iyengar as the team - leader to oversee andguide the PNE project. The PURNIMA teams of neutronics, controls, fuel fabrication and mechanicalengineering were given similar responsibilities in view of their experience, Chidambaram’s responsibilitiesincluded device-design, coordination with DRDO, etc and specialist teams were created for specific tasksas necessary. The whole effort of the team, each working ‘part-time’ and in a well coordinated way is toowell documented to warrant repetition. PNE was conducted successfully on 18th May 1974 about twentymonths after the go-ahead signal.

The Peaceful Nuclear Experiment was, as Iyengar put it, “ the most exhilarating experience of mycareer …… This involved building up a group, inculcating a spirit of cooperation and jointly achievingresults.” Dr Ramanna had taken over as Director, BARC in 1972. The mantle of the Directorship of thePhysics Group was handed over to Iyengar. Over the years, from 1972 to 1983, he was given expandingresponsibilities of other Groups in BARC, culminating in the Directorship of BARC in 1984. He became theChairman, Atomic Energy Commission in 1990 for a three year term. Naturally, his administrativeresponsibilities and scope of work continually expanded during this period. Iyengar played important leadershiprole in planning for new accelerators at VECC, CAT and TIFR. The company of the best in any area ofendeavour propels one to do better than the best. Collaboration with other laboratories and scientists showsus their different styles of working and allows us to make realistic estimates of our own caliber vis-à-vis ourpeers’ and gives us confidence in accomplishing our goals. Realising that exposure to world’s best facilitiesis necessary for our scientists, he established collaborative programmes with laboratories like CERN -Geneva, Fermilab - Chicago and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory - UK. These collaborations not onlyallowed our scientists access to the laboratories but provided us opportunity to develop front line technologies;they in turn substantially contribute to our own programmes. It is this type of thinking which he brought tobear on all programmes which were undertaken at BARC, be they in physical sciences, biological sciences,or engineering and technology. And in matters of importance to BARC like, for example, the commissioningof Dhruva, he would get involved personally and lead from the front. I also remember his unstinted supportand encouragement to the superconductivity programme after the discovery of high temperaturesuperconductors in late seventies. However, his support was not confined to generating some researchpapers alone, but to overall development of both science and technology emerging out of the effort.

Another programme which he supported in late eighties, and was personally involved in, was that ofcold fusion which now goes under the name of condensed matter nuclear science. A controversial area ofresearch at any time, his involvement, in my view, was basically because of his strong belief in experimentalscience, in the power of observation as against over dependence on existing theories to predict ‘all’ phenomena(accept Vedas as last word!). In this context I am particularly reminded of Prigogine’s book entitled ‘TheEnd of Certainty’ which discusses our inability to explain several physico-chemical and biological processeswithin the framework of well established laws and the need for their extension to boundaries beyond theirareas of validity. It is a moot point that in spite of it being given many negative adjectives the subject refusesto die after two decades.

Many developmental programmes were undertaken at BARC when he was the Director and at DAEwhen he was the Chairman, AEC. In his decision making during this period he would not allow nibblingprocedural issues to come in the way of important scientific and technological progress. This too is one of his


hallmarks. P K Iyengar retired in 1993; he continued to be a member of the Atomic Energy Commission forthe next five years.

After his retirement he was Advisor to Kerala Government’s Department of Science and Technologybetween 1993 and 1997. During this period he established the Rajiv Gandhi Institute at Thiruvananthapuram,which has become a first rate scientific research establishment. He has continued to take keen interest inrural science education through his involvement, as a Trustee, in the NGO, Agastya Foundation, whosenerve centre is in a rural area in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh.

This account would be incomplete if it did not mention his recent critique of the Indo-US nuclear deal.The issue has been discussed threadbare both in public and among scientists and engineers; this is not theplace to discuss its pros and cons. However, it is interesting to look into the person behind the comments. Ihave already alluded to Iyengar being moulded by the value Institutes and ways of working of Bhabha andRamanna, both having tremendous sense of pride in being an Indian. He has developed a world view aftera long experience of working in an atmosphere wherein external restrictions were and are being placed inour scientific and technical endeavours so as to keep us denied of a place that a country of our size,population, culture and knowledge-base ought to be in. The ways utilised to make progress in strategicapplications of atomic energy and space-missile programmes in spite of these restrictions is well recorded.If the country wants to retain its ability to make overall scientific and technological progress in the interestsof its citizens, it has to retain its independence of choice and options. Future is never predictable. Independenceof thought and action is a necessity in this context. Perception and understanding that basic science andtechnology are two sides of a coin. The ardhanarishwara of modern civilization, is fully integrated in thepersonae of P.K. Iyengar and his career has been a balance between the two.


Dr. P. K. Iyengar with the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi

Dr. P. K. Iyengar with the then Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi at VECC


About the Author

Dr. B.A. Dasannacharya, former, Director, Solid state and Spectroscopy Group, BARC

The author after graduating from BARC Training School (1957-58) joined BARC to work withP.K.Iyengar at Apsara on neutron scattering from condensed matter. He has contributed extensively toareas of neutron diffraction, quasi-elastic and inelastic scattering and small angle scattering experiments inaddition to innovative instrument development. In his career of 38 years in BARC he has been also interestedin several other areas touching on development and technology. After being Director, Solid state andSpectroscopy Group (1990-96) and also Multi Disciplinary Technology Group (1993-96), BARC, he wasDirector, Inter University Consortium for Department of Atomic Energy Facilities, Indore (1996-2002). Heis a Fellow of Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore and Indian National Science Academy, Delhi and PastPresident of Indian Physics Association, Mumbai.


Dr. R. ChidambaramChairman, AEC, India (1993-2000)

Dr. R. Chidambaram took his B.Sc.(Hons.) degree from Madras University in 1956 with first rank inthe university and completed his Ph.D in 1962 from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, from where healso later got his D.Sc. Degree. His Ph.D thesis was adjudged the best one that year and he was awardedthe Martin Froster medal for this. For his Ph.D, he built the first nuclear magnetic resonance instrument inthe country and addressed to some challenging problems with it. Although, the non-linearity of hydrogenbonds was postulated some times earlier, the real attention on this was given only after his paper on the‘bent’ hydrogen bond model for the structure of ice-1.

In 1962, he joined Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and started his school of work on neutron diffractionand crystallography. His choice of problems was very appropriate for the power of the neutron diffractiontechnique for locating hydrogen atoms. The first paper published by his group on the ‘Neutron diffractionstudy of the structure of potassium oxalate monohydrate: lone-pair coordination of the hydrogen-bondedwater molecule in crystals is now a citation classic. He was the first one to introduce automation for datacollection with neutron diffractometers. He was also instrumental in introducing crystallographic computingin India. In fact, his efforts to develop crystallography in India mirror the developments of the field ofcrystallography in the world. He was elected Vice-President of International Union of Crystallography forthe term 1986-2000.

In 1968, he was asked to work on the design of nuclear explosives. He was the first one to work out theequation of state of Pu which is still classified by all the nuclear weapon states. He chose the implosionmethod for the device which was tested at Pokharan in 1974. For this, he initiated shockwave research atBARC in very close interaction with TBRL of DRDO. For the tests of 1998, he introduced a very compactimplosion system, which could be weaponised. For all this, he was recognized by award of Padma Vibhushanin 1999. In fact, his designs for the various nuclear devices were based on sound scientific principles and noton borrowed ideas from other nuclear weapon states - a fact acknowledged by western experts.

After the test of the nuclear device at Pokharan in 1974, Dr. Chidambaram started ‘open’ research inthe area of high pressure physics. For this, a complete range of instrumentation like diamond anvil cells, gas-gun for launching projectiles, with complete diagnostic facilities was built indigenously. He also laid thefoundation of theoretical high pressure research for calculation of equation of state, phase stability of materialsetc. Today, these capabilities involve first principles calculations. The papers published by his group are alsowell cited. The one on ‘omega phase in materials’ is like a text book for researchers in Condensed MatterPhysics/Materials Science.

As Director of BARC, he initiated the development of super-computers, which now have acquiredteraflop speed capability. During his Chairmanship of Atomic Energy Commission, he accelerated thedevelopment of nuclear power by persuading the Govt. of India to set up more nuclear reactors. He alsodiversified the power programme by acquiring light-water reactors from Russia. Also, during his chairmanship,the speeding up of 500 MW fast breeder reactor construction was a crucial step in the second stage of thethree stage nuclear programme enunciated by Homi Bhabha for India. He was honoured by the International


Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by electing him as the Chairman of its Board of Governors during 1994-1995. Only, Homi Bhabha was the other Indian who had been elected earlier as Chairman. He was alsoappointed in 2008 by the Director-General, IAEA as a member of the Commission of Eminent Persons toprepare a report on the role of IAEA to year 2020 and beyond.

More recently his initiatives as Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India, including the settingup of the Core Advisory Group for R&D in the Automotive Sector (CAR) to increase academia-industryinteraction, the creation of RuTAGs (Rural Technology Action Groups) for effective need based technologydelivery in rural areas, the establishment of SETS (Society for Electronic Transactions and Security),headquartered in Chennai, etc. are making significant impact. He has emphasized the need for ‘CoherentSynergy’ (a phrase he has coined) in India’s S&T efforts to help out India on a sustained fast-growth path.Currently, he is also President of Shree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences, Chairman of the Boardof Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad.He is a Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change and Chairman of the High-LevelCommittee for the National Knowledge Network.

