Ranganathan Shashidhar (born 1 January 1946) is a US-based Indian condensed matter physicist and a former head of the ''Laboratory for Molecularly Engineered Materials and Surface'' of the Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering, a division of the

United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

. Known for his research on

liquid crystals Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. The ...

, Shashidhar is an elected fellow of 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 ...

and the senior vice president of Polestar Technologies, a US-based company involved in the development of sensing technologies. 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, for his contributions to Physical Sciences in 1984.

Biography

Born on 1 January 1946, Shashidhar did his college education at the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission ...

from where he obtained bachelor's and master's degrees before securing a PhD from the same institution. Subsequently, he took up the position of a faculty member at his alma mater in 1971 and later, moved to

Raman Research Institute The Raman Research Institute (RRI) is an institute for scientific research located in Bangalore, India. It was founded by Nobel laureate C. V. Raman in 1948. Although it began as an institute privately owned by Sir C. V. Raman, it is now fund ...

as a scientist and professor. Before joining

in 1993, he held various positions such as that of a visiting professor at

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

(1983–87),

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(1988–93) and

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, of a visiting scientist at

AT&T Labs AT&T Labs is the research & development division of AT&T, the telecommunications company. It employs some 1,800 people in various locations, including: Bedminster NJ; Middletown, NJ; Manhattan, NY; Warrenville, IL; Austin, TX; Dallas, TX; Atla ...

and of a senior scientist at Geo Centers Inc. He headed the ''Laboratory for Molecularly Engineered Materials and Surfaces'' at NRL. He has also been associated with

Science Applications International Corporation Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support. History The original SAIC was created in 19 ...

(SAIC) and is a senior vice president of Polestar Technologies, leading their research and technology division. Shashidhar studies modern condensed matter physics including reentrant polymorphism and

multicritical point Multicritical points are special points in the parameter space of thermodynamic or other systems with a continuous phase transition. At least two thermodynamic or other parameters must be adjusted to reach a multicritical point. At a multicritica ...

s His studies in condensed matter physics include the subfield of

and he has contributed to widening the understanding of their behavior at high temperatures, He led a team of scientists who developed a family of electroclinic liquid crystals with 256

greyscale In digital photography, computer-generated imagery, and colorimetry, a grayscale image is one in which the value of each pixel is a single sample representing only an ''amount'' of light; that is, it carries only intensity information. Gray ...

s and a fast enough response time, less than 100 microseconds, that allows their use in high resolution hand-held devices. He is also credited with the demonstration of the first ''fully multiplexed plastic display'' with 25,000 addressable pixels. His studies have been documented by way of a book, ''Liquid Crystal Materials Devices and Applications'' and a number of articles and the article repository of Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 40 of them. He holds patents for many processes and his work has drawn citations from other scientists. He is a former member of the board of directors of International Liquid Crystal Society, executive committee of International High Pressure Association and the editorial board of ''Liquid Crystals'' journal of

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...

Awards and honors

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 1984. He was elected by the

as their fellow in 1988. In 1999, the team led by him received the Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for excellence in technology transfer. He is also a recipient of Alan Berman Publication Awards thrice and Edison Patent Award once, both awards given by the US Naval Research Laboratory.

Selected bibliography

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shashidhar, Ranganathan 1946 births Scientists from Karnataka Indian scientific authors Indian condensed matter physicists University of Mysore alumni University of Mysore faculty Ruhr University Bochum faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Georgetown University faculty AT&T people Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Physical Science Living people