Atul Harish Chokshi (born 1958) is an Indian materials scientist, metallurgical engineer and a professor at the Department of Materials Engineering of 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 wa ...

. He is known for his studies on ''high temperature deformation and failure of ceramic materials'' and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. the

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 Academ ...

as well as the

Indian National Academy of Engineering The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), founded in 1987, comprises India's engineers, engineer-scientists and technologists covering the entire spectrum of engineering disciplines. The Academy is registered under the Societies Reg ...

. 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 l ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him 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 science, applied or Fundamenta ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 2003.

Biography

Atul Chokshi, born on 24 March 1958, gained his bachelor's degree (BTech) in metallurgical engineering from the

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

in 1980 and went to the US for higher studies. Joining the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, he earned a master's degree (MS) in 1981, and followed it up with a PhD in 1984. He continued at the university for his post-doctoral work during 1984–1986 and did further researches at

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

from 1986 to 1988. That year, he moved to the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

to take up the position of a faculty and served the university until 1994 when he returned to India to join the

as an associate professor at the Department of Materials Engineering where he holds the position of a professor.

Legacy

Focusing his researches on the engineering mechanical properties of materials, Chokshi has worked on ceramic materials which has assisted in a wider understanding of how the material behaves in high temperature and the role of interfaces in the process. He is known to be one of the pioneers of research on the mechanical behavior of

nanomaterials * Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to nan ...

and his work elucidated the

deformation mechanisms A deformation mechanism, in geology, is a process occurring at a microscopic scale that is responsible for changes in a material's internal structure, shape and volume. The process involves planar discontinuity and/or displacement of atoms from th ...

leading to

superplasticity In materials science, superplasticity is a state in which solid Crystallinity, crystalline material is deformed well beyond its usual breaking point, usually over about 600% during tensile deformation. Such a state is usually achieved at high ho ...

. His work covered

cavitation Cavitation is a phenomenon in which the static pressure of a liquid reduces to below the liquid's vapour pressure, leading to the formation of small vapor-filled cavities in the liquid. When subjected to higher pressure, these cavities, cal ...

failure, superimposition of hydrostatic pressure and creep of materials such as alumina,

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, ceramic composites and

magnesium alloys Magnesium alloys are mixtures of magnesium (the lightest structural metal) with other metals (called an alloy), often aluminium, zinc, manganese, silicon, copper, rare earths and zirconium. Magnesium alloys have a hexagonal lattice structure, w ...

. He has documented his researches in over 135 articles and the online article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 115 of them. Chokshi was one of the scientists who reported the

strengthening Chinese food therapy (, also called nutrition therapy and dietary therapy) is a mode of dieting rooted in Chinese beliefs concerning the effects of food on the human organism, and centered on concepts such as eating in moderation. Its basic pr ...

in nanometals and contributed to the establishment of a creep and

tensile testing Tensile testing, also known as tension testing, is a fundamental materials science and engineering test in which a sample is subjected to a controlled tension until failure. Properties that are directly measured via a tensile test are ultimate ...

laboratory for examining superplasticity in ceramics at the University of California, San Diego. He was also instrumental in setting up a similar laboratory at the Indian Institute of Science with facilities for

electro sinter forging Electro sinter forging (ESF) is an industrial single electromagnetic pulse sintering technique to rapidly produce a wide range of small components in metals, alloys, intermetallics, semiconductors, and composite material, composites. ESF was invent ...

for ceramics and

electrophoretic deposition Electrophoretic deposition (EPD), is a term for a broad range of industrial processes which includes electrocoating, cathodic electrodeposition, anodic electrodeposition, and electrophoretic coating, or electrophoretic painting. A characteristic ...

for nanocrystalline metals. He served as a member of the International Advisory Boards of the 1997, 2000 and 2003 editions of the International Conference on Superplasticity in Advanced Materials (ICSAM) and has also served as a visiting faculty at a number of universities in the US, Europe and Japan.

Awards and honors

Chokshi received the Swarnajayanti Young Scientist Award from the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

in 1998 and two years later, the Materials Research Society of India awarded him the MRSI Medal for the year 2000. The year 2001 brought him two honors, the Metallurgist of the Year Award of the

Indian Institute of Metals Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) was formed in Kolkata in 1946 under the leadership of Dr. Dara P. Antia, who was then Chief Metallurgist of Indian Aluminum Co. The IIM is over 60 years old premier professional Metallurgical Institute set up to ...

as well as the elected fellowship of the National Academy of Sciences, India. The

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 science, applied or Fundamenta ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2003. In 2004, he received the ''Citation Laureate Award'' of Thomson Scientific and was elected as a fellow by the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Indian National Science Academy; he became a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the next year. The Indian Institute of Metals honored him again in 2006 with the G. D. Birla Award and his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras selected him for the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008. Choshi, a life member of the Materials Research Society of India, has been listed among the 100 material scientists with the highest number of citations.

Selected bibliography

* * * * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chokshi, Atul Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Engineering Science 1958 births Indian scientific authors Indian materials scientists Indian metallurgists IIT Madras alumni Indian Institute of Science faculty University of Southern California alumni University of California, Davis alumni University of California, San Diego faculty Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Living people Fellows of the Indian National Academy of Engineering Scientists from Bangalore