Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar

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Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar FNA, FRS
British India
Died	8 March 2004(2004-03-08) (aged 73) Bengaluru, India
Awards	Royal Medal (1994) Eringen Medal (1996)

Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar FNA, FRS (6 August 1930 – 8 March 2004)^[1] was an Indian physicist who won the Royal Medal in 1994.^[2] He was the founder-president of the International Liquid Crystal Society.^[3]

Chandrasekhar was born on 6 August 1930 at

.

His subsequent postdoctoral work in the University College and the

liquid crystals

, a subject which at that time was just coming out of a long hibernation.

Research

Liquid crystals made of rod-like molecules had been discovered in 1888, and many compounds had been synthesized at

Bharat Electronics Limited

(BEL), Bangalore, developed indigenous know-how for the manufacture of simple LCDs for the domestic market.

Columns

The pinnacle in Chandrasekhar's scientific career came in 1977, when he and his co-workers discovered the columnar phase of liquid crystals made of disc-shaped molecules, rather than the well-studied rods. Through supramolecular assembly, the discs exhibit a mesophase which has a two-dimensional, periodic order. The paper announcing the discovery of this state of matter was published in the Indian physics journal Pramana, and is one of the most highly cited papers in the field of liquid crystals. Subsequently, a few thousand compounds with disc-like molecules were synthesized. The columnar liquid crystals are noted for their highly

conducting properties, which is exploited in device applications.

The subject has had yet another resurgence in 1996, when Japanese scientists discovered new types of liquid crystalline phases exhibited by compounds made of another new type of (banana-shaped) molecule having bent-cores. Many such compounds exhibit columnar liquid crystalline phases.

Publications and honors

The year 1977 also saw the publication of Chandrasekhar's book on liquid crystals by the

in 1996.

Some major conferences Chandrasekhar organized include the Ninth International Liquid Crystals Conference in 1982 and the Second Asia-Pacific Physics Conference in 1986. After retiring from RRI in 1990, Chandrasekhar started the Centre for Liquid Crystal Research

Third World Academy of Sciences

. He was a member of several international and national committees on science and education. He was the founder president of the

Order of Academic Palms

by the French Government (1999). Chandrasekhar was largely responsible for placing India on the international map in the field of liquid crystals. Chandrasekhar hailed from the most illustrious family of physicists in India.

References

• David Dunmur; David A. Dunmur; Tim Sluckin (4 November 2010). Soap, Science, and Flat-Screen TVs: A History of Liquid Crystals. Oxford University Press. pp. 259, 260.
  ISBN 978-0-19-954940-5
  .

External links

• Obituary: Professor Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar, published in
  Times Online
  , 11 May 2004