In short, Dr. Chidambaram is a home grown scientist. In fact, all his S&T work has been done in India.He is a very original thinker, an inspiring leader, an institution builder and a sound administrator. He has wonmany awards and laurels including the INS-Homi Bhabha Lifetime Achievement Award of the IndianNuclear Society(2006). He has been awarded D.Sc. degrees (Honoris Causa) by many universities in Indiaand abroad. He is a Fellow of most of the scientific academies in India and also of the Third World Academyof Science (TWAS), Trieste (Italy). He is a recognised Research Guide of Bombay University for fourdecades. More than 20 students have taken Ph.D. under his guidance. He has been a super mentor to hisstudents and his co-workers. He is an avid sports lover, especially of cricket and plays tennis regularly. Hehas also deep interest in classical music and is a Honorary Patron, Shanmukhananda Fine Art and SangeethaSabha, Mumbai and Chief Patron The Fine Arts Society, Chembur Mumbai.


Dr. R. Chidambaram presenting memento to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at BARC

Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee visiting the Pokharan-II site withDr. R. Chidambaram and Dr. Abdul Kalam (May 20, 1998)


About the Author

Dr. S. K. SikkaFormer Director, Atomic and Condensed Matter Physics Group, BARC

Dr. Satinder Kumar Sikka joined BARC through its Training School in 1960 and rose to become aDistinguished Scientist and Director of Atomic and Condensed Matter Physics Group. From 2002 to 2008,he was the Scientific Secretary to the Principal Scientific Adviser to GOI. Dr. Sikka is at present DAE-Homi Bhabha professor at BARC. His Ph.D. work on the important phase problem in neutron diffractionhas been cited by some Noble Laureates. Some of his highly cited works are: to phase transition in Ti, Zr andHf, discovery of a unique primitive hexagonal phase in Si at 14GPa and crystal to amorphous transformationsunder pressure. He has worked for India’s nuclear weapon programme since 1969 and was a prominentmember of the team which conducted the 1974 Pokharan test. He led the design team for the 1998 testseries. Dr. Sikka was awarded ‘Padma Shri’ in 1999. He is a Fellow of all the three National ScienceAcademies. Among the other prominent awards received by him are: H.K. Firodia Award for Excellence inScience & Technology (1998), MRSI-ISCS Superconductivity and Materials Science Annual Prize (2001),M.M. Chugani Award for Excellence in Applied Physics of IPA(2002) and The Homi Jehangir BhabhaMedal for Experimental Physics of INSA (2005).


Dr. Anil KakodkarChairman, AEC (2000-2009)

Anil Kakodkar was born on 11th November 1943 in the Barwani village located in the present dayIndian state of Madhya Pradesh. He is the son of Mrs Kamala & Mr. P. Kakodkar, both Gandhian freedomfighters. His early education was at Barwani and at Khargone. Anil Kakodkar came to Bombay to pursuehis post-matriculation studies. After passing out from Ruparel College, he joined VJTI and obtained a Bachelorin Mechanical Engineering from Bombay University in 1963. He studied nuclear engineering at the TrainingSchool run by the then Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay and joined the Reactor Engineering Division(RED) in 1964. While working with RED, he was deputed to UK and there he received a Master inExperimental Stress Analysis from Nottingham University in 1969.

While at RED, he was associated with the Research and Development work related to nuclear reactors.Dr Kakodkar played a key role in the design and construction of the research reactor Dhruva, a 100 MWhigh flux reactor, a completely original concept and where several new technologies related to electronbeam welding, reactive material fabrication and joining of dissimilar metals were deployed on a large scalefor the first time in India.

Dr.Kakodkar’s decades of dedication and pioneering efforts in the indigenous development of a largenumber of critical systems of Indian Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, his contribution to safety-relatedresearch and his piloting of several new state-of-the-art technologies for this reactor system have significantlycontributed to India’s self-reliance in the area of nuclear power reactors. His work in rehabilitation ofnuclear reactors, Kalpakkam-1, 2 and Rajasthan-1, all of which at one stage appeared to be on the verge ofbeing written off, are important examples of his engineering capabilities to solve difficult problems. DrKakodkar continues to be actively involved in the programme related to augmentation of thorium utilizationin our nuclear power programme. During his career spanning four and a half decades, he has built competentteams of highly specialized scientists and engineers in the reactor engineering programme.

Aware of India’s nuclear fuel resource position, he advocated development of technologies for the useof thorium, which is available in plenty in the country and can provide long term energy security to thecountry. Considering significance of thorium in nuclear power generation, Indian and global reserves ofuranium and thorium, he always felt that very few people realize that while thorium is India’s necessitytoday, it will become the world’s necessity tomorrow. To gain industrial scale experience in the use ofthorium, he conceptualized Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, which aims to derive two-third of its powerfrom thorium. It also incorporates several passive safety features and will be a platform to enable India totest Generation IV technology features.

