Anil Kumar (elected 1995) was born at Jalandhar in Panjab on 10 April 1951. He received his M.Sc. degree in 1973 and a diploma in applied physics in 1974 from Punjabi University, Patiala. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1979 under the guidance of E.S. Raja Gopal at IISc, Bangalore. He started his professional career with postdoctoral work for several years at Universities of Pittsburgh and California (Santa Clara) and at other places. He was appointed assistant professor in the Physics Department of Indian Institute of Science in 1987, became an associate professor in 1993 and a full professor in 1998.

Anil Kumar contributed to various aspects of complex systems in condensed matter physics. Phase transitions and critical phenomena in solids, liquids and multicomponent liquids have been frontier areas of research in condensed matter physics for several decades. Universality of description of physical systems near a critical point in seemingly dissimilar systems manifests itself and is realized through these studies. The theoretical works of Landau, Kadanoff, Wilson, Fisher and others concerning these phenomena and renormalization group theory spurred experimental activities in this area. Anil Kumar was active in this esoteric field for nearly twenty-five years.

He investigated a variety of polar and non-polar binary, ternary and multicomponent liquid systems using a variety of experimental techniques involving measurements of AC and DC electrical resistivity, electrical conductivity fluctuations, light scattering and turbidity. These studies began with investigations of phase transitions and critical phenomena in simple liquid mixtures, but subsequently progressively got extended to discovery and study of systems with double, triple and quadruple critical points, re-entrant phase transitions involving special critical points and multiple re-entrant phase transitions.

Anil Kumar was leading one of the important and very few experimental groups studying such complicated behaviour in multicomponent systems anywhere in the world. He was able to make unusual and excellent contributions to the understanding of these complex and subtle phenomena because of his skills as an experimenter who had designed, and built exceptionally high-precision measurement standards in the experiments, and by an intuitive choice of proper materials that exhibit these phenomena for investigation. The ingenuity in the design and development of temperature controllers, which can be used to hold temperatures steady to within thousandths of a degree or better over prolonged periods of time, was impressive. While temperature as a variable parameter is routinely used in the study of critical phenomena, he used pressure, addition of water and/or salt as other variables effectively in several systems for probing various aspects of critical phenomena.

In early eighties, he published a detailed review in Physics Reports (with E.S. Raja Gopal and H.R. Krishnamurthy) which drew heavily on the research investigations in his department itself. However, within a decade, he was invited to write a second review article by the same journal. This review (with T. Narayanan) was based on his studies of re-entrant phase transitions in multicomponent liquids.

His other important notable achievement is one related to discovery of a new critical point, namely the quadruple critical point in quaternary liquid mixtures. He delved in to the study of other complex systems like colloids, magnetic systems and chalcogenide glasses and even liquid crystals, exposing the underlying universality of behaviour.

Anil Kumar through his genial temperament and exuberance in discussing his work was a role model to many young researchers. He set a high standard for youngsters and was pleasant and unassuming in his personal interactions. He passed away in a tragic road accident on 2 November 2002 leaving behind his wife Mythili and a daughter.

Jagat Narain Kapur (elected 1965) was born in Delhi on 7 September 1923. He had an excellent educational career securing first class first in BA honours (1942) and MA (1944) of Delhi University and obtained his Ph.D. in 1958. He began his teaching career at the Hindu College of Delhi University and became the head of the mathematics and statistics department for 15 years. He later moved to the Delhi University as reader in mathematics for 2 years before moving over to IIT Kanpur as senior professor of mathematics for 20 long years.

Kapur made significant contributions to flows of fluid jets, flows of viscous compressible fluids, gas dynamics, shock waves, superposability of fluid flows, viscoelastic fluids, hydromagnetic channel flows, hydromagnetic shocks, hydromagnetic turbulence, and hydromagnetic lubrication. His contributions of special interest relate to internal ballistics of solid fuel rockets, orthodox and recoilless guns, and to laws of burning and general theories for composite and multilayer charges. He has also done original work in operations research. He has published over 300 papers which also include the areas of general population dynamics, difference equation models, population models with time delays, prey-predator and competition models, mathematical bioeconomics, biomechanics, and social sciences/decision sciences/financial mathematics. He has written a large number of books on school mathematics, college-level text books, general and advanced level books on mathematics and NCERT books. His writings also include a large number of popular articles on mathematics education and general education. He was chief editor of Mathematics Student, Bulletin of Mathematics Association of India, and UGC journals on mathematics education.

He was also a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and was president of the Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics, Indian Mathematical Society and the Mathematics Section of Indian Science Congress. He passed away in Delhi on 4 September 2002.

Makund Behari Lal (elected 1942), a distinguished parasitologist, died in the early hours of 5 December 2002 at Dayalbagh, Agra.

Born on 31 January 1907 in Sitapur (UP), Lal had his early

education in UP and received the M.Sc. degree in Zoology from Lucknow University. After obtaining a Ph.D. degree, he was awarded D.Sc. by Lucknow University in 1937 for his outstanding researches on helminth parasites. Later he carried out post-doctoral research in the University of Edinburgh, UK, and received a second D.Sc. degree in 1947 for his pioneering researches on helminth parasites of UK

Lal had a distinguished academic career. He joined as lecturer in zoology in Lucknow University in 1929, subsequently becoming reader and professor, and in 1954, the head of the department. He steered the department until he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science in 1960. He became the Vice-Chancellor of the University for a three-year term in 1968.

Lal made significant contributions to the morphology and taxonomy of trematode parasites and larval helminths both in India and in Scotland (UK). He also carried out in vitro and biochemical investigations on helminthic parasites. He published over 100 research papers and guided research work of over 20 scholars.

Lal was also elected a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1962. He represented India at the meeting of International Union of Biological Sciences in Rome in 1955, and in 1960 led the Indian delegation at the 300^th meeting of the Royal Society of London. In 1958 he was elected Vice-President of the International Congress of Zoology, and chaired the Open session of the International Congress of History of Science in Cornell and Philadelphia in 1962. He was the President of the Zoology section of the Indian Science Congress in 1957, and a Fellow of the Zoological Society of India.

Lal became the seventh revered Guru of Radhasoami faith at Dayalbagh, Agra, in 1975 and steered the Satsang community for 27 years during which the Satsang made phenomenal progress. Under his guidance and inspiration, the Radhasoami faith spread far and wide, and thousands of people from all walks of life from India and abroad embraced this faith.

Lal was the architect of the education policy of Dayalbagh Educational Institute (DEI) and was appointed its first honorary Director in 1973. He framed an innovative education programme for DEI in 1975 that combined a novel experiment in education, social service and integrated development. DEI attained the status of Deemed University in 1981. This institute is unique in many ways. Not only are modern courses taught here, both teachers and students work in fields and engage in community service. Lal advised and guided this programme till his last days. It has been said of Dayalbagh that — neither is anyone great or big here, nor anyone small or insignificant, and if anybody here is honoured more than others, it is he who works better or more than others. Those who have visited the Institute and have seen its working, the discipline, zeal and commitment of its teachers and students, will never forget the academic atmosphere, and peaceful and spiritual ambience that prevails.

Lal's students and his myriad followers all over India and the world will greatly miss his enchanting personality, his spiritual and intellectual guidance, and his unparalleled spirit of determination and dedication towards advancement of education.

Ambalal Ranchodbhai Patel (elected 1975) was born at Varnama (Baroda) on 12 May 1917. After obtaining his Masters degree from Baroda, he started his teaching career in Hyderabad, Sindh and later joined the physics department of VP Science College, Vallabh Vidyanagar in 1947. He served as its principal from 1958 to 1963 when he moved over to the Sardar Patel University as professor and senior professor (1963--1979) and subsequently as a CSIR emeritus scientist and honorary professor.

In order to make Vallabh Vidyanagar an active centre of research in physics, he went to London to get trained on industrial diamonds under the able guidance of Tolansky. On returning he started research on diamonds, both synthetic and natural and other mineral crystals and succeeded in setting up an active research group to carry out research on growth and characterisation of materials in the form of single crystals and thin films. Several techniques of crystal growth e.g flux growth, gel growth, vapour transport, hydrothermal growth, were established in the department. Along with these growth techniques, facilities for characterization of grown crystals and thin films by optical microscopy, interference and phase contrast microscopy, etching, X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, EDAX, electron microscopy, hardness testing etc. were established. He not only established himself as a man of materials growth and characterization but also made the department well known in this field both nationally and internationally.

Patel worked as expert member in physics in practically all the universities in Gujarat. As a national professor and as an expert member of UGC committee for

physics he helped several departments of physics in the country to grow. Under his dynamic leadership several new departments of Sardar Patel University took birth, such as computer science, electronics, materials science, and science and instrumentation centre.

Although Patel passed away on 3 December 2000, information of his death was conveyed to the Academy only in October 2002.

