C. N. R.

Rao
Not to be confused with C. R. Rao.

later. In 1953 he was granted a scholarship for PhD in

IIT Kharagpur. But four foreign universities, MIT, Penn
State, Columbia and Purdue also oered him nancial
support. He chose Purdue. His rst research paper was
published in the Agra University Journal of Research in
1954. He completed PhD in 1958, only after two years
and nine months, at age twenty-four.[10]

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao FRS, also

known as C. N. R. Rao (born 30 June 1934), is an Indian chemist who has worked mainly in solid-state and
structural chemistry. He currently serves as the Head of
the Scientic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of
India. Rao has honorary doctorates from 60 universities
from around the world. He has authored around 1,500
research papers and 45 scientic books.[1]

2 Profession

On 16 November 2013, the Government of India announced his selection for Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India, making him the third scientist after
C.V. Raman and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam[2] to receive the
award.[3][4][5] He was conferred the award on 4 February
2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee in a special ceremony in the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.[6][7]

Rao is one of the worlds foremost solid state and

materials chemists. He has contributed to the development of the eld over ve decades.[11] His work 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.
Rao was one of the earliest to synthesise two-dimensional
oxide materials such as La2 CuO4 . His work has led to
a systematic study of compositionally controlled metalinsulator transitions. Such studies have had a profound
impact in application elds such as colossal magneto resistance and high temperature superconductivity. Oxide
semiconductors have unusual promise. He has made immense contributions to nanomaterials over the last two
decades, besides his work on hybrid materials.

Early life and education

C.N.R. Rao was born in Bangalore to Hanumantha

Nagesa Rao and Nagamma Nagesa Rao.[8][9] He was an
only child, and his learned parents made an academic
environment. He was well versed in Hindu literature
from his mother and in English from his father at an
early age. He did not attend elementary school but was
home-tutored by his mother, who was particularly skilled
in arithmetic and Hindu literature. He entered middle
school in 1940, at age six. Although he was the youngest
in his class, he used to tutor his classmates in mathematics and English. He passed lower secondary examination (class VII) in rst class in 1944. He was ten years
old, and his father rewarded him with four annas (twentyve paisa). He attended Acharya Patashala high school in
Basavanagudi, which made a lasting inuence on his interest in chemistry. His father enrolled him to a Kannadamedium course to encourage his mother tongue, but at
home used English for all conversation. He completed
secondary school leaving certicate in rst class in 1947.
He studied BSc at Central College, Bangalore. Here
he developed his communication skills in English and
also learnt Sanskrit.[10] He obtained his bachelors degree
from Mysore University in 1951, in rst class, and only
at the age of seventeen. He initially thought of joining
Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for a diploma or a postgraduate degree in chemical engineering, but a teacher
persuaded him to attend Banaras Hindu University. He
obtained a masters in chemistry from BHU two years

After completion of his graduate studies Rao returned to

Bangalore in 1959 to take up a lecturing position, joining IISC and embarking on an independent research program. From 1963 to 1976 Rao accepted a permanent
position in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, during which time he was
elected as a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in
1964. He returned to IISc in 1976 to establish a solid
state and structural chemistry unit.[10] and became director of the IISc from 1984 to 1994. At various points in
his career Rao has taken appointments as a visiting professor at Purdue University, the University of Oxford, the
University of Cambridge and University of California,
Santa Barbara. He was the Jawaharlal Nehru Professor
at the University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow
at the Kings College, Cambridge during 19831984.[12]
Rao is currently the National Research Professor, Linus
Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientic Research, Bangalore which he founded in 1989.[13] He was
appointed Chair of the Scientic Advisory Council to the
Indian Prime Minister in January 2005, a position which
1

he had occupied earlier during 198589. He is also the

director of the International Centre for Materials Science
(ICMS) and serves on the board of the Science Initiative
Group.[14]
He shares co-authorship of around 1500 research papers
and has co-authored and edited 45 books.[11][15]

Awards and recognition

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Hevrovsky Gold Medal of the Czechoslovak

Academy of Sciences in 1989[17]
Meghnath Saha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy in 1990
Einstein Gold Medal of UNESCO in 1996
Centenary Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London in 2000
Hughes Medal by the Royal Society in 2000

3.1

Scientic awards

DSc from Mysore University in 1961

Doctor of Science from University of Calcutta in

2004[20]

Marlow Medal by the Faraday Society of England

in 1967

Somiya Award of the International Union of Materials Research in 2004

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and

Technology in Chemical Science in 1968

India Science Award in 2004[21]

Yedanapalli Medal and Prize in 1973[16]

C. V. Raman Award in Physical Science by the
University Grants Commission of India in 1975[16]
S. N. Bose Medal by the Indian National Science
Academy in 1980[17]
Royal Society of Chemistry (London) Medal in
1981[18]
Member of many of the worlds scientic associations, including the National Academy of
Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society (London, 1982), Royal
Society of Canada, French Academy, Japanese
Academy, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
and Polish Academy of Sciences, Czechoslovak
Academy of Sciences, Serbian Academy of Sciences, Slovenian Academy of Sciences, Brazilian
Academy of Sciences, Spanish Royal Academy of
Sciences, National Academy of Sciences of Korea,
African Academy of Sciences, and the American
Philosophical Society. He is also member of
the Pontical Academy and Foreign Member of
Academia Europaea.

