Professor R. Balasubramaniam [ITBHU Metallurgy 1984 batch], who was currently a Professor at the Materials and Metallurgical Engineering department at IIT Kanpur, passed away on December 9th, 2009.
From his bio on the interview with the Chronicle
Professor Ramamurthy Balasubramaniam (Bala for short) is an IT-BHU alumnus (Metallurgy 1984). In 1990 he obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a Professor in the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering (MME) at IIT Kanpur, where he has served since 1990. He has followed the footpath of Prof. T R Anantharaman to examine the famous Iron Pillar in New Delhi for its hidden mysteries, and other original research pursuits.
Apart from receiving the University Gold Medal for academic performance and Ghandhy Gold Medal from Metallurgy Department of IT-BHU for overall all-round performance, he has received many awards, including the Young Scientist Award in 1993 from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Alexander von Humbodt Fellowship from German Government (1996), MRSI Medal from the Materials Research Society of India (1999) and Metallurgist of the Year from the Indian Institute of Metals (1999). He is a well published author with more than 230 referred papers in journals.
He is also author of nine books. He is on the editorial boards of several reputed international journals. His work on the famous Delhi Iron Pillar has earned him national and international repute.
The ITBHU alumni community is extremely shocked with this news. Until recently, Bala had been working at the helm of the organizing committee for the 1984 batch reunion happenning this December.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends, to help them overcome this tough time.
Bala was very famous as Drum Player even being topper of his batch.
May God provide peace to his soul and strengh to his family.
Amaresh Prasad
December 14, 2009 9:54 AMCIV-86
Mumbai