Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar

Sir Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (21 February 1894 – 1 January 1955) was an Indian colloid chemist, academic and scientific administrator. The first director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Bhatnagar is revered as the Father of Research Laboratories in India. He was also the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

In 1958, to honour his name and legacy, the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) instituted the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for scientists who have made significant contributions in various branches of science.

Early life Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar was born in the Bhera region of British India, in a Hindu Kayastha family. His father, Parmeshwari Sahai Bhatnagar, died when he was eight months old, and he spent his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather, an engineer, who helped him develop a liking for science and engineering. He enjoyed building mechanical toys, electronic batteries, and string telephones. From his maternal family he also inherited a gift of poetry. He completed his elementary education from the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School, Sikandrabad (Bulandshahr). In 1911, he joined the newly established Dayal Singh College, Lahore (which was later moved to New Delhi, India after independence) where he became an active member of the Saraswati Stage Society and earned a good reputation as an actor. He wrote an Urdu one-act play called Karamati (Wonder Worker), the English translation of which earned him the Saraswati Stage Society prize and medal for the best play of the year in 1912. Bhatnagar passed the Intermediate Examination of the Punjab University in 1913 in first class and joined the Forman Christian College, where he obtained a BSc in physics in 1916, and an MSc in chemistry in 1919.

Education and early research Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar was awarded a scholarship by the Dayal Singh College Trust to study abroad, and he left for America via England. However, he could not find open berths on English ships, as they were all reserved for American troops, who were then being demobilised due to the First World War. The trustee permitted him to join the University College London under chemistry professor Frederick G. Donnan. He earned his Doctorate in Science in 1921. he was appointed a Foundation Fellow of the National Institute of Sciences of India (FNI; now the Indian National Science Academy) the following year. For his contributions to pure and applied chemistry, Bhatnagar was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1936 New Year Honours List. The British government knighted him in the 1941 New Year Honours List for his contributions to the advancement of science. Bhatnagar was appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 1942, and was also appointed a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (FRIC) that year. In 1943 the Society of Chemical Industry, London, elected him as Honorary Member and later as Vice-President. Bhatnagar was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1943.

In independent India, he was the President of the Indian Chemical Society, National Institute of Sciences of India and the Indian National Science Congress. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1954.

An Indian science award, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology was created in his honour.