Rahul Pandit

Last updated

Rahul Pandit
Born (1956-04-22) 22 April 1956 (age 68)
New Delhi, India
Nationality Indian
Alma mater
Known forStudies on phase transitions and spatiotemporal chaos and turbulence
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Doctoral advisor
  • Michael Wortis

Rahul Pandit (born 22 April 1956) is an Indian condensed matter physicist, a professor of physics and a divisional chair at the Indian Institute of Science. Known for his research on phase transitions and spatiotemporal chaos and turbulence, Pandit is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and The World Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 2001. [1] [note 1]

Contents

Biography

Indian Institute of Science IISc Main Building.jpg
Indian Institute of Science

Rahul Pandit was born on 22 April 1956 in the Indian capital of New Delhi. [2] After early schooling, he did his under-graduate studies as a National Talent Search scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and continued there to earn an MS in physics in 1977. Subsequently, he moved to the US and obtained a second master's degree in physics in 1979 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral studies under the guidance of Michael Wortis were also at the same institution, to secure a PhD in 1982. After completing his post-doctoral studies at Cornell University in 1983, he returned to India to join the Indian Institute of Science as a research associate in 1984. [3]

Pandit has been serving out his career at IISc ever since. He has held several positions at the institute such as those of a research scientist (1985–90), assistant professor (1990–96) and associate professor (1996–2002) until he became a professor in 2002, [4] a position he holds until date along with the chair of the Division of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the institute. [5] In between, he chaired the International Relations Cell of IISc and the Theoretical Sciences Unit of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) during 2002–08 and served as a member of the Condensed Matter Theory Unit of JNCASR until 2012. A three-year stint as an adjunct professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research during 2009–12 was another position he has held. His current responsibilities include the MSIL Chair Professorship of IISc and Honorary Professorship of JNCASR. He has also been a visiting professor at various institutions such as Ohio State University, University of Missouri, Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Côte d'Azur Observatory and École Normale Supérieure. [2]

Legacy

Wetting of different fluids: A shows a fluid with very little wetting, while C shows a fluid with more wetting. A has a large contact angle, and C has a small contact angle Surface tension.svg
Wetting of different fluids: A shows a fluid with very little wetting, while C shows a fluid with more wetting. A has a large contact angle, and C has a small contact angle

Pandit has been focusing his work on the problems related to phase transitions, statistical mechanics and non-linear dynamics, [6] Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation and Complex-Ginzburg-Landau equations. [7] His contributions reportedly include theoretical elucidation of multilayer-adsorption and wetting phenomena on attractive substrates and the scaling properties of quasiperiodic Schroedinger operators . [3] He is known to have developed a a theory of hysteresis loops in model spin systems [8] and a cardiac arrhythmias model and his studies have assisted in a wider understanding of low-amplitude defibrillation schemes and cardiac arrhythmias. Glass formation in soft condensed matter systems, [9] interacting bosons, colossal magnetoresistance manganites and complex fluids have been some of his other interests. [7] His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles [10] [11] [note 2] and the online article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 79 of them. [12] Besides, he has mentored 15 research scholars in their doctoral studies. [3]

Pandit was involved, in the capacity of the secretary of the organizing committee, in the organization of STATPHYS 22 the international statistical physics conference of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics held at the IISc campus in 2004. [13] He is the secretary of the C3 Commission on Statistical Physics of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics [14] and has held the chair of IUPAP national committee in India. He is a former divisional associate editor of Physical Review Letters journal (2004–10) and a former member of the editorial advisory board of Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications of Elsevier (2001–07). [2] He is a member of the divisional committee of the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) program of the Department of Science and Technology [15] and sits on the editorial board of Cambridge IISc Series, a publishing collaboration between the Indian Institute of Science and Cambridge University Press India. [16] He has delivered invited speeches at various conferences including the International Symposium on Fluid Days held in December 2007–January 2008. [17]

Awards and honors

Pandit, who was a National Talent Search scholar during his early college days (1972–77), stood first in his Physics for his graduate examination in 1977. [2] While at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he held the Exxon Fellowship and on his return to India, he was a Young Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences. He received the Young Scientist Medal of the Indian National Science Academy in 1988. [18] The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2001. [19] He was selected for the Meghnad Saha Award by the University Grants Commission in 2004 and the Indian Institute of Science chose him for the Professor Rustom Choksi Award. [20] His alma mater, IIT Delhi selected him as the Distinguished Alumunus in 2010. [21]

Pandit, a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi, was elected as a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1996. [22] A decade later, the Indian National Science Academy elected him as their fellow [23] and he became an elected fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in 2015. [24] American Physical Society awarded him Outstanding Referee citation to him in 2012 for his work on Physical Review and Physical Review Letters journals. [2] The award orations delivered by him include 2007 DAE Raja Ramanna Award Lecture on The mathematical modelling of cardiac arrhythmias of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. [25] He has also been holding J. C. Bose National Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology since 2007. [2]

Selected bibliography

Books

Chapters

Articles

See also

Notes

  1. Long link - please select award year to see details
  2. Please see Selected bibliography section

Related Research Articles

The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) is a multidisciplinary research institute located at Jakkur, Bangalore, India. It was established by the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India, to mark the birth centenary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. It is considered one of the most prestigious research institutes in India. In 2019, JNCASR was ranked #7 among the world's top ten research institutes by Nature journal in a normalised ranking of small research institutes with high quality output.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. R. S. Rao</span> Indian scientist (1948–2023)

Manchanahalli Rangaswamy Satyanarayana Rao was an Indian scientist. He was awarded the fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, for Science and Engineering in 2010. From 2003 to 2013 he was president of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore, India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dipankar Chatterji</span> Indian molecular biologist

Dipankar Chatterji is an Indian molecular biologist and the Honorary Professor at Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, a multidisciplinary research institute under the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. He is known for his pioneering research on bacterial transcription. He is a recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and is an elected fellow of all the major Indian science academies. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to science and engineering.

V. Nagaraja is a Professor, Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He had received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in the year 1973 and 1975 from the Bangalore University. He completed his Ph.D. in 1981 from Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology at IISc and the work on mycobacteriophage I3 and role of DNA gyrase in mycobacteria set the stage for his later work when he joined the Institute as an assistant professor in 1989. After his PhD in 1981, he was a research associate at Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland (1981–85) and at Department of Biology, University of Rochester, USA(1985–89). He joined in 1989 as an assistant professor, in Centre for Genetic Engineering, IISc and was involved in setting up of the department. He became an associate professor in 1995 at Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, IISc, Professor in 2000 and served as professor and chairman of the department (2008–2013). He has been appointed president of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments with effect from 14 October 2015.

Kalpathy Ramaier Katchap Easwaran is an Indian molecular biophysicist, academic and a former Astra Chair Professor and chairman of the department of molecular biophysics of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his contributions in the development of anti-fungal drugs and for his researches on ionophores and ion-transport across membranes. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1984, for his contributions to biological sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale</span> Indian chemical biologist (born 1967)

Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale is currently the Secretary for Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. He joined National Institute of immunology after conducting his postdoctoral training at Stanford University, He was the director of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology from 2009 to 2016. Gokhale is known for his studies on the metabolic diversity of pathogens. He is credited with the discovery of a family of Long-chain Fatty acyl-AMP ligases (FAAL) and his studies assisted in the elucidation of biochemical crosstalk between fatty acid synthases and polyketide synthases in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He holds US and Indian patents for his invention of Method to Modulate Pigmentation Process in the Melanocytes of Skin. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science, he is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2007) and the Indian National Science Academy (2014). The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2006, for his contributions to biological sciences. He received the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amitabh Joshi</span> Indian biologist (born 1965)

Amitabh Joshi is an Indian evolutionary biologist, population ecologist, geneticist and a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR). He heads the Evolutionary Biology Laboratory at JNCASR and is known for his studies on Evolutionary genetics and Population ecology. An elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, and Indian National Science Academy, he was also a J. C. Bose National Fellow (2011-2021) of the Department of Science and Technology. He served as the Chief Editor of the Journal of Genetics (2008-2014) and Editor of Publications of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2017-2021). The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2009, for his contributions to biological sciences.