Dan David Prize from Tel Aviv University in

2005[22] shared with George Whitesides and Robert
Langer.[23]
Foreign fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences[17]
Abdus Salam Medal by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2008[24]
Nikkei Asia Prize for Science, Technology and Innovation, by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc., Japan in
2008[25]
Royal Medal by the Royal Society in 2009
August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann Medal
German Chemical Society in 2010.[26]

by

the

Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize for materials research in 2011

2012 Award for International Scientic Cooperation
from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013[27]
Elected honorary foreign member of Chinese
Academy of Sciences in 2013[28]

Distinguished Academician Award from IIT Patna

Honorary doctorates from several universities inin 2013[29]
cluding Bordeaux, Caen, Colorado, Khartoum,
Liverpool, Northwestern, Novosibirsk, Oxford,
Purdue, Stellenbosch, Universite Joseph Fourier, 3.2 Indian governmental honours
Wales, Wroclaw, Notre Dame, Uppsala, Aligarh
Muslim University, Anna, AP, Banaras, Ben
Padma Shri in 1974
gal Engineering, Bangalore, Burdwan, Bundelkhand, Delhi, Hyderabad, IGNOU, IIT Bombay,
Kharagpur, Delhi, Patna, JNTU, Kalyani, Kar
Padma Vibhushan in 1985
nataka, Kolkata, Kuvempu, Lucknow, Mangalore,
Karnataka Ratna by the Karnataka State GovernManipur, Mysore, Osmania, Punjab, Roorkee,
ment in 2001[30]
Sikkim Manipal, SRM, Tumkur, Sri Venkateswara,
[19]
and
Vidyasagar, Amity University, Gurgaon
Visveswaraya Technological University.[11][12]

Bharat Ratna in 2014[6][7]

3.3

Foreign honours

and passing the responsibility to the junior scientists, raising questions of his understanding and practice of modern
research ethics.[39]

Great Cross of the National Order

in papers coof Scientic Merit from the President of Brazil in More allegations of instances of plagiarism
[40]
authored
Rao
have
been
reported.
[18]
2002
On 17 November 2013, at a press conference follow
Chevalier de la Lgion d'honneur ing the announcement of his Bharat Ratna, he called
(Knight of the Legion of Honour, France) in the Indian politicians idiots that caused a national outrage. He said, Why the hell have these idiots [politi2005[18]
cians] given so little to us despite what we have done.
For the money that the government has given us we [sci[41]
In his defence Rao

Order of Friendship by the President entists] have done much more.

[31]
insisted
that
he
merely
talked
about
the idiotic way
of Russia in 2009
the politicians ignore investments for research funding in
science.[42]

Order of the Rising Sun (Gold and

Silver Star) of Japan in 2015

6 References
4

Personal life

Rao is married to Indumati Rao in 1960. They have two

children, Sanjay and Suchitra. His son Sanjay Rao is
engaged in popularising science in Bangalores schools.
His daughter Suchitra is married to K.M. Ganesh, the director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and
Research (IISER) at Pune, Maharashtra.[32] Rao is quite
technophobic. He removed computers from his tables
and never checks his email by himself. He also said that
he uses the mobile phone only to talk to his wife.[33]

Controversies

Rao has been subject of a number of plagiarism scandals,

allegations he refutes. In December 2011, an apology was
issued to the journal Advanced Materials[34][35] a peerreviewed publication - , for a paper he co-authored with a
junior research associate that contained text reproduced
without attribution of other scientists work.[36] The PhD
student assumed the responsibility for the incident and issued a formal apology.[37] Later Rao oered a full withdrawal the article from the journal, however the editor let
the publication stay. Rao claimed to not be complicit in
the incident plagiarism.[38]

[1] Professor CNR Rao prole. Jawaharlal Nehru Centre

for Advanced Scientic Research. 2011. Retrieved 16
November 2013.
[2] C.N.R. Rao, Sachin conferred Bharat Ratna. The
Hindu. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
[3] Sachin, eminent scientist CNR Rao get Bharat Ratna.
The Times of India. 16 November 2013. Retrieved 16
November 2013.
[4] Sachin rst sportsperson to win countrys highest civilian
honour Bharat Ratna. Hindustan Times. New Delhi. 16
November 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
[5] Bharat Ratna for Prof CNR Rao and Sachin Tendulkar.
Prime Ministers Oce. 16 November 2013. Retrieved
16 November 2013.
[6] Sachin Tendulkar and CNR Rao conferred Bharat
Ratna. The Times of India. 4 February 2014. Retrieved
4 February 2014.
[7] CNR Rao, Sachin receive Bharat Ratna. The Hindu. 4
February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
[8] Bangalorean CNR Rao to get Bharat Ratna. The Times
of India. 16 November 2013. Retrieved 16 November
2013.
[9] Scientist wonders why nobody asks him about Dan David

