(This obituary is written by B. N. Dwivedi (Applied Physics dept.), and a copy is forwarded to the Editor of Current Science Magazine, Bangalore.)
 Rama N. Singh (1933-2007) | Rama N. Singh (retired Professor of Applied Physics, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi) died at Varanasi on 23 April 2007.
Professor Rama N. Singh was born on 4 January 1933 at Dharwa, Ghazipur. He did his secondary education from U.P. College, Varanasi, and higher studies (B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D.) from Banaras Hindu University. He worked on a purely experimental investigations, preparing a radio transmitter and carried out experiments to measure the velocity and direction of ionospheric drift for his Ph.D. research, under able guidance of late Prof. S.R. Khastgir. He was appointed as Lecturer in 1958 in Physics Dept., Faculty of Science, BHU, and joined as Reader in 1966 in the School of Applied Sciences at the Institute of Technology, BHU. In 1971 he became Professor and superannuated in January 1993 as Director, Institute of Technology, BHU. During his illustrious teaching and research career, he served in various capacities, such as In-charge of Applied Sciences, Head of Applied Physics Dept., Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology and finally Director, Institute of Technology, BHU. |
Prof. Singh was regarded as an outstanding ambassador of academic excellence in the university environment: visited almost all the premier institutions around the globe as Visiting Professor/Scientist; guided 19 PhDs and many post-docs; published over 200 research papers (several of them in Nature), wrote the university level text book on ‘Electromagnetic Waves and Fields’; published by Tata McGraw Hill in 1991 as well as edited several symposia proceedings; organized and gave invited talks/papers in several national and international seminars/symposia/workshops in his broad field of specialization ‘space sciences’.
Prof. Singh also brought out a “Special Issue on Inner Planets” in Current Science (1994, vol. 66, Numbers 7&8). Starting with his prestigious PL-480 project in the 1970s, he successfully carried out several ISRO, IMAP, DST, UGC and CSIR sponsored research projects. He also served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York in 1961, and Institute of Geophysics, University of Alaska, USA in 1962; Visiting Professor, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), California in 1985-86; Fellow of the Max-Planck Society at MPAE, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany in 1989-90.
Prof. Singh shifted his interests after his Ph.D. to theoretical research work on modelling related with the Earth's magnetosphere formed by solar wind interaction. His research interest in planetary sciences continued with special emphasis on the study of Mars and other planets and published papers on all the planets of the Solar System. Realizing the global impact of space research, becoming highly dependent on rockets and satellites launching, he focused his investigations of lower ionospheric and tropospheric, stratospheric and ground based observations and theoretical researches.
He mostly distributed his time with self-study and research and collaborative projects with available opportunity. His main research interests included: ionospheric physics, magnetospheric physics, space physics, plasma physics, solid state electronics, remote sensing and exploration. While working at UCLA, Prof. Singh analyzed Pioneer-Venus data together with Prof. C. T. Russel and found the evidence for Lightning on Venus which was later confirmed from other satellite measurements. Prof. Singh also established a research group in Physics Dept., BHU and did pioneer studies related to the measurements of low-latitude whistler in Banaras
Prof. Singh received several recognitions which include:
- Fulbright Award in 1962
- Guest of Soviet Academy of Science in 1971
- Chairman of Parallel Session
- International Conference on Wave and Instabilities, Innsbruck, Austria, April 1973
- Leader of the National Delegation to SCOSTEP General Assembly at COSPAR, Boulder, Colorado, USA in June 1976
- Convener, Energy Coupling, International Conference on Sun Weather Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, July 1978
- Member COSPAR, Working Group - II, Paris, .France, 1978-81, 1982-86
- SCOSTEP Delegation. Innsbruck. Austria in June.1978
- URSI Delegation, Helsinki, Finland, August 1978
- Panel on Plasma Teaching, CITP, Trieste, Italy in 1981
- CONACYT Federal Award, Mexico, 1995-96.
He was also a member of:
- IEEE, U.S.A.
- American Geophysical Union
- Indian Physics Association
- Study Group, Bangalore
- Chairman, National Committee for STP. INSA. 1975-78
- Editor Proc. National Academy of Sciences. (Earth and Planetary Science.) 1986-1990.
After his superannuation in 1993, Prof. Singh remained in the active mode until his last breath. As an Emeritus Scientist, CSIR, New Delhi from 1994 to 1997, and AICTE – Emeritus from 1999-2002, he did some original work in planetary sciences, and published them extensively. He was also the Founder Director, UNS Institute of Engineering and Technology, V.B.S. Purvanchal University, Jaunpur, 2000-2001.
One glorious thing about Prof. Singh is this: He published his paper this year too and several projects were still in progress. Only recently, Purvanchal University conferred onto him D.Sc. Honoris Causa.
With Prof. Singh’s demise we have lost an eminent space scientist. He is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.
B.N. DWIVEDI
Department of Applied Physics, Institute of Technology,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India
E-mail: bholadwivedi[AT]yahoo.com