Suryanarayanasastry Ramasesha is an Indian quantum chemist and a former Dean of the Faculty of Science at the Indian Institute of Science. He is a former chair of the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit and Amrut Modi Chair professor of Chemical Sciences at IISc. He is known for his studies on conjugated organic systems and low-dimensional solids and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1992, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subramaniam Ramakrishnan</span> Indian polymer chemist, professor and designer

Subramaniam Ramakrishnan is an Indian polymer chemist, a professor at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry http://ipc.iisc.ac.in/~rk/ and the designer at th3 Macromolecular Design and Synthesis Group of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on design and synthesis of controlled polymer structures and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2005, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Narayanaswamy Jayaraman is an Indian organic chemist and a professor and the chair of the department of organic chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his work on synthesis of complex carbohydrates and new dendrimers and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2009, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Swapan Kumar Pati is an Indian quantum chemist, a professor of the department of chemistry at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and the head of the Quantum Theory Molecules to Materials Group at the institute. He is known for his studies on electronic optical and magnetic phenomena in molecular systems and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India and The World Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2010, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Ganapati Shankar Bhat is an Indian geophysicist and the chairman of the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on atmospheric convective processes and air-sea interactions and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 2002.

Rajinder Kumar is an Indian chemical engineer and a former professor at the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on multiphase phenomena and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1976. He received the third highest Indian civilian award of the Padma Bhushan in 2003. He is also a recipient of Om Prakash Bhasin Award and the VASVIK Industrial Research Award.

Ramarathnam Narasimhan is an Indian materials engineer and a professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his pioneering researches on fracture mechanics and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1999.

Ravishankar Narayanan is an Indian materials engineer and a professor at the Materials Research Centre of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on Nanostructured Materials and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yogesh M. Joshi</span> Indian chemical engineer (born 1974)

Yogesh Moreshwar Joshi is an Indian chemical engineer, rheologist and the Pandit Girish & Sushma Rani Pathak Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is known for his studies on metastable soft matter and is an elected fellow of the Society of Rheology, Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and Indian National Academy of Engineering. In 2015, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded Joshi the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for his contributions to Engineering Sciences. In 2023, he received prestigious J C Bose fellowship constituted by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India.

Arup Kumar Raychaudhuri is an Indian condensed matter physicist, materials scientist and a Distinguished Emeritus Professor at the S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences. Known for his pioneering work on the interplay of disorder and interaction, Raychaudhuri is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India and Indian National Science Academy as well as the Asia-Pacific Academy of Materials. He is a recipient of a number of awards such as Millennium Medal of the Indian Science Congress, ICS Gold Medal of the Materials Research Society of India and FICCI Award. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 1994.

Madan Rao is an Indian condensed matter and biological physicist and a senior professor at National Centre for Biological Sciences. Known for his research on molecular dynamics on cell surface, Rao is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 2004.

Dipankar Banerjee is an Indian physical metallurgist, materials engineer and a former chief controller of R&D at the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Known for his studies on titanium alloys, Banerjee is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India as well as the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1993. He received the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2005.

Rajesh Ganapathy is a physicist at the International Centre for Materials Science in Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru. He specialises in experimental soft condensed matter physics. He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for his contributions to physical sciences in 2020.

References

  1. "View Bhatnagar Awardees". Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Biographical Information" (PDF). Indian Institute of Science. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Indian fellow". Indian National Science Academy. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  4. "Profile on IISc". Indian Institute of Science. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  5. "Divisional Chairs". Indian Institute of Science. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  6. Asoke Nath Mitra (2009). India in the World of Physics: Then and Now. Pearson Education India. pp. 190–. ISBN   978-81-317-1579-6.
  7. 1 2 "Research Interests". Indian Institute of Science. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  8. "Brief Profile of the Awardee". Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  9. "Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners" (PDF). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  10. "On ResearchGate". 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  11. "On Google Scholar". Google Scholar. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  12. "Browse by Fellow". Indian Academy of Sciences. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  13. "STATPHYS 22". Indian Institute of Physics. 19 October 2017. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  14. "C3-Officers". the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  15. "INSPIRE divisional chair persons". Department of Science and Technology. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  16. "Cambridge IISc Series". Cambridge University Press India. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  17. Connie Malamed (October 2011). Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics that People Understand. Rockport Publishers. pp. 97–. ISBN   978-1-59253-741-9.
  18. "INSA Young Scientists Medal". Indian National Science Academy. 17 October 2017. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  19. "CSIR list of Awardees". Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 2017.
  20. "Professor Rustom Choksi Award". Indian Institute of Science. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  21. "Distinguished Alumni Award" (PDF). IIT Delhi. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  22. "Fellow profile". Indian Academy of Sciences. 2017.
  23. "INSA Year Book 2016" (PDF). Indian National Science Academy. 2017.
  24. "TWAS fellow". The World Academy of Sciences. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  25. "Raja Ramanna Award Lecture". Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.