 | Professor Tanjore Ramachandra Anantharaman (Prof. TRA for short) needs no introduction. As a world renowned metallurgist, he was among the first to examine the famous Iron Pillar in New Delhi for its metallurgical composition. In 1951, he was the only one from India to study at Oxford University under Rhodes scholarship. He has taught metallurgy at many national colleges and universities including: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala; and Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. At IT-BHU, he was Head of Metallurgy department and served as Dean and Director of the institute. |
During Metallo-2007 (International Conference on Metals and Alloys) being organized by IIT-Kanpur in December 2007, Prof. TRA will be honoured for his immense contribution to the field of metallurgy during the celebration of his eightieth birthday this year.
For Chronicle, Yogesh K. Upadhyaya talked over phone with Prof. Anantharaman to learn more about his extra-ordinary career and about his personal life.
For bio-data of Prof. Anantharaman, please click here.
After Prof. R. Balasubramaniam, introduced me with Prof. TRA, I talked to him over phone about the chronicle interview. He was at his Atmadeep Ashram in Gurgaon and I could hear his youthful and clear voice. He talked so affectionately that I felt that he was sitting next to me and answering to my questions. Here is the transcript of our conversation:
Q-1: Respected Sir, it is a pleasure to talk to you. Please tell us about your childhood days and why did you decide to take up the study of metallurgy?
I was born on November 25, 1927 in Tanjore district of the state of Tamil Nadu. My father was the head master of a board high school and he had to travel a lot for his work. We were total 8 siblings, including one sister and seven brothers. I was 4th amongst my brothers and sister.
After I finished my schooling, I joined St. Joseph's College at Trichy and studied there from 1942 to 1947. Then I joined Presidency College, Madras and studied B. Sc. (Hons.) from 1944 to 1947.
At that time metallurgy branch was just opened at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and I decided to study there. I received D.IISc. in Metallurgy from IISc in 1950 and M.Sc. in Metallurgical Chemistry from Madras University in 1951.
At that time I heard about the Rhodes Scholarship and applied for that. In 1951, I was the only one to receive Rhodes Scholarship from India and went to Oxford University to study physical metallurgy. There I studied under Prof. William Hume-Rothery and Prof. Jack Christian. I received D. Phil degree in 1954. Thereafter I worked as Research Associate in Max Planck Institute for Metallurgical Research at Stuttgart, Germany till 1956. I was awarded D, Sc, (Oxon) degree in 1990 in recognition of my outstanding research input in many areas of Metallurgy and Materials Science.
Q-2: Please tell us about your academic and teaching experience at various institutes.
After returning from abroad, I joined IISc as Assistant professor of Metallurgy. In 1962, I joined Banaras Hindu University as Professor and subsequently as the Head of the Metallurgical Engineering department till 1977. Thereafter I worked in various capacities such as the Dean & the Director of the college of engineering and Rector & member of Executive Council for the University. For some time, I also held a temporary position of vice-chancellor of the university.
After I retired from BHU in 1987, I worked as Director of Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala (1989-92) and also as CSIR Emeritus Scientist (1987-89, 1993-95) and INSA Senior' Scientist (1995-2000), I worked at the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi during the period of 1993-2000. For the past 5 years, I am on the board of management at Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Calcutta.
I recall several bright students during my teaching profession, with whom I am in touch even today. I can recall S. Mahajan, M.A. Dayananda, K. Sree Harsha, A. Raman, P. Somadundaran, S. Ranganathan, Somnath Misra, Y.V.R.K Prasad, P. Rodriguez and others from my teaching days at IISc; P. Rama Rao, P. Ramachandra Rao, R.P. Wahi, C. Suryanarayana, P.P. Sinha, S. Lele, K.A. Padmanabhan, S.N. Ojha and others during my stay at BHU."
Q-3: Please tell us about your efforts to study the material composition of Iron Pillar at New Delhi.
I was the part of the team which studied the marvel of Iron Pillar, which is located next to Qutab Minar in New Delhi. The Iron Pillar was erected about 1600 years ago and it is called a rustless wonder, since it is standing without any rust or deterioration. It is 20 ft high above ground and 7 ft below ground, weighing about 7 tons.
The opportunity came when Archeological Survey of India was carrying out digging around the area and the base of the pillar was exposed. The government wanted to find out the exact composition of the pillar material. Our team took a very small sample (few grams of material) and quickly analyzed it. We were shocked to find that it was made of pure iron! It has carbon content of only 0.05 to 0.025%. It did not contain impurities such as sulfur or magnesium. Thus it could not oxidize nor deteriorate due to absence of impurities. Also, as Bala (a former student of Prof. TRA and currently Prof. R. Balasubramaniam at IIT-K) has recently discovered, the pillar had high amount of phosphorous which formed a protective film and prevented further corrosion.