Pisharoth Raman Pisharoty (elected 1957) was born in Kollengode, Kerala on 10 February 1909. He had his early education in Kerala, Madras and Bangalore. He worked as a college lecturer in physics in Madras during 1932_41. His urge for science was so great that he spent summers as a vacation worker under C.V. Raman at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He joined the India

Meteorological Department in 1942. He worked hard to get to grips with the science of meteorology and weather forecasting and carried out front rank research on thunderstorms, western disturbances, movement of monsoon depressions, orographic rain, etc. He was deputed to the University of California, Los Angeles where he worked with the renowned meteorologist V. Bjerknes. He brought out two notable reports "Some aspects of geostrophic poleward sensible heat" and "the kinetic energy of the atmosphere" and was awarded M.S and Ph.D degrees in record time. It was during this time that he got his promotion deferred in order to continue his research work

On his return to India, he held several important positions one after another. He became the director of Colaba and Alibag Magnetic Observatories in 1959 and founder director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Pune in 1962. This Institute provided an impetus for research and training in atmospheric physics at a number of Indian Universities including IITs. Pisharoty was also closely associated with the highly successful International Indian Ocean Expedition in the sixties.

He retired from government service in 1967 and almost immediately joined the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) as professor, accepting the offer made by the then director of PRL, Vikram Sarabhai. A year later he was entrusted with the job of introducing remote sensing technology to India. He created an awareness regarding this technology among politicians, science administrators and others. He led a team of scientists to USA where remote sensing was being applied to agriculture, forestry, hydrology, oceanography, geology etc. Soon after his return, he organized the first successful mission of coconut wilt-root disease eradication by remote sensing techniques using Soviet aircraft and US equipment but Indian scientists. As the Director of Remote Sensing and Satellite Technology, Ahmedabad during 1972--1976, he laid a lasting foundation for remote sensing technology in India. He continued to work at PRL till the early nineties and for a number of years shared his office with K. R. Ramanathan __ his guru and close friend.

Pisharoty was widely recognized nationally and internationally for his contributions to meteorology, research and education. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (1963 _68) and later its Chairman. He was the Vice President of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS of IUGG) and was awarded the IMO Prize by WMO. He was also a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (1978) and was the first recipient of the Raman Centenary Medal and the INSA KR Ramanathan Medal. He was honoured with Padmashri by the Government of India in 1970.

He passed away on 24 September 2002 in Pune and is survived by two daughters and a son. In his death the country has truly lost one of its highly disciplined stalwarts whose thinking successfully blended modern science with traditional wisdom.

Vishwambhar Puri (elected 1945), a distinguished botanist, passed away in Meerut on 9 October 2002. Born on 10 December, 1909 at Nagina (UP), Puri had his early education at Dev Nagri School (now DN College), Meerut, and later studied at the Agra College to earn an MSc degree in botany in 1934. As a student, he excelled in all his examinations including MSc botany, where he stood first in order of merit in Agra University, and received the Lord Reading Science Prize for being the best postgraduate student in science in Agra College during 1933-34.

After spending another year at Agra he joined the Meerut College as lecturer (1935-46), professor and head of botany department (1947-61), vice principal (1961-65) and finally as principal (1965-69). He then joined the Meerut University before retiring from active service in 1972, but continued to serve the university as an Honorary Emeritus Professor for life until his death.

While at Agra College, Puri came in contact with Panchanan Maheshwari, who initiated and inspired him for doing research in the area of floral anatomy, which he did with rather meagre facilities even while teaching intermediate classes at the Meerut College and earned the DSc degree of Agra University in 1939-40. His efforts

at Meerut enabled starting of B.Sc. course in biology and MSc course in botany during mid-1940s. Due to early recognition of his eminence as a botanist, Puri was offered positions at several universities, but he decided to stay at Meerut.

While at Meerut, Puri wrote a series of papers on floral anatomy. He supported the contention that the angiosperm flower is a modified vegetative shoot, where the internodes are greatly reduced and the leaves take up different functions in the form of floral whorls. While working on floral anatomy, and advocating its use for solving many problems, Puri did recognize its limitations, while studying the inferior ovary. For his doctoral work, he studied the floral anatomy of Rhoeadales and Parietales, and supported Eames and Wilson's tetracarpellary interpretation of crucifer gynoecium, but suggested a different mechanism for the extrusion of ovules from the so-called `solid carpels'; this was accepted by AJ Eames, as one of his thesis examiners. Later, he also studied the placentation of ovules in some members of Cucurbitaceae, Passifloraceae, Capparidaceae and Moringaceae, and suggested that the parietal placentation in these families might have been derived from axile placentation in the ancestral forms.

Puri also had interest in pteridophytes and gymnosperms. For instance, his group worked on sporocarp of Marsilea (a fern) and he offered an interpretation for the morphological nature of this structure. Some of his students also worked on the shoot apex organization in Selaginella, Lycopodium and Isoetes. Among gymnosperms, he had valuable material for Taxus and Ginkgo.

As recognition of his merit as a scientist, during 1949-50, Puri visited AJ Eames at Cornell University in USA, and later in 1958-59 Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio on a Muelhaupt Fellowship. During his stay at Cornell, he wrote two exhaustive reviews that were published in Botanical Reviews, which continue to be the essential reference material for any research in floral anatomy.

