Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao is also known as C.N.R Rao and is a renowned chemist who rendered his services in the field of structural chemistry and `solid-state`, who presently works as the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council, to the Indian Prime Minister. He is the author of more than 45 scientific journals and 1, 500 research papers, and has honorary doctorates from nearly 60 universities from across the globe. C.N.R. Rao has been honoured with several scientific awards and is a part of numerable scientific organisations.

Early Life of Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao
Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao was born on 30th June, 1934 in Bangalore city, Andhra Pradesh, to a Kannada family. Nagamma Nagesa Rao and Hanumantha Nagesa Rao were his parents, who brought him up in an academic atmosphere, as he was their single child. He imbibed English lessons from his father while he learnt Hindi literature from his mother, and did not attend primary school. His mother imparted home lessons to him in Hindi literature and Arithmetic. Aged six, he joined middle school in 1940 and taught English and Mathematics to his classmates. He received four annas or twenty-five paisa when he passed his seventh standard examinations during 1944. He went to Acharya Patashala High School in Basavanagudi and was admitted to a Kannada-medium academic course by his father, who communicated with him in English, at home.

In 1947, he passed secondary school leaving certificate, achieving first class and later pursued BSc from Bangalore`s Central College, wherein he inculcated Sanskrit and also English skills. At the age of 17, C.N.R. Rao received bachelor`s degree in 1951, from Mysore University. During 1953, he got Master`s in Chemistry from Banaras Hindu University. In the same year he received scholarship for PhD in IIT Kharagpur. He was offered financial aide by four foreign universities like Purdue, Columbia, Penn State and MIT and he selected Purdue for his oldest research paper which was published in 1954 in Agra Journal of Research. Aged 24, he achieved his PhD in the year 1958.

Career of Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao
Nagesa Ramachandra Rao joined IISC as lecturer in 1959, initiating his individual research with six PhD students. During 1962, he was appointed as the Head of the Department of Chemistry, at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, continuing till 1976. He was elected as a fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences in 1964, which was conveyed to him by C. V. Raman. Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao was the Director of IISC from 1984 till 1994 and visiting professor of University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. In 1983 to 1984, Rao worked as the Jawaharlal Nehru Professor at University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow, at King`s College, Cambridge.

Presently, he is the Honorary President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (founded in 1989), Bangalore, Linus Pauling Research Professor and National Research Professor. He also works as the Director of the International Centre for Materials Science or ICMS. During January, 2005 he was made the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to Prime Minister of India. He is considered to be a key figure of the world`s solid state and materials chemists. For above five years, he was an essential contributor to this sphere. His work on transition metal oxides enabled the easier understanding of the relationship between structural chemistry of metal oxides and materials properties and `novel phenomena`.

Rao was the first Indian scientist to have synthesized two dimensional oxide materials like La2CuO4. He conducted various scientific studies which facilitated studies in superconductivity of high temperature and also magneto resistance. Apart from his work on hybrid materials, he was also a great contributor to nano-materials since the last twenty years. C.N.R. Rao is a member of the Science Initiative Group board.

Personal Life of Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao
C.N.R Rao married Indumati Rao in the year 1960 and have two children named Suchitra and Sanjay. Sanjay Rao popularizes science in the schools of Bangalore and Suchitra has married the director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Pune named K.M. Ganesh. Since Rao is technologically unsound, he does not possess any computer at his personal table and refrains from checking his own e-mail. He utilizes cell phone only for communicating with his wife.

Awards of Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao