C. N. Ramachandra Rao

“Dr Rao's work is not only limited to the field of material science and nanotechnology, but he has contributed towards the growth of overall science in this country.”

“He is one of the best scientists the country has produced in independent India, and he richly deserves it.”

“You give attention to army, police and things like that. Who pays attention to science? When I got the Dan David prize, which is similar to Nobel and given once in a few years by Israel, nobody talked about it. Nobody asked me anything about it. Nobody even knows and nobody understands it. It is so prestigious in the world of science but why didn’t anyone write about it?”

“There are some CNR clones. Prof D D Sharma in chemistry, Prof Ajay Sood in Physics are doing good work. Let’s see many more may come from the younger lot.”

“I am also working on materials never worked on in the world, completely new type of materials on the planet. I am worried not so much for myself, I will go on working. But I am worried for others.”

“Those days, poor teachers and poor policemen alone would have maximum children. But my father believed in a sort of family planning. He was known as family planning teacher then.”

“We couldn’t afford many things, but we had education. My father was a headmaster and later became an education officer. My mother was fantastic: she always told me, ‘Do what you want.’ She gave me total freedom, in fact both my parents did. But I really owe it to my mother. When I said I will go to Banaras (Varanasi) to study, she said, ‘You want to go to Banaras? Ok, go.’ She would say, ‘Don’t worry about money, reading is most important, read and then everything will come.’ My family was very open. Thanks to them I’m what I am today. I am the only child of my parents, so is my wife.”

“Keep a balance between professional and personal life. Find time for your family and the things which interest you.”

“Build a strong base. The journey to peaks of excellence requires a strong base camp.”

“Observe leaders closely, learn as much as you can from their leadership styles.”

“Always gain fresh insights, don't hesitate to ask the right questions.”

“Never stop learning. The thirst to gain more knowledge should never come to an end.”

“Pursue your dreams with passion, hard work and dedication.”

“My monograph on ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy|visible spectroscopy using molecular orbital notations eventually resulted into a book in 1960.”

“The conditions at IISc were no match to the American centres but it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

“We created CNR Rao Education Foundation from a part of the million-dollar Dan David Award from Tel Aviv University, Israel, because if the youth don't catch on to science at a young age, we will lose whatever science and technology advantage we have now. My wife, Indumati has been leading the work of this foundation along with members of the family. We want to see India emerge as a scientific giant.”

“Since there was no infrared spectrometer, I managed to record routine infrared spectra of certain compounds here and there, in order to categorize group frequencies. One of these papers became a citation classic.”

“The Berkeley campus was academically overpowering. In the Tuesday evening colloquia, one would see a galaxy of chemists in the front row, with many Nobel Laureates and members of the National Academy of Science amongst them. It was a daunting task to give talks at these meetings. I managed to survive those occasions.”

“The Maharaja of Mysore (then Governor of Mysore), ayachamarajendra Wodeyar, visited Berkeley for a day. I took him around. He was really impressed when he saw the accelerators in the Radiation Laboratory on the hill. He was happy to speak to me in Kannada and even more happy that I knew a little Sanskrit.”

“University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is one of the most outstanding universities, and the Chemistry Department there ranks first amongst the universities of the world in research performance. This department was established by G.N.Lewis, who is considered to be the father of modern chemistry.”