New Delhi:Veteran scientist Rajagopala Chidambaram, who played a key role in the nuclear tests of 1975 and 1998, died on Saturday, an official of the Department of Atomic Energy said. He was 88.
Chidambaram, who was also associated with the nuclear weapons programme, breathed his last at Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai at 3.20 am, the official said.
He was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Principal Scientific Advisor to the government of India. Chidambaram was conferred with the Padma Shri and the Padma Vibhushan in 1975 and 1999 respectively.
Considered one of India’s most distinguished experimental physicists, Chidambaram made outstanding contributions to many areas of basic science and nuclear technology in the country.
He received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1962 and joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in the same year. In 1990, he became its Director.
From 1993-2000, Chidambaram was Chairman Atomic Energy Commission of India. He played a leading role in the design and execution of the peaceful Nuclear Explosion experiment at Pokhran in 1974; he also led the team of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) which designed the nuclear devices used in the Pokhran tests in May 1988, carried out in cooperation with the Department of Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
During his stewardship of the DAE, the nuclear power programme got a big boost and the capacity of the nuclear power plants increased sharply. He was Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during 1994-95.
In 2008, Chidambaram was appointed as a member of the Commission of Eminent Persons by the IAEA to prepare a report on the ‘Role of the IAEA to 2020 and Beyond’. He was also a member and later Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Crystallography during 1990-99.
Apart from Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan, Rajagopala Chidambaram also won many other awards, including:
- Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1991)
- Second Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary International Visiting Fellowship by the Indian National Science Academy(1992)
- C.V. Raman Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress Association (1995)
- Lokmanya Tilak Award (1998)
- Veer Savarkar Award (1999)
- Dadabhai Naoroji Millennium Award (1999)
- Meghnad Saha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy (2002)
- Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi National Eminence Award (2003)
- Homi Bhabha Lifetime Achievement Award of the Indian Nuclear Society (2006)
- Lifetime Contribution Award in Engineering (2009) from the Indian National Academy of Engineering
- C. V. Raman Medal (2013) from the Indian National Science Academy
- Lifetime Achievement Award of the Council of Power Utilities (2014).
