acetophenol
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Dr iyengar passed away. I reques someone to post the entire news as i am frm my cell phone
Dr.iyengar passes away
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acetophenol
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Dr iyengar played an important role in building up india's nuclear assets
Nair saab
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Dr. P. K. Iyengar probing atoms with a Nobel laureate
In October 1994, following announcement of the Nobel Prize in physics, there was celebration at the Babha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay.
The scientists had gathered to cherish their long association with Prof. Bertram N. Brockhouse of McMaster University of Canada who shared Nobel Prize with Prof. Clifford Shull of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, that year, and to felicitate the Professor.
When Prof. Brockhouse began his experiments which eventually led to his winning the Nobel Prize, there was an Indian scientist beside him -- Dr. P. K. Iyengar. (Mr. Iyengar died on Wednesday.)
They soon co-authored a paper on the phonon spectrum of germanium. It was an extensive work on the quanta of lattice vibrations in Germanium. The paper became an instant hit as the as germanium was then the backbone of the transistor industry.
Dr. Iyengar left for India a few years later. But for several years since then, scientists from India's fledgling atomic establishment used to visit Dr. Brockhouse and the Chalk River nuclear reactor facility of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited where he worked.
Between 1957 and 1959, Dr. Brockhouse and Dr. Iyengar published five papers on the neutron spectrum of germanium and manganese compounds.
They had looked into almost every aspect of the phonon spectrum of germanium.
Until Dr. Brockhouse and Dr. Iyengar did their pioneering work in neutron spectrometry, the main tool used by scientists to probe the structure of materials was x-ray. Several Nobel prizes had been awarded for contributions in this area. [It was C. V. Raman, who discovered the scattering of light by liquids and crystals. This phenomenon, which later came to be known as the Raman Effect, could provide insights into the atomic structure of materials. When visible light or x-ray is scattered by liquids and solids, its frequency (energy) changes and scientists could deduce much about the structure of materials from these energy changes].
But x-ray has its limitations. The slow moving neutrons, on the other hand, has an advantage over x-ray in that the energy change they undergo on scattering was easy to measure. They were also sensitive to magnetic properties of atoms and neutron spectrometry was the only method by which one could look at the magnetism at the microscopic level. Dr. Shull made his mark in one area of neutron spectrometry dealing with neutron diffraction and Dr. Brockhouse in neutron inelastic scattering. Dr. Brockhouse studied the interaction of atoms in liquids and the lattice structure of crystals. Soon, he unravelled the secrets of spin dynamics, atomic motions in liquids and much more.
The studies by Brockhouse and Iyengar settled a virtual conflict in the theories propounded by Max Born and C. V. Raman regarding motion of atoms. Born held that there is a continuous distribution in frequencies of vibration of atoms while Raman postulated discreet frequencies. It was finally established through neutron spectrometry that the frequency distribution was continuous. Raman was looking at only a part of the spectrum.
Recalling his association with Dr. Brockhouse, Dr. Iyengar remembered that Dr. Brockhouse alone was working in the area of neutron inelastic diffraction at the time he joined him. They together did path breaking work in lattice dynamics of atoms. By trying to unravel the mysteries of atom using neutron as the probe, he attempted something that even Americans (with their penchant for risk taking) thought difficult.
Dr. Iyengar told this reporter back in 1994 that Brockhouse was an influence on him which orchestrated his Indian mind to assimilate the western research outlook. "I learned to how to look at physics which is to discover the laws of nature."
The important thing was that a person who would not take a risk in attempting to make an innovation won't do an innovation. "I could see how a Nobel Prize worthy experiment was being done."
On his return to India, Dr. Iyengar took the lead for neutron spectrometric studies in India. "We had a fairly good group working on it at BARC and BARC hosted an international conference on neutron scattering in 1964. Dr. Brockhouse was also the inspiration behind the setting up of the research reactor Dhurva (in 1985)," Dr. Iyengar reminisced.
The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Science : Dr. P. K. Iyengar
---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:03 PM ----------
P K Iyengar, No 2 in Pokharn I, passes away
Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman P K Iyengar, who played an important role in the country's first nuclear explosion in 1974, died on Wednesday afternoon following a brief illness. He was 80.
“The end came at 3.30 pm at BARC hospital due to complications arising from lung infection,” his son Dr Srinivas Iyengar said.
He is survived by wife, son and a daughter. Both the children are scientists.
A noted nuclear physicist and scientist, Iyengar was a recipient of Padma Bhushan and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award.
A former secretary, department of atomic energy, (1990-93), Iyengar had a keen interest in developing indigenous experimental facilities such as neutron diffractometers and neutron scattering spectrometers.
Iyengar was one of the key figures in the Operation Smiling Buddha -- the first peaceful nuclear explosion at Pokhran on May 18, 1974 -- as second-in-command of operation leader Raja Ramanna.
After post-graduation in Physics from Kerala University, Iyengar started his career with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1952. Three years later, he joined the then Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay and was soon deputed to the Chalk River Laboratories of the Canadian Atomic Energy Establishment.
After returning from Canada, Iyengar built a number of experimental facilities, including neutron diffractometers and neutron scattering spectrometers around research reactors Apsara and Cirus. He was also involved in the design and setting up of the first fast reactor critical facility Purnima-I, which achieved its first criticality on May 18, 1972.
After holding several responsibilities at BARC, he became its director in 1984.
P K Iyengar, No 2 in Pokharn I, passes away - Indian Express
In October 1994, following announcement of the Nobel Prize in physics, there was celebration at the Babha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay.
The scientists had gathered to cherish their long association with Prof. Bertram N. Brockhouse of McMaster University of Canada who shared Nobel Prize with Prof. Clifford Shull of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, that year, and to felicitate the Professor.
When Prof. Brockhouse began his experiments which eventually led to his winning the Nobel Prize, there was an Indian scientist beside him -- Dr. P. K. Iyengar. (Mr. Iyengar died on Wednesday.)
They soon co-authored a paper on the phonon spectrum of germanium. It was an extensive work on the quanta of lattice vibrations in Germanium. The paper became an instant hit as the as germanium was then the backbone of the transistor industry.
Dr. Iyengar left for India a few years later. But for several years since then, scientists from India's fledgling atomic establishment used to visit Dr. Brockhouse and the Chalk River nuclear reactor facility of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited where he worked.
Between 1957 and 1959, Dr. Brockhouse and Dr. Iyengar published five papers on the neutron spectrum of germanium and manganese compounds.
They had looked into almost every aspect of the phonon spectrum of germanium.
Until Dr. Brockhouse and Dr. Iyengar did their pioneering work in neutron spectrometry, the main tool used by scientists to probe the structure of materials was x-ray. Several Nobel prizes had been awarded for contributions in this area. [It was C. V. Raman, who discovered the scattering of light by liquids and crystals. This phenomenon, which later came to be known as the Raman Effect, could provide insights into the atomic structure of materials. When visible light or x-ray is scattered by liquids and solids, its frequency (energy) changes and scientists could deduce much about the structure of materials from these energy changes].
But x-ray has its limitations. The slow moving neutrons, on the other hand, has an advantage over x-ray in that the energy change they undergo on scattering was easy to measure. They were also sensitive to magnetic properties of atoms and neutron spectrometry was the only method by which one could look at the magnetism at the microscopic level. Dr. Shull made his mark in one area of neutron spectrometry dealing with neutron diffraction and Dr. Brockhouse in neutron inelastic scattering. Dr. Brockhouse studied the interaction of atoms in liquids and the lattice structure of crystals. Soon, he unravelled the secrets of spin dynamics, atomic motions in liquids and much more.
The studies by Brockhouse and Iyengar settled a virtual conflict in the theories propounded by Max Born and C. V. Raman regarding motion of atoms. Born held that there is a continuous distribution in frequencies of vibration of atoms while Raman postulated discreet frequencies. It was finally established through neutron spectrometry that the frequency distribution was continuous. Raman was looking at only a part of the spectrum.
Recalling his association with Dr. Brockhouse, Dr. Iyengar remembered that Dr. Brockhouse alone was working in the area of neutron inelastic diffraction at the time he joined him. They together did path breaking work in lattice dynamics of atoms. By trying to unravel the mysteries of atom using neutron as the probe, he attempted something that even Americans (with their penchant for risk taking) thought difficult.
Dr. Iyengar told this reporter back in 1994 that Brockhouse was an influence on him which orchestrated his Indian mind to assimilate the western research outlook. "I learned to how to look at physics which is to discover the laws of nature."
The important thing was that a person who would not take a risk in attempting to make an innovation won't do an innovation. "I could see how a Nobel Prize worthy experiment was being done."
On his return to India, Dr. Iyengar took the lead for neutron spectrometric studies in India. "We had a fairly good group working on it at BARC and BARC hosted an international conference on neutron scattering in 1964. Dr. Brockhouse was also the inspiration behind the setting up of the research reactor Dhurva (in 1985)," Dr. Iyengar reminisced.
The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Science : Dr. P. K. Iyengar
---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:03 PM ----------
P K Iyengar, No 2 in Pokharn I, passes away
Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman P K Iyengar, who played an important role in the country's first nuclear explosion in 1974, died on Wednesday afternoon following a brief illness. He was 80.
“The end came at 3.30 pm at BARC hospital due to complications arising from lung infection,” his son Dr Srinivas Iyengar said.
He is survived by wife, son and a daughter. Both the children are scientists.
A noted nuclear physicist and scientist, Iyengar was a recipient of Padma Bhushan and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award.
A former secretary, department of atomic energy, (1990-93), Iyengar had a keen interest in developing indigenous experimental facilities such as neutron diffractometers and neutron scattering spectrometers.
Iyengar was one of the key figures in the Operation Smiling Buddha -- the first peaceful nuclear explosion at Pokhran on May 18, 1974 -- as second-in-command of operation leader Raja Ramanna.
After post-graduation in Physics from Kerala University, Iyengar started his career with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1952. Three years later, he joined the then Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay and was soon deputed to the Chalk River Laboratories of the Canadian Atomic Energy Establishment.
After returning from Canada, Iyengar built a number of experimental facilities, including neutron diffractometers and neutron scattering spectrometers around research reactors Apsara and Cirus. He was also involved in the design and setting up of the first fast reactor critical facility Purnima-I, which achieved its first criticality on May 18, 1972.
After holding several responsibilities at BARC, he became its director in 1984.
P K Iyengar, No 2 in Pokharn I, passes away - Indian Express
T90TankGuy
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he is one individual who contributed a lot to our defense . RIP to him .
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When P K Iyengar's nuke trigger sparked alarm
MUMBAI: The Indian Airlines (IA) security staff at Mumbai airport believed that they had made a prize catch while screening the hand baggages of Jaipur-bound passengers a few days prior to the first nuclear weapon test at Pokhran in Rajasthan in May 1974.
As the personal hand baggages of passengers were being x-rayed, a particular one aroused their suspicion and they took it aside for inspection. The hand baggage which revealed something suspicious belonged to two passengers. The "suspicious" hand baggage was a specially-made thermos flask.
The IA security staff asked the passengers to step aside and they were questioned about its contents. While this was in progress, an army officer who was accompanying the two passengers on this flight managed to convince the IA security men that the thermos flask contained nothing dangerous, and it was only a night vision device used for experiments.
The security staff were finally convinced, handed back the thermos flask to the passengers and allowed them to proceed to the airport's pre-boarding security enclosure. Had it not been for the intervention for the army officer, the two passengers would have had a problem boarding the IA flight and a major national scientific project would have been delayed and perhaps it would ceased to remain a secret.
Who were the two passengers? They were P K Iyenger and T S Murthy of Barc's radioisotope division. They were on their way to Pokhran via Jaipur in connection with the first nuclear weapon test on May 18,1974, code named "Smiling Buddha".
The thermos flask did not contain a night vision device, but the trigger for India's first atomic bomb. As D-day was nearing, Iyengar's anxiety was increasing, because he wanted the trigger to be ready and rushed to Pokhran as soon as possible. Without the trigger the bomb could not have been detonated. The trigger was enclosed in the special thermos flask to prevent radio activity from leaking out.
Two weeks prior to the test, the trigger was at last ready and Iyengar wanted it to be dispatched at the earliest to Pokhran. He realised that the only way this could be done was through a regular IA flight and he knew the mission was risky. But he decided to take the risk since he was known for innovation.
Further, he decided to carry the thermos flask with its precious content himself as a personal hand baggage on the Mumbai-Jaipur IA flight fully aware of the risks involved and managed to get it to Pokhran on time. Thanks to the risk Iyengar took, the test was successfully carried out at 8.05 a.m. on May 18,1974, hoodwinking American CIA spy satellites and ushering India into the era of nuclear weapons.
When P K Iyengar's nuke trigger sparked alarm - The Economic Times
Hats off , sir !
MUMBAI: The Indian Airlines (IA) security staff at Mumbai airport believed that they had made a prize catch while screening the hand baggages of Jaipur-bound passengers a few days prior to the first nuclear weapon test at Pokhran in Rajasthan in May 1974.
As the personal hand baggages of passengers were being x-rayed, a particular one aroused their suspicion and they took it aside for inspection. The hand baggage which revealed something suspicious belonged to two passengers. The "suspicious" hand baggage was a specially-made thermos flask.
The IA security staff asked the passengers to step aside and they were questioned about its contents. While this was in progress, an army officer who was accompanying the two passengers on this flight managed to convince the IA security men that the thermos flask contained nothing dangerous, and it was only a night vision device used for experiments.
The security staff were finally convinced, handed back the thermos flask to the passengers and allowed them to proceed to the airport's pre-boarding security enclosure. Had it not been for the intervention for the army officer, the two passengers would have had a problem boarding the IA flight and a major national scientific project would have been delayed and perhaps it would ceased to remain a secret.
Who were the two passengers? They were P K Iyenger and T S Murthy of Barc's radioisotope division. They were on their way to Pokhran via Jaipur in connection with the first nuclear weapon test on May 18,1974, code named "Smiling Buddha".
The thermos flask did not contain a night vision device, but the trigger for India's first atomic bomb. As D-day was nearing, Iyengar's anxiety was increasing, because he wanted the trigger to be ready and rushed to Pokhran as soon as possible. Without the trigger the bomb could not have been detonated. The trigger was enclosed in the special thermos flask to prevent radio activity from leaking out.
Two weeks prior to the test, the trigger was at last ready and Iyengar wanted it to be dispatched at the earliest to Pokhran. He realised that the only way this could be done was through a regular IA flight and he knew the mission was risky. But he decided to take the risk since he was known for innovation.
Further, he decided to carry the thermos flask with its precious content himself as a personal hand baggage on the Mumbai-Jaipur IA flight fully aware of the risks involved and managed to get it to Pokhran on time. Thanks to the risk Iyengar took, the test was successfully carried out at 8.05 a.m. on May 18,1974, hoodwinking American CIA spy satellites and ushering India into the era of nuclear weapons.
When P K Iyengar's nuke trigger sparked alarm - The Economic Times
Hats off , sir !
Night_Raven
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More info on the fascinating life of Dr. Iyengar :
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/article2737795.ece
Dr Iyengar's life was a saga of boundless pursuit of science - Rediff.com India News
Really an inspiration ...
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/article2737795.ece
Dr Iyengar's life was a saga of boundless pursuit of science - Rediff.com India News
Really an inspiration ...
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