Rustum Roy (July 3, 1924 – August 26, 2010) was a
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
, born in India, who became a professor at
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...
and was a leader in
materials research. As an advocate for
interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...
, he initiated a movement of
materials research societies and, outside of his multiple areas of scientific and engineering expertise, wrote impassioned pleas about the need for a fusion of
religion and science
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern ...
and humanistic causes.
Later in life he held visiting professorships in
materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries.
The intellectual origins of materials sci ...
at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
, and in medicine at the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
.
Early life and education
Roy was born in
Ranchi
Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...
,
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
Province,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, the son of Narenda Kumar and Rajkumari Roy.
[
Rustum took a Cambridge School Certificate from Saint Paul's School Darjeeling. Rustum studied ]physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...
at Patna University, gaining his bachelor's degree in 1942 and master's degree in 1944. The following year he began study at Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...
and earned his Ph.D. in engineering ceramics in 1948.
Rustum Roy married fellow materials scientist Della Marie Martin on June 8 that year.[
]
Career
In 1962 he was named the first director of the Materials Research Laboratory at Penn State.[ He edited the ''Proceedings'' of a 1968 Conference on the chemistry of ]silicon carbide
Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum (), is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A wide bandgap semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder a ...
. The next year a national colloquy was held on materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries.
The intellectual origins of materials sci ...
in the United States for which Roy edited the ''Proceedings''. In 1973 he edited the ''Proceedings'' of a conference on phase transition
In physics, chemistry, and other related fields like biology, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic Sta ...
s and their applications.
In 1974 Roy and Olaf Müller published ''The Major Ternary Structural Families'' with Springer-Verlag, which described the principal crystal structure
In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of ordered arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from intrinsic nature of constituent particles to form symmetric patterns that repeat ...
s of ternary compound
In inorganic chemistry and materials chemistry, a ternary compound or ternary phase is a chemical compound containing three different elements.
While some ternary compounds are molecular, ''e.g.'' chloroform (), more typically ternary phases r ...
s. The book received two brief reviews in materials trade journals. A cement journal reviewer said it would be "Useful to the practicing materials researcher, whether in industry or university, as well as the non-specialist who needs to become informed about particular materials."
A chemist writing for mineral processing readers, described its depth:
:The structural descriptions are at times too brief but the chapters contain valuable information such as compositional structure field maps (radius A vs. radius B), figures of unit cells or the polyhedral arrangements in some common structures, phase diagrams (P vs. T , or P vs. ionic radius
Ionic radius, ''r''ion, is the radius of a monatomic ion in an ionic crystal structure. Although neither atoms nor ions have sharp boundaries, they are treated as if they were hard spheres with radii such that the sum of ionic radii of the cati ...
), structural relationships, and phase transition data.
By 1991 he was a spokesperson for the movement and his lecture "New Materials: Fountainhead for New Technologies and New Science" was published by National Academy Press
The US National Academies Press (NAP) was created to publish the reports issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (formerly known as the National Research Council (United States), National Research Council), the Na ...
. Roy presented the lecture to learned audiences in Washington, D.C.; Tokyo, Japan; New Delhi, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and London in 1991 and 92. He made the case for linking a technical need to investigative effort, which he terms "technology traction", noting that the method is productive and cost-effective in comparison to science conducted with other purposes.
Rustum Roy was referred to as " e of the legends of materials science" at the time of his death.
Roy was elected as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
in 1973.
Other interests
Academic freedom
In 1953, Roy wrote a letter to ''Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' magazine in response to the essay "Is Academic Freedom in Danger?" by Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet u ...
, stating: Sirs:
Chambers neglects to note that since people rarely read Congressional Records, they get their News more by headlines and the tenor of the times. Thus, most professors "know" or "feel" it is safer today to keep your mouth shut, and, if you open it, not to support any liberal or leftish views. Let Chambers continue to remind us of the very real perils of the Communist left. Fanatical preoccupation with self-preservation will lead to loss of more valuable things, not merely academic freedom, but freedom.
Rustum Roy
Assistant Professor
The Pennsylvania State College
State College, PA[
]
University reform
In 1977 Rustum Roy proposed that the "science and engineering activity of a university ... e organizedprimarily around a dozen permanent mission-oriented interdisciplinary laboratories." To reach this conclusion he notes that "universities have been forced into new interdisciplinary patterns not only by the dollar sign but also by the inexorable logic that the real problems of society do not come in discipline-shaped blocks."
The daunting structural inertia of the university did not faze him:
:A human being
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
, that is both a naked ape and a fallen angel
Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described ...