Anil Kakodkar was appointed Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in 1996 at theage of 53 years. During his tenure at BARC, he conceptualized part of the 9th Five Year Plan dealing withresearch and development sector and made several important changes in the organization structure of theCentre. Nuclear tests at Pokhran were conducted in 1998 during his tenure as Director BARC. He was alsoassociated with the peaceful nuclear explosion experiment at Pokhran in 1974. He has been a member ofthe core team of architects of India’s nuclear weapons programme. He gave new direction to the programmeto develop a compact reactor for propulsion and to reprocess spent fuel.


In December 2000, he was appointed Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman, AtomicEnergy Commission (AEC). He continued to hold this position till 2009 and his tenure was quite eventful .He is a strategic thinker and it is demonstrated by the way he steered the Department during his tenure asSecretary and Chairman AEC. Within a few days of his joining, he set up a Strategic Planning Group in theDAE Secretariat. Another early initiative was formulating ‘Key Drivers for Major Programmes’, whichwas instrumental in bringing efficiency in formulation and monitoring of five year plans for research anddevelopment and also brought a change in the format of the annual report of the Department.

Dr Kakodkar is an institution builder. India has been working on development of fast reactor technologyfor a long time and he took the next bold step to launch the construction of a 500 MWe Prototype FastBreeder Reactor (PFBR). This is a mega project both from the point of view of investment and complexityof technology and required sound planning before its launch. Research and development for fast reactortechnology is done at Indira Gandhi Centre for Advanced Research (IGCAR), but an industrial projectcannot be launched on the basis of strength in R&D alone. It also requires strength in project managementand execution, which is available with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a PublicSector Unit of the DAE. He directed setting up of a new Public Sector Unit, Bharatiya Nabhikiya VidyutNigam (BHAVINI) to combine the strengths of IGCAR and NPCIL. BHAVINI is now constructing PFBRat Kalpakkam, near Chennai , which is expected to attain criticality in 2012-13.

Realizing the increasing demand of uranium for fuelling the nuclear reactors, Dr Kakodkar launched anintense effort to augment indigenous uranium resources. This included motivating Atomic Minerals Directoratefor Exploration and Research (AMD) to accelerate its efforts to explore more uranium in the country andUranium Corporation of India Limited to open new mines. This resulted in increasing production of uraniumfrom Singhbhum belt in Jharkhand by opening new mines and setting up a new mill and opening of newmines at Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh. It is to be noted that it was for the first time that uranium miningmoved out of the Singhbhum belt. AMD was also able to identify more uranium resources in the country. Itwas noted that country lacked expertise to locate uranium reserves located deep in the earth as the necessaryinstrumentation was not available. He launched the development of instrumentation for this purpose whichhas now been completed and deployed.

Uranium has to be fabricated into fuel and this is done at Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), Hyderabad.For the expanding nuclear power programme, it was necessary to expand operations of NFC, and for thispurpose, Dr Kakodkar vigorously pursued setting up of additional facilities of NFC at Pazhayakayal nearTuticorin. To pursue spent fuel reprocessing at industrial scale he visualized the setting up of a NuclearRecycle Board and all ground work was carried out during his tenure.

It was soon apparent that indigenous uranium resources cannot meet the growing demand of nuclearpower programme. Therefore, a policy initiative was launched by the national leadership to open upinternational civil nuclear trade and he played a very prominent role in the entire process. His strategicthinking became a boon for the country and opening up of the international civil nuclear trade took place ina manner that fully protects the indigenous R&D and strategic nuclear programme, and India was recognizedas a “responsible state with advanced nuclear technology”..

Opening up of civil nuclear trade was made possible by the strengths acquired by the country based onresearch and development in the laboratories of DAE and other academic institutions in the country and themanufacturing capability developed by the Indian industry. This became obvious when a few months afterthe India–US Joint Statement of July 18, 2005, India was invited to participate in the ongoing six-partynegotiations to launch a mega project in the area of fusion technology. This project called ITER aims todemonstrate generation of energy based on fusion reaction and is coming up at Cadarache, in the South ofFrance. India became the seventh Party to this mega project in December 2005, other parties being China,EU, Japan, Russia, South Korea and USA. To ensure that India is able to meet its obligations arising out ofbeing a party to ITER, an agency called ITER-India was set up as a part of Institute for Plasma Researchduring his tenure.

DAE has taken notable initiative in the area of human resource development. This includes setting upof a Training School to train young graduates in nuclear science and engineering at the time of their inductionin DAE, launching programmes such as Diploma in Radiological Physics to train Radiation Safety Officers,Diploma in Radiation Medicine to train medical doctors in nuclear medicine. In addition, units of DAE have


been encouraging its employees to pursue research leading to Ph.D. and also making research facilitiesavailable to a limited number of students to do the same. However, expanding the nuclear programme needsmatching expansion of human resources trained in nuclear science and engineering. During the early part ofthe previous decade, it was apparent that more needs to be done in this area. So once again, strategicthinking of Dr Kakodkar resulted in a directive to start work towards setting up an institute having the statusof a deemed university. This institute called Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) was notified as adeemed-to-be-University by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in June 2005 and launched itsacademic programme in 2006 and already has more than 1000 students pursuing research towards Ph.D.

A unique Ph.D. programme, conceptualized by Dr Kakodkar, has been launched by HBNI. Thisprogramme aims to combine strengths of faculty of HBNI in a unique manner. A research scholar pursuingPh.D. under this programme pursues his research under two supervisors, one having strength in basicresearch and the other having strength in applied research or technology development. The basic aim of thescheme is to accelerate translation of research into technology development. There are students pursuingresearch in the area of cyber security under the guidance of a mathematician and an electronics engineer, orin the area of separation technologies under the supervision of a chemist and a chemical engineer and so on.In many cases, the supervisors are from two different constituent institutions of HBNI.

When the Government of India launched the initiative to set up several institutions devoted to researchin science, DAE was given the responsibility to set up one such institute at Bhubaneswar. This institute,called National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), has been set up and Dr. Kakodkarcontinues to guide its working as Chairman, Council of Management. He also conceptualized setting up ofa Centre for Basic Sciences at Kalina Campus of Mumbai University.

He was always conscious of the fact that the country has invested in mega research facilities in theresearch and development centres of DAE. To ensure that these facilities are available to university students,an arrangement was established with University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1989. He gave it a newdirection by creating DAE-UGC Consortium of Scientific Research. Funding of extra-mural research fromDAE is channeled through Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS). In order to obtain increasedbenefit of expertise available with the universities and national laboratories in the country, Dr Kakodkarworked to provide enhanced funding to BRNS. He paid equal attention to non-power applications of nucleartechnology and programmes aimed at improving quality of life were given due importance. It was during histenure as Chairman Atomic Energy Commission that a new campus for BARC was conceived and a sitewas selected. This new campus is now coming up at Vizag.

From the above brief narrative, one can observe that Dr Kakodkar looked at all issues in acomprehensive manner and during his tenure, DAE took several initiatives. His comprehensive approach isevident from what he said during his speech on 17th January 2011 while accepting lifetime achievementaward from Indian Nuclear Society. He said, “We are poised for a rather rapid and large scale expansionof our programme. In the process we would have to handle a variety of challenges spanning R&D,technology, policy, management, human resource, international co-operation, safety & environment,security, public acceptance and several other domains.”

During the acceptance speech, he further said, “It is important that as we pursue several paralleltracks, be it in terms of technology or fuel cycle and supply chain or management or whether we arepursuing a particular project as a domestic effort or through international cooperation; we remainclear in our mind about our philosophy, strategy and objectives. We have seen in the past that adoptionof wise approaches in these respects have lead to dividends eventually although in the short run suchapproaches may have appeared to be relatively difficult and inconsistent with the general trendsworldwide. Adherence to self reliance, closed fuel cycle and undeterred pursuit towards thoriumutilization are shining examples of our time tested principles.”

His wide ranging contributions towards nuclear science and engineering were recognized by theGovernment of India, which conferred on him the Padma Shri in 1998, Padma Bhushan in 1999 and PadmaVibhushan in 2009. He has been bestowed with academic honours by several universities and is a recipientof several national and international awards. A partial list follows.


International recognitions:

• Recipient of Rockwell Medal for Excellence in Technology – 1997• Member, International Nuclear Energy Academy• Hon. Member, World Innovation Foundation• Member, International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG) – 1999-2002• 2009 USIBC Award for Expansion of U.S.-India Trade Relations

Major National Honours & Awards

• Hari Om Ashram Prerit Vikram Sarabhai Award – 1988• MRSI – ICSC Superconductivity & Materials Science Annual Prize – 1997• HK Firodia Award for Excellence in Science & Technology – 1997• FICCI Award for outstanding contribution to nuclear engg. & technology - 1997-98• ANACON –Life Time Achievement Award for Nuclear Sciences – 1998• NAFEN’s Excellence Award (Best R & D Man) – 1998• The Indian Science Congress Association – HJ Bhabha Memorial Award – 1999-2000• Shriram Scientific & Industrial Research Foundation Golden Jubilee Award for Outstanding

Contributions to Indian Technology – 2000• Godavari Gaurav Award 2000• National Citizen’s Award – 2001• Chemtech Foundation Achiever of the year Award for Energy – 2002• GM Modi Innovative Science & Technology Award – 2004• Rotary’s Vocational Excellence Award – 2006• INAE Lifetime Contribution Award in Engineering – 2006• General President’s Award, Indian Science Congress -2007• Ram Mohan Mission’s Ram Mohan Puraskar – 2007• Yeshwantrao Chavan Prathishtan’s Science & Technology Award – 2007• South Indian Education Society’s Shri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi National Eminence Award

for Science & Technology – 2007• Lakshmipat Singhania – IIM Lucknow National Leadership Award – 2007• Maharashtra Bhushan Award of the Maharashtra Times – 2008• Maharashtra Academy of Engineering and Educational Research’s Bharat Asmita Shreshtatva

