Arun Mallojirao Jayannavar (22 July 1956 - 22 November 2021) was an Indian condensed matter physicist and a Senior Professor at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. Known for his research on many interdisciplinary areas of condensed matter physics, Jayannavar was an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz.

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

and

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Acade ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded Jayannavar the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 1998.

Biography

Born on 22 July 1956, Arun M. Jayannavar obtained a BSc from Govindram Seksaria Science College, Belgaum,

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

in 1976 and did his master's degree at

Karnataka University Karnatak University is a public state university in Dharwad district of Karnataka state, India. The university is recognized by University Grants Commission and accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). As of 2014 ...

to earn an MSc in 1978. His doctoral studies were at the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was ...

where he was mentored by S. S. Bhatnagar laureates,

Narendra Kumar (physicist) Narendra Kumar (1 February 1940 – 28 August 2017) was an Indian theoretical physicist and a Homi Bhaba Distinguished Professor of the Department of Atomic Energy at Raman Research Institute. He was also an honorary professor at Jawaharlal Nehr ...

and E. S. Raja Gopal and after securing a PhD in 1982, he moved to Italy to do his post-doctoral work at the

International Centre for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences that operates under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government, United Nations Educatio ...

(ICTP) as a visiting scientist. Jayannavar also had a second stint abroad at the

University of Ulm Ulm University (german: Universität Ulm) is a public university in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1967 and focuses on natural sciences, medicine, engineering sciences, mathematics, economics and computer sci ...

during 1988–90 as an

Alexander von Humboldt Fellow The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Resea ...

. On his return to India in 1991, he joined the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar as a member of faculty where he holds the position of a senior professor. He was also a visiting senior professor at the

Homi Bhabha National Institute The Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) is an Indian deemed university established by the Department of Atomic Energy, which unifies academic programmes of several of its constituent institutions. Deemed universities in India have been divi ...

of the Department of Atomic Energy, situated in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

Legacy

$WF111-Anderson transition-multifractal$ Jayannavar's research interests have been in the interdisciplinary areas of condensed matter physics, with special focus on Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Stochastic processes, Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, Classical and Quantum problems in random media and physics of mesoscopic systems. High temperature superconductors, thermal ratchets and molecular motors, heat pumps at

nanoscale The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology, usually cited as 1–100 nanometers (nm). A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. The nanoscopic scale is (roughly speaking) a lo ...

Anderson localization In condensed matter physics, Anderson localization (also known as strong localization) is the absence of diffusion of waves in a ''disordered'' medium. This phenomenon is named after the American physicist P. W. Anderson, who was the first to su ...

, delay times, random lasers, giant diffusion; fluctuation theorems are some of the areas he has worked on and he is reported to have made significant contributions in the elucidation of a number theoretical problems. Jayannavar's studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and the online article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 168 of them. He was also a member of the editorial boards of science journals viz.

Current Science ''Current Science'' is an English-language peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It was established in 1932 and is published by the Current Science Association along with the Indian Academy of Sciences. According to the ''Journal C ...

and

Pramana ''Pramana'' (Sanskrit: प्रमाण, ) literally means "proof" and "means of knowledge". and sat in the executive council of Indian Physics Association from 2010 to 2012.

Awards and honors

The

awarded Jayannavar the ICTP Prize in the field of Solid State Physics (in honour of

Nevill Francis Mott Sir Nevill Francis Mott (30 September 1905 – 8 August 1996) was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1977 for his work on the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems, especially amorphous semiconductors. ...

) in 1996 and the

elected him as a fellow the same year. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards in 1998. Two of the other major Indian science academies,

and

elected Jayannavar as their fellow in 2002 and 2003 respectively and he received the G. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research in 2004.

Selected bibliography

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jayannavar, A. M Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Physical Science Scientists from Bihar Indian scientific authors 1956 births Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Indian materials scientists Indian condensed matter physicists University of Ulm faculty Homi Bhabha National Institute Indian Institute of Science alumni Karnatak University alumni Living people