Abstract
This article is a brief biography and appreciation of the late M.G.K. Menon, a scientist and administrator of towering abilities, whose seminal role in the development of post-colonial Indian science often gets discounted in comparison with some of his more eye-catching contemporaries. And yet Menon’s achievements stand up to scrutiny as massive and solid as the granite blocks with which his beloved TIFR is constructed. No scientist in the modern world has played so large and diverse a role in setting up scientific studies in his own country, and few individuals in history have ever held such a glittering succession of prestigious positions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Suggested Reading
Fowler, Menon, Powell and Rochat, Phil. Mag., 42, 1040, 1951.
Menon and O’Ceallaigh, Proc. Roy. Soc., 221, 292, 1954.
R. H. Dalitz, Phil.Mag.Ser., 7, 44, 1068, Phys. Rev., 94, 1046, 1954.
Lee and Yang, Phys. Rev., 104, 254, 1956.
Miyake, Narasimham, Ramanamurthy, Il Nuovo Cimento, 32, 1505, 1964.
Menon, Ramanamurthy, Sreekantan and Miyake, Il Nuovo Cimento, 30, 1208, 1963.
Reines and Giamati, Phys. Rev., 126, 2178, 1962.
Sov. Phys. JETP, 14, 393, 1962.
Danby et.al., Phys Rev Lett., 9, 36, 1962.
Krishnaswamy et. al., Proc. Roy. Soc., A 323, 489, 1971.
Krishnaswamy et al., Phys. Lett., 57B, 105, 1975.
Murthy and Rajasekaran, Pramana, J.Phys., 82, L609, 2014.
Murthy and Rajasekaran, Pramana, J. Phys., 82, L609, 2014.
Krishnaswamy et. al., Phys. Lett., B27, 535, 1968.
Georgi and Glashow, Phys. Rev. Lett., 32, 438, 1974
Pati and Salam,. Phys. Rev. Lett., 31, 661, 1973.
Phys. Lett., 106B, 339, 1981; Phys. Lett., 115B, 349, 1982.
Julius Caesar V, 5, 78–80.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank B. V. Sreekantan, V. S. Narasimham and V. M. Datar for their comments and suggestions in the early stages of preparing this article. Two festschrifts of M. G. K. Menon — one published by the Indian Academy of Sciences on his 60th birthday and the other by the National Academy of Sciences, India to commemorate his 88th birthday — give more detailed accounts of his life and work, on which this article is based. The TIFR Archives provided some of the photographs and access to an oral history consisting of a series of interviews given byMenon around 2005. Small pieces of information have been culled from different obituaries and memorial lectures on Menon, especially ones by R. Cowsik and T. Ramasami. Finally, thanks are owed to N. Sathyamurthy, Chief Editor of Resonance, for proposing this article and for his immense patience in waiting for it to be written.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Naba K. Mondal is Raja Ramanna Fellow, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata and former Senior Professor of Experimental High Energy Physics, TIFR, Mumbai. He worked with M. G. K. Menon at the Kolar Gold Fields.
Sreerup Raychaudhuri is a Professor of Theoretical Physics, TIFR, Mumbai. He specializes in the theory of elementary particles and interactions.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mondal, N.K., Raychaudhuri, S. M.G.K. Menon - Statesman of Indian Science. Reson 24, 1189–1233 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-019-0891-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-019-0891-4