Bharat Ratna for scientist Prof. C.N.R.Rao

Prof. C.N.R. Rao,  the man behind India’s maiden Mars mission, to be conferred with the prestigious Bharat Ratna Award, India’s highest civilian award.

About C.N.R. Rao (Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao)

An Indian scientist
Worked mainly in solid-state and structural chemistry.
One of the world’s foremost solid state and materials chemists.
Rao’s work on transition metal oxides led to basic understanding of novel phenomena and the relationship between materials properties and the structural chemistry of metal oxides.
At present, he is the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.
Author of around 1500 research papers.
Authored and edited 45 books.
First Indian scientist to reach the h-index of 100.
One of the earliest to synthesize two-dimensional oxide materials such as La2CuO4.
Rao’s findings have resulted into a systematic study of compositionally controlled metal-insulator transitions. Such findings have emmensely helpes in fields such as colossal magneto resistance and high temperature superconductivity. Oxide semiconductors have uncommon promise.
Made good contribution to nano materials, apart from his work on hybrid materials.

What is h-index (also called the Hirsch index or Hirsch number)?

• h-index (also called the Hirsch index or Hirsch number) is a tool that measures the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar.
• Based on the set of the scientist’s most cited papers and the number of citations that the individual has received in other publications.
• Physicist Jorge Hirsch was the first one to coin it in 2005.
• George Whitesides of Harvard University has an h-index of 169, which makes him the highest ranked living chemist.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2013