, can manage perhaps to organize the university with both the ivory tower and service-station character.[
]
Health
Roy had no formal medical credentials but was an advocate of integrating science, medicine, and spirituality. In the inaugural issue of the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine Roy contributed the article "Integrative medicine to tackle the problem of chronic diseases". He noted that chronic illness
A chronic condition (also known as chronic disease or chronic illness) is a health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that comes with time. The term ''chronic'' is often applied when the ...
debilitates the lives of many seniors, and that medical interventions are often futile. He said "little of nothing is being spent on preventative medicine
Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, is the application of healthcare measures to prevent diseases.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental health a ...
", and cited the ayurveda concepts of "ahara" concerned with nutrition, and "vihara" with the conduct of life. He noted the exemplary work of Dean Ornish in addressing coronary artery disease
Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), or ischemic heart disease (IHD), is a type of cardiovascular disease, heart disease involving Ischemia, the reduction of blood flow to the cardiac muscle due to a build-up ...
as a hopeful innovation.
In 2010, close to the end of his life, Roy co-wrote an article in the Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...
called "The Mythology Of Science-Based Medicine" with nonscientists Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author, New Age, new age guru, and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthi ...
and Larry Dossey, which David Gorski characterized as "an exercise that combines cherry-picking, logical fallacies, and whining, raising the last of these almost to an art form."
Personal life and death
Roy married Della Martin Roy on June 8, 1948. Their three children are Neill R. Roy (deceased), Jeremy R. Roy, and Ronnen A. Roy.[
Roy died on August 26, 2010, at the age of 86. He was survived by his wife and children.][
]
Awards and honours
* 1973: Member, National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
[
* 1979: Hibbert Lecturer
]
Patents
Selection of U.S. patents for which Roy is the sole or primary inventor:
* Densification of glass, germanium oxide, silica or boric acid (July 23, 1963)
* Reverse thermodynamic chemical barrier for nuclear waste
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...
over-pack or backfill (February 7, 1984)
* Low expansion ceramic material (June 23, 1987)
* Method of preparing ceramic compositions at lower sintering temperatures (May 9, 1989)
* Method for synthesizing solids such as diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
and products produced thereby (January 29, 2002)
* Microwave processing in pure H fields and pure E fields (April 2, 2002)
* Process for sintering powder metal components (October 19, 2004)
* Metal extraction from various chalcogenide
: 220px, Cadmium sulfide, a prototypical metal chalcogenide, is used as a yellow pigment.
A chalcogenide is a chemical compound consisting of at least one chalcogen anion and at least one more electropositive element. Although all group 16 elemen ...
minerals through interaction with separate electric fields and magnetic fields supplied by electromagnetic energy (December 14, 2010)
* Method for decolorizing diamonds (February 7, 2012)
Publications
Monographs
*
Edited volumes
* ''Materials Science and Engineering in the United States: Proceedings'' (1970, contributor), Pennsylvania State University Press, .
* ''Materials Science and Engineering Serving Society'' (1998, with others), Elsevier Science, .
* ''The Interdisciplinary Imperative: Interactive Research and Education, Still an Elusive Goal in Academia'' (2000), Writers Club Press, .
Other authored/co-authored books
* ''Honest Sex'' (2003 969 with coauthor Della Roy), Signet Press, .
* ''Experimenting With Truth: The Fusion of Religion With Technology Needed for Humanity's Survival'' 979 Hibbert Lectures">Hibbert_Lectures.html" ;"title="979 Hibbert Lectures">979 Hibbert Lectures(1980), Pergamon Press, .
* ''Radioactive Waste'' (1982), Pergamon Press, .
* ''Lost at the Frontier: U.S. Science and Technology Policy Adrift'' (1985), ISI Press, .
Other works
* ''Science of Whole Person Healing: Proceedings of the First Interdisciplinary International Conference'' (2003, contributor), iUniverse, .
* ''Observations and Studies of the Healing Efficacy of the Life Vessel'' (2012) [2009].
See also
* Structure field map
References
Further reading
*
* Dilip Mehta (2010
Dr. Rustum Roy (1924 — 2010)
Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine 1(3): 233.
*
*
External links
Rustum Roy Papers
from Pennsylvania State University Libraries
Profile and interviews
at PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
''Faith and Reason'' series
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Rustum
1924 births
2010 deaths
Arizona State University faculty
University of Arizona faculty
Indian materials scientists
American materials scientists
Pennsylvania State University faculty
St. Paul's School, Darjeeling alumni
Patna University alumni
Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class
People from Ranchi
Scientists from Bihar
Indian physical chemists
20th-century Indian medical doctors
Indian emigrants to the United States
Solid state chemists