V. Balakrishnan (physicist)
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V. Balakrishnan, (born 1943 as Venkataraman Balakrishnan) is an
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
theoretical physicist, who has worked in a number of fields and areas, including
particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...
, many-body theory, the mechanical behavior of solids,
dynamical systems In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a function describes the time dependence of a point in an ambient space. Examples include the mathematical models that describe the swinging of a clock pendulum, the flow of water in a p ...
,
stochastic processes In probability theory and related fields, a stochastic () or random process is a mathematical object usually defined as a family of random variables. Stochastic processes are widely used as mathematical models of systems and phenomena that appe ...
, and quantum dynamics. He is an accomplished researcher who has made important contributions to the theory of
anelasticity Anelasticity is a property of materials that describes their behaviour when undergoing deformation. Its formal definition does not include the physical or atomistic mechanisms but still interprets the anelastic behaviour as a manifestation of in ...
, continuous-time random walks, and recurrences in dynamical systems.


Education and career

He received his undergraduate degree from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
from
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
in 1970. After a decade at
TIFR Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the De ...
and
IGCAR Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is one of India's premier nuclear research centres. It is the second largest establishment of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), next to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), located at Kal ...
Kalpakkam, he joined IIT Madras as a Professor of Physics in 1980. He was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1985. In addition to his research, Balakrishnan is a teacher of physics, known for his engaging teaching style. He has taught a wide range of courses over the past 30 years from introductory physics to quantum field theory to dynamical systems. Two of his courses (38 lectures in ''Classical Physics'' and 31 in ''Quantum Physics'') taught at IIT Madras through
National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning ''National Programme on Technology Enhanced LearningNPTEL) is an Indian learning platform for university-level science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects. It is jointly developed by Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institu ...
are available on NPTEL's channel on YouTube, and have received more than 2.3 million views in all (as of December 2015). * 38 lectures in ''Classical Physics'' * 31 lectures in ''Quantum Physics'' * A third series appeared in June 2014 titled ''Selected Topics in Mathematical Physics''. * Towards the end of July 2014, NPTEL released a fourth series of lectures titled ''Topics in Nonlinear Dynamics''. * A fifth series entitled ''Basic Concepts of Elementary Physics : Mechanics, Heat, Oscillations, Waves and Thermal Physics'' was released in the beginning of May 2015. * A sixth series of lectures appeared towards the end of November 2015 titled ''Physical Applications of Stochastic Processes''. * A seventh series entitled ''Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics'' was released in June 2016.


Publications

Balakrishnan has authored the book ''Mathematical Physics with Applications, Problems and Solutions'' (Ane Books 2017). He has also authored the book ''Elements of Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics'' (CRC Press 2008). A review in the journal ''Soft Materials'' explained that rather than providing comprehensive coverage of the field of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, the book focuses on explaining the Langevin and Fokker–Planck equations. He co-authored the book ''Beyond the Crystalline State: An Emerging Perspective'' (Springer 1989).


Family

His wife,
Radha Balakrishnan Radha Balakrishnan is an Indian theoretical physicist. She is a retired professor at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India. After her early work in condensed matter physics on quantum crystals, she switched fields to nonlinear ...
, is a theoretical physicist who works on nonlinear dynamics (in particular,
solitons In mathematics and physics, a soliton or solitary wave is a self-reinforcing wave packet that maintains its shape while it propagates at a constant velocity. Solitons are caused by a cancellation of nonlinear and dispersive effects in the medium ...
and integrable systems). His son,
Hari Balakrishnan Hari Balakrishnan is the Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, and the Co-founder and CTO at Cambridge Mobile Telematics. Early life and care ...
, is currently the Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science at MIT. His daughter, Hamsa Balakrishnan, is also on the faculty at MIT as an Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics.


References


External links


A catalog of courses as part of the NPTEL program.''Classical Physics'' by Prof. V. Balakrishnan''Quantum Physics'' by Prof. V. Balakrishnan''Selected Topics in Mathematical Physics'' by Prof. V. Balakrishnan''Topics in Nonlinear Dynamics'' by Prof. V. Balakrishnan''Basic Concepts of Elementary Physics : Mechanics, Heat, Oscillations, Waves and Thermal Physics'' by Prof. V. Balakrishnan''Physical Applications of Stochastic Processes'' by Prof. V. Balakrishnan''Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics'' by Prof. V. Balakrishnan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balakrishnan, V. 20th-century Indian physicists Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Academic staff of IIT Madras Brandeis University alumni Living people 1943 births Tamil scientists St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni