C. N. R. Rao Biography 
Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, popularly known as C. N. R. Rao is an Indian chemist who has given valuable contributions to solid-state and structural chemistry. He has also has also contributed extensively to nano materials and hybrid materials. He currently serves as the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He has been honoured with 60 doctorates from all over the world and on November 16, 2013 he was announced the winner of Bharat Ratna for the year, aside legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar who retired from international cricket exactly on the same day. He has authored around 1,500 research papers and 45 scientific books. In April 2013, he became the first Indian to reach the h-index of 100, for his published research work.
C.N.R. Rao was born in Bangalore on 30 June 1934 to Hanumantha Nagesa Rao, and Nagamma Nagesa Rao. He took degree from Mysore University in 1951, completed PG from BHU in 1953 and Ph.D. in 1958 from Purdue University. In 1961 he received DSc from Mysore University. Two years later he joined Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur as faculty. He has served as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur from 1963 to 1976 and as the Director of the Indian Institute of Science from 1984 to 1994.
He runs several institutions including Indian Institute of Science and simultaneously works on research papers as well. He is the founder of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (1989) and currently he is its Honorary President. He is only the third Indian scientist to win Bharat Ratna, after C V Raman and former President A P J Abdul Kalam. Earlier he has received Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan by Government of India and Karnataka Ratna by the Karnataka State Government. Rao was one of the earliest to synthesize two-dimensional oxide materials such as La2CuO4. Though he has given significant contributions to Indian researches, his career too is not free of controversies. He has been accused twice for allowing plagiarism for his research papers, work done by junior scientists.
Published: N/A
Updated: October 13, 2017
