Raja Ramanna
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Raja Ramanna (Kannada: ರಾಜಾ ರಾಮಣ್ಣ)(1925 - September 23, 2004) born in Tumkur, Karnataka, was an Indian nuclear scientist and was associated with the country's first nuclear test in 1974. He died in Mumbai in 2004 at the age of 80.
Beginning his studies at Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore, he later graduated from Madras Christian College and was a resident of St.Thomas's Hall. Raja Ramanna obtained Ph.D. and L.R.S.M. from King's College London. He specialised in nuclear physics, reactor physics and design, European music and philosophy. Dr. Ramanna was also an accomplished pianist having performed at many a public concert in India and abroad but had a keen ear for Indian classical music.
Dr. Ramanna was the director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) for over a decade. It was during this time that India carried out its first nuclear test in Pokhran in 1974, codenamed Operation Smiling Buddha. Pictures of the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, then India's Prime Minister, inspecting the aftermath of the explosion site were flashed on front pages of newspapers in India and the world over with Dr. Ramanna and Dr. Homi Sethna, India's top nuclear scientist duo, by her side. He has served as Director-General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and as scientific adviser to the Defence Minister of India. He was the President of the 30th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He was the Union minister of state for defence in 1990 in the V.P. Singh government. In 1997, he became a Member of Parliament through the upper house, the Rajya Sabha. He was also the first director of National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore.
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[edit] Posts held
- Chairman, Governing Council, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
- Council of Management, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore
- Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
- President, Indian National Science Academy
- Vice-President, Indian Academy of Sciences
- Scientific Adviser to the Minister of Defence
- Director-general of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
- Secretary for Defence Research, Government of India
- Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission
- Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy
- Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
- Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc campus, Bangalore
[edit] Awards
- Padma Shri in 1968
- Padma Bhushan in 1973
- Padma Vibhushan in 1975
[edit] Books
- The Structure of Music in Raga and Western Systems
