Kakkudiyil George Thomas (born 1961) is an Indian photochemist, nanomaterial scientist and a professor at the

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram (abbreviated as IISER Thiruvananthapuram or IISER-TVM) is an autonomous public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, India. The institute is one of the seven IISERs esta ...

. He is known for his studies on photoresponsive nanomaterials and is an elected fellow of the

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 ...

and the

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 ...

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 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 or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2006, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Biography

K. George Thomas, born on 13 May 1961 in the south Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, did his early schooling at his home state before joining Savitribai Phule Pune University from where he completed his master's course (MSc) in chemistry in 1983. He returned to Kerala for his doctoral studies under the guidance of K. Saramma and secured a PhD from the

University of Kerala University of Kerala, formerly the University of Travancore, is a state-run public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chit ...

in 1989. His post-doctoral studies were at the Photosciences and Photonics Group of

Manapurathu Verghese George Manapurathu Verghese George (3 October 1928 - 9 December 2019) was an Indian photochemist and an Emeritus professor of the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST). He was known for establishing the Photochemistry ...

National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology The National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST, formerly ''Regional Research Laboratory, Trivandrum'') is a constituent laboratory of CSIR, India, engaged in research and development activities in the field of agropr ...

(NIIST) as a research associate and after completion of the studies in 1994, he continued at NIIST to start his career as a scientist. Subsequently, he joined

and serves the institution as a professor while continuing his researches at NIIST. He has also had various stints at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

in 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2005 as a visiting faculty and is an honorary faculty fellow at

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) is a multidisciplinary research institute located at Jakkur, Bangalore, India. It was established by the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India, to ...

Legacy

The researches of Thomas have been focused on photoresponsive

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 na ...

and his work is reported to have assisted in widening the understanding about their applications. He also worked on self-organization of molecules on surfaces and has developed methodologies for modulating the molecular organization through the introduction of functional groups. Thus, he developed a number of near-infrared absorbing sensitizers which are relevant in biological imaging and optical data storage applications and holds international patent for one the processes he has developed viz. ''Squaraine based dyes and process for preparation thereof''. His researches have been documented by way of chapters in three books authored/edited by others and several peer-reviewed articles; the online article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 54 of them. He sits in the advisory board of the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences of the Department of Science and Technology and is the vice-president of the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association. He has also delivered several keynote addresses and plenary lectures including the Inter Academy Seoul Science Forum held in Seoul on 3 November 2016 and the Nano Biotek 2016 held at New Delhi on 24 November 2016.

Awards and honors

Thomas received the Bronze Medal of the

Chemical Research Society of India Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) is an India based scientific society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, professio ...

in 2004 and the MRSI Medal of the Material Research Society of India in 2005; MRSI would honor him again in 2015 with the MRSI-ICSC Super Conductivity and Materials Science Prize. 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 2006. He was elected as a fellow by the

in 2008 and he became a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, K. George Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Chemical Science 1961 births Indian scientific authors Scientists from Kerala Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences 20th-century Indian chemists Indian nanotechnologists Indian materials scientists Savitribai Phule Pune University alumni University of Kerala alumni University of Notre Dame faculty Malayali people Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Living people

Biography

Legacy

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links