Fellow

Professor C.N.R. Rao

(Foreign Fellow, )

Professor C.N.R. Rao was born on 30 June 1934, Bangalore, India.

He received the M.Sc. from Banaras, Ph.D. from Purdue, D.Sc. from Mysore Universities and has received honoris causa Doctorate degrees from 39 Universities including Purdue, Bordeaux, Banaras, Mysore, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, Notre Dame, Novosibirsk, Uppsala, Wales, Wroclaw, Caen, Khartoum, Calcutta, SriVenkateswaraUniversity and Desikottama from Viswa-Bharati, Santiniketan.

Rao is one of the world's foremost solid state and materials chemists. He has contributed to the development of the field for over five decades. His work on transition metal oxides has led to basic understanding of novel phenomena and the relationship between materials properties and the structural chemistry of these materials.

Professor Rao is the Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and Honorary Professor at the Indian Institute of Science. His main research interests are in solid state and materials chemistry.  

Among the various medals, honours and awards received by him, mention must be made of the Marlow Medal of the Faraday Society (1967), Bhatnagar Prize  (1968), Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship (1973), Padma Shri (1974), Sir C.V. Raman Award (1975), Centennial Foreign Fellowship of the American Chemical Society (1976), S.N. Bose Medal of the Indian National Science   Academy  (1980),  Royal Society of Chemistry (London) Medal (1981), Padma Vibhushan (1985), Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London (1989), Hevrovsky Gold Medal of the Czechoslovak Academy (1989),  Meghnath Saha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy (1990),  Blackett Lectureship of  the  Royal  Society (1991), CSIR Golden Jubilee  Prize  in  physical  sciences (1991),  TWAS  Medal in Chemistry (1995), Einstein Gold Medal of UNESCO (1996), Linnett Professorship of the University of Cambridge (1998),  Centenary Lectureship and Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London (2000), the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society, London, for original discovery in physical sciences (2000), Karnataka Ratna (2001) by the Karnataka Government, the Order of Scientific Merit (Grand-Cross) from the President of Brazil (2002), Gauss Professorship of Germany (2003) and the Somiya Award of the International Union of Materials Research (2004).  He is the recipient of the India Science Award from the Government of India (2005) and received the Dan David Prize for science in the future dimension for his research in Materials Science. He was named as Chemical Pioneer by the American Institute of Chemists (2005) and "Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur" by the President of the French Republic (2005).

He has honorary doctorates from 60 universities from around the world, and has authored around 1,600 research publications and 51 books. He is described as a scientist who had won all possible awards in his field except the Nobel Prize.

He is on the editorial boards of 20 leading professional journals.

Professor Rao is National Research Professor of India. He was President of The World Academy of Science (TWAS); Chairman, Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister; Member of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, and Chairman, Indo-Japan Science Council.  Professor Rao was President of the Indian National Science Academy (1985 - 1986); the Indian Academy of Sciences (1989 - 1991); the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1985 - 1997); the Indian Science Congress Association (1987-88), the Materials Research Society of India (1989 - 1991) and Chairman, Advisory Board of the Council of Scientific and Indus of Science (1984 - 1994); Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (1985 - 1989); Chairman, Scientific Advisory Committee to the Union Cabinet (1997 - 1998), and Albert Einstein Research Professor (1995 - 1999).

He has made immense contributions to nanomaterials over the last two decades, besides his work on hybrid materials.

Besides being a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences, Professor Rao is a Fellow of the Royal Society, London; Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.; Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; French Academy of Sciences; Japan Academy as well as the Polish, Czechoslovakian, Serbian, Slovenian, Brazil, Spanish, Korean and African Academies and the American             Philosophical Society. He is a Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member of Academia Europaea and Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.  He is also a Foreign Fellow of Bangldesh Academy of Sciences.

Address: Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore Urban, India - 560064 , Email: