Saraswathi Vishveshwara

Saraswathi Vishveshwara (born 1946) is an Indian biophysicist with specialization in the area of Molecular Biophysics. She is a professor in the Molecular Biophysics Unit at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She works on computational biology and her research is primarily focused on elucidating structure-function relationships in biological systems. Using computational-mathematical techniques to understand the functioning of macromolecules such as proteins is a key aspect of her research.

Education Saraswathi's undergraduate (B.Sc.) and post-graduate (M.Sc.) education was in Bangalore University. After she did her M.Sc. in bio-chemistry, she completed her Ph.D. at the City University of New York under the guidance of David Beveridge of Hunter College. Her doctorate was in quantum chemistry.

Professional experience After her doctorate Vishveshwara became a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. She worked with well-known quantum chemist and Nobel Laureate, John Pople. She returned to India and joined the Indian Institute of Science as a postdoctoral fellow in the Molecular Biophysics Unit. She became a faculty member and Professor.

Personal life Saraswathi's husband, physicist, Dr. C.V. Vishveshwara, known as the Black Hole Man of India, died in 2017. Saraswathi spoke at the inaugural C. V. Vishveshwara Public Lecture series. Their daughter is physicist Smitha Vishveshwara.