Award – 2009• Indian Physics Association’s M.M. Chugani Memorial Award – 2009• Tejas Puraskar –Lokamanya Tilak Vyakhyanmala -Dombivali-2009• INS Homi Bhabha Life Time Achievement Award 2009• Suryadatta Lifetime Achievement Award 2010• Dr. ASG Jayakar Award, Science India Forum Oman 2010• Gomant Vibhushan’ award by State of Goa – 2010• Swatantryaveer Savarkar Vidnyan Puraskar – 2010• ‘Maharashtra Ratna’ (Zee 24 Taas & DNA) – 2010• Priyadarshini Academy’s Global Award – 2010• Wartsila Mantosh Sondhi Award – 2010


Dr. Anil Kakodkar with President Dr. Abdul Kalam at BARC

Dr. Anil Kakodkar and Dr. R. Chidambaram with the then Prime MinisterShri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Pokharan (May 20, 1998)


About the Author

Dr. R.B.Grover, Principal Adviser, DAE and Director HBNI

Ravi Grover graduated in mechanical engineering from Delhi College of Engineering in 1970 andjoined Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School to study nuclear engineering. Aftergraduating from Training School, he joined BARC and started working in the area of reactor engineering.Simultaneous with working in BARC, he obtained a Ph.D from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in1982. Presently, he is working as Principal Adviser, DAE and Director Homi Bhabha National Institute.

In the early part of his career, Dr. Grover was responsible for thermal hydraulics of fuel and core ofthe research reactor Dhruva – a job which was done for the first time in India. Later, he did similar work fora compact nuclear reactor. In recent past, Dr Grover along with his colleagues formulated a scenario forgrowth of electricity demand in India by taking into consideration economic growth, population growth, andimprovement in energy intensity of GDP and formulating a possible supply mix considering India’s fuelresource base in order to delineate niche area for nuclear energy. This was the first such long-term forecastof electricity demand in India.

Dr Grover is now working on human resource development and on issues related to nuclear policy ofIndia. He is passionate about both the topics and his passion has resulted in success. He was involved inconceptualizing the setting up of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), a deemed to be university underthe Department of Atomic Energy. As its founder director, he has given shape to the institute. HBNI is agraduate school and already has over 1000 students registered for Ph.D., a couple of hundred studentspursuing M.Tech and other courses.

Dr Grover has played a stellar role as a negotiator with some of the world’s most knowledgeableprofessionals. Dr Grover has functioned either as a key member or as head of the technical groups of thenegotiating teams that have helped to conclude draft agreements with USA for cooperation in the peacefuluses of nuclear energy, similarly with France and Russia; so also the India-specific Safeguards agreementand an additional protocol thereto with the Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Dr. Grover is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering and some recent awards won byhim include INS Award-2006 for Nuclear Reactor Technology, including Nuclear Safety; Dhirubhai AmbaniOration Award in 2008; and Distinguished Alumni Award by Delhi College of Engineering in 2009. He waselected President of Indian Society of Heat and Mass Transfer in January 2010 for a four year term.


Dr. S. BanerjeeChairman, AEC (2009- )

Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Chairman, Atomic EnergyCommission (AEC) was born in West Bengal in the year 1946 and had his early education at Ballygung GovtSchool, Kolkata. Subsequently he completed B. Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering from Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT), Kharagpur in 1967.

It was in July, 1967 when I met him for the first time in a Mumbai bound train leaving Howrah station.Along with Srikumar, I was one of the 20 odd young engineers and scientists from universities and collegesof Eastern part of the country who boarded the train to join 11th Batch Training School of Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre(BARC) located at the famous tourist spot – Band stand of city suburb- Bandra. All of usincluding Srikumar himself, were nervous young men in early twenties looking for fruitful research anddevelopment carrier in a city far from our home towns and hardly had the clue that one day one of us wouldinherit the top most job of DAE.

At the first year of our association in Training School and as our friendship grew over the yearsSrikumar appeared to me as an intelligent, kind hearted and jovial person with analytical bend of mind. Rightfrom our Training school days he showed his preference for the subject of physical metallurgy and aftersuccessful completion of the 11th batch course joined Physical Metallurgy Section of Metallurgy Division.Dr. R.Krishnan leading Electron Microscopy group of the Division took him under his wing and the stagewas set for Srikumar to build in the next three decades or so his outstanding carrier in the area of physicalmetallurgy of zirconium and titanium, the two metals of great interest to Indian Atomic Energy Programme.In 1976, Srikumar received his Ph.D. (Metallurgical Engineering) from Indian Institute of TechnologyKharagpur, India with a thesis on “Martensitic Transformation in Zirconium Alloys”

