Archives at NCBS | Public Lecture Series
64th edition
Monthly talks framed around explorations in and around archives. Discussions by artists, archivists, academics, lawyers, teachers, journalists and others.
 
KS Krishnan: A Life in its Myriad Hues
Dipankar Vasu Mallik
 
Tuesday, Aug 13, 2024. 5:00pm.
Lecture Hall – 1 (Haapus), NCBS
 
 
Abstract: This is a biographical talk about KS Krishnan (4.12.1898 - 14.06.1961), the physicist, who was in Nehru’s words, ‘a perfect citizen, a whole man with an integrated personality.’ Earning early recognition as CV Raman’s principal collaborator in the scattering experiments that led to the discovery of the Raman Effect, Krishnan began a new series of experiments on the magnetic properties of crystals, which made him a founding figure in the fields of crystal magnetism and magneto-chemistry. His landmark papers earned him the fellowship of The Royal Society and later the foreign associateship of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was a key scientist in the large network of crystallographers, chemists and theoretical physicists all across the world.
 
Krishnan was the founder-director of the National Physical Laboratory, he established the first Low-temperature Physics laboratory in India, and was involved in the establishing of several other institutions in post-independence India.
 
Besides all this, he was an exponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy and spoke and wrote extensively in this area. He was also one of the first Indian scientists to be drawn into the Peace Movement and was a delegate to the UN Peace Conference of 1955.
 
Bio: Dipankar Vasu Mallik, formerly a professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, has an abiding interest in the history of science. He co-authored KS Krishnan: His Life and Work with Sabyasachi Chatterjee; the result of several years of research on the life and times of Krishnan. Mallik's professional research has been mainly in the area of interstellar matter and astrophysics of nebulae.
 

The Archives at NCBS is pleased to announce a new collection  the KS Krishnan Papers  which will be launched with this talk.

Is this a Public Event?: Yes