Baldev Raj, director of NIAS passes away

Prof Baldev Raj (71), the director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), has passed away in Pune, Maharashtra on January 6, 2018, while attending a conference. A recipient of the Padma Shri award, he took over as director of NIAS Bengaluru in 2014 and presided over the expansion of the institute in terms of faculty strength and research grants. He had also served as director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam. He was a major contributor to the advancement of technologies like the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). He contributed to the fields of nuclear materials and mechanics, non-destructive evaluation, nanoscience and technology as well as robotics and automation during the course of his career. He was also an author of around 1,000 academic papers in peer reviewed journals and more than 70 books. Prof Raj won more than 100 awards and assignments in more than 30 countries.