In fact solid state phase transformations in metallic materials have constituted Dr. Banerjee’s primearea of research. Transformation processes in zirconium, titanium and nickel based alloys and their influenceson the thermodynamical and mechanical properties have formed his favourite hunting ground, where he hasachieved many successes. His seminal contributions in this field include crystallography of martensitictransformation, thermodynamic prediction of metastable phase reactions and their experimental confirmation,strengthening mechanisms and mechanisms of hybrid transformation processes which combine features ofdisplacive and replacive transitions. His highly cited work in this area has helped in rationalizing themicrostructural evolution in zirconium alloys during heat treatment and fabrication steps and in structure-property correlations of these alloys. Dr. Banerjee has also applied this approach in successfully optimizingthe fabrication parameters for Zr-2.5 Nb pressure tubes for nuclear reactors. The manufacturing processfor the Zr-2.5 Nb pressure tubes for Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors adopted at Nuclear Fuel Complex,Hyderabad is a rare example of a highly academic research work directly leading to a fabrication flowsheet.

Concentration waves, displacement waves and their combinations have formed the basis for Dr.Banerjee’s description of several transformation processes. His approach has been acknowledged worldwide.His experimental studies have proved that it is such waves that formed and grew in amplitude to lead to theoccurrence of first order phase transitions. His work relating to the superimposition of clustering and orderinginstabilities can explain the early stages of the precipitation process in which an ordered intermetallic phase


emerges continuously from a supersaturated solid solution under irradiation. This work provides a basis foranalyzing the radiation stability of structural materials strengthened by ordered intermetallic phases.

The nature of the short range order in Ni-Mo alloys and the mechanism of the transition from the shortrange to the long range ordered state were the subject of longstanding controversies. His work on the order-disorder transition in nickel- molybdenum alloys has settled these issues. The time evolution of the orderedstructure in the Ni-Mo system, as seen from the experiments, has been interpreted from first-principlesthermodynamic calculations done by him and his colleagues. From the calculated formation energies ofcompeting ordered superlattice structures, it has been shown that the Ni-Mo system represents a veryunique case, wherein several first order transitions, associated with different wave vectors, compete with asecond order ordering transition. The concomitant evolution of the structure can be explained on the basis ofinstabilities and minima of the free energy – order parameters space.

He and his colleagues have made several contributions on shape memory alloys: determination andrationalization of the reversion stress which develops during the spring back action of shape memorycomponents, identification of the role of self accommodation of transformation strains associated with agroup of neighboring martensite crystals and reporting and explaining a new phenomenon named the thermalarrest memory effect. His work in this area has led to the development of shape memory alloy couplings forthe Light Combat Aircraft. This is another example of how science can fructify in very high level technology.

Dr. Banerjee has attached a lot of importance to the communication of his research and authoredhundreds of technical and review papers He has always published his work in journals of very high repute.An outstanding feature of his papers is their scholarly depth combined with lucidity of presentation. The vastbody of work carried out by him in the area of phase transformations has therefore been disseminated to awide audience. Over the years he had to take on the responsibility of editing in various capacities in wellknown scientific journals like Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A (2006-) Acta Materialia/ScriptaMaterialia (1999-2002) Bulletin of Materials Science (1995-2003) and Phase Transitions (1985-86)

The book entitled “Phase Transformations: Examples from Titanium and Zirconium Alloys” (Elsevier,2007) coauthored by Dr. Banerjee is unique in several ways. It is a magnum opus by a man who spent hisentire professional life investigating phase transformations. It is like a travelogue detailing his innumerabletravels into the microscopic world, sitting at the electron microscope, often accompanied by a youngercolleague by his side, unraveling mysteries of materials. A distinctive feature of this book is that it covers theentire gamut of phase transformations observed in inorganic materials, illustrated almost exclusively usingthe work on titanium and zirconium alloys carried out at Dr. Banerjee’s laboratory. Over forty years Dr.Banerjee nurtured and mentored a very bright and distinguished group of materials scientists whose body ofwork supports this treatise. Titanium and zirconium alloys taken together exhibit almost all the phasetransformations known so far and, unlike in the more popular ferrous alloys, the crystal structures of thephases are much simpler to visualise. This fact has helped this book to cover the whole range of phasetransformations in a manner easy to grasp. Phase transformations induced by pressure changes, radiation,deformation and those occurring in nanoscale multilayers are also given some prominence, without disturbingthe pre-eminent position held by the temperature-driven ones. Through all these, the book achieves depthand clarity, the two hallmarks of Dr. Banerjee’s scientific communications, and indeed of his scientificcareer.