Puri received several recognitions, which include the fellowships of all the three national academies, President of the Indian Botanical Society, Botany Section of Indian Science Congress, and the International Society of Plant Morphologists. He was recipient of the Birbal Sahni medal of the Indian Botanical Society and the Panchanan Maheshwari Memorial Lecture Award of INSA. He was editor of the Journal of Indian Botanical Society (1968-78).

During the later part of his life, Puri partly lost his interest in research, because of the treatment which plant morphology received from botanists in India and abroad, due to increasing emphasis on emerging areas like biochemistry 9, genetics and molecular biology. This is reflected in his presidential address entitled "Disappointments of a morphologist", delivered at a meeting of the Indian Botanical Society (1965). He also gave up midway a project of writing a book on morphology. However he maintained his interest in botany and delivered several lectures and published articles on the `origin and evolution of angiosperms'.

Lord Porter of Luddenham, an Honorary Fellow of the Academy elected in 1989, passed away in London on 31 August 2002. He was joint winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1967 for his work on photochemistry — chemical reactions triggered by light — and flash photolysis — photographing the behaviour of molecules during chemical reactions.

George Porter was born on 6 December 1920 in West Yorkshire. After his early education, he won an Ackroyal scholarship and entered Leeds University in 1938 to study chemistry. In his final year of college, he studied radio physics and electronics and was commissioned by the Royal Navy as a reserve officer specializing in radar.

After World War II Porter did graduate work at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, under Ronald Norrish, a pioneer in photochemical investigations of reactive molecules. In his initial studies of fast chemical reactions, Porter mixed two flowing gases in a rapidly moving stream and analysed their reactions with one another at varying distances. Porter and Norrish found this technique useful for measuring chemical reactions with a duration of several thousandths of a second, but it was not fast enough for the study of reactions involving the production of unstable, highly reactive free radicals (atoms or molecules with at least one unpaired electron).

Drawing on Porter's wartime training in radar electronics, the two scientists developed a technique known as flash photolysis. In this technique, a powerful flash of short-wavelength light first breaks a photosensitive chemical into reactive intermediate components. A second, weaker light flash, triggered at a known interval after the first flash, then illuminates the reaction zone, and the resulting absorption spectra of the short-lived free radicals can be measured. By varying the time between the two flashes, Porter and Norrish were able to determine the course of chemical reactions that occur in millionths of a second. By replacing the second flash with a continuous light source

and using a very fast light detector, they could observe the concentration of a chosen chemical continuously as a function of time during a reaction initiated by the primary flash. These methods permitted the first observation and measurement of free radicals and the kinetics of their chemical behaviour.

After receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1949, Porter was appointed demonstrator in chemistry at Cambridge. There, in collaboration with Norrish, he continued to study the behaviour of free radicals and fast chemical reactions. In 1952 he became assistant director of research in the department of physical chemistry. Using flash photolysis, he recorded the absorption spectra of organic free radicals with a lifetime of 1 millisecond. In 1954, as assistant director of research at the British Rayon Research Association, he worked on problems of dye fading and other light effects on fabrics. The following year, Porter became professor of physical chemistry at Sheffield, where in 1963 he was made fifth professor and head of the chemistry department.

At Sheffield, Porter applied high-speed flash techniques to the study of more complex chemical reactions, such as the interaction of oxygen with hemoglobin in animals and the properties of chlorophyll in plants. He improved the flash-photolysis technique by using fast-spark light sources and pulsed lasers, which allow the observation of chemical reactions more than 1,000 times faster than could be observed with flash tubes. In 1966 Porter succeeded W.L. Bragg as Fullerian professor and director of the Faraday Research Laboratory of the Royal Institution in London.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Porter's awards include the Corday-Morgan Medal of the British Chemical Society (1955), the Davy Medal of the Royal Society (1971), the Robertson Prize of the US National Academy of Sciences (1978), the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society (1978), the Faraday Medal of the British Chemical Society (1979), and the Longstaff Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (1981). He was knighted in 1972. Porter was a member of numerous academic and scientific academies and societies including the US National Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Gottingen Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Spanish Academy of Sciences. Porter popularized science among young people through the medium of television and took an active interest in education. During his elevation to the peerage in 1990, he called for sixth-form pupils to take 5-A levels as part of a broadening of the education system. As President of Royal Society, he called for reforms to ensure that everyone was taught science from the age of five to 18. "It is difficult for ministers, some with little or no secondary education in science, to appreciate the anger and frustration that scientists have long felt at a system which is controlled and guided by those who have little understanding of what makes scientists tick or appreciation of what science has done and will do for mankind".

He is survived by his wife, Stella Brooke, and two sons.