C. N. R. Rao

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, (born 30 June 1934), is an Indian chemist who has worked mainly in solid-state and structural chemistry.

He has honorary doctorates from 86 universities from around the world and has authored around 1,800 research publications and 56 books.

He is described as a scientist who had won all possible awards in his field except the Nobel Prize.

A precocious child, Rao completed BSc from Mysore University at age seventeen, and MSc from Banaras Hindu University at age nineteen.

He earned a PhD from Purdue University at the age of twenty-four.

He entered middle school in 1940, at age six.

Although he was the youngest in his class, he used to tutor his classmates in mathematics and English.

He passed the lower secondary examination (class VII) in the first class in 1944.

He was ten years old, and his father rewarded him with four annas (twenty-five paisa).

He attended Acharya Patashala high school in Basavanagudi, which made a lasting influence on his interest in chemistry.

His father enrolled him to a Kannada-medium course to encourage his mother tongue, but at home used English for all conversation.

He completed secondary school leaving certificate in first class in 1947.

He studied BSc at Central College, Bangalore.

Here he developed his communication skills in English and also learnt Sanskrit.

He obtained his bachelor's degree from Mysore University in 1951, in first class, and only at the age of seventeen.

He initially thought of joining Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for a diploma or a postgraduate degree in chemical engineering, but a teacher persuaded him to attend Banaras Hindu University.

He obtained a master's in chemistry from BHU two years later.

In 1953 he was granted a scholarship for PhD in Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

But four foreign universities, MIT, Penn State, Columbia and Purdue also offered him financial support.

He chose Purdue.

His first research paper was published in the Agra University Journal of Research in 1954.

He completed PhD in 1958, only after two years and nine months, at the age of twenty-four.

He was the youngest lecturer when he joined the Indian Institute of Science in 1959.

After completion of his graduate studies, Rao returned to Bangalore in 1959 to take up a lecturing position, joining IISc and embarking on an independent research program.

The facility at the time was so meagre that he described it, saying, "You would get string and sealing wax and that's about it."

In 1963 he accepted a permanent position in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1964.

He returned to IISc in 1976 to establish a solid state and structural chemistry unit.

After a transfer to Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, he returned to IISc, eventually becoming its Director from 1984 to 1994.

He was chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India from 1985 to 1989 and from 2005 to 2014.

He founded and works in Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and International Centre for Materials Science.

Rao received most important scientific awards and honours including the Marlow Medal, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, Hughes Medal, India Science Award, Dan David Prize, Royal Medal, Von Hippel Award, and ENI award.

He also received Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India.

On 16 November 2013, the Government of India selected him for Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India, making him the third scientist after C.V. Raman and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam to receive the award.

He received the award on 4 February 2014 from President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

C.N.R. Rao was born in a Kannada Deshastha Brahmin family in Bangalore to Hanumantha Nagesa Rao and Nagamma Nagesa Rao.

His father was an Inspector of Schools.

He was an only child, and his learned parents made an academic environment.

He was well versed in Hindu literature from his mother and in English from his father at an early age.

He did not attend elementary school but was home-tutored by his mother, who was particularly skilled in arithmetic and Hindu literature.