Dr.Banerjee is a recipient of many national and international awards and honours like Young ScientistMedal (1976), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship (1979-80), Best Metallurgist Award of IIM(1981), Acta Metallurgica Outstanding Paper Award(1984), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engg.Sciences(1989), Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) Medal (1990), G.D.Birla Gold Medal of The IndianInstitute of Metals (IIM) (1997), Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Prize for Materials Science(2001), MRSI-Superconductivity and Materials Science Prize (2003), Indian Nuclear Society (INS) Award(2003), Alexander von Humboldt Research Award (2004). Prof. Brahm Prakash Memorial Medal, INSA(2004),Padma Shri (2005), Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, (2005),Elected Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Sciences, (2005), Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), BurdwanUniversity,West Bengal (2005), MRSI Distinguished Materials Scientist of the Year Award (2008) and Doctorof Science, Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur, Chattisgarh (2010), Doctor of Science, Sathyabama University,Chennai, Tamil Nadu (2010), Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), Bengal Engineering and Science University,


(2010), Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (2010) Indian ScienceCongress Association’s Excellence in Science and Technology Award (2010) and National MetallurgistAward from Ministry of Steel and IIM (2010).

Dr.Banerjee had a number of professional interactions involving visiting positions overseas such as theUniversity of Sussex,Brighton, UK (as senior visiting Fellow), Max-Planck Institut fuer Metalforschung –Institut fuer Physik, Stuttgart and Forschungszeutrum, Juelich, Germany (as Alexander von HumboldtFoundation Fellow and Awardee), University of Cincinnati and the Ohio State University, USA (as visitingfaculty).

Dr.Banerjee is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, NationalAcademy of Sciences India, Indian National Academy of Engineering and Third World Academy ofSciences.With the growth of the scope of his area of active research, Dr.Banerjee took on parallely theresponsibility of scientific administration with equal success.Starting with a post of Scientific Officer in 1968he rose to the positions of Head, Metallurgy Division, BARC (May,1990), Associate Director, MaterialsGroup and Head, Materials Science Division, BARC (Sept.1996), Director, Materials Group, BARC (Feb.2001),Director, BARC, Mumbai (May.2004), and eventually Chairman, AEC & Secretary, DAE,Governmentof,India (Dec.2009).

During his Directorship of BARC the Centre has achieved many successes in the area of front linescience and technologies with immense societal and strategic implications. As Director, BARC, Dr. SrikumarBanerjee has led and motivated teams with experts from widely varying streams of science and engineeringto achieve all these milestones. His passion for finding an application for every research project has pavedthe way for strong linkages between the scientific community at BARC and the user base, be it the societyat large, or the industrial users.

Today Dr.Banerjee as Secretary,DAE is at the helm of affairs for peaceful uses of nuclear energy forour country and spends an incredible busy life with great humility, sincerety and foresight. It is indeed apleasure to introduce my dear friend Srikumar to the young readers of Special bulletin of ASSET and wishhim on my behalf and all my DAE colleagues the very best in his assignment. Last but not the least I wouldfail in my duty if I forget to mention the contribution of his wife – Ranjana in providing him equally peacefulhome life so that he could concentrate on his never ending task with a smiling face.


Dr. S. Banerjee and Dr. Anil Kakodkar with President Dr. Abdul Kalam at BARC

Dr. S. Banerjee explaining the salient features of superconducting facilityto the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh


About the Author

Dr. T. K. Mukherjee, Former Chairman & Managing Director, IRE

Dr. T.K. Mukherjee (born in 1945) after graduation in Metallurgical Engineering from Bengal EngineeringCollege in 1967 joined Metallurgy Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai in 1968 aftersuccessfully completing 11th Batch Training School Course. Subsequently he did his M.Sc. (Tech) and Ph.D.from Bombay University and DIC from Imperial College, London.

During his long R/D career of 28 years at BARC, he specialised in extraction metallurgy of refractory,nuclear, base, precious and rare earth metals. In 1991, he became Head, Uranium & Rare Earths Extraction.Div. of BARC and looked after the production of uranium metal for the Centre’s research reactors.

In 1996, he joined Indian Rare Earths Ltd, a PSU, under the administrative control of Dept. of AtomicEnergy as Chairman & Managing Director. During his tenure, IRE has recorded profit for seven consecutiveyears. In recognition of this outstanding effort, IRE has received Silver Trophy of SCOPE Awards forexcellence in the turn around category and IIIE Award for Enterprise Excellence for three years. He hasreceived BRALCO, BINANI, BEST METALLURGIST AWARD and HIDUSTAN ZINC GOLD Medalof IIM, MRSI GOLD Medal as well as VASVIK INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AWARD for his outstandingcontribution in the area of extraction metallurgy of non-ferrous metals

He is a fellow of National Academy of Engg. and member of a number of professional bodies likeIndian Institute of Metals, Materials Research Society of India, Magnetic Society of India and Rare EarthsAssociation of India.He served Indian Institute of Metals as President during the year 2004-05.He has tohis credit more than 200 technical papers and four books including two volumes on Hydrometallurgy inExtraction Processes published by CRC Press, USA.

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