OBITUARY

Prof. Ramachandra Rao Dasari Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Ramachandra Rao Dasari, former Professor of Physics, I.I.T. Kanpur, age 87, passed away in Schererville,IN,U.S.A. on April 12, 2020. He was born in a small village in Andhra Pradesh, and went to Banaras Hindu University and obtained his M.Sc. degree in Physics in 1956. He completed his Ph.D. degree from Aligarh Muslim University in 1960. He then joined the nascent I.I.T. Kanpur as a faculty member in the Department of Physics in 1960-61, and became a full Professor in 1973. During 1966-68 he was on study leave visiting M.I.T. Cambridge , U.S.A. where he received valuable experience in laser technology in a laboratory where lasers and laser spectroscopy were invented. After returning to I.I.T. Kanpur he established the first laser laboratory in India, fabricating the lasers indigenously. This pioneering work later led to the formation of CELT at IITK which is now grown into a vibrant Center for Lasers and Photonics (CELP) offering interdisciplinary training and research.

Prof. Dasari left I.I.T. Kanpur in 1978 and after spending 2 years in Canada he joined M.I.T., U.S.A. where he served for the next 40 years, becoming Associate Director of the MIT laser biomedical research center. He has published more than 200 research papers and has guided several Ph.D. and M.Tech students. He leaves behind an endowment for an annual R.R. Dasari Distinguished Lecture Series, and since 2005, learned lectures are being delivered every year by erudite scholars at I.I.T. Kanpur on lasers and photonics.

Prof. Dasari is survived by his wife Suhasini , son Satish and daughter Lakshmi. In the death of Prof Dasari, I.I.T. Kanpur family has lost a very valuable member.

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