Rajagopala Chidambaram

Indian physicist (1936–2025) Rajagopala ChidambaramChidambaram at the 2008 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.2nd Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of IndiaIn office2002–2018PresidentA. P. J. Abdul Kalam Pratibha Patil Pranab Mukherjee Ram Nath KovindPrime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee Manmohan Singh Narendra ModiPreceded byA. P. J. Abdul KalamSucceeded byK. Vijayraghavan Personal detailsBorn(1936-11-11)11 November 1936Madras, Madras Province, British India(now Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India)Died4 January 2025(2025-01-04) (aged 88)Mumbai, Maharashtra, IndiaEducationUniversity of Madras, Indian Institute of ScienceKnown forNuclear weapons programme Smiling Buddha (Pokhran-I) Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II) AwardsPadma Shri (1975), Padma Vibhushan (1999)Scientific careerFieldsPhysicsWorkplacesAtomic Energy Commission (India)Atomic Research Centre, MumbaiDepartment of Atomic EnergyInternational Atomic Energy Agency Defence Research and Development Organisation Indian Institute of TechnologyUniversity of Hyderabad Rajagopala Chidambaram (11 November 1936 – 4 January 2025) was an Indian physicist who is known for his integral role in India's nuc