Rajinder Kumar

Rajinder Kumar (9 September 1934 – 7 February 2022) was an Indian chemical engineer and a former professor at the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on multiphase phenomena and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1976. He received the third highest Indian civilian award of the Padma Bhushan in 2003. He is also a recipient of Om Prakash Bhasin Award and the VASVIK Industrial Research Award.

Biography

Rajinder Kumar, born on 9 September 1934 in the Indian state of Punjab, graduated in science (BSc hons) from Punjab University, Chandigarh in 1954 and did his master's degree at Delhi Technological University (then known as Delhi Polytechnic) to receive his degree of MSc Tech from Punjab University in 1955. He joined the Indian Institute of Science in 1958 as a junior research assistant and simultaneously did his doctoral studies under the guidance of E. Weingaertner and R. L. Datta but submitted his thesis at Punjab University to secure a PhD in 1965. as a lecturer (1963–67), assistant professor (1967–70), professor (from 1970) and at the time of his superannuation in 1995, he was holding the position of Divisional Chairman and Dean. He was also a member of the Internal Review Committee of the IISc in 2014. Post-retirement, he serves as an honorary professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. He developed a two-stage model of bubble formation from single submerged nozzles which clarified the discrepancies in experimental data and is in use with industrially–relevant distributors. He sat in the Society and the Governing Body of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and has been associated with government departments and agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology, Indian Council of Medical Research, National Digital Research Centre and National Innovation Foundation as a member of their various committees. and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers awarded him the Herdilia Award in 1985. A year later, he received the VASVIK Industrial Research Award INSA would honor him again in 1997 with Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal The year 1991 brought him three awards, Om Prakash Bhasin Award, The Government of India included him in the 2003 Republic Day honors list for the third highest civilian award of the Padma Bhushan.

Kumar held the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship of INSA in 1995. The Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as a fellow in 1979

Selected bibliography