S Sivaram is at present Deputy Director and Head, Division of Polymer Chemistry at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. His interests lie in polymer synthesis and their industrial applications. He has contributed to the development of many processes and products which are in industrial use today and is cited as the inventor in 36 US patents.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar holds a unique position in the annals of Indian Science. He was a man of many dimensions – an outstanding scientist, an able science manager, a visionary creator of institutions and a patriot who had an abiding faith in the scientific and technological prowess of India. Bhatnagar met his destiny in the year 1940, at the age of forty six, when he was called by the Government of India to become the Director of Board of Scientific and Industrial Research which was to become later the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. This signaled the transition of Bhatnagar from a mere scientist to a science manager and a creator of institutions. By the time he died in 1955, Bhatnagar, had created one of the finest science and technology edifice of independent India, a chain of twelve discipline based laboratories ranging from physics and chemistry to leather and electrochemicals. He recognized the potential of science and technology to create wealth through business and established the National Research and Development Corporation of India, an organization dedicated to translate science and technology into business. As early as 1941, Bhatnagar persuaded the Government to set up an Industrial Research Utilization Committee (IRUC) for translating science and technology into applications. His singular devotion to the cause of building a scientific infrastructure in India, his pioneering ventures into making science useful to society and industry and his courage to shake the Indian scientific establishments out of the ivory towers it had ensconced itself make him, along with Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, one of the most influential and visionary members of the scientific establishment in post independent India.

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Address for Correspondence
S Sivaram
Deputy Director and Head
Polymer Chemistry Division
National Chemical Laboratory
Pune 411 008, India.
Email: sivaram@ems.ncl.res.in