It is possible to make such type of steel today and the cost will not be high.
Q-4: How advanced was our country in the field of metallurgy in ancient times?
Metallurgy was much advanced in ancient India. India was famous for making a special type of steel called wutz steel. The steel contained 1.3% carbon. The steel was specially treated and tempered to use for sword. One famous example is Saladin's Sword. King Porus after his defeat in war, presented 30 kg of wutz steel to Alexander the Great.
Ancient India was also advanced in extraction and smelting of zinc as early as 3rd to 4th century BC.
Q-5: What is the status of study of metallurgical engineering in Indian colleges/universities?
Our country has good number of colleges to teach the subject of metallurgy. However, there has been little change in the method of teaching or curriculum. Our professors just teach the subject, but are not involved in research and do not make subject interesting to students.
There has been a lot of discussion about the emerging field of Nanotechnology, but nothing tangible has come out from the research from our country.
Q-6: Metallo-2007 International Conference on Metals and Alloys is being organized this year. Please explain our readers about structures of metals and alloys and effect of them on their physical properties.
The seminar at IIT-Kanpur will be important one, which will cover many topics besides metals and alloys. The important of the study of metals comes from the fact that out of 94 naturally occurring elements from earth, over 60 are metals.
Pure metals have no attractive properties. Their properties (mechanical, magnetic, etc.) can be improved considerably by adding small impurities. The changed metal structure can be analyzed using science of metallography.
I invite all the readers to attend the seminar.
Q-7: How do you spend your retirement life?
My professional career spanned for over 50 years till I retired in 2002. Since then, I am running a Yoga Ashram at Phase 1, Block A at DFL Colony, Gurgaon, Haryana. I have found very little interest among common mass towards Yoga. My first yoga center was set up at BHU campus in 1973. It is called Yoga Sadhna Kendra and is running at Malaviya Bhavan with UGC (University Grants Commission) support.
I am also involved in spirituality and give discourse on Bhagvad Gita, Upanishad, etc. Most of the time, I stay at Gurgaon, but also visit Bangalore and Madras to meet my relatives and friends.
Q-8: Please tell us about your family life.
I first got married in 1958 with Margaret (also named Hema) from Germany. We first met at Vinoba Bhave Ashram in India and got married in 1958 at Brussels, Belgium. After her death in 1979, I got married in 1983 to Priyamvada, a faculty member of BHU at that time. We are living together since then.
I have two sons from my first marriage and a daughter from my second marriage. My elder son, Satya Prakash (Thomas) got IIT-JEE All India Rank # 2 and did his B. Tech, electronics engineering at IT-BHU in 1982. Later on he joined IBM's 3-member team which designed Deep-Blue, world's first supercomputer which defeated Gary Kasparov in chess tournament. Currently he is working at a private research firm in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
The other son, Prem Prakash (Martin) joined IT-BHU for mechanical engineering. He then left the institute and completed his study of mechanical engineering at Duisburg University, Germany with 1st rank. He did his PhD in mechanical engineering (with distinction) at the same university. Currently he is working at Delphi (an automobile components manufacturing company) at Stuttgart, Germany.
My daughter Karuna is currently studying at Notre Dame University, Indiana, USA.
Thank you very much, Sir. This interview will certainly help many of us to understand you and your views on the subject of metallurgy better.
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(Chronicle expresses sincere thanks to Prof. R. Balasubramaniam, Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, IIT-Kanpur, who made this interview possible; and Deepika Sachdeva, Research Scholar at IIT-K, MME Dept., for going over the interview draft and forwarding rare photos of Prof. TRA.)
URL http://home.iitk.ac.in/~bala
Prof. TRA can be contacted at:
trananth[AT]hotmail.com ; priyamvada100[AT]hotmail.com
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Photo Gallery for Prof. T R Anantharaman
(Forwarded by Deepika Sachdeva)
Please follow the links for complete collection:
Part I - At Oxford
Part II - At ITBHU
Part III - At Gurgaon/Miscellaneous
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Additional Links:
- http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/announce/metallo/
- http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1200_1299/qutbminar/ironpillar/ironpillar.html
- http://www.rhodesscholar.org/
- Metals and Alloys- Hume-Rothery Rules
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:6qkgOxIzzxgJ:www.synl.ac.cn/org/non/zu1/knowledge/Hume-Rothery-rules.pdf+hume+rothery+rules&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a
OR
http://www.synl.ac.cn/org/non/zu1/knowledge/Hume-Rothery-rules.pdf - Metallurgy in ancient India was advanced
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=187&page=22 - Iron Pillar - Great Ancient Indian Metallurgy
http://hitxp.wordpress.com/2007/03/15/iron-pillar-great-ancient-indian-metallurgy/
