Prof. Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao

The most accomplished & Prolific Indian Chemist

“We need new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking. We cannot be doing the same things. The atmosphere itself should encourage innovation” - CNR Rao

Prof. Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, popularly known as CNR Rao, is a leading Indian scientist in solid-state and materials chemistry. His primary area of research comprises transition metal oxides and other extended inorganic solids, inorganic-organic hybrid materials, nanomaterials, and hydrogen generation by photocatalysis.

Prof. Rao is the only Indian chemist who has been conferred with all known awards in his field except the Nobel Prize. Based on the survey conducted by Chemistry Views states that Prof.Rao lost the Nobel prize to Jean-Pierre Sauvage , Sir J Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa for the design and synthesis of molecular machines, despite receiving maximum votes from chemists across the world in the choice for the Nobel Prize.

The passionate love and attraction for chemistry made him a keen worshiper of the subject. He is one of the famous pioneers and architects of chemical science who laid the foundation of solid state and material chemistry in India. He is the first scientist in the country who expressed his concern on the decline of scientific research and education in India. He firmly believed research in basic sciences is at the core of all development and has to be encouraged if the country has to progress. He was the first scientist in the country who expressed frankly and boldly his concern widely to improve the lot of the scientists and the environment in the universities and research establishments to make science attractive to the younger generation.

Early Life and Education

CNR Rao was born to Hanumantha Nagesa Rao and Nagamma Nagesa Rao on 30th June 1934. Rao was home-tutored by his mother, exceptionally skilled in arithmetic and Hindu literature. He entered middle school in 1940, at age six. He passed the lower secondary examination (class VII) in first-class in 1944. He attended Acharya Patashala high school in Basavanagudi, which influenced his interest in chemistry. He completed his secondary school in first class in 1947. He then studied BSc at Central College, Bangalore, where he developed his communication skills in English & Sanskrit. After obtaining his B.Sc degree from Mysore University in the year 1951, and a subsequent M.Sc from Banaras Hindu University in 1953, Prof. Rao went for his graduate programme to Purdue University in the United States. He predominantly worked under Professor RL Livingston for his Ph.D. degree. He completed his Ph.D. only in two years and nine months, just at 24.

Rao's Illustrious Career

Rao joined IISc Bangalore as a lecturer in 1959. In 1963, he accepted a permanent position in the Department of Chemistry at IIT Kanpur, where he became a Professor and chaired the Department of Chemistry. He later went on to become the Dean of Research of the institute. In 1964, he was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. He returned to IISc in 1967 to set up the Solid State and Structural Chemistry and the Materials Research Laboratory. From 1984 to 1994, he became the director of the IISc. He was also the Jawaharlal Nehru Professor at the University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow at the King's College, Cambridge, during 1983–1984. He also initiated the idea of setting up the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore. He also served as the Honorary President and Linus Pauling Research Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He had served as chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister for two terms, from 1985 to 1989 and from 2005 to 2014. He established the International Centre for Materials Science (ICMS) in 2010, serving as the director.

Prof. Rao is a member of several science academies globally, including the Royal Society, London, the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S.A., the Russian, French, and Japan Academies, and the American Philosophical Society. He is a Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Foreign Fellow of Academia Europaea, the Royal Society of Canada, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is a distinguished visiting professor at the University of California.

Scientific Contributions

Prof.  Rao is one of the world’s foremost solid state and materials chemists who has contributed over five decades to the development of this field. Early work of Prof. Rao was related with the application of spectroscopic methods to the study of molecular structure. He used electronic and vibrational spectroscopy to study many chemically significant problems – spectra-structural correlations, environmental effects, vibration analysis. His works on chemistry of solids focussed focused on the development of novel synthetic methods and structures, electron transport and magnetic properties and defects in ionic solids led to the development of unified models for the behavior of a variety of metal oxides and sulfides. Metal oxides have been found to exhibit a vast array of useful properties such as conductivity, superconductivity etc. They have been found as excellent insulators or dielectrics. Another area of his interest is synthesis of open framework structures and hybrid materials which contain both inorganic and organic components. Due to their porous nature, some of these solid compounds are capable of absorbing hydrogen and consequently, they can be utilized in the field of energy.His major works 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.  

He was among one of the earliest to synthesize two-dimensional oxide materials such as La2CuO4. He was one the first to synthesize 123 cuprate, the first liquid nitrogen-temperature superconductor in 1987 and Y junction carbon nanotubes. His works have impacted the fields such as colossal magneto resistance and high temperature superconductivity. He has also made immense contributions to nanomaterials over the last two decades, besides his work on hybrid materials. His work on inorganic nanotubes and different types of carbon nanotube structures is regarded as an excellent contribution in nanochemistry which made him a great exponent of nanoscience. 

Prof. Rao has contributed over 1700 research publications and authored 53 books. He is the first Indian scientist to cross the H index of 100 - an author-level metric that attempts to measure both the productivity and citation impact of the publications of a scientist. Prof. Rao is one of the few scientists worldwide, having nearly 1 lakh citations for research publications.

Awards and Recognition

Prof Rao has honorary Doctorates from 71 Universities around the world.  Among the various medals, honors and awards received by him mention may be made of the Marlow Medal of the Faraday Society (1967), Bhatnagar Prize (1968), Padma Shri (1974), Royal Society of Chemistry (London) Medal (1981), Padma Vibhushan (1985), Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London (1989), Blackett Lectureship of the Royal Society (1991), Einstein Gold Medal of UNESCO (1996). He received the Karnataka Ratna by the Karnataka State Government (2000), Centenary Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2000), Hughes Medal of the Royal Society for original discovery in physical sciences (2000), the Order of Scientific Merit (Grand-Cross) from the President of Brazil (2002) and the Somiya Award of the International Union of Materials Research (2004).

He is the first recipient of the India Science Award by the Government of India and received the Dan David Prize for science in the future dimension for his research in Materials Science in 2005. He has received the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the President of the French Republic (2005) and the Nikkei Asia Prize for Science, Technology and Innovation in 2008. He was awarded the Royal Medal by the Royal Society (2009) and the August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann Medal by the German Chemical Society (2010). He received the Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize for materials research in 2011 and was Albert Einstein Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012. The President of India conferred the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 2014. The Emperor of Japan bestowed the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star in 2015. He was conferred the von Hippel award of the Materials Research Society, US in 2017. He has been awarded the Platinum Medal from the Indian Association of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He has received the Eni International Award 2020 for Research in Energy Frontiers.

At the age of 87 he is still inspiring young minds.