Further controversy ensued when Rao and the other seprize. Deccan Herald. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 18
nior author of the paper, S. B. Krupanidhi, attributed
November 2013.
blame to the principal co-author (a PhD student at IISc)
for the error, These sentences were part of the introduc- [10] Stephen David (3 June 2010). How I made it: CNR Rao,
Scientist. India Today. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
tion of the paper, which was written by our student, that
neither of us (namely, the senior authors, Rao and Kru[11] Johnson R (20 July 2012). Author Prole: C. N. R. Rao.
panidhi) paid attention to. Particular public criticism
Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog. Retrieved 3 June
was directed at Rao with relation his handling of the al2013.
legations, claiming senior co-authorship of a published
work only to distance himself when problems arose. Rao [12] INSA. Indian Fellow. Indian National Science Academy.
Retrieved 3 June 2013.
was criticised by an Indian scientist for these incidents

[13] Professor C N R Rao to be awarded with Bharat Ratna.

Biharprabha News. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
[14] Madur (4 February 2014). The Key Figure in Structural
Chemistry CNR Rao. karnataka.com. Retrieved 30
July 2014.

EXTERNAL LINKS

[34] Basant Chitara; L. S. Panchakarla; S. B. Krupanidhi;

C. N. R. Rao (2011). Infrared Photodetectors Based
on Reduced Graphene Oxide and Graphene Nanoribbons. Advanced Materials. 23 (45): 54195424.
doi:10.1002/adma.201101414.

[15] ABC (24 November 2011). CNR Rao is the winner of

the 2011 Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize. abc.org.br.
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 3 June
2013.

[35] Basant Chitara; L. S. Panchakarla; S. B. Krupanidhi;

C. N. R. Rao (2011). Apology: Infrared Photodetectors Based on Reduced Graphene Oxide and Graphene
Nanoribbons. Advanced Materials. 23 (45): 5339.
doi:10.1002/adma.201190182.

[16] RAO, Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra.

Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 30 July 2014.

Indian

[36] Plagiarism cloud over CNR Rao. Daily News and Analysis. 21 February 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.

[17] Professor C.N.R. Rao FRS Biography. Bangladesh

Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 30 July 2014.

[37] K.S. Jayaraman (2012).

Indian science adNature.
viser caught up in plagiarism row.
doi:10.1038/nature.2012.10102.

[18] C.N.R. Rao - Elsevier. Elsevier. 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015.

[19] Satyarthis '3D' model: Dream, discover, do. Times of
India. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
[20] Honoris Causa. Caluniv.ac.in. Retrieved 13 March 2012
[21] Ramasami T (2005). India Science Award and Dan
David Prize for C. N. R. Rao (PDF). Current Science.
88 (5): 687.
[22] The Hindu : Karnataka News : Dan David prize for
C.N.R. Rao. Hinduonnet.com (4 March 2005). Retrieved
13 March 2012.
[23] Dan David Prize. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
[24] Abdus Salam Medal. The World Academy of Sciences.
Retrieved 30 July 2014.
[25] CNR Rao Awarded Nikkei Asia Prize. Convergence. 25
February 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
[26] Jayaraman, K. S. (2010). Need young scientists to lead:
C N R Rao. Nature India. doi:10.1038/nindia.2009.365.
[27] Chinas top science award for Dr.C.N. R. Rao. Retrieved
24 January 2013

[38] Plagiarism row: Charges shocking,unfair,says Rao.

Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
[39] No Science in cut and paste. The Hindu. 9 March 2012.
[40] More cases of plagiarism come to light. The Hindu. 11
March 2012.
[41] All you need to know about Bharat Ratna awardee CNR
Rao. Firstpost.India. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 22
November 2013.
[42] CNR Rao does damage control after outbursts; Jaipal
Reddy agrees with Raos views on funding. The Times
of India. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 22 November
2013.

7 Further reading
C.N.R. Rao (2010). Climbing the Limitless Ladder:
A Life in Chemistry. World Scientic Publishing Co.
Pte. Ltd., Singapore. ISBN 9814307866

8 External links

[28] CNR Rao is 1st Indian elected for Chinese Academy of

Science. Deccan Herald. 22 November 2013. Retrieved
22 November 2013.

Academic prole at the Pontical Academy of Sciences

[29] http://www.iitp.ac.in

Dan David Prize laureate 2005

[30] Padma Awards: Yearly Lists of Recipients

Prof. CNR Rao @ JNCASR

[31] R. A. MASHELKAR (17 November 2013). Tribute to a

master alchemist. Business Line. Retrieved 23 November
2013.
[32] C.N.R Rao, scientist par excellence (Prole)". Business
Standard News. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
[33] Pallava Bagla (16 November 2013). Bharat Ratna
awardee CNR Rao: the scientist who nds computers 'distracting'". NDTV. Retrieved 23 November 2013.

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientic

Research
C.N.R. Rao Hall of Science
Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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